The waves haven’t been great lately, but they’re enough to pop up on the board and get a few seconds in. Ouest got a new shortboard recently and was struggling a bit to find the sweet spot, but once she found it she never missed another wave. Lowe likes the board, too.

We went for a dive at the Marieta Islands, about an hour offshore from here. It was a beautiful day and we were hopeful that we’d have a couple good dives, but on the way out there the swell just kept building, and by the time we were in the water it was clear that we wouldn’t be seeing anything.

While we were down there I was thinking, “Bummer, the kids aren’t going to have fun today.” After the first dive Lowe came up with a big bolt he had found and been playing with. I said, “Sorry, the dive sucked.” Lowe, in a totally cheerful voice said, “I liked it.” He made me realize that a big part of the fun of diving for them isn’t seeing a bunch of different fish or coral, it’s about the act of diving itself. They just like hanging out down there.

The dive tour wasn’t at all what I expected it to be. Somehow instead of a typical dive boat, we were on a typical booze cruise. There were only about twelve divers on a boat with two hundred tourists. It actually turned out to be quite fun, though.

After the first dive the dive master asked if we’d like to try a different spot. We left the islands and went to a spot along the coast instead. It was much better. We saw big stone fish, a seahorse, eels, and a butterfly ray. Visibility was loads better.

And afterwards we got to come up to the private beach and booze it up with the rest of the tour boat. Fun day with the kids. We’re all looking forward to getting our own dive compressor for this trip around the globe.