Smile for the Camera

Stardate Harris log April 21 – yes, we are still on lock down. The Prime Minister just gave us the news we will continue lockdown until April 30th with a couple of changes to keep morale up. We can swim in the ocean from the hours of 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., and curfew is 8:00 a.m. so technically you can swim long enough to get home by 8:00 a.m. A few restaurants are open for drive thru such as KFC and McDonalds, Ugh! The good news is the number of those infected with Covid is coming down significantly. The hospitals are no longer completely full, however there are still many in the hospital and in ICU.

You might have a few questions such as, “What have you guys been doing since lock down began on March 24th?” “Can you come home?” “Are you coming home?”

A quick answer to the last two questions: We could come home, however, we have a lease we would be breaking, so that’s not a good thing, so we are staying for now.

Since our last blog and during lock down we have managed to do some diving. I’m changing the phrase a bit from what our pastor said, Where there’s a Jay, there’s a way. That is certainly the case when it comes to Lionfish hunting. We have been walking down to the dive shop early in the morning and diving. The security guard kind of looked away and allowed us to take our ten steps on the beach and into the water.

Lisette, Lionfish aficionado of Curacao, asked us to join her on a dive to help stock up the lionfish for food to take to the nurses at the hospital. As we are swimming I see this coming toward us….

Then this happened…..

Hence today’s title. The coast guard hovering over us to take our picture. When we got back to the dive shop from the dive, the policia (police in Papiamentu) were there to greet us. Lisette shared what we were doing, they gave us a warning and told us we couldn’t dive anymore. They also scared the security guard enough that he was not going to look away any longer. So, dives from Pirate’s Bay in Piscadera ceased. We were truly locked down and finally becoming law abiding citizens of Curacao.

Here are the trays of food, minus the wine, that were taken to feed the nursing staff at the hospital.

It reminds me of a verse, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I know I should not. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.” There was something the apostle Paul was dealing with. He knew better, but couldn’t stop himself at times. Paul says so much about opposite behavior in this part of the text. Isn’t that just like us, me? Many times we justify by saying things such as, “what’s the harm with diving and helping to keep the reefs cleaned up during the lockdown?” Or we might say, “they don’t mean us, right?” Opposite behavior, we really do know better. So did Paul.

The Coast guard shut us down for a few days. Then the family from Atlanta came into town. (I wish I had a good picture of a trumpet fish to represent the sound of the Calvary.) One moment, please…I think I have one from previous trips.

Atlanta to the rescue before this caged animal (me) was getting ready to go stir crazy in this small apartment only getting to look at the ocean from the deck. Trust me, we do know what a blessing it is to have the amazing view of ships passing by, gorgeous sunsets, and having this amazing time in another part of our world.

It was just what all of us needed, family hugs and family time. Atlanta family needed a vacation and we needed to have some company. They stayed in an area called Blue Bay. Since Blue Bay is a private beach, the Coast Guard or government did not shut their beach down to tourists. The owner of the apartment the family rented from gave two extra wristbands for us to come visit. We had so much fun! Jay and I were able to drive over on Mondays and Thursdays. Brother-in-Law Bryan came to get us on their drive days, Tuesday and Friday. You get the picture, diving the better part of the 10 days. Time went by so quickly. Each day we had to kind of watch the clock in the afternoon to rush out of the Blue Bay gates in order to get back to our apartment by the 7:00pm curfew. We finally figured out in order to have a meal together it needed to be a lunch/dinner type event. You know, the 4:00pm meal. This family can set a beautiful table and prepare wonderful meals with the minimal amount of kitchen utensils available. P.S. Only two of those corks are our part of the light fixture.

A couple years ago our sweet (dushi) niece, Beka, participated in a discovery dive and was hooked. She went home and completed her diving certification. Since then, she has been my dive buddy while Jay partners up with her dad. We come up with the same amount of air. Our diving technique is the same, safety first. It is easy diving and a break from hunting, no offense Jay.

Dushi niece, Annie, has been snorkeling bravely these past couple years. This year, her bravery was evident it was time for her to try a discovery dive course. She was hooked. So hooked, the big event this yea….drum roll, please….. Annie completed her certification while on vacation. Of course not without Aunt Kelly hovering, staying eye and ear distance to make sure she was safe to comfortable. I did have to strap a tank on when she was working on her underwater drills.

We are all so proud of her. Mary, Michael, and Debi, you all are next.

The last dive of the Atlanta clan’s trip was Annie’s first official dive. A part of her final training was to plan the dive and lead those with her. Usually this is one dive buddy and the instructor.

In Harris/Miller tradition one for all and all for one, she had to lead the whole bunch. If you can envision the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, that’s how it kind of looked except underwater.

She did great! As we were in the last half of the dive I looked back and there were five additional divers following us. In essence, Annie was leading ten divers on her first dive. Her instructor, Angel Koonz, as we like to refer to him as, said to me, don’t help her too much. Allow her to figure these things out. I can honestly say she did the whole thing. She had a moment I looked at her dive computer, however she was right on course. I am absolutely thrilled we might have another “Safety Samantha” (that’s what they call me when it comes to water activities) in the water leading this crazy bunch!

Remember the verse I mentioned? One more confession, we did it again, broke the rules. In order to be a part of Annie’s first dive, we had to drive over to Blue Bay on Sunday. During lockdown there is no driving on Sunday. Here’s a question: Would this be like driving 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit breaking the rules, but with a much bigger fine? What we can say is most people on the island abide. We saw three cars on our way there, one was a police car. That will get your heart beating. If you continue reading in Romans 7 Paul says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus, that’s who saves.

We decided to go with the “no harm, no foul” and risk the fine on this one occasion and celebrate the accomplishments our sweet (dushi) nieces have made and safely enjoy our vaccinated family before they head home. Millers/Kueks, thank you for coming to visit. We love you a bunch!

What’s next? As of today, we are allowed to swim in the early hours of the morning, that’s what we are going to do.

At the beginning of lock down I was “teasing” when I said to Krista Fuller we would probably be walking (the nearly one mile) with all our gear on our backs to a beach if lockdown doesn’t subside soon. Krista, in order to be law abiding tourists on our beloved island, it happened.

Not too bad with the braiding at 5:30 in the morning. Walking almost a mile with all this weighted equipment reminded me of the Camino De Santiago and thankful we had our belongings transfered each day. I have a deeper appreciation for all those who carry everything many more miles each day than we did this morning. Thankful full tanks were not attached.

Thanks for listening to all our confessions. Remember, today is the day the Lord has made, so rejoice and smile for the camera.

Blessings, Jay and Kelly