Week Four Maui, 2011

It's hard to believe it is coming to an end already. I leave for the Big Island on Wed. I went on a scooter dive to St. Anthony's and met Bill and Brock, who live in this same complex and we have had three great days of diving together. The two today were great. Aaron, Bill, Brock and I went out to Wailea. On our first dive we trailed behind Sarah from Maui Dreams and had a great dive. Aaron didn't do the second dive because he was having a little trouble with his ears. We went straight out and saw lots of stuff. Many different kinds of eels. What a great day for Bill and Brock, since this was their last dive of the trip. Good to go home with good dives under your belt.

Wailea, Great Shore Dive 8-13 2011

We went out seahorse hunting again this morning, but instead of just going to the area we meandered our way there. It was a great dive. I'd forgotten how pretty the reef is straight out. Ron found lots of eels, scorpion fish, octopus, shrimp and different reef fish. But no seahorse. There is some swell coming in even though we got out early. I'm sure this swell will make the shore diving stink for the next couple of days.

Maui, More Week Three

The diving this week has lead to some neat sightings. First I found a seahorse on the boat dive on Sunday and then we did a shore dive on Tuesday and found him again. Tried again today but he wasn't having any of it and kept himself well hidden. But I snapped a picture of a fish I had never seen and when I couldn't find it in the book I asked Bill Stohler and he told me it was a Randall's Puffer and he had never seen one. I feel really special that I did.
I also started going to the workout room here at the condo. I need to get stronger to be able to do more stuff and this is a start.

Reef Check Catalina July16 2011

Ron and I spent the day over on Catalina diving with Reef Check. We got there a little later than everyone else so they were ready to go in when we got there. We got to do the core off to the right out by the buoy, which is the big rock drop off. I actually got some 3s on my UPC. It was a great dive and Ron found some interesting stuff while he was waiting for me to finish. Our second dive was 2 fish only. One on either side of the dive park. As Ron said "in two different zip codes". Even though Ron has passed his fish, I offered to do them both so he could spend his time "fun diving". He would find something, remember the meter and show it to me when I was done. He has turned into a great diver, though neither of us are great navigators. I did the navigating this time and actually did ok, but how can you get lost in the dive park. He even beat me on air one dive, an awesome feat for someone with 50 dives. Our third dive was a totally fun dive. Lauren joined us and she knows how to navigate so we were good to go. Although Ron asked me where the wall was and I took him right to it. All in all a great day of diving with my son.

Maui 2011 Week Three

Week three out of five I am spending here this year. It is different this time since no one is coming over to dive with me. This week I am closing in on my 400 dive mark. I'm at 392 with 395 hours 23 min under water at this point in my life. Pretty awesome. Who would have thought.
I went on a boat Sunday and found a seahorse. The ones from last year are gone, dead or moved on. Andy found one small male dead and he had eggs in his pouch. Really sad. So now we have found another one and are hoping to be able to find it again. This ones moves around but we were able to find it and get a few pictures of it.

Maui 2011 Week Two

Same stuff different day. Blowing bubbles when I can. There is a south swell going on and it visibility stinks so we haven't been out too much this week. Hope it settles soon.

Maui 2011 Week One

Well since I've been here before and I will be doing the same things I always do, blowing bubbles and looking at fish, I figure I can post one week at a time. This way I will share my best pictures of the week and not bore you too much with the mundane stuff. The water here is about 77 degrees and all our friends are complaining about how cold it is. They are all wearing 5mm wet suits. My new 3mm is keeping me toasty, sometimes to toasty. This week I had to take Thursday off from getting wet so I could get all my Earthwatch paperwork in. I hate doing that stuff so much it took twice as long as it should have simply because I couldn't stay focused. But I did get it done and only had to redo one piece of it. The rest of the days were spent in the water, either diving or snorkeling with Bob.

York PA

When I got home from Churchill I had a plane ticket to go see Lynn and Craig in York. I went out and spent a long weekend with them a couple of years ago and when Connie offered me a Jet Blue FF ticket because she didn't have any place to use it, I said I'll go see Lynn. I am so glad she found me on the Internet after all these years. I had a great time. York had record heat while I was there and we spent a lot of time in their pool. And a great pool it is. We went to the Farmers Mkt one day and bought fruit. It was too hot to walk around for too long. It was such a typical PA market with a little of everything in it. It was fun to walk around and see all the stuff. Wed Lynn planned for us to go horseback riding. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I went for the ride, Lynn's back didn't let her go. She was very disappointed and it was hotter than hxxx while she had to wait form me. The horse was a Percheron and very tall. I had a three step stool and I still had to stretch to reach the stirrup. On Friday night they had guests over and we had great food and Maryland Crabs. I ate them until my tummy said enough already. They were so good. I really miss them. It was such a great week I am already scheming how to get back for another visit. Thank you Lynn and Craig and all your great friends for making my stay so much fun.