Fantastic Afternoon!

This afternoon I went to Tintamarre with Marisa (my open water student), her husband Louis, and Michael. Michael was diving with us in May, and we are super happy to have him back.

When I was talking to Michael he was telling me that he is always reading the blog, so I thought that it was only fitting that I blog about him. I always get excited when Mike sends us an email because he works for the military, so the words "unclassified" are always contained in the top of the email. I like to imagine all the other "classified" emails that go out... but Mike assures me that he isn't really privy to classified information, but he would say that, wouldn't he?

Anyway... the diving was really great this afternoon, especially diving from Octopussy. We went to Japanese Garden and saw the biggest Green Turtle hiding under a rock. I learned the other day, from Aurelion, (our new instructor), that the turtles go to the surface, take a gulp of air, and then they wedge themselves under a rock. With the huge gulp of air they are buoyant, so if they want a nap, they need the rock to stop them from floating to the surface. This Green Turtle had two huge Remoras on her back, she let us approach slowly, but then when we were too close, she swam gracefully away. We carried on, checking out all the schools of fish and spiny lobsters. It was a really nice dive. Marisa did fantastic, considering it was her third dive ever!

Then we went diving on the tugboat, where we had close encounters with sting rays and also watched Louis do some break dancing on his head (underwater of course). Aurelion had his camera, so I will post some photos when he sends them to me. The Tug was full of fish, like normal, and it was a beautiful dive.

Other news.... we have had some more great reviews on tripadvisor (thanks everyone) so check those out... http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147351-d1092282-Reviews-Octopus_Diving-Grand_Case_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

We are currently the #1 attraction in Saint Martin / Sint Maarten and #5 in the whole of the Caribbean. We want to be #1 in the Caribbean, so if you are so inclined... write good review for us!

I will soon take photos of our new instructors Swen and Aurelion for the blog and the website, so stay tuned for more information about these two characters. They are real characters... Swen speaks 8 languages.... and Aurelion lives on a boat. They both love diving, and they are great guys, so check out the blog soon!

Congratulations to Marisa on her open water certification!

Friday the 13th tomorrow, I wonder if this will affect the marine life...

Good night everyone!

(Sally wrote this blog :) )