This was the first day that we actually had me somewhere in the morning and couldn’t just lounge around. Our scuba appointment was back in town and started at 8:00, so we got up about 7:00 ish, got the car back to driving condition, meaning that we put all the stuff that we move in order to sleep back and in its place, so we can get back into our front seats and drive away.
I again started working on my e-learning portion of the training course, a little concerned because I hadn’t completed anywhere near what was supposed to have been completed before our first day in person. I read the training out loud so that Chase could learn while he was driving.
We got to the dive shop, started getting fitted for our fins and wetsuits, and then they handed us a medical form that we needed to fill out.
Long story short, I failed three different categories of medical concerns and needed a doctor to sign off on me going scuba diving in order to even go. The problem was that the clinics in New Zealand were booked out multiple weeks in advance, and there was no way I could get into see a doctor to get cleared to scuba dive. My other option was to get in contact with my doctor from back in the States and have hurt clear me but that was pretty much impossible because it was Thanksgiving back in the states. I made a few efforts anyway in the hopes of making it all happen, especially since we’d already plunked down several hundred dollars to pay for the course. In the end, it just wasn’t to be. Gratefully, we were able to get the refunds we wanted and hoped for even though we had already sort of started the course.
Chase and I, multiple times, had been talking about getting snorkeling gear, so when we were unable to do the scuba diving trip, we decided to just go ahead and buy snorkeling equipment. I was grateful that Chase was so cool about not being able to go scuba diving. He’s really easy going and just rolls with what happens, which is good for me to be around.
We bought some nice diving pins and a nice snorkeling masks and what not, and we each bought a shorty wetsuit as well. One of the people who worked at the dive shop suggested we go to a particular cove, Oke Cove, so after buying our stuff, we headed toward the ferry which was a decent shortcut to where we were wanting to go.
I had myself a little mini crush on Sophia, the French woman who is going to be our instructor, but I didn’t do anything about it at that point. 🙃
So we headed off, back toward where we had met Maya, and then a little bit further up the peninsula. We found the beach that had been recommended and, storing all our gear up on a little. Little rocky outcropping by the beach, we suited up and headed into the water.
It wasn’t but a handful of feet into the water before we realized we were in the middle of a group of stingrays.
This time, however, after talking to the owner of the dive shop and learning the stingrays really aren’t much to be afraid of, that. Steve Irwin died because he came upon a sleeping stingray and was swimming over it in order to get a really good shot. He never should have been doing that, and when the stingray woke up, out of instinct it reached up and stung him sending its Barb right through Steve Irwin’s heart.
I was still very cautious around the stingrays because when they lie in the shallows by the beach, they get covered in sand and can actually be pretty hard to see. As long as you come out them from the front or the side, they just swim away from you. You. But if you come up behind them and they don’t see you, that’s when you’re at risk for getting a sting. They are not necessarily fatal, and those little ones that we were swimming in even less so. They do have some venom, but it would more likely be just a very, very painful sting than anything life threatening. I would swim toward them, but I would make very sure that I was only coming out them from the front or the sides. And I was super careful to watch for any that might have been covered in sand so I didn’t accidentally come up on any unawares.
Unfortunately, as with every other effort that I’ve ever made to snorkel, the mask just fogs up. So I constantly had to pull the mask off and wipe the fog away. I’d get a handful of seconds of really clear ocean before it would start to fog back up. It never fogged up badly enough that I couldn’t see anything, but it just wasn’t super clear. Still, I had fun swimming through the Rocky areas under the water, finding some fish to follow around. That didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence. The small school of slightly colorful fish. They were pretty tiny. And there was a fairly bland looking fish but I followed a little bit. Other than that, It was mostly just sea urchins.
Still, it was fun to snorkel around. 🙂
After we finished snorkeling, as I was coming in, my feet were hurting pretty good, and my left heel was completely numb. I realized that my friends were pinching me that she was to cause the pain and numbness. We headed back to the dive shop we bought the equivalent from, and I swapped the things out for a better pair.
I was hoping that Sophia would still be there, as it was going to be right around the time the shop was going to close, and so it would be a perfect time to invite her to join chase and I for dinner, but she wasn’t there, unfortunately.
Oh well.
Chase and I left Paihia and decided to head back south. We’d heard about white poo caves, and even though we loved Abby caves and heard Abby caves was better than Waipu Caves, we decided we might as well go check out Waipu Caves anyway.
It was mostly on our way back, but out west into the country. When we got there, it was late at night, and the parking lot was full of other campers. Though it was late, since it was a cave, It didn’t matter that it was dark outside, so we grabbed our gear and headlamps and headed into the cave right then and there.
Boy are we glad we did. In another example of things turning out better than planned, because we got there at night, the first huge room that is close to the entrance. That is absolutely glow. Worms was lit up more brilliantly than any other part of any of the caves that we’ve been to to that point. Had we come during daylight hours, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as brilliant because the opening to the cave is close enough to that huge room that the light pollution would have ruined the stunning Vista that we saw once we got inside. It was just simply amazing.
Jason and I spent probably the next 2 hours or so crawling around the different tunnels in the cave, finding other places where there were a few glow worms, but only really the first two rooms had lots of glow worms. After that, it was more just spelunking than finding glow worms. We crawled through tunnels all over, we followed her underground river up and down a little bit, and just generally had a good time.
By the time we got out of the cave, later, certainly the last people out of the cave by quite a long bit, and it was probably around 11:00 or midnight or something like that. I don’t remember. Being as late as it was, and being as tired as we were, we just crashed for the night.
Interestingly, before we actually fell asleep, a small group of three people came up to our car while we were in it, literally leaning against it. We didn’t know exactly what they were doing at first, and then we realized that they were spying on another car that was parked a little ways away from us. It was kind of creepy for a little bit, and I was about ready to try and scare the crap out of him, but we waited to see what was going on and didn’t do anything.
Anyway, that was the last little bit of adventure before we closed our eyes and fell asleep for the night.
Oh, if I haven’t mentioned it, and this is totally a non sequitur, but one of the funny things about New Zealand is that they’re pretty much no guardrails almost anywhere on the roads. Roads. Even when it’s a crazy steep cliff right next to the road, the vast majority of the time there are no good rails at all. I’ve actually kind of liked that about New Zealand. So far. It’s just this place where people expect you to be smart. When you go to the beaches, if there’s a riptide, doesn’t tell you that you’re not allowed to swim: It tells you that there’s a riptide and no swimming is “advisable,” but it lets you choose for yourself. It was like that it found that it falls there. There was no fence or guardrail or anything at all on the bridge that you walk across. That’s literally just a few dozen feet from where the falls cascades down. You could slip and file in and possibly go over the files, but the expect you to just be smart about it.
I like that.
In the states, people have a hissy fit over stuff like that. And if somebody gets hurt or dies, there’s often a big campaign to shut the whole darn place down, not letting anyone else enjoy it.
That happened to Nutty Putty Caves, one of my favorite caves. It was a complete beginner’s cave, and had provided enjoyment to people for many, many, many years, including children. But because of one person who chose to do something extremely foolish and ended up paying for it with his life, the whole place got shut down to everyone forever.
Certainly, it was an awful tragedy, but that’s all. It was. A tragedy. People should learn. People should be smart. And people take risks, that’s their choice. I know I’ve taken plenty of risks, and gratefully, I’ve never paid for it with my life, but I’ve known the risks.
So I’m grateful that New Zealand is the way that it is. Let us make our own choices. Let us take responsibility for our own safety. Let us be smart or foolish, and let us pay the consequences, and don’t force the consequences on others as well.
Anyway, end rant. 🙃
Love and hugs. 😊
~ stephen
Lift the World 