What a difference a day makes! Yesterday dawned sunny and bright. As soon as possible after breakfast, we headed out to hookah (for those of you who know Deb, this means she really hurried and we left by 9:00!) Going out to hookah is a bit of a process. First, I launch the dinghy from its davits (after first putting back the drain plug). Next I bring it around to the port swim steps and load everything in it - that includes our masks, flippers, weight belts, catch bag, the second stage regulators with 60' of hose each, the expansion tank, and finally the hookah. By then we have on our dive skins, booties, and gloves. We scramble into the dinghy and are off. The diving at Alberquerque Cays consists mainly of several "mini-atolls" - coral uprisings that begin at a white sand bottom at 30-50' and rise to the surface. Like true atolls, the centers are relatively clear and deeper - maybe 5-6' in this case. We have to pick a way in to the center, anchor dink, launch the hookah and 60' of lines, then don our gear, roll off the side, and go. We went to the closest one first. It is maybe 150' long and 50' wide. The circumference is dramatically increased, however, by numerous arms the reach out as you go. We spent a bit more than an hour swimming all the way around at probably an average depth of 20'. The coral formations are great - like giant fortifications and battlements. Most of the coral, however, was covered with a lacey seaweed looking growth that did not appear healthy. There were, however, great fish. All the usuals - many kind of parrot fish, grey and French angles, snapper, grouper, and the smaller fish that stay closer to the coral - damsels, clown fish, sergeant majors, tangs, etc. We did see some huge tangs - probably the biggest I have seen. Finished with that dive, Deb said, "Let's do the next one before lunch." So we did. It was both larger and deeper and MUCH prettier. The coral was much healthier and the fish were even bigger. We saw one grey angle that must have been 24" across, and stoplight parrots that were 36". We nearly used the full tank of gas on the hookah by the time we returned for lunch. After lunch and a brief rest, we were back at it again. Before going to the next mini-atoll, we stopped at Alba, a boat with a British couple aboard that had arrived a couple days ago, and invited them for cocktails and conch salad. They are leaving this morning and so asked if I would mind fetching them as they were in the process of putting their dinghy upside down on the foredeck and securing it for the trip to Bocas. I said I'd be there @ 1730 and we went off to dive. This mini-atoll had even more arms reaching out than the previous and we spent over 2 hours swimming back and forth, up and down exploring it all. Actually we probably didn't cover 50% of the coral masses, there were that many. That is why we can go back again and again and always find something new. That was enough for the day so we returned to our boat, unloaded everything from dink, washed down the hookah and stowed things for today. After showers, I made some corn tortilla chips to go with the conch salad and went to get Felix and Glennis. We had a great time with them again. Felix brought a hard drive and I loaded about 30 GB of movies on it for them. We also gave them lots of contacts for Bocas. It was quite dark by the time we bid farewell and I took them back to their boat. Deb & I decided that all the conch salad plus the humus that Glennis brought was enough for dinner so I'll make the shrimp we thawed tonight. We had another drink (gin & tonic for Deb, mojito for me) and went out in the net to watch stars before bed. The Southern Cross was very evident. Dave & Lisa will love that as I don't believe they have ever seen it despite their several trips South. This morning is sunny again so we are looking forward to another great day on the hookah. One down note - my orthopedist, Cherie Holmes, says that if I really have a rotator cuff tear (which is almost certain in my mind), I should have surgery when we go back in August. The surgery is no big deal, but the rehab lasts 4-6 months. Not something I will look forward to. Diving, however, is great therapy. Whereas on land I cannot move my arm between 30-90* abduction (away from my body), underwater, due to the weightlessness, I have full active range of motion. Do you suppose I can get her to prescribe diving as a form of rehab?? Such a tough life.