By Brae and Oren:
In our last few posts we told you about statistics and school, but now we want to remind you how many really, really fun things we’re doing in Colombia…in case you forgot!
Our friend Maryline, who is my mum and dad’s Spanish teacher, helped us go on an incredible diving lesson on Sunday. Her boyfriend Camilo, and his cousin José are both diving teachers. And because we are friends with Maryline, we had an extra special experience!
We went to a beach called Playa Blanca (white beach) and the only way to get there is by boat. When we arrived, no one was there and so we had the whole beach to ourselves, apart from a little dog and its owner, who has a restaurant on the beach.
First we climbed up a hill so we could see the view. From the top we could see black smudges in the water. José told us that they were schools of sardines.
For our lesson, José took us into the water and gave us our masks and snorkels and told us important things you need to know if you want to go free diving. Free diving is when you can dive right down underwater with your snorkel, not just staying on the top. We practiced all the tips he gave us and he said we were doing really well so we set off to the other side of the beach, got our flippers and he told us how to use them.
We went diving near a rocky cliff and there was amazing coral and all kinds of incredible fish and sea anemones. We were amazed about all the different colours of the fish. It felt like being in an aquarium.
About half way along the cove José spotted a puffer fish swimming around among the coral. He dived down and gently urged it up towards the surface by putting his hand near its nose but not actually touching it. We were lucky enough to touch it, extremely gently, and it felt like silk because it wasn’t frightened or puffed up. When they’re puffed up they have spikes that point out so they’re like a balloon with spikes on. We would have liked to see it puff up but we didn’t want to make it frightened. While we were diving we didn’t touch the coral as we didn’t want to damage it and also José told us that the orange parts of the coral would really sting if you even put one finger on it.
We feel really lucky to have this great experience and to have friends like Maryline, Camilo and José to help us do something so extraordinary that we will never forget.
Amazing! Looks beautiful! きれいですね！羨ましい！
Ava says “I love the picture with the fish swimming. It’s amazing that you saw so many fish when you were diving. Can you teach me to dive when you come back?” Xx “I miss you both” xx
Oscar says “can you teach me too?!” X
wow ,looks wonderful ,but don’t think I would like to swim with fish ,I had a chance once in australia and couldn’t do it ,you are so brave.xxxx
Hi Grandma
It is good to see that you have basically commented on every blog post, it makes us very happy to hear what you have to say!
It was the best and the fish just swam away if you came near, I think there might be more sharks in the coral there?
Lots of love Oren and Braexxx
maybe ,don’t think I thought of sharks eek!!!
xx
Hi Grandma
It is really good to see that you have commented on basically all of our blog posts, it makes us really happy to hear what you have to say!
The fish just swam away when you came near them, maybe there are more sharks in Australia and that’s why you didn’t want to do it?
Lots of love Oren and Braexxx
I really want you to teach me how to free dive! Did you know that a pufferfish’s spikes are highly poisonous?And that Japanese people eat pufferfish?
Hi Koo
It is always really nice to read your comments and we are always really interested to see what you say.
I didn’t know those fascinating facts! I’m glad that the pufferfish didn’t have its spikes out!
From Oren
¡¡¡Ustedes son unos amores!!! Fue un gusto completo compartir con vuestra linda familia. Ya pueden bucear por el mundo entero, son unos sirenitos preciosos
Tenemos mucha suerte de contar con unos alumnos tan buenos como ustedes ¡espero que vuelvan!
¡Un abrazo grande como el mar Caribe!
That looked really goo fun. You are so lucky.
What a fantastic experience boys, and lots of great photos. Maybe one day we can all go diving together — I’m sure there are loads of exotic things to see diving off Mundesley (shopping trolleys, old boots, maybe even some fish). Love the blog, and looking forward to hearing the rest of your tales in person in a few weeks’ time. xxx