Primary desire upon leaving Alchemy: more spontaneity – being free to say YES to life!
My 1st day of freedom, I see this @ noon

Where is Ambon?
By 5pm my ticket is booked (4 minutes before the travel agent closed). You can’t book domestic flights in Indonesia 48 hours prior to boarding = old skool travel agents!

By 7pm I’m in a car to the airport, shaking.
No clue where I’m going
But I know there’s a boat and some sea…

Many, many more photos are here on Flickr.

It was truly the trip of a lifetime. 2 weeks on a luxury, purpose built dive boat – The Arenui, sailing the Spice Islands, Molucca Sea, Banda Sea and Raja Ampat – world class diving, food and sunsets. The crew were incredible! 10 years since my last live-aboard in the Similan Islands – I arrived without diving equipment or water-proof camera housing – just a couple of bikinis, an iPhone and my kindle. Easily the most novice/rusty diver of the group, Debbie kept me safe. We saw: cuttle fish, octopus & squid (my priorities); giant manta rays, mantas rays, whale shark, grey reef shark, black tip sharks, white tip sharks, jellyfish, crocodile fish, wobbegongs, Nemo and his family… Beyond grateful.

There’s a vast difference between giant mantas and regular mantas. We watched a video about Andrea (she is aboard the Arenui next May) – who discovered the differences. Crazy to believe no one figured it out before? Mantas are cool. Giant mantas are breath-snatching heart-stopping AWEsome.

This is the 2nd thank you email I wrote to Scott and Anne, who missed their dream trip:

The other story..

One of my greatest loves was an investor/partner in Misool Eco Resort. He invited me to join him there 2 years ago. I couldn’t make it. We’d planned to go this year, right about now…

He died last year.

I haven’t dived in 10 years, and I’ve never dived with anyone but him.

He was my constant, chatty diver buddy on this trip. Being in the waters he loved so much was… I have no words.

It wasn’t until I sat down to write this email, that I realized the timing..

So thank you for this extra, unexpected gift. xo

[Divine intervention, truly.]