Yes, it’s been well over a year, but I finally had the chance to go diving again! This time was in the Bahamas, with Stuart Cove’s dives. Staying at the Atlantis, on Paradise Island (on my hubby’s bucket list, and since it’s our 30th anniversary trip, I figured, why not? If not now, when?) and this is the operation you book through there. Did an afternoon two tank dive, and both were excellent, I must say! Pricey (like EVERYTHING at Atlantis) but very, very good.

First dive was at DC3 Wall, with the bottom around 50-60 feet and a wall going down more than a mile. I think I bottomed out around 80 feet. Two worthwhile wrecks, both deliberately sunk: a ship and a DC9 plane. Some great coral on the wall, too. I had even more trouble equalizing than usual, alas, but I did eventually get down to the good stuff! Took some good pix, which I hope to post after I get home (left the camera cable behind. Ooops!)

Second dive was a place they call Hollywood Bowl off Goulden Cay and it was spectacular. Ranged from about 15 – 30′ deep with a TON of coral and fish. Saw a small ray and others in our group saw a reef shark, though I missed it. Best coral I’d seen since West Caicos Island. Nearly unspoiled. (Becoming a rare commodity!) Some beautiful parrot fish, trumpet fish, a flounder or two. Cool stuff, more great pix.

We’ve also done a bit of snorkeling, right here at Atlantis. Okay, but nothing to write home about. Camera locked up on me there, so I’m not sure what I’ll have to show for it.

On Atlantis itself: gorgeous place, beautiful rooms and amenities. VERY pricey, and meals are a bit of an ordeal (long lines for breakfast, need reservations–days in advance–for nice dinners). Glad we came, but probably won’t do it again.

Happy diving!

–Brenda

This time I wanted to post while the experience is still fresh–as in, just a few hours ago. We had to be at the do jang at 8:30am (which is very early for this nightowl) for pictures and announcements and to take our Taekwondo Pledge (which basically states we will only use our powers for Good). Then the testing started. Lots of testing. 5 hours of testing, total, only the last 40 min. or so of which was my belt group. Lots of time to get stiff (I kept stretching) and NERVOUS.

Particularly nervous-making was watching the recommended black belt test, the one I took last time around. Grandmaster Yoon really DOGGED those poor folks! Partly because a few of the kids didn’t have a great attitude, I suspect, but the whole group suffered for it. In total, I believe they had to do three hundred back-spinning kicks… and this was BEFORE they broke their boards! So yeah, we were getting pretty nervous waiting to test for our black belts.

We were last. Apparently this is always true, but I hadn’t know it before. We started with forms (besides koryo, we had to demonstrate several random forms as they were called, to include taeguk sah jang and taeguk pal jang). Then kicking combinations, which went on and on and on until we were getting good and winded. Then the free-sparring, followed by two-on-one and one-on-two sparring. (pant, pant) Then came the dreaded board breaking: 3 stacked boards with a back kick. No, this is NOT easy, and I didn’t do it on the first try. Or the second try. Or even the third try. But then I heard that wonderful “crack” and it felt like the easiest kick of the bunch. (I have a few bruises to show for the unsuccessful ones!)

Then we lined up again and I thought we’d be doing one-step sparring, but no, Grandmaster Yoon wanted us to do another break: kicking combinations down the floor, with a reverse-turn roundhouse break at the end. Also NOT easy, and it took me 3 tries (yep, kicking the length of the room each time, pant, pant) but I broke that one, too. Hard to describe the rush of relief I felt!

After that we were spot checked on Korean terminology and a few of us (including me) were asked to explain what getting a black belt meant to us. I may have sucked up a little with my answer. <g> But I was also perfectly honest! Taekwondo has taught me discipline, focus, self-defense, confidence, stamina and flexibility. (Really–I’m more flexible than I was at age 20, simply because I keep up with it.)

And then we were presented with our BEAUTIFUL black belts! Every single black belt still there congratulated each one of us, and it felt wonderful. I’ll admit it, I’m feeling a little bit full of myself today!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes–I definitely plan to continue. My goal now is to reach 3rd Dan (3rd degree) black belt by the time I turn 60. Wish me luck!

 

Okay, this is it–the biggie! I test for my black belt tomorrow. Scariest part (to me) is that I have to break THREE boards (all at once) with a back kick. I’ve been drilling mercilessly on my forms, my kicking combinations and my terminology. But that board break… you either do it or you don’t, which is scary-making. I’ll report back tomorrow and let you know how I did!

I had another belt test this weekend, and it was by FAR the most gruelling one yet. Fitting, I suppose, since it was for my recommended black belt (that’s the one RIGHT before black, with the belt half red and half black).  I obsessed for two weeks over the board breaking, since I knew I’d be expected to break with both right foot and left foot back-spinning kicks. That’s a scary kick at the best of times, flinging your foot up and around at head-height. Getting it wrong doesn’t just mean the board doesn’t break. It means there’s an excellent chance you’ll land on your tush on the mat in front of God, Grand Master Yoon, and everybody. And it’s the one part of the test you can’t fudge at all. With forms and kicking combinations and even one-step sparring, there more than a dozen of us doing it at once, so a flub isn’t terribly noticeable. But with breaking, you either break the board or you don’t.

I had to be at the do jang at 8:30am for the group picture. I should probably mention here that I am NOT a morning person. Note the time stamp on this post. It’s rare that I’m in bed before 1am and it’s rare that I’m out of bed before 9am. Add nervousness about the test (and a big–unrelated–party we were hosting later that same day) and I didn’t get a lot of sleep. After pictures and announcements, the testing started. My group wasn’t first. Or second. Or third. I started to worry I’d be too stiff to do any decent kicking and tried to stretch a little, inconspicuously, while waiting. Finally, after the second-degree black belt credit test, the first degree kids’ credit test (which they failed–they had to try again later on) and the first degree adults’ credit test, it was our turn. I creaked to my feet when my name was called and tried to hurry to my spot. Yeah, I was stiff.

We started with poomsae–forms. At this level, we were expected to know ALL of the forms we’d learned so far, nine in all.  Our Master Instructor had us do three or four random forms, then the most recent and hardest one, taeguk pal jang.  I was starting to loosen up.  Next we did kicking combinations, any from 1 – 20, again called out randomly.  A few of the kids were having trouble remembering, which meant we had to do some of them several times.  Definitely getting warmed up now.  Next came free sparring, never my favorite thing, but not too bad. Lora and I had fun with it. Then (oops! I’d forgotten we had to do this!) sparring one-on-two and two-on-one.  That really gets the blood pumping, believe me!  Now it was time to demonstrate our one-step sparring, as high as we could go. Lora and I had practiced these together before, including at a two-hour special class, so we did really well, I think. We made it through number 11, then realized everyone else had stopped when the Master Instructor called a halt.

I braced myself for the board breaking, which would be next. Except it wasn’t. Instead, Grand Master Yoon had us pair up and do back kicks countered by roundhouse kicks, up and down the floor, as quickly as possible, until he told us to stop. Several hours later (okay, it was probably about five minutes but it sure FELT like hours!) with all of the black belts cheering us on as we trembled and sweated, nearing the end of our endurance (well, I was, anyway–I had the distinction of being the oldest one testing for that belt….by about a decade), he called a halt.  Then, finally, it was time to break boards.

Yeah, I guess you could say I was warmed up.

I set up, tried not to overthink it, spun, kicked, and broke the board on the first try.

YES!!!

And then we went straight to terminology without breaking a second board. I won’t say I was disappointed, however. (And I did break with my “bad” leg–not the one I’d have chosen, had I been given a choice.)

And now, I have my beautiful new black and red belt, which I will wear with considerable pride!

It’s definitely time I started posting here again, since I’ve had several adventures over the past few months and will be having even more over the next month or so!

Guess I should start with the trip to Grand Cayman over New Years, which involved some good snorkeling and a couple of dives. Pictures to follow, since they’re currently on a different computer. So far, I think Grand Cayman has had the best combination of beach, diving, snorkeling and good restaurants of any Caribbean place we’ve tried, though St. Maarten comes close (and wins in the restaurant department). There are still lots of places to try, however!

We stayed at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach this time and had good snorkeling right off the beach, as well as easy access to lots of restaurants and one of the best walking beaches in the world. I’ll be surprised if we don’t stay there again in the future.

No sharks this time (that I saw–my daughter saw a reef shark) but some relatively unspoiled coral, sea turtles, a ray or two and lots and lots of fish. Also excellent visibility at 30-60 feet. I call that a win!

I feel like I’m finally getting into serious belt territory now!  My “belt class” began with 19 people as white belts, and as of test time we were down to 9, between people missing tests, dropping out or taking (short or long) breaks from taekwondo training. I believe only 7 or 8 of us actually tested–I’ll check the board next time I’m in class.

As you might expect, the tests get more involved as we get closer to black. For this one, we had to demonstrate kicking combinations 13 – 16, our form (Taeguk Yuk Jang), our usual two minutes of sparring, knowledge of terminology (cumulative!) and board breaking. This time around, we had to break TWO boards, the first one with a palm heel strike and the second with a jumping roundhouse kick, with various kicks down the floor in between the two. I’d been stressing a bit about the second break, because my “jumps” in class weren’t very, um, jumpy. I would find myself focusing too much on jumping and messing up the actual kick when we practiced with targets. As it happened, though, I broke the board (both boards) on the first try . . . after a bit of confusion. My sparring partner “crossed lanes” during the kicks down the floor and broke MY board instead of hers with the roundhouse! So, after a moment’s hesitation, I just threw in an extra couple of kicks to get to her board and broke that one instead. No harm, no foul.

For the next test (which we can’t take for at least four months) we’ll be expected to show cumulative mastery of EVERYTHING so far: all forms, kicking combinations and terminology, in addition to one-step sparring techniques 1-10. Plus our NEW form and two more kicking combos, of course. Oh, and we get to spar both one-on-one and one-on-two, which will be something new as well. Lots to learn before February!

Sharks! Lots of sharks!

Last month we finally made a much-postponed trip to Grand Bahama for some beaching and diving. It was right at the end of the tourist season, so the crowds were thin and several times we had beaches to ourselves. Even better, it meant customizing our diving to a much greater extent than we’d have managed had the island been more crowded. That said…

I did NOT plan on diving with sharks!! Our dive operator talked about the cool reef formations and some of the fish we might see. He did mention–in passing–that we might get lucky and see a reef shark, but we’ve heard that before so I didn’t stress about it. But we hadn’t been down for more than five minutes when sharks showed up–and kept showing up! There were probably half a dozen of them, and they circled around us for about ten minutes before leaving. Of course, after my initial “Oh, crap! Sharks!” moment, I brought my camera into play and snapped quite a lot of good pix of them.

[An aside here about my cute new dive camera: since my big one is both cumbersome and a little scary--I'm always worried I'll break it or lose a piece--I'd been wanting something smaller and cheaper. Just before leaving on this trip I bought a SeaLife ECOShot SL321, a self-contained digital that's small enough to slip into the pocket of a BC. The flash is kind of lame--as I knew it would be--but for dives under 50 feet or so on a clear day, it takes very nice pictures. It's especially great for snorkeling (see below). Definitely a keeper.]

Only after we surfaced did the dive master tell us that, yes, they do shark dives at this same spot, where they feed the sharks to keep them around. So (duh!) sharks tend to check out divers there, hoping for chum. I’d have been MUCH more nervous before jumping in if I’d known about that in advance–in fact, I might have chickened out of the dive altogether. But then I’d have missed all those great pix and a really cool story to tell!

Yes, I’ve made it one step closer to black with yesterday’s belt test! This is the one between blue and red, another one of those “awkward colors” that aren’t consistent across schools. At ours, it’s blue with a white stripe, but at many it’s brown. (Which, face it, sounds much cooler! So much closer to black!)

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I actually got a pedicure for the occasion, since I’d put off my usual annual trip to the salon before the RWA conference due to the extreme ugliness of my right leg. (See my “Badge of Honor” post.) I was afraid I would scare the poor pedicurist half to death if I went in like that. Plus, I doubt I’d have enjoyed the lovely leg massage very much, since it was still pretty sore. Now, though, I can say that I broke my board with pretty feet.

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And yes, I did break it—on my first try! I’m pretty pleased about that, since the back spinning kick is a tricky one. Very easy to miscalculate and fall on your tushie. Though I don’t remember anyone actually doing that at the test, so maybe the risk wasn’t QUITE as high as I feared. I’m still convinced it was my freshly painted Conga Line Coral toes that carried the day (even if I actually hit the board with my heel—details, details).

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Next up, going for Red in October!

A week ago today, I received the closest thing to an injury I’ve had yet in taekwondo–a really hard kick to the shin while sparring. I’d love to be able to say, “You shoulda seen the other guy,” but I’m afraid the “other guy” was a girl, college aged, but much more aggressive than I am.

Last Monday, shortly after class, it looked like I had two knees on one leg. Then, of course, the bruise started forming, and it still hasn’t stopped, a week later! My whole lower leg is kind of a mottled purplish yellow, and as of yesterday I’ve also got some impressive bruising happening around my ankle. (Gravity, I guess?) I guess this sport isn’t for wimps, huh?

The worst part (vain creature that I am) is that I leave for the National Romance Writers of America conference in a couple of days and my leg will still be UG-LEE!  I’m having to rethink my wardrobe, maybe leaving those cute sundresses at home in favor of long skirts and slacks. Or maybe I should just flaunt my technicolor leg and seize the excuse to tell war stories?

I realized I never reported here on getting my blue belt a couple of weeks ago. It was a long test (mostly because the blues tested near the end) but not quite as gruelling as the last one–maybe because I remembered to drink more water this time. We had a little less time to prepare for this test than usual because the last one was two weeks later due to spring break for the kids. It meant a little more concentrated effort, especially on terminology and kicking combinations. I’m starting to think that in another belt or two, my head just might explode from trying to remember ALL of the kicking combinations! (We have to learn two new ones for each test, so I was up to twelve this last time.)

I do want to crow about breaking my board on the first try this time, after the embarrassment of taking three tries last time around. This time we had to break with an axe kick, which I found MUCH easier than the back kick. Let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to aim at a board that’s in front of you than one that’s behind you! Next time, though, we have to break with a back spinning kick, and I’ll admit it already has me nervous. Real easy to land on your behind with that kick, even when NOT trying to break a board. Opportunity for embarrassment is high.

But that’s part of why I’m doing this–to play outside my comfort zone and get over the whole fear of embarrassment thing–so I’ll just try to embrace the experience as Personal Growth if I screw up!