or: Living in the Moment Helps to Avoid Packing

I’ve just completed my final two dives in Mauritius with Dive Spirit Mauritius and will sit the exam for the Rescue Diver license tomorrow.

Now it is time to study, sleep and get ready for a barbecue this evening (with some new friends, French and Mauritian). This is a good example of when multi-tasking is impossible. It is also a reminder that multi-tasking isn’t really necessary. All of these things will happen at some stage over the next few hours. A few things faster than others.

You will notice that packing my bags isn’t on this list. That’s because I don’t like to pack. It’s a reminder that my time in a location I particularly enjoy is coming to an end. My final load of washing is on so I’ll have clean clothes when I land and the rest of my things are in semi-organised piles. That’s the extent of my packing so far.

It will make no further progress today.

The progress will be made somewhere between 3pm to 5pm tomorrow.

I leave for the airport at 5pm for a flight at 9pm.

I’m not going to write anymore about the next stage of my trip right now except that I think I may have found the longest way to the Gold Coast aside from taking a boat. There may be a post about this next week or about my cousin’s wedding and catching up with family that I haven’t seen for a long while or something else that happens to tickle my fancy that particular Sunday.

I digress…

There are about 974 things I like about Mauritius. Quite a few of these have happened today.

Waking up this morning, the sun was shining again after a bit of a rainy day yesterday. My breakfast included a freshly cut coconut with the juice. I watched it being cut, poured and then cut further. It is not possible to have a coconut much fresher than the one that has just been cut from a tree in the backyard.

I started the five minute walk to the dive centre, listening to the songs of the cardinals and a few other birds who haven’t yet made enough of an impact on me to find out what they are called.

I was greeting and being greeted with “bonjour”s along the way. I bumped into a friend, we kissed on both cheeks, chatted in English and I kept walking passed the dogs that don’t bark at me anymore and even passed chickens and roosters that I no longer have the urge to take a wide berth around. I’m not sure if this will translate now to all chickens and roosters or just these ones.

Five minutes and I was at the dive centre chatting with some of the people I have dived with previously as a few happened to be diving today too. We had a good chat as we dressed for our dive. Me in several layers, others in substantially less.

The crew there are hilarious and also joked with us as we were getting ready.

The water was various shades of blues and turquoises. I was part of a postcard and soon to be part of an aquarium. These are the days where I don’t want to come out of the water. Except I need to eat.

Visibility was fantastic and it was like I could see for miles. I work in metric yet saying “I could see for kilometres” doesn’t sound quite right. There were schools of juvenile bullethead parrotfish, various trigger fish, nudibranchs, moray eels and a turtle which somehow I missed seeing since I think I was looking at a pride of lionfish hanging out. Probably hunting zebra fish.

My most amazing thing to see was a moray eel sharing its burrow with a peacock grouper. I have never seen those eels share anything. They are too grumpy for sharing. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me for that dive.

It was a very relaxing dive, hanging in the water and floating along with minimal effort required. Bliss.

My second dive had me buddied with a new diver which was a great experience. It’s good to remember what things are like when you’re new to them and the various concerns people tend to have and what can happen. This made for a less relaxing dive than my first one though I learnt a lot more.

After the main part of the dive, we then completed some more of the Rescue Diver exercises. If I happen to be diving with you now and you’re unconscious and unresponsive underwater, don’t worry (you’ll be in no state to worry then anyway!), I now know how to bring you to the surface slowly enough not to give you any additional problems. This is not a skill I hope to have to use in my lifetime but it’s good to know how to do it.

We then practiced what to do if there is an unresponsive diver on the surface, how to get them to shore while giving mouth-to-mouth. Again, not a skill I hope to ever need to use.

I’ve had lunch from one of the caravan restaurants at the beach and I’m now typing this. Content.

All is right with the world. Well, my part in it right here, right now.

It’s just a shame to be leaving this piece of paradise which is why I know I’ll be back. The people, the lifestyle, the environment all appeal to me.

Until then, it’s another “see you later” and “thanks!”

Now though, it’s time for a siesta.

* Thanks to Huey Lewis and the News for the title to this post.