It's been a funny old week.
I seem to have spent much of it wet and 60 feet, or more, deep. I was working on my deep diver and night diver certifications and these meant that I went off exploring and doing underwater drills to pass the qualifications. Normal life was put on hold for a while.
Night diving is not a passion of mine. I was glad of the almost full moon, which light up the water and kept me sane. I love to see the wonderful colours a torch can bring out in marine life but it is what you cannot see beyond the beam that I worry about.
On Thursday I finished the last dive and so qualified not just as a Deep Diver and a Night Diver but as a Master Scuba Diver too. To say I am chuffed is an understatement! I am delighted.
My long suffering instructor, Rob, is, I think, relieved to have got me through it. He freely admits, and I agree with him, that he did not think I would do it. I know that if he had let go of my hand on the first dive I would not have taken a second. I was frightened, literally out of my depth and had bitten off more than I could chew.
I hate things to beat me so I came back, finished the course and was hooked. Since those early days I have taken several more courses and readers of this blog will have suffered with me through the gruelling Rescue Diver course I completed a couple of months ago.
So now I am taking a rest from diving for a day or so and am catching up with other things.
Diving does not go away though. My husband, Joe and our friend, Sheryl, took their Advanced Diver Certification and Sheryl's other half, Michael, and I took a boat ride out to watch their torch lights moving about on the wreck of the Cathley H for their final, qualifying night dive. For me this was a novelty as I am usually the one under the water looking up, not the one out of the water, looking down! They both passed the dive and so, are now Advanced Divers. I could not be more proud of them.
At the beginning of the week I heard I had beaten off over fifty other writers to land a regular commission as a Travel Writer and Researcher, writing for an internet company which produces travel guides for cruiseship passengers. I was quite pleased with myself and look forward to the new work with enthusiasm.
I met the Anguilla Community Band the week before last and was charmed by their commitment to representing the island at functions large and small. My article on the band was published on July 18th in The Anguillian (www.anguillian.com) and I hope that there are readers out there who can assist them. They exist without regular sponsorship and it is goodwill and sheer determination that keeps them going. At present they need instruments, so if anyone has any old brass, woodwind or indeed, any instrument that they do not need, then please contact me and I will put you in touch with the band director, Allan Coppin.
The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACOCI) is not letting me go easily. Despite my having undertaken my last interview for ACOCI Connection, I have been asked to retain my editorial role with the publication. This is good news as this has been a labour of love for a long time now. Wherever I end up in the world the miracle of modern technology will mean I can still stay in touch.
I received a message out of the blue this morning from a new Indian magazine whose editor has seen one of my yachting articles and wants me to write more such pieces for his publication. I have replied and asked for details but this seems like a good start to a new week.
So, what will this new week hold? I have several articles 'on the go' and must finish these this week, so I think I will be largely office based. Next week we are being packed up for the Big Move, so I have to think about what I will need over the next few weeks and make sure these items do not get accidently put into packing cases. It would be just my luck to have packed my card reader, dictaphone or the mains leads for the laptop!
More of this in future blogs.
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