As The Prop Turns

 

“As the prop turns” The concept our captain has come up with for a reality TV show based around the characters who work and visit our vessel, The Turks & Caicos Explorer II.

The crew are varied and all have personalities of their own, I don’t want to express an opinion on individuals as they might read this and that’s not fair. However guests I can talk about, hypothetically.

My first week brought what I feel was an average selection of guests, all with good sturdy personalities that we, as crew, could work with and relate to. One guest was on his own on the trip, but a very experienced diver. An all American guy with a good attitude to life and we got along well. One of the first nights the opportunity for a night dive arose. A young chap from Aus wanted to dive but his mother did not want to go, neither did any of the other guests. Our all American friend opted to be his buddy….. then the young Aussy got scared and so just the American and I dropped in. We had a great dive and it was a running joke for the week that we were sneaking off each night for some “alone” time. It was a great week and the tips said it all.

This week has been a little different, some great guests but some not so easy to relate to. The problem is this is not a dive job but a service industry and its our job to relate to guests, comfort them and serve their needs, be it conversational or dive related. It has been a tough week, and the tips not so good.

I went out with the boys tonight and we vented some concerns about crew and passengers alike, both of which I have mentioned no names.

I got up at 5am this morning and went for the dawn dive, a turtle came and spent some time with us and a shark nearly head butted me in the chest and that’s what makes it all worth it. 

Week One

 

So week one has been quite eventful. We lost an anchor at the start of the week and had to leave before we could find it. Then generator two went down so we had no back up. We headed out for west Caicos and some tough days. Start at 5am, breakfast, followed by diving, snack, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, dinner, night dive and so on.

The very first dive I went on we were greeted by a turtle who followed us for the whole dive. Just before the end of the dive two reef sharks decided to come say hi. Lets just say I haven’t done a dive and not seen a shark yet!! The highlight for me was watching two eagle rays with a wing span of about two meters come flying past me on our second to last dive out at French kay, truly a beautiful moment.

We headed back to port this morning where the hunt for the anchor began. A troop of snorkels headed out but no luck. It came to be my turn so I suited up and got into the water. The difference was I got towed around holding a rope from the back of our tender. After an hour in the water I spotted it!! Elated we reported back to the captain, I could tell he was relieved I dread to think what that anchor was worth. He quickly deployed me with a 500lb lift bag and SCUBA. I raised it up and we towed it back to the boat where we hoisted it up to the deck using the ships crane. A triumphant finish to a truly inspired week at sea, and it all starts again in around 5 hours. 

The Begining

So the day began like many others, coffee with the old man and an international flight.

Virgin Atlantic was everything I could of imagined, highly recommended. I had a copy of National Geographic to read on the flight. The first story I read was about K2 which has once again inspired me to take up rock climbing. There's a morbid draw to the "mountaineers mountain" I think ive ignored for too long.

The next was the feature article about the centiarary of the Titanic and what an article it was. As I read the pages and the clouds broke to show we were flying over the north ice fields. I could see real live ice burgs!! I then started to look closer to see if I could spot the MS Balmoral as she makes the same voyage as the great titanic.

It rained in Miami but I didn't miss my connection, all good. Hitch a lift to the hotel with a bunch of people just starting their dive holiday. When I got to the hotel I met Jean, they told me he was a crew member but it turns out he had been the relief captain for the last week. Great guy, lives in L.A, makes wine and his favourite sport is sky diving. He turned down a job offer to run gate crasher and became a captain instead!!

After some amazing food on the beach it was bed time, 3am BST but only 10pm TCI. Woke up feeling fresh this morning, off for breakfast then onto the boat. Quote: "it's not the destination but the journey that's the real adventure".