My 10 Travel/Trip Observations for San Salvador Island….

You are in the Islands Mon, relax you are on vacation and island time is different than regular hectic life time…learn to be flexible with your time and enjoy!!!

1. When in the tropics always wear sunscreen, I know this rule but every trip on the first day I like a good tourist forget it and get burnt.

2. If I go to bed early, I will get up early….went to bed by 9 most evenings (not that much to do that I was interested in after 9) was up by 5-5:30 each morning. Not a total loss, I got to see every sun rise as well as do some trip journaling.

3. Greet the locals and smile, they will in turn greet you. Remember you aren’t in the US any more, no matter what you look like…don’t be an ugly American. Be polite, greetting  people and  and a few thank you’s may make some pretty cool friends. We were there with a group of college students and we heard back that the locals thought our group was very friendly and respectful. Always a nice thing to hear about a large group of 20 somethings.

4. The Bahamas are expensive… Everything comes in via boat. Bring your money!!! During our island briefing they recommend you don’t drink the tap water….At the resort a 20oz bottle of water is $1.50, a Coke is $1.50, beer is $4.00 a bottle ( my learning….drink rum on ice…$4.50 but equivalent to 2-3 beers)

5. Mosquitoes and No-see-ums; The islands of San Salvador has several brackish lakes. The mosquitoes are thick in the early morning and the evening. They did spray once for mosquitoes while we were there but I think it wasn’t much of a deterrent…seems as if all the spray did was piss off the biting bugs as they seemed to bite more after the spraying…Bring your Mosquito Milk!!

6. Three dives a day every day may not be for everyone….I am in my mid 40’s and a bit (ok more than a bit) out of shape. I learned that the afternoon diving just after a big lunch wasn’t my thing….of the 5 days that our group dove 3x a day I missed 3 afternoon dives and sat out a day to explore the island.

7. Daily temperatures/water temperatures/wind and body fat….Every day was above 80 degrees and the water was 75 degrees or warmer but each person reacts differently to these conditions. I was fine with a 3mm shorty wetsuit but my son (much less body fat) was cold enough that he war a full wetsuit and his 3mm shorty…6mm and still cold after the dives. Seems that there is some correlation between my insulation and that of my wetsuit….enough said on that subject!

8. Our dive staff; They can make or break a trip…This crew made the trip for us. We had a lead Dive master Patrick and anlther one that led the experienced divers…Lupo and of course our Captain Bruce.

All were professional, Patrick ran a tight ship safety wise and always erred on the side of caution with top time between dives….most dives were deep…1st dive of the morning normally somewhere between 90 and 130 feet and the second dive max level was usually 70 feet, afternoon dives again around 100 feet.

The Dive masters led the dives and would point out things for us to see to make sure we all got the chance to see the rays, sharks, turtles and some of the more delicate things that most divers miss. Bruce could handle the boat with ease and is a dive master as well. He worked topside and it was always nice to see his smile when you broke the surface. He kept the daily logs as well.

9. Riding Rock Inn; Start with the only thing less than stellar and then will slide to the good here….Worst thing I have to say about the inn was that it is an older resort. Not by any stretch of the imagination equivalent to Atlantas on Paradise island but then again it was very clean, professionally run and the staff is incredibly fun and friendly….they had a Karaeoke (sp) night that even the staff participated in and held an island wide dance the week we were there.

The food was good too darned good. Hint here ….eat the fish and island food and not so much the American. The seafood was my favorite…grouper, wahoo, conch….. and loved the peas and rice. If you do go make sure to try the Bahamian bread…is sweet…we ate so much of it that the staff was amazed and even introduced us to the baker …. She got a nice ovation from us for a job well done!!! The inn is family run and they are hands on people that made sure that everything was as good for us as could be and they did a fine job. We were the first guests of the year…. and all went well.  We will defineately return to Riding Rock Inn and to dive.

10. Enjoy the island….the diving is incredible but the island is beautiful too. We walked three different beaches and were pretty much alone on two of them. There are several Columbus monuments as this is the island that he first landed on when he discovered the new world. At the far north end is a diesel powered lighthouse….awesome to see and can walk to the top!

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