The Semi-Submarine!

Coming to the TCI and thinking of stuff to do whilst you're here? Maybe you're already here and looking for something a bit different?  Well here's an idea for you .... try the Undersea Explorer.

The Semi-Sub as she's affectionately known, is the only one of its kind in the TCI.  It's 'belly' is also the passenger cabin and it sits 5ft beneath the surface of the water.  The belly has padded benches and air-con, so you sit in comfort and watch the underwater world cruising passed from your own viewing window.

"It's like snorkeling, but better, and you don't get wet!"

What's unique about this vessel is not just the 'birds eye' (fish eye?) view of the coral reef (called 'patch reefs') but there's a naturalist tour guide on board who leads you through the experience. You get hear all about what you're seeing.  The guide names the fish, tells you what's going on and how it all works and will point out the things you might not otherwise see.  The guide also has a walky-talky so is in constant contact with the Captain, you see something cool, if he can, he'll turn round and go see it again!

"Lightly educational as well as light hearted, but most importantly, it's fun"

There are 2 tours to choose from:

Turtle Reef Adventure
For all the family, travel around up to 7 different patch reefs.  See Parrot Fish, Blue Tang, Snappers, Grouper, Trumpet Fish, Squirrel Fish, Trunk Fish, Coney, Brain Coral, Finger Coral, Soft Coral, Sponges and TURTLES!
Yes we see Green Turtles (and the occasional Hawksbill) on our tours, between 5-20 individual specimens every time.  That's right ... you will get to see these beautiful endangered animals, in their natural habitat, displaying natural behaviours ... there is no other tour operator on island that can give you that.

Mermaid Adventure
This one's for the young and the young at heart - travel to a secret spot, blow the magical conch horn and Mermaid Bella comes from the blue to say hello!  Sometimes a little shy at first, but after just a few minutes Bella is up at your window peering inside, swimming around outside your window and if you're lucky, blowing you Mermaid Kisses :)
Safe to say that camera's are a must on this tour and we mustn't forget to mention the dreaded Pirate Capt. Jack Swift who might just put in an appearance as well.  Though no need to worry, the most 'dreaded' thing about him are his jokes!  After Bella says goodbye, we travel on to see Reef and Turtles ... a really fun experience, one of a kind and great for all the family.

See www.caicostours.com for more info and some great tips on our 'things to know' page to help you get the most out of your time on board!  You can also read more about the tours on Trip Advisor.

This is the only public tour that Mermaid Bella appears on, if you'd like to spend time with Bella one on one then visit the website www.flukesandflippers.com, or email directly on info@flukesandflippers.com.

And she's UP!! Josie learns to Wakeboard.

Mewling like a kitten, I sat on my backside in the middle of the piste with my feet still strapped into the board that I seemed so despairingly unsuited for. This was about 10 years ago, for 3 consecutive mornings he'd tried in vain to get me down that slope and for three consecutive mornings I walked down it, redundant board hooked under one arm, the look on his face matching my mood, shlepping my way down the same gradient that felt so known and comfortable on skis, but was just so simply unachievable on a snowboard.


So naturally that resigned sense of gloom and failure has surfaced every time the hint of a board sport comes my way. Wakeboarding? Tried that. Filtered the North Shore of TCI through my sinuses before returning it, snot laden to the ocean. Kiteboarding? Strapping the board to my feet and kind of 'bobbing' with the inevitable 'launching faceplant' is about as far as I've got.


So when Sam of Nautique Sports here on Providenciales stated that he could / would have me up on that board I was, naturally, somewhat sceptical …


Making a BIG conscious effort not to manifest the failure that I could feel sneakily creeping up and into my thoughts, I took a big breath, blew it out, and with heels to my butt, knees hugged between my arms I read once more the words on my board 'Hi, my name is William...' (seriously, no idea why) and gave Sam the nod.

He grinned, we where off, a slow start, just as promised, steady, time and momentum enough to do exactly what Sam had instructed.


Connecting mind to body is often a challenge, so let's go back and look at this 'Lauching Faceplant' I referred to earlier. It's a cool move, it happens extremely quickly and is entirely linked to the death grip that us newbies have on the bar and to our failure to connect simple instruction to bodily action. The participant travels a total of 180 degrees, from the fetal, snuggled up 'ready to go' position (as detailed above and so well cued by Sam), through a 'legs akimbo' 4 limbed flailing motion that results in a full frontal, somewhat bewildering (but surprisingly fun) landing.


'Hi Bill' I say, back in position. Making a note to actually DO what Sam has patiently and gently advised, I breath in, I breath out, deny Karma a 2^nd LFF and shout 'GO'!!


And blow me I'm up. I'm actually up. I'm on the board!

I. AM. WAKEBOARDING!!

I'm skimming calm blue waters, running parallel to Water Cay (my absolute favourite stretch of beach on the North Shore), the sun is shining, the water is crystal clear, I've got the wind in my ears, my braids are flapping, my nose is dribbling snotty seawater that I swear is stringing off my face with the wind (there's NO WAY I'm letting go of that bar to wipe it) and I'm smiling.





I smile through the 'oh god oh god oh god' phase.

I nervously giggle as I enter the 'it's going to go wrong ANY second now' phase …




My smile deepens in the 'well that's cool, I'm up and I kind of feel like I'm in control' part, and then I'm GRINNING through the 'GO ME GO ME GO ME GO ME' bit, as I actually relax and realise that I, Josie Smith, am frickin' wakeboarding and I LOVE IT, even with a really snotty face, I LOVE IT !!

 

 Then I fall off, but I don't care, I'm bobbing ('Hi Bill') and whooping and grinning and whooping some more and even though I am clearly at sea level, I feel, on top of the world.

We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.

How it all began ...

Depending on the weather, or the level her mischievousness dial is set to (ranges 1-1000), Bella can spin you a tail like no other when it comes to how she got here.

We've known her now for over a year, and have never heard the same version twice.  Not that she's lying mind you, she's not a liar, what she is is a twister of old shapes to make new ones, a blender of shades and tones to make the palette ever changing ... and shapes and colour please her greatly, and if it pleases Bella chances are it will also please the ears of whomever is listening.  She's a generous soul like that.

Did she really meet Christopher Columbus?

We think yes.

Did she fancy him something rotten and guide him away from potentially fatal reefs that could have put an end to his vessel and all on board (including the poodles, there were 2 apparently, both brown) by blowing a fabulous and really rather shiny conch horn?

Yes.  We think she did.

Did she summon up magical powers thought gone from the Mermaid people for 17 generations (but apparently were available to her that day) and create the 'biggest whirlpool ever known in all of forever' just to then rather heroically (and at great personal risk she says) 'save' CC, his boat and all on-board (including the poodles, most definitely the poodles) from certain death with just that little old conch horn again?

Probably didn't quite happen that way, but to hear the story is a real treat.

Whilst Bella has many stories, the tail of how Josie and Bella met is a watery one.  Josie is a freediver, a breath holder who enjoys being underwater without the SCUBA stuff, she enjoys it so much she actually teaches others to do it.  This particular day, Bella was deep down the wall where the Blue is almost Black, and she could hear Josie's heartbeat, she listened and it was slow, and it was steady, and it wasn't covered with the sounds of thinking and mind chatter, of bubbles and of kicking and splashing and the crazy cavorting that most SCUBA divers heartbeats are covered in.

It sounded, curiously different.

So Bella swam up from the deep and right up to Josie (as she wanted to see clearly and closely what this creature was) and promptly scared poor Josie half to death.

Barely making it to the surface from her spot 33ft below, and being in a virtually hypoxic and verily panicked state, Josie gibbered a bit and sort of thrashed and tried to climb up onto her freedive float, all the while making odd little noises, sounds and shrieks ... generally the sort of noises that anyone might well make if they'd just been separated from their wits by a whopping great fish with a face.

Bella responded by mimicking these sounds, not mocking mind you, mimicking, there's a difference. Somewhere in her Mermaid mind she thought Josie was trying to communicate with her!

This went on for a short while, probably just a few seconds but it felt like minutes to the increasingly perplexed two.

However long it was, it was long enough for the inarticulacy (and the idiocy) of the vocal exchange to seep through into their consciousness and shut them both up.

So with the situation now calm, and 'First Contact' successfully made, Josie and Bella looked at one another. They took a good, proper, long look, as both were extremely curious about the other.

At the end of the look they both smiled, and as smiles go, it was a lovely one.

A shared smile full of warmth (and not of hunter and of prey as Josie will admit she thought upon first encountering our fishy friend) and it was with that smile that a rather intriguing and beautiful friendship began. A friendship that is at times weird, odd and confusing, a friendship so open and real that the HUGEST of squabbles have been had and they will, no doubt, continue for years to come ... and you, dearest reader, can follow this friendship, follow the tales of Josie & Bella, of Flukes & Flippers, through this Blog.

Well, as long as they don't kill each other that is.

Flukes & Flippers
August 2014


We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.