Monday, June 8, 2009

Scuba at Maeda Point










Ok, not too much to report about this... We went to Maeda Point (pronounced My-duh) and the class did their last Scuba dives to get advanced certified. I was "grounded" or stuck above water because the night before during our night dives, my ears got pretty funky and I had a hard time equalizing pressure and I got a pretty bad case of swimmers ear that hurt for a good 4 days after... they are still cracking this morning. But anyway, the crew went to do their two deep dives today and that left me to hang out on the surface and wander around the point.

As you can tell from the pictures, Meada Point is really a beautiful place. The coast is made up of volcanic rock and coral, so the entrance can be a little tricky into the water and it's not really made for leisurely swimming, but it's beautiful under the surface and full of very nifty things to see.

Since I was stuck on shore, I went for a walk down this pretty extensive path system they have along the shore, took some pretty pics, and worked on my tan. I got pretty crispy this day, so I didn't consider the day a loss.

The only rough thing about Meada is that there are over 80ish steps to get down to the volcanic rock shore and into the water. It's all fun and good when you have lots of energy and you're going down, but once you've been snorkeling across the current back to the shore, you're pretty tuckered out and then have to carry like 60+ pounds of gear back up those steps all the while in a hot black wetsuit... makes for a rough hike up. At the half way mark they built a little rest area for the scuba people to stop and catch their breath because it can be pretty rough getting back up for some. Luckily I only had to carry a camer, so I was able to help Dave get his hang tank and some equipment up the stairs after their second dive of the day. I think having to tote one more tank up the steps woulda killed him.

So yeah, Meada is beautiful. It's also FULL of Japanese people trying to snorkel in groups, and the novice diver attempting to dive for the first time EVER. It makes for a busy entrance/exit area, but really fun. I have to laugh because the Americans get a bad rap for over-running some areas of the island, but every time I have gone diving there seems to be just about as many, if not more, Japanese people there too...

On a final note, I finally broke down and used a squatty potty here... but only because I had no choice, it was all that was available. Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad...

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