Grab a few people from Australia, a few more from Europe, throw in some South African and a little North American and put them all in South East Asia together at Christmas and what do you get? An amazing day at Dive Timor Lorosae filled with food, drinks, costumes, gifts and of course, diving.
With such a melting pot of cultures it was brought to our attention in the days leading up to Christmas that we all had quite different ideas about what Christmas was for us.
After some debating and cultural insight we decided we would try and do it all. And here is how it went: It started like all good Christmas’, with a mad rush on the 24th, picking up relatives from the airport, shopping for enough food and drink and getting everything ready for diving the next day. With castaway closed it was up to us to feed everyone. After a solid effort and some strong team work in the kitchen we sat down on the 24th in the evening to celebrate Christmas European style. Filled with good food, good wine and good company we finished up and all rolled into bed waiting for Santa to arrive. At first light on the 25th we were yet to see Santa but instead found joy in the mountain of crepes and fresh fruit served out for breakfast. Eating all but one crepe we jumped into the cars to head down to the coast for some diving.
That’s were we found Santa, actually, we found two. Dressed in full Santa costumes both our instructors took to the water. For once no one had trouble identifying the guides. After a dive at Lone Tree we feasted on a mixed lunch of chicken curry, seaweed salad, pork belly, mie goreng and chips taking special care to have a day off rice. Dive two was Bob’s Rock for a nice easy dive because we all felt like Bob’s rock after such a big lunch! The day didn’t finish there. Emerging from the water it was back to the shop to fire up the BBQ for an evening feast.
With many people representing 9 different countries there was something for everyone, from eggnog to homemade Christmas pudding and even Champagne, the evening rolled on until there was no one left standing. A big thank you to all our divers, family and friends that could share Christmas with us at DTL. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for 2014 from the DTL family.
See even more photos in our Christmas Day at Dive Timor Lorosae Facebook Album!