Hi there! If you are reading this you probably already know me and what I'm spending my time doing, but if not my name is Aron Alexander. I'm currently visiting the Seychelles for a volunteer program regarding marine life in this area, this program is set up by the "Global Volunteer Network". I'm hoping this journal will be fun for my family and friends back home to read, while at the same time being educational.
So my trip over here started at 5 in the morning when I left Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland (even though I live in Stykkisholmur, a small town about two hours from the capital) and went to Keflavik, to catch my first flight to Amsterdam. When checking in I noticed one of my bags didn't have a note indicating that I had a connection flight, but the lady checking me in assured me it was all right. I shouldn't have trusted her.. Spoiler alert, my bag got left in Amsterdam and I'm currently waiting to get it back.. If the check-in lady is reading this, thanks a lot!
While in central Amsterdam (I went to check it out since I had a 10 hour layover) I decided to see Damrak, the Red Light District and the Amsterdam Dungeon to name a few places. After wondering around for a couple of hours I went to the airport again to get on my next flight to Abu Dhabi. Little did I know, just before we got in Abu Dhabi a sandstorm hit, and we just got there in time! But that meant that my already two hour layover would turn out to be over 5 hours.. Not what you wanted after traveling for more that 24 hours..
After most of the sand and dust had settled I took off to my final destination, the Seychelles. I swear, the first breath I took there felt almost like inhaling water! The air was sooo, as the Danes would say, "fugtig!". But after I finally got the hang of breathing over here, went trough immigration and gave the airport people my info so they could send me the bag, I was free! My pickup dropped me off at the apartment I'm staying in the first days, after showing me places to eat and the dive centre, where I would show up the next day and start to get my PADI Open Water diving license!
The first thing I did when I was finally alone was to take a shower! After traveling for about 50 hours, with hardly any sleep and certainly not a shower it's safe to say it was amazing! Like ohh my dear lord amazing!! After that I then went to eat at one of the place my driver recommended and it was just by the beach, which made the below average food not really matter. But when I was done eating I could finally go to sleep! After I moved the big fan from the living room and into the bedroom, the heat wasn't so bad and I fell asleep right away.
The next morning I was ready at the dive centre at 9. After filling out some paperwork I started my training, first in the pool (lame) where we covered all the basics. But after we had done that, and showed that we have basic swimming skills it was time to dive in the Indian Ocean!
I will never forget my first dive! The pressure on your ears, the sound your regulator makes with each breath, and the waves hitting the side of the boat above me. On that first dive I saw countless reef fishes, a sea turtle, an octopus and poisonous urchins to name a few species. It was simply amazing!
After the first diving day was over I went back to the apartment, grabbed some fresh fruit and headed down to the beach, where I took a long walk in the sunset. A perfect ending to a perfect day.
I hope you liked my first entry in this journal, and thanks for reading! But since I need to be back at the dive centre tomorrow morning I think sleeping would be a smart option now! If the next three months will be as good as the first day I will consider this trip a huge and definite success! Warm regards (and I mean that quite literally, since it's always around 30°C here) from Aron in the Seychelles to you, dear reader.
