If you're lucky enough.....

My neighbor came by the other day and when he came into my house he was in hysterics. I chuckled with him and asked what was so funny. He said,” I always laugh when I see the plaque at your front door which says, “If you’re lucky enough to be in the mountains, you’re lucky enough.” It’s hilarious because you’re never here!”

Only minutes before I had been thinking that it had been ages since we had traveled, which to us meant three weeks. Guess it’s all in the perspective!  I began to think about the triggers that signal the death sentence of an over-extended home stay.

So for all of you adventure travelers out there, those whose lives consists of airports, exotic locations and a stack of TSA notices, here is a list you can tack on the fridge to indicate when it’s time to bail……

Top 10 ways you know you’ve been home too long.

• You begin to figure out which light switches turn on which lights in your house.
• You actually care which side of the bed you sleep on.
• You realize you have to buy groceries twice …in a row.
• You have to change the oil for the SECOND time in the truck this calendar year.
• You stop dialing “9” for an outside line.
• Your neighbors ask you to dog sit for a few days and you actually realize you can.
• You re-arrange the furniture in the living room after a week because you’re “bored” with it.
• You finish the laundry.
• You enter a pool for the NFL playoffs because you’re going to see all the games.

And the number one way to know that you’ve overstayed your welcome in your own house……

You wake up in the middle of the night and recognize where you are.

…yep….time to hit the road!

Beautiful beach at Harbour Village Resort

Do you want to:

Do some great diving with a fun group of people?
Hone your dive skills under the supervision of top instructors?
Finish up a diving certification?
Get a great deal on a vacation?
Have a once in a lifetime adventure?

If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions, then you belong with us.

What’s the adventure?

A group of fun friends is getting together for a week of diving, snorkeling, exploring, partying and chilling out in one of the best dive destinations in the Caribbean.

Who Dives With Us?

We travel with a fun and diverse group of people who love adventure and having fun.  We travel in style and like a margarita or glass of wine at the end of the day.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or highly experienced, its about sharing some great dives during a fun week in the sun.  We have people that are just beginning and others with hundreds of dives.  Some divers have non diving spouses/partners.

Private beach dinner at Harbour Village

Lifelong friends are made with Global Diving Adventures

What’s the DEAL?

Harbour Village Beach Club (member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World) is the top boutique resort on Bonaire and they put together a great deal for us.  Plus when you go with us,  all the diving instruction including open water certification, advanced certification, nitrox certification and u/w photography instruction is free.  Yes, free.

What to Bring:

We can help with any gear rental you need and recommendations if you need to buy any gear.  Other than that, its bathing suits, t-shirts and flip flops.

What not to bring:

Attitude … unless its your happy diving attitude!

Whatever we do, it's ALWAYS a blast!

Details you want to know:

DATES Nov 5-12 2011
Package Price: (P/P based on double occupancy):
$1375.00 diver Courtyard or Marina View Room;
$1120.00 non-diver Courtyard or Marina View Room;
$800.00 per person upgrade to Beachfront Suite

Included: 7 nights Accommodations with continental breakfast at Harbour Village Beach Club , 6 days of diving (2 boat dives per day and unlimited shore diving -weather permitting), group transfers, services of expedition leaders including all certification courses taught, slide shows, shore snorkeling, sailboats/kayaks/tennis courts/jacuzzi and fitness center at Harbour Village and other fun stuff on the island.
Not Included: Air transportation, meals except breakfast, travel insurance, dive insurance, beverages, items of a personal nature, departure tax where applicable, excess baggage fees, SCUBA or snorkel equipment, marine park fees where applicable, dive staff gratuities.

ARRIVAL AIRPORT: Bonaire (BON)

WHO IS ORGANIZING AND LEADING THIS TRIP?

Ridlon and Carin Kiphart are highly accomplished expedition leaders, have guided on all seven continents and are members of the prestigious Explorers Club.  Together they have over 12,500 dives.  Ridlon is an accomplished underwater photographer and Carin was recently inducted into the SSI Platinum Pro 5000.

HOW DO I JOIN?

All you have to do is say, Yes.  Send us an email here.  We will need a 25% deposit, some paperwork and then you’re space is reserved.

We hope you will be inspired to join us!

To Your Adventures!

Mantagirl

Young Island, the dive and party place of the jet set will be OURS this August 6th-13th as we launch a James Bond style takeover of the floating sensation, the Coconut Bar.

Happy Times at the Coconut swim up bar on Young Island

Before the fall rolls around, soccer practice starts and your evening computer programing class sucks you in…..get away for one last summer fling.  

We are gathering our excellent friends, dive buddies and beach babes for a week of diving, beaching and just plain chilling out!!

We have teamed up with the incomparable Young Island Resort and Dive St. Vincent (who can resist owner Bill Tewes charm (?)) to search out the rare and the way cool critters that live in the waters off beautiful St. Vincent.

Great critters in the clear, blue Caribbean

We’ll dive in the mornings leaving ample time to explore the lush island of St. Vincent, enjoy the beach, the pool, or swim out to the coconut bar and enjoy the company of friends.

It’s a one week easy getaway to the blue waters of the Caribbean with Global Diving Adventures!

Stuff you’ll want to know:

DATES    Aug 6-13
Package

Price: (P/P based on double occupancy):

$2650.00 diver Superior Cottage

$
2950.00 diver Deluxe Cottage

$3550.00 diver Luxury Cottage with Private Plunge Pool
Included: 7 nights Accommodations at Young Island Resort, 5 days of diving (2 dives per day -weather permitting), BLD for seven days, group transfers, use of underwater digital camera and video, services of expedition leaders including any specialty courses taught, nitrox certification, slide shows and other fun stuff on the island.
Not Included: Air transportation, travel insurance, dive insurance, alcoholic beverages, items of a personal nature, departure tax where applicable, excess baggage fees, SCUBA or snorkel equipment, marine park fees where applicable, dive staff gratuities.
ARRIVAL AIRPORT: St. Vincent (SVD)

Email us for more information or to join us!
Sharkman@globaldivingadventures.com

To Your Adventures!

Mantagirl

For Mantagirl, it’s….well…manta rays of course!!! Why? I’ll explain, but first there seems to be a lot of confusion over different species of rays. Let me try to clear that up.

The three rays you are most likely to see snorkeling or diving in tropical oceans are the sting ray, spotted eagle ray and manta ray. They are very easily distinguishable from each other. Scientifically, they are all the same down the line of scientific classification through Order. They are all Elasmobranchs (cartilaginous fishes) and are all of the order Myliobatiformes. At the family level they split. Ah…yes, so many families split up these days…….

Anyways…..

Sting rays are named for the barb at the base of the tail and are the animals of stupid Steve Irwin fame. They feed mostly on mollusks and crustaceans and use smell and electro receptors to detect their prey in the sand. You can find them on the bottom often concealed in the sand. They are not aggressive and use their barbs only in self defense. These are the rays that people “swim” with at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands.

Sting rays like this Southern at Sting Ray City live on the bottom

Spotted Eagle rays are named for their white spots on the top of their bodies and reach a length of 8 feet measured wingtip to wingtip. They also have a defensive barb at the base of their tail. These magnificent rays have large heads and powerful mouths for crushing the shells of their main prey, mollusks and crustaceans. They are not bottom rays but powerful ocean swimming rays. While they skim the bottom for food, you will not see this ray laying on the bottom of the sea.

Spotted Eagle Rays are cean swimming rays that feed in the sand

Manta rays, in my opinion are the most stunning member of the ray family. And also the largest. The largest ocean going Pacific manta has been measured at 22 feet across!! They do not have barbs on their tails and do not feed in the sand. These rays are plankton feeders and use two fins on either side of their mouths to scoop and filter planktonic material out of the water. These cephalic fins are rolled up when not in use and open when the rays are either feeding or being cleaned at cleaning stations. Most mantas are countershaded for protection with white bellies and black tops, however mostly or all black mantas are not uncommon. Each manta has a distinct pattern of spots and splotches top and bottom.

Mantagirl filming three circling mantas at a cleaning station

So now that you can identify the different rays, let me tell you why I LOVE mantas. To me, they are the ballerinas of the sea. They are incredibly graceful and I get the feeling that they simply love life, making great loops and turns in the water. This is how they feed, by making huge back rolls scooping up plankton. It just looks like so much FUN! When they come into a cleaning station, they make long lazy turns like a 747 in the sky, allowing the cleaner fish to do their job.

They have these incredible piercing eyes behind their cephalic fins which seem to stare into my eyes whenever I am watching them. But it’s a kind stare, more of a gaze than a glare. I can, and do watch them for hours!

The best way to observe mantas is to go to a cleaning station. Give them some space around the station and stay outside of their “circle”. Then just settle in on the bottom and wait. The mantas become easily relaxed with you watching and will often become curious. Often, they will circle over your head and at times, I’ve even had to duck!! Each time they circle past those eyes captivate me! THIS is why manta rays ROCK!

Sit quietly and the mantas will often come right to you

Like all humans, when we have these kind of encounters, we like to think that we’ve made a special connection to an animal, that perhaps we’ve “bonded”. Maybe we do and maybe we don’t but the lasting memory of the experience leaves an impression for a lifetime.

What’s your favorite critter? Share your story!!

To Your Adventures!

Mantagirl

Global Diving Adventures is a premium provider of guided SCUBA diving vacations and advice on travel, adventure & the adventure lifestyle.  We provide our guests and friends the experiences and knowledge to live an extraordinary life through adventure.

Yesterday on Facebook, a friend named Jennifer commented on one of my photos.  She mentioned that she had tried scuba diving but had a bad experience.  This made me very sad.  But it was also not the first time I had heard this comment.  In fact, I hear it quite often.  So today I thought I would post to encourage all of you out there who have had a difficult, bad, scary, or downright frightening first experience in the water to try it again.

There is NOTHING in the world that compares to the feeling of scuba diving, the freedom of swimming free in the water and hanging out with the fishes.  Would YOU Like to be the one in manta photos I posted yesterday?  You can!!!!

This could be you!

So….here are five beginning tips that might help you turn a bad experience into one of a lifetime.

1. If you are nervous or afraid of trying scuba diving, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

You are not alone. Most people are nervous their first time on scuba

Understand that most everyone has this feeling.  You are relying both on unfamiliar equipment and often an unfamiliar instructor for your life support.  From the time I decided I wanted to learn to dive to the time I signed up for my course an entire year was wasted. I was that nervous.  Now, 25 years and 7500 dives later, it has altered the path of my life and become my greatest passion.

2. ASK QUESTIONS!

Many people do not ask questions when they go into new situations and so their fears remain.  If you don’t understand something, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem, ask your instructor.  My fear has always been flying and I used to be afraid that someone would open the door at 35,000 feet and we would all be sucked out of the plane.  Seem like a dumb thing?  Yep!  But I finally asked someone the question and learned that it was impossible to open the door while traveling 500 mph at 35,000 feet.  So, with education, I alleviated my fear.

3. TELL your instructor your fear.

Let your instructor know that you’ve tried this before and what happened.  If your fear is claustrophobia, or deep water or whatever, your instructor can explain the reasons not to have the fear you have.  I had a student once who was terrified of fish!!!  I never would have figured THAT one out!  Many people are claustrophobic and I am the world’s biggest claustrophobe!  BUT under the water, I feel like the world is totally open in front of me and I have none of that fear. An instructor can help you get over your fears, but you have to TELL them what they are.

4. Have the RIGHT equipment and conditions.

Be sure to have the right fitting equipment!

Again, since you are new to the sport, you probably don’t know what is the right equipment.  But you do know that if your mask is leaking something isn’t right.  If you experience a leaky mask, stop and ask for one that does fit your face.  If something doesn’t feel right you will obsess on whatever it is and you will have a miserable experience whether it is fins that don’t fit or your BCD that is digging into your back.  Just an aside, I think the mask is THE most important piece of equipment to be comfortable with.  If it is foggy or leaky you will have more of a tendency for panic.  So here is an important idea that I instill in my students.  Even if you cannot see (meaning your mask is flooding or leaking or foggy)  you CAN still breathe and while it may be uncomfortable and inconvenient, it can be easily solved, even underwater.  However, first and foremost be sure to have properly working equipment. Also, be sure to go out on a day with good weather conditions.  Rough seas and poor visibility can add stress to your experience.  Be patient and wait for the right time.

5. Find the RIGHT instructor!

Don’t be afraid to ask for credentials!  You are entrusting your life to your instructor.  Find out about them and if you have a nagging feeling that this is not the right person to teach you, find someone else.  Trust me, 23 years ago, you DID NOT want me as your instructor, just ask my little sister (sorry Cathy!).  Of course, since you are new to this whole sport, you probably feel you don’t know the right questions to ask.  You might ask how many first timers they’ve taken under or how long they have been teaching.  But if I were nervous about it or especially if I had a bad experience in the past, I would be sure to ask for the most patient instructor.  Also, many women prefer to have women teach them.  Don’t be afraid to make your request.  I love teaching women and instilling confidence in them.  I think that this is THE most important tip.  Find someone you know, like and trust or someone who will take the time to understand you and your fears, to give you this experience of a lifetime.

Find the right instructor for you. Here are three right here!

Find a patient instructor to show you the ropes!

Honestly, did you really like beer the first time you tried it?

How many things in your life were perfect the first time?  How many things did you not enjoy on your first try? Don’t let the fact that you had a poor first experience with scuba keep you out of the water the rest of your life.  Give it another go.  I KNOW you can have an amazing experience under the water and find a whole new world down there.  This post is for all the “Jennifers” out there who I encourage to try again!

Trust me!  I’m a scuba instructor!

To your Adventures!

Mantagirl

Global Diving Adventures is a premium provider of SCUBA diving vacations and advice on travel, adventure & the adventure lifestyle.  We provide our guests and friends the experiences and knowledge to live an extraordinary life through adventure.

Check us out at www.live-adventurously.com!

We all travel differently.  Mainly because we value different things.  Where do you put your emphasis?  How do you spend the dollars that you’ve allotted for your vacation?  It’s something to think about and plan for.  Perhaps if you put less dollars into getting there you could stay longer.  Or if you stayed in a nicer hotel it would impact your overall experience.  Maybe taking the cheap way out by traveling off season means your holiday is rained out and therefore ruined…. I recommend spending some time to determine what is important to you before you purchase.

Getting There

The Flight- First class or Economy??

For some, getting there in style and comfort is above all.  It’s first class flat bed seat or nothing.  Perhaps it’s because they are physically larger or taller and traveling around the world in an economy airplane seat would wreck them for a week.  The overall experience traveling first class is definitely less stressful and more fun.  You are treated with actual respect, offered a beverage in a real glass and served almost real food.

For me, economy does fine (though I love the upgrades when I get them).  I would rather spend my money elsewhere.  Often, I will take a flight with more stops or one that is less convenient to save money and put those resources to better use.  Fortunately, I am not a big person so I can survive economy.  I just slap on the noise canceling headphones, curl up in the seat and go to my happy place.

For some, it's the only way to travel.

Transit Overnights

Transit overnights can add a lot of cost to getting there.  But, again, it depends on what is important to you.  At Changi airport in Singapore for instance, there is a beautiful Crowne Plaza hotel you can stay at very conveniently and in luxury for about $200/night.  However, I can also grab a sleeping room inside the airport and pay by the hour.  I can get a good night’s sleep for about $50.  Again, when I travel, I prefer to put my money to use elsewhere rather than getting there.

Being There

Hotel/Resort

I am a firm believer in that you get what you pay for.  But here as well, think about what is important to you.  I have seen many people choose a budget hotel and then complain about the service and amenities.  However, you don’t have to stay in five star luxury to have a good time, unless that is what is important to you on a vacation.  And for our guests at Global Diving Adventures, good friends, good food and luxury accommodations are just as important as great diving.  So we focus on providing both.  This August we are hosting a group in Isla Mujeres.  Total cost for the trip will be about $3000/person for the week inclusive.  Yes, we could run the trip for $1500 BUT we would not be using the luxurious Villa Rolandi on a gorgeous beach with all the amenities.  Having a beautiful view, perhaps something romantic, a spacious junior suite the best food and highly experienced guides is worth a little extra.

Luxury travel with Global Diving Adventures, join us HERE in August 2011

I firmly believe you get what you pay for

Time of Year

Here is where many people get into trouble when they plan a trip.  You can find all the deals you want on the internet.  You can find incredible deals anywhere if it’s in the off season.  And here again, I say, you get what you pay for.  A few years ago, I was in Australia at a dive shop on Heron Island.  A diver was bitterly complaining about the dive conditions and the weather and how he could have had better diving if he had stayed in the Caribbean.  Then he blamed his travel agent.  I turned to him and explained that he had booked his trip during the middle of the rainy, low visibility season and that was not his travel agent’s fault.  He needed to be diligent about his research.  BUT….he got a deal…Some deal that turned out to be!  I knew it was the poor season to be there but it was the only time I could get there.  So I prepared myself for the rain and low vis and looked on it with a professional  eye for it’s potential for a future trip during the best dive season.

What Will You Remember?

You won't remember what you paid but you WILL remember this!

Price vs. Experience

And how many people care more about the price than the experience?  Well, I believe that it depends on when you ask them!!!  Ask people when they are planning the trip and they are all about saving money and the deal they are getting.  Ask them when they are ON the trip and they have a crummy hotel room, it’s raining and there are no whale sharks in sight because it’s not the right season.  People want the cheapest price first and then complain that their expectation did not meet their reality.

I’m not saying you can’t have an experience of a lifetime on a budget.  What I AM saying is to pay attention to where you are spending your money and make sure that you get the experience that you are expecting.  Down the road you won’t remember what you spent on that trip of a lifetime but you WILL remember the experience.

To your Adventures!

Mantagirl

check out our upcoming adventures at, www.live-adventurously.com.

Great friends, luxury travel!

Global Diving Adventures is a premium provider of SCUBA diving vacations and advice on travel, adventure & the adventure lifestyle.  We provide our guests and friends the experiences and knowledge to live an extraordinary life through adventure.

The species list reads like a who’s who of the underwater world, everything from wobegongs to flasher wrasse to giant mantas.  It truly is the center of biodiversity for the planet.  Many species we only see a handful of, but that is in keeping with the way I learned about biodiversity.  I was told to picture a glass jar filled with colored marbles.  If there are only blue and white marbles, there will be many of each color, a good example of poor biodiversity.  However, if you have a multitude of species, and thus a multitude of different color marbles, then the jar will be a kaleidoscope of color but with only enough room for a few of each.  This is how I would describe Raja Ampat.

The creation of Disney and Dr. Seuss I'm sure!

But let’s get back to Dr. Seuss and Disney.  Let’s set the backdrop for this amazing multi act play.  As I’m swimming along the incredible slopes and walls, I am humbled by the sheer size, number, and health of the sea fans here.  It is truly an enchanted forest of fans.  They cover practically every square inch of available benthic space.  I first picture a sea of little Japanese women with their colorful fans all open and waving in the current.  But then I realize that this is more surreal and Dr. Seuss comes to mind.  I have visions of the oversized and truly mythical horn instruments in the books and I see these oversized and seemingly mythical sea fans in the same light. The colors are a palate of muted white, pink, yellow and green.  The impressionist painters could not have picked a more perfect blend of pastels and they remind me of children’s sidewalk chalk. I become lost in the never ending forest of beauty.

Sea fans everywhere the color of the rainbow!

In what little extra space is available on the floor of the sea, bright colored dendronepthia in hues of red and purple squeeze in along with squat yellow and green soft corals that remind me of stalks of cauliflower.  Black and white and green crinoids perch themselves on top of every available soft coral.  As delicate as china, green and yellow tubestrea hard corals shoot up like pine trees in the ever crowded forest.  Black coral trees, six and eight feet high, sway in the current.  Finally, sprinkled throughout, the eye catching colors of the sea squirts complete the landscape.  Their white, orange and blue gourd shaped bodies creating a lookout for blennies on the go.

Dr. Seuss has illustrated this landscape, I am certain.  Disney, ever the creator of magic, filled in the gaps with over 1300 species of fish, to create an unthinkable stage.

Last year, I decided to go to Nepal and Tibet to join my husband’s climbing team to summit Cho Oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world.  And while the story of climbing the mountain is amazing, what’s just as amazing is the story of simply getting to the mountain.  If you think flying to Europe is a schlep, check out this story.  Here is the first of three parts describing the journey.

Phew....Tibet....and in one piece!

Adventure simply can’t happen without me.  I mean it can, and sometimes it does accidently, but I believe in NEVER EVER missing an opportunity when it presents itself.  And in the end, I will forget how much I spent, or whatever else seemed important at the time.  I will realize that life is short, it can end anytime and I need to grasp every morsel I can.

That must have been going through my head in August of 2009.  I was happily ensconced in living out one of my dreams.  I was in a four week intensive documentary film course in Rockport, Maine learning to shoot really big cameras and having a ball.

Ridlon was preparing for his biggest dream yet.  One year ago, he decided he to climb one of the fourteen 8000m peaks in the world.  He grabbed hold of that intention and went like a man possessed (well, I guess he WAS a man possessed) after this goal.   In February, four months after his declaration,  he was in Colorado climbing his first 14,000 ft peak.  Three months later he was in Nepal for four weeks climbing 20,000 ft peaks.  And the 22nd of August, he was preparing for a six week summit bid on Cho Oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world, at 8002m (26,900ft).  Intention is an amazing thing.

Our plan was to rendezvous at the Salt Lake City airport with a couple of hours to spare so I could wish him luck and swap the truck.  Then I would spend the six weeks at home in Montana working on my book.  Now, it was one week before his departure, and it was driving me crazy.  Isn’t there paper and pen in the Himalayas?  Couldn’t I write the book there?  Why should I stay home and miss this adventure?  I obviously wasn’t going to go to the summit, I wasn’t trained for that, but I could go as high as I could, right?

I HAD to go.  Nepal? Tibet?  Are you kidding?  Yes, I had been kidding myself all along that I would stay home.  “Hello, Delta?” “Korean Air?  Yes, I can hold.”

Two days later and five days before leaving Maine, I was sleeping well again.  I had another plane ticket in hand and I was headed to two new countries.  Life was aligned again.

Since I would not be going home now for the next month, I had to make arrangements to pick up and stow gear in Salt Lake, and find a place for the truck.  But here was the really scary part and ladies, follow me on this one.  Imagine having your husband pack for you for a one month trip!  My mother, who’s comment about my imminent departure to Tibet was, “Of course you’re going dear, I expected it”, had an actual audible gasp on the phone when I told her Ridlon would be packing my bag.  I laughed at the thought of arriving at Chinese base camp at 16,000 feet with below zero temperatures, opening my bag and finding an assortment of thong undies and skimpy satin from Victoria’s Secret!

Ridlon and I met on Friday afternoon for an hour in Salt Lake.  We literally dumped my bags out at baggage claim and repacked.  Out went the “How to Write a Documentary” book and in came a hundred pounds of down….bags, booties, jackets, and fortunately no Victoria’s Secret.   In a flash I was back through security and winging towards Los Angeles to meet up with him in ten hours.

Two days later, the wheels touched down in Kathmandu and I was already pleased at my decision.  On the ride to our star-less hotel in the heart of the city, I breathed in the smells of a new, yet strangely familiar overcrowded, dusty Asian city.  The scent of cooking oil mixed with dust and auto fumes was distinctly developing world and I couldn’t wait to explore.  I watched the busses rumble by, desperately overloaded, cows strolling down the dirt streets and men urinating anywhere without a second thought.  It was magnificent.

For three days, I followed along with the climbing team as they made their preparations for the ascent on the mountain. Kathmandu is the kick off point for most Himalayan climbing and trekking expeditions including Mt. Everest so almost every street has multiple shops selling new, used and knock off climbing gear.  We visited some of the knock off shops, where young Nepalese men where busy at their noisy, vintage machines, stitching down bags and vests with great skill.  Perhaps the names were knock offs but the guys were doing amazing work and I made several happy purchases.  We dragged foam mattresses through the dirty streets, bought headlamps and pee bottles and checked and double checked lists.  These were the highest and toughest mountains in the world. To come ill-prepared could mean death.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the drive to Tibetan border.  We were told it would take anywhere from four to twenty hours to reach the border between Nepal and Tibet due to roadblocks, landslides and a host of other unknowns.  I wondered what MapQuest would make of that prediction!  There was only one road to take and I picture the MapQuest screen flashing big red warning letters displaying, “Are you Kidding?”. In a last minute decision due to a possible road strike, we packed our 12,000 lbs of gear and twenty climbers (we would split up later to climb two separate mountains) packed into a bus way too small to carry it all and skipped town in the middle of the night.  (the DOT would not have approved).

At some point I woke uncomfortably, my head bouncing against the dirty window and my stocking feet dangling over the seat in front of me.  Something was odd.  It seemed that we were not moving forward…but in fact more like we were moving sideways! I strained my eyes out into the dark and what I saw sent terror surging through my blood.  This top heavy, overcrowded bus was sliding sideways in the mud just a few feet from the edge of the road.  I held my breath as my view of the road dropped away to a view of the massive cliff we were careening towards.  I knew there was not a thing I could do, if we went over, we went over.  I could barely see what looked like about a thousand foot drop to the bottom of what appeared to be a river gorge.  It was the end of the Nepalese monsoon season and the amount of water presently being forced down the river was staggering.  On the rafting rapid scale of 1-10, this was about an 18.  I had never in my life seen such water rage.  But that wasn’t really the issue here because if we were to tumble over the 1000 foot cliff, the river was the last of my worries.  What was even more terrifying was the waterfall coming OVER the mud road in front of us.  I’ve watched enough Weather Channel reports that say it only takes 6” of moving water to wash your car away.  This was more like three FEET coming over the bank on the mountain side of the road, quickly washing out the road and creating a torrent of water to rival Victoria Falls.

Somehow, the driver was able to keep the bus on the road and slide us back to within only five feet of our certain death but Victoria Falls was now looming dead ahead of us.  He began to gain speed to keep the bus from getting stuck in the knee deep mud and slowly sliding into oblivion.  As the bus fishtailed again and again I realized why there are so many CNN headlines about landslides here.  I was pretty positive I would soon be part of one of those stories with the bullseye pointing to the remote part of Nepal that the rest of world really didn’t care about.  Most of the climbers slept through the ordeal but a couple of us stared at each other wide eyed.  If we survived the drive, climbing the mountain would be a walk in the park!

At some point I decided that since it was all completely out of my control I would just ignore the road ahead and finally I fell into a fitful sleep.  As dawn approached, I sensed the bus had come to a stop and I assumed incorrectly we had arrived at the Tibetan border.  No, the driver explained to me, we had just arrived at the place where we couldn’t go any farther and with that, he promptly put his head back and fell asleep.

When light finally came, I grabbed my video and quietly slipped off the bus to see just what “can’t go any farther” meant.  What I saw was half the mountain that had slid down onto the road, rivers of muddy water rushing across.  There was so much water, there were already ducks bathing in the middle of the major Nepal/Tibet highway.  Yet, thousands of commercial trucks use this road daily as a major thoroughfare between the two countries.  I would never again complain about the state of the roads in America.

What truly concerned me was just 100 feet from the landslide were a series of small houses lining the road.  In the pre dawn light, the families were out on their tiny porches, brushing their teeth in the pump water and going about their day.  The young children, 6, 7 or 8 years old, were wandering on the landslide, staring at the cars that were stuck on one side or the other, generally unconcerned.  It was a danger they knew all too well and saw all too often. How easily that mud could have destroyed their homes, their families and their lives.  Today, they were fortunate that a different part of the mountain fell.  It was, it seemed an accepted risk of rural Nepalese village life.

At this point, we were 5km from the border.  We hired porters from the nearby village, loaded our packs on our backs and tiptoed our way across the landslide.  We rented a bus…no, that’s not right…a truck with a few seats…no….well…some kind of indescribable motorized vehicle to take us from there.  Because of the narrow mountain road and the lack of a place to U-turn, our new driver, barely out of puberty, expertly drove that bus BACKWARDS the last three miles.  Welcome to the end of Nepal and…it would soon seem, the end of the free world.

Check out this 3 minute video.  It’s the return drive in the light this time and in an actual car but it will give you an idea of the roads.

http://www.live-adventurously.com/this-drive-is-unbelieveable/

To Your Adventures~ Mantagirl

But two things have happened that led me to post about myself in this post because it’s not a normal thing that I would do.  First, we have added many new friends to our family here at Global Dive/Live Adventurously (welcome!) and second, I have received a diving award I want to share with you, but more on that later because while I do love recognition, I’m shy about it.

So, for all of you who know me and those that think they do and those that really don’t, here’s a bit of background.

I was born on campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan which gave natural rise to my first speaking words which were Mom (of course), Dad, and Bo Schembechler (the football coach at UofM).  Naturally, when I emerged into the world I was wearing a football jersey!

I had a somewhat normal suburban upbringing with an amazing pair of siblings, an older brother, younger sister and a couple of dogs that I adored. I spent all the summers of my youth sailing and swimming on the southern shores of Lake Erie, thus earning me the adoring nickname of “water rat” (I prefer mantagirl). But I took a turn for the adventure life with parents who led us on great travel adventures from a very young age. My mother taught me to be a free spirit and taught me that I could do anything. My mother was also president of the International Community Program at Michigan State University and  I spent much of my time growing up in the company of students from around the world. I knew at an early age that the entire world would become my home. In 1981 I earned a statewide award as Citizen for Cultural Exhange.

My parents also loved the water and one day my father came home and announced that we now owned a sailboat charter business in the Bahamas.  I became a hopeless addict to the ocean, moved to Florida only two days after graduating from college in 1985 and became a diver.

I took my first dive job on a live aboard out of Nassau with only 12 dives under my weight belt in 1986.  I acted as divemaster (scary!), dishwasher, anchor puller, bed maker and caretaker to the two dogs on board.  I taught and learned the dive tables (anyone remember those?) simultaneously while diving 5 times a day, 6 days a week.  The owners of the boat taught me the Caribbean fish and I soaked it in like it was life giving air.  It was the best $100/week I ever made.

There became nothing more exhilarating or more important to me than the ocean and all that lived in it.  I craved the tank on my back and the critters on the reef.  So in 1988 I scraped together $750 and financed the rest to go to NAUI college in California for a month to become a SCUBA Instructor.

Newly emerged from instructor training I headed south to work at a dive shop on St. Thomas and live on a friend’s boat.  But I spent more time selling t-shirts in the shop than teaching so I headed to Club Med in the Turks and Caicos where I was completely immersed in teaching diving and also immersed in falling in love with a long haired, skateboard riding sailing instructor…..Ridlon.

My next adventure was leading a team of 24 dive instructors on board the all diving ship, Ocean Spirit.  I joined as a dive instructor but quickly became training director for 190 divers each week on our run out of St. Petersburg, Florida down to the Bay Islands of Honduras, Belize and Mexico.  The concept and the crew were amazing but the ship wasn’t making it financially so we headed onward.

I took my teaching skills literally to the classroom and finished my second degree in special education.  I used it to teach severely emotionally disturbed teens (yes, redundant I know) but also to teach physically disabled SCUBA at a rehab hospital in Austin, Texas.  But the ocean kept calling and in 1994 while honeymooning in Tahiti, Ridlon and I discovered our friends, Ron and Dawna Thorstad, as well as a job on board the WindSong.

We joined the company of WindStar Cruises and spent five years diving the world from Tahiti to Turkey to Tonga, where we met so many of you!  And we were able to join some amazing expeditions to explore unknown reefs of the world. But we knew we wanted to do it on our own and in 1998, Ridlon and I created Global Dive Expeditions.  This company remains our life love. Having the privilege to show and teach others about the underwater world is truly our passion.

In 2006, I was inducted to the prestigious Explorers Club to humbly join a list of amazing explorers such as Sylvia Earle, and Neil Armstrong.

The other passion in my life is giving.  My family teases me that I was always “bringing home strays” whether it be dogs or people or birds with broken wings.  I’ve always rooted for the underdogs.  And as I traveled the world’s oceans I’ve seen the need in villages from Fiji to Papua New Guinea to the Caribbean Islands.  The need to assist with simple infrastructure for school systems and to teach ocean conservation in fishing villages seemed a natural extension of Global Dive. I simply had to put together a love of diving with a love of giving and in 2009 I spearheaded our foray into the non profit world by creating Ocean of Hope Foundation.  Now, I am in the final weeks of negotiations for our 501 3 c status with the IRS.

I’ve had frustrating setbacks in my journey like everyone and tangents that have led me astray to find the finances to keep the dreams alive.  The economic downturn of 2008 has been one of the most frustrating.  We have revamped the company, tried new things with a new website and re-branded in order to grow Global Dive into a thriving company that can sustain us full time and allow me to continue to teach the world about the ocean and bring adventure to people’s lives.

We are pushing forward into 2011 and 2012 with new dive adventures in new parts of world and new ways to give back.  The dream is as alive and as passionate as ever.

Oh, yes, I mentioned the award.  Yesterday, I received notice that I am to be inducted as a Platinum Pro 5000 member at a ceremony at DEMA in November.  This award is for dive professionals with significant contributions to the dive industry with over 5000 dives.  To date, I have completed over 7500 dives which marks me as one of the top female divers in the world.  It’s a wonderful honor to join the ranks of the Platinum Pro 5000 but it is more important to me to take you diving and continue to give back to the ocean that has given me so much in my short time on earth.

I hope you will be inspired to join me on an adventure soon!

To Your Adventures!

Mantagirl loving life, diving, and giving back.

Today we went out for lunch.  As is quite common of us here in Europe, we headed for a local pizza place.  There is nothing quite like the thin crust and REAL tomato taste of a pizza in Italy and the French actually can do a nice one too.  Today, it is Corsica so we knew we would not be disappointed.

Up in the corner of the menu was a “special”, a Corsican pizza.  My French is not too bad but I couldn’t understand some of the items listed on the pie.  So, rather than ask the server, I searched the menu to see if I could find the same words on other areas of the menu and then figure it out.  Sure enough, I found the words listed under the charcuterie plate which is an assortment of meats. I didn’t know exactly what meats but since Corsica is known for their sausages I figured we were great on that one. Ok, so it’s a meat lovers pizza, good to go.

Below the Corsican special pizza a second item was listed, moule du la biere Pietra. I know the word for beer in French and that Pietra is a lovely Corsican beer brewed to traditional and artisanal methods with malts, hops and chestnuts and no chemical additives.   So here is where my American culture threw me off course.  Since both items were listed in the box and one was a pizza and the other one some kind of beer, my brain just assumed that a moule must be a big pitcher of beer!  So we ordered one of each, we’ll split the pizza and the beer (typical of Americans again to split).

So I did the talking and told her we’d like the pizza and the beer.  Then she looked over to Ridlon and asked if he wanted anything to drink.  Odd, I thought, she thinks I’m going to drink the entire pitcher of beer?

After a bit out came the pizza complete with the entire charcuterie and she placed it before me.  Then out came…..the beer???? No, a huge tureen and a plate of potatoes… what???  Then she lifted the lid to proudly show us the huge bucket of MUSSELS.

Oops!

Then it hit us both.  Of course!  Moules is the French word for mussels that were obviously cooked in the lovely Pietra beer.  Then we just laughed.  Our cultural bias had come through loud and clear.  If it’s a pizza it must be a pitcher of beer…  I looked at Ridlon and said, “What were we thinking?”  When have you EVER seen Europeans drink beer from a pitcher?? Duh??? And just because the items are listed together in the corner of the menu does not mean they are meant to go together!  No wonder she asked Ridlon if he wanted something to drink with his mussels.

We sheepishly sent the mussels back to the kitchen and asked the server to bring us two pressions, which are draft beers.  We happily split our pizza and sipped our artisanal beer with chestnuts.

Just goes to show you that no matter how much you travel, you still catch yourself dragging your background with you and looking at life through the lenses of your upbringing.  There is wisdom in walking a mile in someone else’s shoes or at least understanding that pizza does not always go with beer.  Sometimes it goes with mussels.

Great pizza...hmmmm mussels?

To Your Adventures!