Summer holiday 2004
le Cap D´Agde − France


Friday, 9th July

It is 9:30 and I got out of bed only a little while ago. I have picked up some fresh croissants at the small grocery store and I return to the apartment while passing the pool. There is hardly a ripple to be seen on the water surface. The white and blue deckchairs are already lined up for a new sparkling day. The sun is high up in the blue sky and there is not a cloud to be seen. A wonderful starting scenario for a great day! I return to the apartment with my fresh catch of the day for breakfast.

When breakfast is finished we go for a walk to the port and we stroll along the docks watching the very many sailing boats. We do some window shopping in the abundance of little shops and wander of into the direction of "Plage du Mole". Among all these shops are many food shops where you can buy all sorts of food. You can buy bread, rolls, pizza, roasted chicken, kebab, French fries, and lots more. You name it. One of these places even sells paella. Nice yellow rice with a couple of large mussels and large tiger prawns. This looks very good to me so I buy a kilo for lunch. Having secured my lunch for today we wander back to the apartment again.

The rest of the morning we manage to do as little as possible. And we have become very good at this I must say. During the afternoon I take half of the Paella for lunch. It really tastes just as good as it looks. Great!

Around two o´clock I go to the reception desk to make some inquiries after the possibility for scuba diving. This year also I want to make a dive, and possibly two dives. I put my question to the lady behind the desk who makes a quick phone call. I am expected at three o´clock this afternoon, and that is within three quarters of an hour already. So I rush off to get my swimming trunks and a towel and head off for "Plage du Mole".

Arrived at the scuba school of O2-Mer I meet the other four participants. Amongst them are two boys of around eight or nine years old. As it turns out these boys are already advanced divers and they will dive all by themselves. We all are issued a wetsuit, flippers and diving goggles. We then leave for the beach and all of us get into the Zodiac boat that is anchored there. The engine is started and we gently manoeuvre away from the beach through the narrow corridor for motorboats. At a bit of distance from the beach the throttle is opened in full and we rush out into the open sea. Arrived at the diving location near the port entrance the two boys, accompanied by their instructor, dive first. After about fifteen minutes they surface again shivering from cold. So far, only my right foot has been hanging in the water and it is definitely not very warm.

Then my number is up. I am hoisted into the diving vest, the breathing apparatus is checked and we are off into the deep. Not the blue deep unfortunately. Unlike last year, this time the water is clouded with sediments that limit my sight quite a bit. According to the instructor this was caused by the river l´Herault. Still I can see large numbers of colourful fish swim by, almost right in front of me. If I reach out for them they rush off into various directions. I also see lots of plants and sea anemones. The instructor pushes me forward above the sea floor from one place to the other. Sometimes the seafloor makes a sudden drop and simply disappears from under me. It feels like I am hovering in mid-air.

All of a sudden the instructor pulls me back to a full stop and points to a location at my lower left. Although it is somewhat dark due to the sediments floating around, I can still see a dark brown shadow moving away, and trying to hide in one of the many crevices in the sea floor. An octopus! It is an octopus hiding away. It is my second dive in open water and the first time I have seen a live octopus in the wild. How exciting! At some point my fifteen minutes are finished and we surface again. We return to "Plage du Mole" and we wash the salt water of the wetsuit´s in an old bathtub. I then stroll back to the park with the sun burning in my neck.

It is about five o´clock when I finely reach the apartment and it is diner time. I finish the Paella that was left over from this afternoon. Still simply delicious! This evening we hang around the apartment and have some coffee or tea, read and do nothing. It is eight thirty in the evening and it is clouded and cool. Every now and then there is a mild breeze. What a wonderful evening!