Two for the Road

One of my aspirations on this trip is to become a qualified scuba diver. Why? Mostly an adult manifestation of a childhood obsession with The Little Mermaid. But seriously, after snorkelling on several recent holidays, I always wanted to get closer to the sea life and through thorough (AI led) research, it seemed that scuba diving was the answer. So, I booked into a ‘Discover Scuba Diving’ day in Dubrovnik, to take on two dives and learn the basics.

Did I feel like Ariel, flipping my fins, weaving through shipwrecks and schools of fish? Not really. I had to struggle into a communal wetsuit then have lots of very heavy equipment strapped to me and a scary talk from ‘Marko’ the instructor about all the dangerous things that could happen if I don’t follow his every hand-signalled instruction under water. But it was a great experience. Once you get through the rigmarole of actually getting into and under the water, it’s a whole new world (wait, wrong Disney film). I saw some amazing fish and plant life, a tiny octopus and delivered some fierce aquatic poses.

I will definitely go on some more scuba adventures on this trip and hope I can do so without a wetsuit in warmer climes (Thailand in a couple of weeks!)

To celebrate my day of underwater bumbling around the Adriatic, we decided to celebrate with an evening of local delicacies in Dubrovnik’s old town (as if I really need any excuse for food and wine). This included black risotto (coloured by squid ink), and some local oysters – see the sea then eat the sea that’s what they say right, right?!

Iris