Monday, 18 November

I think I may have been a little tired from the two dives yesterday. I was asleep an hour earlier than usual and missed my first sunrise. Sunrise has been about six o five each morning. This morning, I could see it was cloudy through the window. I decided to not get up until about six thirty. Shortly before then, I heard a sound that sounded like rain? I opened the door and walked out to a light misty rain. I brought in my clothes and towel that were on the drying rack. A few minutes later, the rain was coming sideways. It only lasted about fifteen minutes total. The staff came and placed a sandbag in front of each door to keep the water out. The front walkway is not sloped correctly to drain the water away. With the rain stopped, I took a walk to the beach, Nicole skipped her swim because of the weather. We headed over to breakfast and she mentioned she was tired and not up for a morning dive. The waves have picked up because of the wind and rain making conditions were not exactly great

Later in the morning, we took a walk south to the Coral Sun Beach hotel which is only a couple hundred yards away. Coral Sun Beach is a bit more upscale but does not cater to the diver. There are a few stores there but none were open at nine. We continued down the beach past two more hotel construction sites. The first one had a little activity, the second looked abandoned.  There is also an abandoned hotel construction site north of the dive resort.  Continuing south, there was a view of some mountains in the distance. As we were walking, I saw a sea shell move. I picked it up and saw that it was a hermit crab. There was another nearby. Pretty soon you could see them all over. They ranged in size from about a quarter inch to an inch. After seeing hermit crabs for sale in Ocean City and knowing they were not native to the beach, I found out where they live.

Had an Egyptian pizza for lunch which was good but not great. I will try something else from the menu next time.  We were told visibility for diving was not too good. I spent some time on the beach and used it to get some freestyle swim lessons from Nicole. First I worked on breathing, then on slowing my stroke and then put the two together. I have a good basis for some practice and plan to give it a try again tomorrow morning.  After the usual evening coffee at the bar, we got in an episode of Westworld before dinner. Dinner at seven fifteen was not busy at all. We seem to have lost the pattern on timing for the best time to head over. There were some Egyptian dishes tonight but no chocolate desserts, so I passed on dessert and filled up on salads and entrees. The weather is calm tonight and a little cooler, sixty eight. Hoping for a pair of dives with better visibility tomorrow.

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