Nick and Laina's Adventures

Well, we made it out of South America, and after 5 months of fun, I definitely have a good impression on the continent. Now we are in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, where we will make this our home for at least a year. Getting here, we moved in with my mom's friend, Jeff, a cool guy who decided to move here 20 years ago. St. Croix is somewhere in between South America and the US. They drive on the left side of the road, and there are lots of tropical plants everywhere. It seems to be a pretty low-lying island, with some tall hills, but nothing like the Andes or Hawaii. As it turns out, St. Croix is not volcanic! It was pushed up from the bottom by the force of plate tectonics. That alone gives this island a different feel then anywhere else I have been. We head to the dive shop where we will spend of our time, since we now work there. Meeting all the employees, we realize that we fit right in, since everyone are travellers! There's Ross from New Zealand, Stina from Denmark, Donald from Iowa, Molly from Alabama, and so many more! Hanging out at jeffs house is a blast since he has 5 animals! He has two dogs, Jethro and Lobo, they are big black dogs, very puppy-like, An African grey parrot, Goose, who likes to start up conversations, often, and two cats, Calvin and Stimey. Since we arrived we've gone scuba diving 15 times, I got my Advanced Scuba Diver Certification, and we both just finished our Rescue Scuba Diver Certification. Over the next few weeks, I plan to do 35 more dives so I can start my Divemaster Certification, which will allow me to take customers scuba diving, and get paid for my boat time. Since we have been pretty much scuba diving every day since we got here, let me tell you a little about the diving here. St. Croix has three big attractions, The Wall, which is a huge reef wall that drops down to between 3000 and 13000 feet. The Wall has big pelagic (open ocean) creatures that visit, and lots of relief. There is also Fredriksted Pier, which is loaded with corals, sponges, octopus, rays and moray eels. And finally there is long reef, which is supposedly the longest continuous barrier reef in the caribbean. Between these three places, there are 80 or so moorings designated for scuba. Just today we were diving on the wall, and I saw a nurse shark, turtle, two barracudas, stingrays, tunicates, and many more cool things. So pretty much we are going to hang out here, get some diving experience, while getting certified, and try to make some money. I will probably be writing these blogs a lot less, maybe one a month, since we dont have internet very often. However, we are doing well, and under the water!!