The free room

SubBall was at the most expensive hotel on the island.  We tried to avoid that due to the cost, but given the number of people expected to come, it was the only one with a room big enough to accommodate.  When you book a big event like that, they often give you complimentary rooms.  We had one extra and they put everyone's name in a drawing.  I complained quite fiercely that the complementary room was a bad idea and who would want to spend the night there.  The rooms were too expensive and it was a ridiculous waste of money for us to have booked this hotel.  Well, I won the room and they all had a laugh.  I got ready there, but gave Lauren the room.  I was going to be sober no matter what, so it really didn't make sense for the person who doesn't drink to get the fancy room.  We used this room as a pre-stage area.  So there were lots of people up there.  I got dressed in the bathroom with about 30 people outside the door.  As you can tell from the top pic, the bathroom is just a tiny area with a glass door.  It was a little strange, but what else was I going to do?

Wardroom Golf Outing

So we went golfing one day.  We had an important visitor (the subball speaker) come to town so we scheduled some fun time the day before subball.  Of course the speaker decided to skip the golfing and go on a tour of the island instead.  So Lauren and her husband took him around and I went to the golf outing we had scheduled.  I golfed with my boss.  It was pretty fun, but I'm a terrible golfer.  I just like how nice the grass is.

New Nails

Grinding down the nails so the glue sticks.

Adding the elongation.

Filing after trimming them down.

Adding this powder that dried made everything smooth.

More filing.

Painting them and curing them.

Some of the ladies had their nails done for SubBall.  I'd never done it so I thought, okay.  It was fun, but I don't know if I will do it again.  First of all, the nails were really thick and it was difficult to use your fingers even though I had them cut down pretty short.  Secondly, the nail polish faded to a gold color and then to a weird yellow.  Thirdly they were impossible to remove.  Apparently you are supposed to go back and get them professionally removed.  I just ripped them off, causing much damage to my nails.  I didn't get a pic of the final product, but you can kind of see it in the last photo.  I will say this, they were really durable.  No scratches or chips for those nails.

SubBall Golf Fundraiser

 

 

For the Submarine Birthday Ball, we held a golf fundraiser.  Lauren and I volunteered to drive the snack/ water cart around.  We would stealthily put water into people's coolers because it was hot hot hot that day.  Lauren drives like a maniac and at one point we almost crashed into two other carts.  We may have sideswiped a few carts while carrying out our mission.  Ignore the poor panorama skills with my phone.  I was in a rush trying to capture those.

Easter

This kid started a little early.  He was really excited.

Getting ready for the egg hunt.

Little kids get to go first.  Most of them found an egg and then were like, "hey, that's cool," and then stopped.

This was the Saturday before Easter.  Our church organized a sunrise breakfast at a local park.  They had an egg hunt and some pancakes.  It was neat.  I forget what I had to do that day, but there was somewhere else I had to be, so I didn't stay long.  It was nice to talk to people and get to know them a little bit.  I don't really talk to people at church on Sundays because we are always doing other things or parents are trying to get their kids to Sunday school.  For actual Easter I don't remember doing much.

Whale Shark Pics

Waiting to go out.  You can see all the boats in the distance.

I thought this guy was cool.  He would dive down to get a different angle.

You can see three whale sharks somewhat lined up here.  You can also see people hanging onto the side of the boat.

Up close and personal.

I thought the fish following was cool.

My attempt at a selfie with a whale shark.  Mostly I missed getting the whale shark.

Gills for days.

There was a moment when I went back to the boat because I couldn't find anyone in my group and the current was really strong.  Then I was like... I probably won't get to swim with whale sharks again.  So I jumped back in.  This is a pic I took while on the boat.

Feed me Seymour, Feed me!

Whale Shark Day

Truck packed to the hilt.

The beach while we waited for the ferry.  Notice the trash.  Yeah, they were almost all like that.

View from the ferry.

More views.

Getting off the ferry.

This was the beach while we waited for the final bus to the whale sharks.  This is where I put on sunscreen.  It was very hot and sunny.  It was like an oven.  If you look in the far distance near the shore, you can see the boats with tourists looking at the whale sharks.

Loading the ferry for the way back.

Lack of leg room.

On the fourth day we went to see whale sharks.  They feed them so they are easy to see.  The ones we saw were clearly juveniles as they were big but not huge.  It took a while to get there.  The bus ride from the resort was about an hour, then a long ferry ride to the island, then another short shuttle/ bus to the location of the whale sharks.  We waited on the shore until a boat was ready to take us out.  There were lots of small boats with people out there and they would tell you the boat number before you left so that you could find your way back to your boat.  When you got out there, you jumped in and swam with the whale sharks.  There was a current so bringing snorkeling gear was a good idea.  There were a fair number of people who didn't have it and they had to cling to the sides of the boat instead of actually getting out and swimming.