Firstly, I'm not really sure how this happened - there are certain age milestones during life, but I'm not sure how this one snuck up on me !
I don't remember what happened on my 18th so it must have been a pretty drunk affair (kes may remember - I remember his better as I had to pull him out of a police truck that he climbed into thinking it was a taxi !!!)., I know that I celebrated my 21st in Leicester at a club called 'The Fan Club', it was a Tuesday and both shots and bottles of Becks were 40 pence. I spent my 30th at the Queen Victoria public house in Northampton which we hired out for the evening, about 50 people were there and much drunken and disorderly behaviour ensured, but 40?
It doesn't feel like a milestone now that it is here, I don't feel 40, I don't look 40 and I most certainly don't act 40, so what the hell I had better just keep enjoying life.
I knew something had been planned for the day by Josie as I had been booked off work, and being told to take my diving gear home from work provided a clue, but I was pretty much in the dark as to what was happening or who would be involved.
My first surprise was a VR3 dive computer - now this means nothing to the non divers out there, but for those in the know it is a great present, especially for journeying down the realm of technical diving - nuff said.
Jo disappeared at an ungodly hour, I was just told to be ready for 8am, at which time Eric turned up to collect me a take us to our first destination, this turned out to be Big Blue (where Jo works), as she had months earlier pre booked a dive boat just for us and friends for the day. Waiting there were Jo (obviously) and other key friends on the island Steve, Nik, and Deb, so the only noticeable absentee was Lynne who could not get the day off. With Jo at the helm we headed out for a day at West Caicos, laden down with dive gear, kayaks, food and alcohol.
The sun was shining, the seas were calm and a it seems it was going to be a memorable day when as we came around the point at West Caicos we were joined by a pod of about 30 Atlantic dolphins, which included a number of young. These are normally shy and soon disappear if you try and join them in the water, however, we thought we would chance it and amazingly they continued to hang around, even swimming up to us and around us. In the end we spent about 10 minutes swimming and duck diving with then before they got bored of us and headed off - there could not have been a better start to the day.
We moored up on a dive site called 'Elephant Ear Canyon' for the dive and all jumped in. The water was crystal clear and I quickly dropped to 180ft hung around for a minute or so, savouring the solitude and having the opportunity the look at the wall rising both above and below me. Jo and I then headed shallow where we pottered around before heading back to the boat - the total dive time was of course 40 minutes.
The dive over and it already approaching late morning, it was time for brunch and corona !
We then headed towards the dive site 'Yankeetown' where we dropped anchor close to the shoreline and swam to West Caicos. The dive site is named after a settlement of the same name, which is situated just a few hundred feet inland. It was once a sisal plantation and existed from the late 1800's - 1920's, I have wanted to explore the remains of the settlement and the surrounding vicinity for over a year and Jo knowing this had led to her choosing West Caicos as a destination. Suitably protected from mozzies we wandered around the settlement, saw the remains of their hand dug cistern, some of the remaining buildings and abandoned equipment (steam train and sisal press) before heading inland to the lake. We followed the old route of the rail line which ran across the length of lake Catherine to the other side of the island - the embankment would have been hand built and must have been a real feat of engineering.
We headed back to the boat and moved along the coast towards the dive site 'Brandy Wine' where again we swam inshore to see the remains of an old crane which had been left there decades earlier - I have passed it on the boat many many times so it was about time I went and had a closer look.
It was now getting towards early afternoon so we chose to head back towards the point of the island where we had passed the dolphins. The kayak was now in the water being pulled behind the boat and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss - Steve and I jumped in and were introduced to 'speed kayaking', whereby we were dragged behind the boat bouncing in its wake and getting truly soaked to the skin - great fun, but the novelty does begin to wear off once you are truly blinded by salt water and have also had mouthfuls of the stuff.
We dropped anchor, ate rolls, crisps and cheesecake and drank a number of Erics infamous margaritas. Fully replenished we jumped in the kayak and using them in the traditional manner headed over to some small caves/inlets on the shore. We all then snorkeled around the site, explored some of the cave mouths and generally chilled.
The journey back was very relaxed (thanks to more margaritas) and the day was topped off with more drinks on Debs boat watching the sunset.
It was a brilliant and memorable day spent with some great friends - it could only have been bettered if I had got to see my family and if I had got to enjoy the day with a couple of absent and much missed friends - you guys know who you are.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes and those that I missed on my birthday I hope to see again soon.
