Peniche, Diving and ...

This was written a couple of weeks ago when I was in Peniche. I meant to write more often but from Barcelona to Peniche to Porto, and finally Idanha a Nova where the Boom Psytrance Festival was, it's been a really fun but busy few weeks. I may or may not write more, sorry but I kept putting it off, doing... you know, travel stuff; sightseeing, hiking, diving, hanging out with friends, Boom Psytrance festival, Lisbon, etc.

First impression of Peniche is wow. Wow, it's pretty. Wow, it's quiet, compared to Barcelona anyway. Wow, it's cheap. I'm here to dive, hike, check out the beach, and chill. Cz shit's going to get  whole lot busier, a whole crazier once I leave here. It's three days in Porto next, then a week at the Boom Psytrance festival and finally, four days in Lisbon. So I'm going to try and soak up as much chill as possible here...ahhh

Great day scuba diving yesterday although it wasn't without some drama. It's been a few years since I'd gone diving and combined with my minor asthma issue which mostly manifests itself in shortness of breath and the feeling of needing to take a deep breath - a decidedly not minor issue underwater - I was, admittedly, a little anxious. Oh, and that it was my first time shoving in the colder waters of the Atlantic added a bit the slight unease I felt. But I reminded myself that even though it's been a while since I've donned the scuba gear and descended 30 metres below the surface, where sweet, sweet air is so freely available, I have maybe 80 to 100 dives under my (weight 🙄😆) belt so it'll all come back to me. And if I should find myself short of breath, to just use my years of meditation practice and stay calm, breath slowly and concentrate on my breath. With my little internal pep talk, and two inhalations of Symbicort, I got into a nice, calm headspace ready for the dive.

Well, I might have been ready but one of the five other divers on the boat (plus 2 dive masters) was not quite. We had on a full 7mm wetsuit with a hood that zipped up to the chin. They were pretty snug and she felt a little too snug perhaps, that combined with the slight shock of the cold water when we jumped in made her a little panicky and she eventually chose to abandon the dive and get back on the boat. The water was colder than on any dive I've experienced but it wasn't crazy cold. According to the captain and owner of the dive shop, Jorge, it was only 18 degrees Celsius. But it definitely got colder as you went deeper and after 20 or 25 minutes I was starting to shiver a bit. No one complained when we hauled ourselves back into the boat about 30 minutes into the dive.

Ciao for now!Read more