Roaming the world - underwater

Suit up, assemble and put on all the equipment - BCD, tank, regs, weights. Do a buddy check and then it's time to get in the water.

Once I'm on a dive, any worries or stresses I may have had that day or that week simply drop away. Once I'm on a dive, it's all about paying attention to the underwater surroundings, paying attention to my buddy, putting any newly-learned skills to practical use, and having fun.

I've noticed that quite often, when I'm in shallower water - say, within ten to fifteen feet of the surface, the light often sparkles and shimmers on the lake bottom. I'd love to capture - or try to capture - that on film sometime.

I've seen fish hovering above a shipwreck; crayfish scuttling along the bottom of the lake; a sliver of a moon shimmering overhead as I looked up from my position under the water; bass swimming amongst the weeds; hundreds of minnows darting in and around the beam of a flashlight, the tiny fish lighting up like silver whenever the light hit them directly.

And I'm just getting started.

I'm working towards my Advanced Open Water certification, but in some ways I still feel like a beginner. There is still so much more for me to learn, and so many skills for me to get good at.

I know I need to work on my skills - especially getting a better handle on my buoyancy - and I'll put in the time and the work needed to get these skills up to the level they need to be at.

I consider myself so very privileged to be able to explore the underwater world, and even more privileged to belong to a dive club with such wonderful people.

I always feel great after a dive. And even when a dive doesn't go according to plan, it's still a good dive in my books, since it serves as a valuable learning experience.

I look forward to many more dives, learning much more, and spending lots more time with my dive buddies.

Happy travels,

Sarah :)

Some highlights of travelling across Canada

Here's a list of some favourite moments I've had while on the road in Canada (by no means complete - I have far too many great memories to include them all here):

• attending a midnight concert under a bridge in Saskatoon (imagine being surrounded by fellow Fringe performers, and listening to a performer whose voice sounds like an eclectic mix between Sting and Tom Waits).
• sitting in an outdoor hot tub at 3:00am in Athabasca, Alberta, while the northern lights shimmered overhead.
• witnessing my first prairie storm - seeing the roiling threatening clouds building up in the distance, seeing the wind playing with the fields of wheat and canola, and feeling that electric charge in the air.
• being surprised to find out that P.E.I. is in fact quite hilly in places, and enjoying the sand dunes; also, seeing a large group of fireflies by a marshy area.
• finally seeing a moose out in the countryside, by the side of the road (enjoying this glimpse of a moose from a safe distance - I certainly wouldn't want to come across one standing in the middle of the highway).
• whale watching on the west coast.
• seeing mountain goats in the Rockies.

I could go on...

Happy travels,

Sarah :)

Back again.

It's been a while since my last post.

Nearly a year - a lot has happened, and after a winter that was as stressful, cold and difficult as the prevailing weather of the season, a perfect pathetic fallacy - now, with green finally starting to show up in patches of bare earth, with foliage no longer bare, my own life is taking a similar upswing.

I have been sedentary. I have not been travelling the world, and I miss that. It took me a long time just to figure out where in the world I wanted to settle down, and after living in Toronto for several years, I realize that I love it here, in this corner of Ontario. I also love the fact that Toronto is close to my other two favourite places, Newmarket and Barrie.

Happy travels,

Sarah