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BAHAMAS - FIELD UPDATES - October Week 1
The Week that Was…
Monday Oct. 4th – Sunday Oct. 8th 2006
By Lucy Barlow
Ok, so the phase only TECHNICALLY started on Thursday October 5th, but even before you wave dreary old home goodbye, your Greenforce experience becomes an inconcealable part of you. Whether you’re visiting family for the final farewell, walking out of your office job for the last time or simply grabbing that extra bottle of mosquito repellant, your faraway gaze and smug little smile seem to invite enquiry. And, MAN, does it feel great explaining what you’re grinning about;
“Yes, Gran, I’ll be in paradise for 10 weeks and I’ll be helping to explore and preserve it for future generations!”
Maybe you’re clever enough to book the direct flight from home to Nassau. If you’re not, you’ve still got SCUBA theory and about 125 species of fish to memorize! Should JUST keep you busy through 2 delays, one missed connection and an hour in the security check line. Hover past the businessmen, grey with another sales meeting, the over packed tourists who are already miserable because they know their utopia is only for a fortnight, squeeze past the man with so much duty free that you suspect an underlying alcohol problem, give your air steward a cheeky wink… you’re nearly there!
Nassau is the place where most of us stopped overnight before a connection to Andros Island in a plane so small, the pilot can chat to you over his shoulder! Never mind, by now our group is already well enough acquainted to sit on each other’s laps! It’s amazing what a late night cat full of excitement and nerves can do. The wheels touch down and we tumble out. There’s no baggage wheel at Andros Town Airport. The staff will kindly pass it to you almost straight off the plane. Luckily, the Greenforce staff team are there to lend a hand and make you feel welcome. Eye their faces – tan…smiling… more awake than you’ve felt in a year. It’s all going to be ok.
We pile into the van and trundle up the only main road, waving to locals as we pass. How was your flight? What’s going on at home? Do you know any fish yet? DID YOU BRING ANY SPICES?!?!?
Yes! It’s the last time you’ll have to haul those two overweight bags for 10 weeks. Thank God! We settled into our tents before a tour of the camp. A silent sigh of relief goes up as we are informed that ‘The Beast’ had been retired and we now have a lockable toilet that looks like heaven compared the horrors that your jet-lagged imagination has been conjuring.
Everyone gets to know the camp and each other pretty quickly. Any wrong first impressions or pretences crack away once the night falls and the ‘mosquito tourettes’ sets in. Soon we are rubbing each other down in anti-histamine or dancing around hitting ourselves and turning the air blue cursing yet another bite.
Chilling out on the terrace, it’s hard to find mundane words to exchange. It’s easier to sit speechless, breathless at the beauty around you, staring up at the stars. What did you do to deserve this?? It’s too good!
It’s straight into SCUBA training amongst the fishes and you begin to get excited by the Darth Vader air rush and the look of your bubbles as they rise and expand into silvery pillows that explode on the aquamarine surface, seemingly speared by the suns rays.
Once you’re on your way to your Open Water qualification, the Fish Identifications begin and seeing those little critters flit past during your dive lesson makes it so much more fun to learn. Better than mulling over a book any day!
Life on camp is chilled out. The staff reward your hard work with amazing stories, great games to pass a rainy after noon, and wisdom that only comes from an experience like being out here. People evolve catchphrases; get inventive with the carb-crazy diet. I had no idea I could whip up such a good bean curry…
Before you know it, it’s Saturday. Paul, the camp leader treats us to a snorkel sesh at Rat Cay Blue hole and we get our first stingray sighting! Of course tonight is also the only alcohol night of the week. And didn’t we just make the most of it?!?! A round of ‘Circle of Death’ leaves us scrambling round the dining table and posing like deranged monsters before kissing our cup to drink.
And Sunday… Satisfied. Absolutely knackered, but satisfied. Roll on another week in paradise.
