I'm baaaaaaack
And feeling exhausted but totally invigorated.
Brief highlights - boat was AMAZING. Rooms were as big as a hotel room and the bathrooms bigger than many hotels I've been in. Got a room to myself as the only single female traveller
. Crew were fantastic and very attentive (especially to the only single female traveller.......
) ! Diving was great - beginning part of the trip was beautiful reef, second part mucky 'muck diving' (ie diving in a junk yard but you tend to find the weird and wonderful stuff there although it is quite disgusting to dive in !). Currents were variable - some stronger currents at times which made me very pleased that I'd done the 4 weeks of running which had really started to improve my fitness.
The absolute best thing that I did for this trip was to buy some swimming shorts (like cycling shorts made out of swimming material) along with (supportive) tankini tops. As much as I probably looked a little bit weird in the shorts (all the other girls were teeny tiny or fabulously curvy in bikinis or costumes), the fact that I didn't need to worry about my legs was such an enormous plus and took away so many anxieties that I would have had otherwise. Plus it made the wetsuit much easier to put on.
Food wise - the best holiday that I'd ever been on (in terms of how I coped). Obviously lots of food (eating frequently, after every dive) which was delicious. Pretty much ate what I want but not excessively. Cut down my breakfast portions over the trip because I found I just wasn't getting hungry in the mornings (2 breakfasts, then lunch by about 12.40 !) but had what I wanted (toast with peanut butter and jam, banana pancakes with syrup *drool*). Probably had slightly too big (self service) portions at lunch but didn't stress about it. Dinner was served so I just had what I was given but asked for no potatoes. Didn't snack on the biscuits/peanuts around and didn't eat all the chocolates left on my bed. Little alcohol except on 2 nights with some consequences.....
oops !
So net result will be determined either at tomorrows/thursdays weigh in (to allow me to 'dry out' from the flight) but it looks like at worst case it will be a STS and best case a few lbs loss. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY.
So, will try and start catching up on threads (when I can work out how the new site works !) but just wanted to say hi. Thanks for your messages and thoughts while I've been away.
Gail x