Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012 - (Page 72)

OutdOOrs WAT ER WONDERL AND Clockwise from top left: A rock hind grouper confronts the lens; master diver Brian investigates a sunken engine; two schools of fish — green chromis and sardines — feeding on plankton. A DIVING THROUGH PARADISE Off t he shOr e s Of s t. t hOm a s , I a n Da ly DOn s a ta nk a nD DI scOv er s a fa n ta s t Ic a l unDerwOr l D jus t bene at h t he Oce a n ’ s sur face As a frequent traveler, one of my favorite ways to experience a new place is to fly in at night. You arrive groggy — plane-weary and disoriented — watching the silhouettes and glimmers of a strange and magical location materialize through the window of a taxi. Your imagination is forced to render details only sunlight can verify. By morning, you can see how right you were. This is how I experienced St. Thomas on a balmy Thursday evening in October — not above ground, but underwater. I met Arnoldo Falcoff, divemaster of Patagon Dive Center at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, on the little beach by the rental kayaks and sailboats. He’s a tan, soft-spoken Argentine in his 60s (and I tried not to take it personally that he’s in better shape than I am in my 30s). A nearly full moon shone through the swaying palms as we loaded our gear onto an inflatable gray dinghy and made our way out to the dive boat anchored offshore. It was a quiet night. The sound of clanging air tanks and the lapping tide was all we heard. But to a scuba diver, these sounds invoke an almost Pavlovian response. They are, and always will be to me, preludes to adventure. “We’re going to a place called the Pinnacle,” Falcoff said over the low hum of the outboard motor. “Hopefully we will see some good things.” Just 10 minutes offshore, we lined up the boat with some shadowy rocks and the 72 w w w. r i t z c a r lt o n . c o m Ian Daly http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012
Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love With ... Hong Kong
Design
Auto
Technology
On the Boulevards
Shopping
Jewelry
Watches
Palm Beach
Wellness
Santiago

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012