CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

March 14, 2023 — I had my fourth day of surf lessons today and continued working on consistency as well as adding some different stuff to the mix, like popping up immediately and starting to learn how to turn.

After we got back to Byron Bay, I went back to the hostel and had lunch, then got the bus back into town again. I bought postcards, a couple things from Woolies, and found a couple swimsuits at Roxy.

While I was out, I checked my email.

As you might remember from my first full day in Byron Bay, I booked a bunch more things for my trip at the travel desk they have at my hostel. One of those things was a PADI dive certification which included the online learning, a day in the classroom, and three days of living on a boat, doing nine dives, including nighttime dives. Since I have Factor V Leiden, a blood disorder that makes me clot more easily than other people, I got in touch with my doctor back home and asked if he’d be able to sign off on a dive medical. Some of the questionnaires that dive centres use ask about blood disorders and while the questionnaire I saw from the company I would be diving with didn’t say anything about them specifically, I didn’t want it to cause any problems down the road. When I checked my email, one was from my family doctor, and it wasn’t good news.

He wasn’t able to sign off on a dive medical and I would have to complete a dive physical and have another doctor down here in Australia sign off on it if I wanted to dive. It’s about $80 to have that done, and it’s no guarantee that you’ll pass. I decided it just wasn’t worth taking the chance and so I hurried back to the hostel, hoping that I could catch the travel office before they closed for the day and sort everything out.

Unfortunately, I got back at five minutes to five and they were shutting down for the day. They did tell me to contact the company and they would direct me/put me in touch with the right people. So, I sent them an email.

I was so disappointed by the news and had no idea what would happen when I heard back from the company. I didn’t want to have to cancel, because the cancellation policy wasn’t very good. I decided some physical activity was in order and rented a surfboard to try my hand at it by myself.

That went well. Kidding!

The waves weren’t crashing very favourably for a beginner and the beach was pretty busy. I gave up after about fifteen minutes and went back to the sand. I actually wound up playing fetch with a dog that someone had on the beach with them.

I went back to the hostel to return the board and rinse off, then finally made dinner. I just managed to beat the rush, which I was really happy about. I had some chicken and lettuce wraps which turned out kind of sad looking, but they did the trick.

I curled into bed and worked on the blog before heading to bed.

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