In association with Performance FreeDiving International
Today is our first real day off and the day that Mandy finally arrives.
We take advantage of our day off and sleep in till around 9 a.m. Once up Doc asks incredulously "Why are we so tired? We never do anything in the water except a couple dives." He’s in amazement at how much energy we’re expending being in the water every day. But soon we’re up and emailing and having breakfast: another morning at Cobalt Coast.
By 2 p.m. we’re greeting our third team member. Mandy’s here! She quickly packs her bags into the van and we’re off to find lunch. Mandy’s flights were okay even though she travelled from Seattle to Grand Cayman on the red-eye, and got delayed in Seattle. After a quick lunch at Sunset House we leave for South Sound. We’re going there to test a wave pool and skateboard park.
The wave pool makes a standing wave by five powerful jets shooting a 10 cm / 4 in. deep jet of water which rides up a wave-formed foam bottom. You can boogie board, skim board and surf this standing wave on four different speed settings. You can change the size, speed and power of the wave. It’s a riot! After a while we notice that Mark Tomkins, a former student, is supervising the riders. Small world!
Mark tells us the full story of the park, pointing out the myriad of concrete hills, bumps, rails and other features, making what he says is the world’s largest skateboard park. It’s certainly the place to drop off the water kids and skater kids for a day of fun.
Evening comes and we head out to meet Danny, Marnie and Kirsten at Eduardo’s for a fine dinner. We discuss some plans with Kirsten, who works for the Cayman Islands Department of Environment. She’s going to take us on a guided tour of some areas to show us the regrowth after hurricane Ivan. She tells us how the mangroves are healing — slowly life is getting back to normal.
Tomorrow is Mandy’s first real day of training.
This night sleep is welcome and comes very easily.
