OK, maybe I should have titled this “Terranea Look Report.”

A good 30 divers showed up this morning for our traditional Sunday Services dive and debrief; it was great to see a lot of old faces and many new.

At first glance, conditions looked good, but then after we all stood there and watched some tall sweeping waves come in and wash out, we started to change our minds.

Yeah, it was doable; you just needed to time it right.

The water didn’t look that clear either.

Everyone stood there, over looking The Cove; one by one everyone eventually called it.

These are seasoned divers; safe entry and exit would be possible if it was timed right, however at what price?

The potential of five feet of visibility?

What about The Point?

Same thing… if you timed your entry right and were quick, it wouldn’t be a problem – if not, you could really get hurt.

Everyone made their way back to the parking lot.

Some went to go check out Honeymoon Cove, some went to Veteran’s Park.

I stayed to do an early debrief with PDP, TwinDuct and Air Force Chris.

I was told by a diving peer, “Donna (The Hot Biker Chick) really wants to go to Albania with you, but she’s not sure if she can trust you.”

I’m not sure how to take that – he was either trying to mess with my mind, or somehow I have obtained some kind of an untrustworthy reputation.

Maybe she is afraid that I will sell her to the Albanian mafia?

TwinDuct asked me, “So what are you going to do, go home and post that you were here, but conditions sucked… just ’cause you haven’t posted anything in a week?”

Yeah, that’s it.

As most of my friends and my three blog readers know, I have been looking for a SCUBA diving vacation destination for 2012.

I went to The SCUBA Show specifically to find a vacation place, but ended up going off the beaten path.

I immediately eliminated Brazil as a destination, for personal reasons – mainly, I could not handle one crazy Brazilian woman, let alone a whole country full of them.

I also considered a few more things:

– It can’t be a tourist trap, especially a resort geared towards just taking tourists’ money.

– It can’t be too crowded.

– I want contact with locals; I don’t want to hang out with tourists (I eliminated North Korea on this).

– It has to be economically feasible as far as the cost of hotels and beer.

– I need to feel like an adventurer, not a tourist.

– I want people to look at me with that “WTF?” expression when I tell them where I’m going or where I’ve been.

I narrowed it down between going to Cuba or Albania…

And the winner is…

ALBANIA!

Talk is cheap, and anything can come up between now and next year, but I am determined to go.

I have applied for a US passport as of today.

To get into Albania, a US citizen doesn’t need a Visa, just a passport that’s more than six months old.

So, taking that into consideration, along with the money, I should be able to book my trip in January or February with the intent on going after California lobster season – April or May of 2012.

Diving opportunities are rare in Albania, but I did find one place located in the town of Saranda that is run by a group of Poles:

Polish Diving Base – Albania

Here is their introduction video on Youtube:

To watch this video on YouTube, click here.

So, I have about nine months until I anticipate going – plenty of time to save money, book the trip and practice Polish and Albanian.

I will elaborate more on this planned trip as it gets closer.