My Thirty First Birthday

Well they do say time flies when you’re having fun and despite some ups and downs the last year has been a lot of fun. On my thirtieth birthday I felt at peace with myself. I was unsure about how I was going to make my life work but I had an idea of how I wanted it to go. Now a year later I’m getting there. I always joke about how plans and me don’t work and that I am bad at the little decisions but good at the big ones. Yet here I am a year later living the kind of life I planned on my thirtieth birthday. I’m not at the place I thought I would be and I had no idea then that I’d be working in a hostel never mind have pretty decent waitressing skills by now but here I am, living my dream.

More than that I’ve been working towards keeping my dream alive. I’ve almost completed a TEFL course. I’m looking into ways to make something out of my love of diving and learning about tourism. I’m taking the chances offered to me to learn about the things I love in the hope that somewhere along the line it’ll all come together and I might even get a ‘proper’ job out of them.

On my birthday itself I had a pretty chilled day. I was working early and late as I asked not to be given the day off. I found time to open some cards and a few presents and I enjoyed doing nothing more taxing than napping during my afternoon break. For me the real fun was to come the next day. I had bought myself an overnight trip out to the reef. I went out on the Rum Runner early on the Thursday morning and arrived back mid afternoon on the Friday, with just enough time to shower before my evening shift at work.

The trip was fabulous and the reef was its usual beautiful self. On the way out we were joined by a pod of dolphin for a while. I have swum with dolphins but there was something special about seeing them swim and jump alongside the boat. As soon as we reached the outer reef it was time for our first dive. Our guide was just as excited as us since this would be the first time he had dived this location as well. It was as beautiful as I have come to expect and a great start to our trip. We stayed under for almost forty five minutes which was a new record for me and I even had air to spare once we surfaced. Our second dive was at a different but equally good location. Again we were under for a decent amount of time thought this time my air usage wasn’t as good due to the spectacular scenery distracting me. For our third and fourth dive we headed to a more sheltered reef where we could safely moor for the night. The visibility wasn’t as good but the site was still beautiful and it was interesting to see the compare the reef at night to our dive during the day.

On the Friday morning it was the usual early start for the morning dive but as always it was worth it. Not only was the scenery good I got my first really good look at a lionfish. Our second dive was at another different but spectacular sight which was a great end to a fabulous trip. The boat was older so it had loads of character and though the cabin didn’t have aircon the crew were happy for the guests to take their mattresses up to the deck and sleep under the stars. All in all it was a fabulous birthday present. Every time I get into the water to go diving I am awed by the variety of fish and coral and reminded of how little I know about the planet I live on. I really am going to have to learn what all these fish and other animals are if I’m going to make a habit of this diving malarkey.

Even after the trip had ended the fun hadn’t. After work I met up with some of the folks from the trip and crew from the boat and a fun night of drinking and table dancing more than made up for my sobriety on my birthday. All in all I can say that thirty one is so far a lot less painful and off to a much more promising start than thirty. Here’s hoping it continues for a long, long time.