Seattle

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Seattle. I had a great time. It's really beautiful. I would consider living there if it didn't rain so much. U of WA actually has a program for out-of-state students who have S.A.D. You come in once a week (or something) and get exposed to a sun lamp. If you condition is really bad, you take one back to your room. So in other words, that's how 'frequently' the sun is out. I was told June-August is the best time to visit because it's sunny. The weather was actually pretty good while I was there. I even got to do some diving in Puget Sound. It's cold -- about 50F so I had to rent a dry suit. Once I got into the water, I just fell in love. The viz was pretty good, and there were so many interesting things to see. We swam along a wall with lots of nooks and crannies. Saw shrimp, star fish with 100 arms called the sunflower sea star, scorpion fish, sea lion, bull kelp (which I mistook for squid at one point), etc. I really wanted to see a wolf eel or octopus but I missed it. Some other people saw both. Oh well, I guess this gives me another reason to go back. At the boat dock, I could see Mt. Rainier. It's beautiful. The photo doesn't do it justice.

I really wanted to get close and maybe hike a bit but didn't get the chance. But I did get to do and see some cool things. (1) Took a tour of the underground which is the original Seattle but was built over, (2) went to Whidbey Island but it rained so I couldn't really see much, (3) went to see the soapbox car race after it was over and took photos of the cars, (4) met up for dinner with some friends who live in Seattle, (5) Pikes Market which I thought would be really cheesy turned out to be charming, (6) visit Snoqualmie Falls.

Seattle is great for access to outdoor activities - climbing, hiking, biking, diving, kayaking to all the little islands (which was something I want to do), wineries (not really outdoors), etc. But it has a decent night life for party people also. Some really good restaurants. I didn't get to try the local fare much. Huckleberry is big there so I tried huckleberry popcorn which was okay. I had crab cakes at Anthony's Pier 21 which was really good. Steak at Gaucho's which was good but nothing to write home about. If you do go there, I recommend getting the Ostrich steak. Really good and tastes like beef.

Blub... blub...

I'm leaving Aruba today. The trip was so short and with the hurricane, it feels even shorter since I couldn't do much on Saturday. I hope I can return. I had a great time, the people were friendly, I feel like I've made some friends here.

Yesterday I rented a car and went diving. I was hoping to follow the dive shop car but I missed them so I ended up having to find my own way down to Baby Beach. It was an adventure to say the least. The signage is not very good here. They are few and have many circles. Sometimes the sign doesn't correspond to the available outlets in the circle and of course I chose the wrong one. On my way down, I was almost at Downtown but I made a wrong turn and went back north and ended up on Eagle Beach. Eventually after about an hour I found my way to the shop on Baby Beach. The shop's name is Jads. The owner is Jean Pierre or JP for short. Jairo, my dive master, was originally from Bonaire. I did two one-on-one shore dives with him. Our first dive was at Rocky Beach. We took a 10min drive and parked the car at his friend's house. We walked to the back where there is an area you can walk into the water. The waves were a bit rough so it was difficult swimming out but the water was serene once we finally made it down. The visibility was not very great... about 15-20 feet. There was not much to see -- coral, pipefish, christmas tree worms in different colors, parrot fish, some kind of blue fish, black tang, etc. I was still glad I got to dive during my vacation. We went back to the shop and relaxed for a bit before our second dive. I was a bit hesitant to go out again because there wasn't much to see but I'm glad I did. The waves at Baby Beach were rougher so it was even more difficult to swim out. The waves were pretty high and I was having a difficult time keeping my head above water. Despite the current, the visability was better, the coral a little more colorful and more fish to see. I even saw a baby sting ray! When I first got down, the current was strong, so I could see the shrub-like things, floating left and right. It was pretty amuzing because I knew I must look like that too. We followed the fiber optic cable lines back to shore and used the current to float inland. When we came up, there were a whole line of people waiting on the shore. Jairo joked and said that they were looking for me. The funny thing was that they really were. A woman in the watchtower saw 2 snorkelers go down so she called 911, the coast guard, and the fire department. There were also 2 news reporters. I might end up in the paper! Haha. There were even going to send out a helicopter but the dive shop called it off. I wish that heli could have bring me out so I didn't have to take in so much water trying to swim out.