My Sound Of The Day

Not much to say except this is everything I like: DJ Jazzy Jeff And Ayah - Notorious.



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Not Just For Gays!

They do know how to entertain in the US, here is the opening number of the Tony Awards 2011 that honors Broadway.



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A Dive In Boueni

One great thing about scuba diving is that no two dives are alike. Last week-end I had a good reminder that scuba diving can also be an extreme sport.



The scuba diving clubs that are based on “Petite Terre” or around Mamoudzou make most of their dives in “La Passe En S”, it is indeed a great place to dive but one needs a change of scenery from time to time. The north and the south of “Grande Terre” offer a great choice of dive spots which are really different from “La Passe En S”. We headed to Boueni on Friday evening to avoid driving for an hour on Saturday morning to the diving school and we spent the night at “Le Soleil Couchant” in bungalows. I really recommend this place as it is quite cheap and has a great restaurant, you can't go to this place without trying the “Cari Crabe” where you will have the challenge of eating a very large crab. Even if you can't eat all the crab you won't regret it.



On Saturday morning we went to the diving center and were on our way to the diving spot as soon as our gear was ready. The instructors didn't want to waste too much time because they wanted to avoid the tide. It took us almost an hour to get there, we were around 12 on the boat and to avoid confusion when it would be time to go in the water each team would dive at a different spot. We were the last 5 to go so we had plenty of time to get prepared. As soon as the boat driver found the right spot with not to much current we jumped in the water and as it was an open water dive we went underwater facing each other: that is when trouble started.



As I was going down I could feel the strength of the current increasing, the floor was around 5 meters deep and I had to grab it to be able to move in the direction of the instructor. In those case grabbing the floor allows you to go forward without getting tired from trying to palm against the current. The more I would want to go down, the more difficult it would get for me to do so. At the same time as I was fighting to move forward, my mask would fill itself with water in a mater of minutes. When you dive with a moustache the mask will not be able to stick properly to your skin in the area located just below your nose, thus it is common to have to empty the water in the mask two or three times during a dive. But in this case it was like my mask was filling with water as fast as I would empty it. Behind the coral reef, the current would throw us back on the reef, it would be very difficult to find balance and on top of that I had the impression my mask was filling even faster. In normal conditions I have no problems emptying my mask and putting it back so that water doesn't come back in too quickly. I was using one hand to try and steady myself but you need both of them to empty your mask properly or can use one hand if you are in good diving conditions, I tried to empty the water repeatedly with one hand but no success.



I was feeling panic starting to take over so I showed the instructor the sign for “I'm not feeling so good”. He took me to a place where I would be able to sit and was a little bit protected by the current. I then took my mask with both hands, emptied the water, put the mask back on, looked left, looked right, looked at the instructor, made the sign “I'm OK” and we went on with the dive. If I would not have been able to solve that water in the mask thing I am sure I would have asked to go back to the surface. The four of us each have used a lot of air during the beginning of the dive as it was quite an experience but as soon as the current strength lessened we managed to start breathing properly again and ended up staying underwater for almost 50 minutes (I usually dive for a minimum of 60 minutes). The instructor congratulated us because he expected the dive to be finished after only 30 minutes.
It was a tough dive but I believe we have learned a little bit about ourselves during those 50 minutes.

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My Sound Of The Day

I watched again the great movie High Fidelity not so long ago and i listened to this with pleasure: The Beta Band - Dry The Rain.



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Another Way To Visit Reunion Island

There are many ways to visit La Reunion. The simplest and fastest way is with a car, you can also fly and enjoy a unique viewpoint on the island. Hiking is the most popular way because you will get the viewpoint as well as access to the less known areas of the island. Last week I discovered another way to visit the island: geocaching.



Geocaching is simple. You have to buy a Tupperware, you will put inside a pen, a small notebook and a few objects. You will have to hide the Tupperware in a place where it can’t be found by everyone. You write down the GPS coordinates of the location and input them on geocaching.com (www.geocaching.com). You can add pictures of the location where the Tupperware is hidden as well as hints to help the search. Anyone can then try and find your cache, in this case one has to write its pseudo on the notebook, the date of the find and the objects that were added and removed.



You guessed it geocaching is a treasure hunt 2.0 that is worldwide. You will be able to look for and find caches everywhere on the planet. When you take one object from a cache you will have to replace it with something else to avoid empty caches. Some people like to follow the movement of the objects they have left in a cache, they can know who took their object thanks to the notebook and contact them through the website to know where the object has been dropped off. There is an automated system to follow an object, you just need to buy a travel bug that you will tie to an object, it will allow you to find out where your object is thanks to the serial number of the travel bug. Each person finding the bug and moving it will update the website and allow its owner to know how far the object has traveled. We found a 20 Yuan bank note last week coming from Montpellier. You can also explain on the travel bug where you want your object to go. The bank note we found had to go to China.



Geocaching is a really good idea to wander in places you don’t know. In some cases the cache is located in a place with easy access but in some other cases you have to deserve the cache and will have to walk through dirt tracks or walk for a while to reach the cache location. You will get the opportunity to discover places you wouldn’t have been otherwise. I had the chance to see another side of La Plaine Des Sables which is my favorite place in La Reunion. I will probably create the first cache in Mayotte.

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My Sound Of The Day

What do you say when you step on the dancefloor as the DJ plays one of your favorite songs: Snoop Dogg - That's That Shit Feat R. Kelly.



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