- Scuba Diving
- El Resuelve
This morning, we woke up early for our half day scuba dive. H & I had our first taste of Scuba diving in Bora Bora a few years back. The underwater world blew us away. We were eager to try it again in Vieques.
The discovery dive that we signed up for in Vieques proved to be much more hard core than the baby dive we did in Bora Bora. After a quick safety course and practice, H and I were diving off shore with our instructor. The first 15 minutes was sheer terror for me since I had trouble equalizing ear pressure. I came very close to call it quits and was already thinking about waiting for H on the shore for the rest of the day. Somehow, the fear of boredom waiting for H for the next couple of hours outweighed the fear of suffocation underwater, I pulled myself together and was able to dive down again and breath with ease.
Despite a challenging start, once we were underwater swimming around the coral reef and fish, it was actually relaxing and fun. We took a break after the first tank and came back up to the shore. Both H and I were exhausted. The thought of taking the second tank for another dive seemed a bit daunting, but I kept quiet and stuck with it.
We dived deeper and further with the second tank. On the way out, we encountered some current. The purple marine plants below us were dancing back and forth along with the current. Even though it made diving harder, it was quite a sight.
On the way back, I misread the meters on my tank and thought the tank was close to running out of air. We surfaced to the water. We were still a good 10 minutes swim away from the shore, and I had trouble staying above the water with all the weight of equipment on me. I freaked out as water got into my nose and my right leg was cramping up. Finally, with the instructor staying by my side, I calmed down and composed myself. We decided to dive back since it was much easier and faster and we did have enough air in the tank. I was relieved to make it back to shore. The experience took a lot out of H & I. I think it will be awhile before we go diving again.
By the time we were done with diving, it was already early afternoon. We were exhausted and hungry. A few people had told us about a local casual eatery, El Resuelve. We decided to check it out. H saw this fried pig ear dish on Anthony Bordain's travel show once and wanted to try it this time coming to Puerto Rico. El Resuelve served broiled pig ears on their menu and we were curious to try it. The texture of the broiled pig ear was a little off putting. I imagine that fried ones would taste a lot better. We ordered crab, conch, and cod empanadillas and garlic shrimp with fried sweet plantains. They tasted delicious with the local beers after a hard day of diving.
We took it easy the rest of the day. Napping in the cabana by the pool, watching TV in the room, taking a bubble bath (the bathtub was enormous and it took forever to fill up), and hanging out with other guests in the W living room.....
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