Knock-knock. “Good morning!!”, and a weak and sleepy “good morning” answers from inside the room number 8. Ok, Alex and Agatha are awaken. Let’s check…room 1…Ok, Kim and Keunyong, 2 of the korean divemasters; knock-knock. “Ileona!!!”, no answer, “Ileona!!”, that means “Wake up!” in korean, maybe doesn’t sound very polite taking into account that we are waking up the guests in our boat, but it was impossible for me to remember the good morning in korean, so the guys gave us this other option, much easier to remember (although probably I’m spelling it completely wrong); some noise comes from inside the room; good. Next…Daisuke and Eriko…”Ohayo gozaimasu!! Good morning!!”. Let’s see…cabins 4, 5 and 6… The cabins of the Hong Kongnian team: “Jousan!!! Jousan!!”; a female voice answers from one of them: “Good Morning!!”. Stella and Nicholas are next, so a malaysian “Selamat Pagi!!” is required. And in the other deluxe room, just in front, we need the “Bonjour” for Yannick and the “Jousan” for Oliva. Sleepy faces start to come out from the cabins and head upstairs to the lounge for some coffee and toasts before the first briefing starts. Next ones are Roberto and Pietro, the italian father and son: “Buongiorno!!!”. And more “Good mornings” and “Ohayo gozaimasu”. Somebody surprises me answering with a catalan “Bon dia!”, and from another cabin a spanish “Buenos días!!”. Soon everybody is upstairs, with a coffe or a tea, and the sleepy faces start changing and getting excited while learning how the first dive of the morning is going to be, and hearin about the awesome creatures that are awaiting for them underwater, probably also with sleepy faces.
Languages. Nationalities. Cities. Experiences. Guests. People. So many ways to tell: “Good morning”. So many different flights that have been taken to come to Thailand and to get to our liveaboard. So many different diving experiences, jobs, traditions. All together in a boat, sharing the same table, the same food, the same dive deck and the same excitement for the diving and for the visits to the paradise empty beaches. All being delighted by the same eagle flying over our heads; all taking photos of the same sun disappearing behind the huge and surreal granite boulders and rising from the Andaman Ocean in the early morning, or silently staring at a full moon that turns from red to orange and from there to yellow and to white. Conversations and smiles. Same boat, same passion. Same smiley face after the dives in colourful and fish-packed Richelieu. Same “littleness” feeling after having been navigating between the massive boulders of Elephant Head Rock. Same feeling of adrenalin after daring the strong currents to enjoy the crazy feeding frenzy in Tachai Pinnacle.
Sometimes is difficult for me to tell if I love this job more for the variety of marine life that we enjoy underwater or for the variety of people that visit our boat and spend days with us. Different religions, languages, origins, Being in the liveaboard is like travelling to so many countries, discovering so many cultures, without moving from our beloved Hallelujah.
And it gives also the chance to learn bits and pieces from other languages. Good morning in all that languages… Probably enough for this trip 🙂
Wish I were there and I could greet you with a “Good Morning America”!!!! Miss the Hallelujah!!