speckled blobs and giant vacuum cleaners

how dee, people!
well, its been another good week on the island. i dmt'd for an open water course this week-- a really fun group of 5, 3 aussies, a kiwi and of course, the token canadian. theyre everywhere here, and for some ungodly reason they're all in possession of a canadian flag tattoo. i mean, what is that about??? canada's pretty and all, but branding? and was that some sort of joint national decision, like a patriotic campaign, or is it just a strange phenomenon the arose because they arent too busy with private healthcare and gun control? post your thoughts, if you like.
since the course, ive had some good times, yesterday being one of the more amazing days of diving ive had so far. for the morning dive, we went off the point of the island,where the current from the north side meets the current from the south side, and all the fishies meet for a kind of schmorgasbord. pretty much as soon as we descended i saw a black-spotted nudibranch, a tiny little mollusk about an inch or two long. rare, and utterly kickass. i then saw two eels and sargassum triggerfish, also pretty rare and as nick says, "the sexiest fish in the sea." heres a picture of the nudibranch.

THEN was the doozy. the motherofall. so ive been the object of much mockery around the shop lately because about 2 weeks ago, luke went for an afternoon dive that i let go by, and saw a 6 foot nurse shark. i. was. pissed. so since that woeful day, ive put up on the board, several times a week, that same site, the dive to be led by luke. every time, at least 5, something has gone wrong, and i havent been able to go. it was becoming a pretty notorious curse. but yesterday, one diver signed up for the dive, and it was set to happen. let me make clear, that the odds of seeing a shark were very very slim. but i had faith. boy, did i have faith. and lo and behold, about 30 minutes into the dive, we round a corner in a canyon and what there layest on the ocean floor?... a 7 foot nurse shark! i peed a little. not really. he (or she) was BEAUTIFUL. for everyone's general info, nurse sharks are toothless, and somewhat resemble overgrown vacuum cleaners. theyre dark gray and their faces are kind of benign and haunting and strong. amazing shit.
after that dive, the day just kept its trend, and we had a big ANZAC day celebration on the beach. for those of you like me, who arent too well versed in the national holidays of other nations, ANZAC day stands for australia and new zealand army corps, and its the equivalent of memorial day. only cause australians arent quite the conflict loving people we are, their day has mostly to do with gallipoli, where apparently they all rallied and "ran into a wall of bullets." duncan called it "the greatest surrender of all time." so we have one day to take care of all battles and wars, and they just have one for one. hmmmm...
anyway, ill try to post pictures of my first cricket endeavor, where i kicked total ass. maybe not, but it was fun and confusing as hell and i had a few good hits. theres so much to write about, but i think this ones pretty long, and i have to go back to work. miss you kids.