Author: Bill

I guess a very hectic week caught up with me, as today I lounged in bed until almost 07:00 before rolling out to a partly cloudy very windy day. I relaxed here at my ‘command center’ catching up on news and FB stuff. Lots of fun comments to read about, on the posts that I had put up with all the pictures. My Queen made us a nice big breakfast that I thoroughly enjoyed while watching Mountain Men. Spent the bulk of the day doing just that…. taking it easy and watching TV. We munched a little bit, I think maybe dozed off once or twice and just did an entire days worth of nothing. I think maybe we both needed it. Angie got up around 5:00 and made some stuffed peppers for dinner. We went right back to the couch and rested some more. She is finishing up the dishes now while I am on here doing my thing.

Tomorrow will be a little more active. I want to get up to Blues and get some more painting done. That will be good for the first half of the day, then we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Tuesday, we have a meeting with Fish With A Vet to finalize plans for our upcoming USO/Gong show event coming up 2 February. Will also get laundry done, run by Home Depot and stop in at the MEC center and see if we can get something to help with my brides cough. For the time being though, I still have a lot of under the Sea photo’s to share with you – so I hope you enjoy them until I can get some more pictures taken. I think it’s gonna be a early night for both of us, as neither of us are getting a decent sleep with all the coughing going on.

Good night Ya’ll – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Rolled out again bright and early to get morning stuff out of the way before heading back to Cane Bay for the third straight day in a row. I was a little apprehensive this morning as the Cane Bay area was setting up for a big music festival and I was afraid we would wind up having to park 1/2 a mile a way. Happily relieved to find a spot right next to the instructor there on the beach where we go into the water. Deana showed up and finally so did Josh. We all suited up, went through gear checks and waded out into the water. I am not ashamed to say – that water was fresh wading into it…… especially when that first wave that hits you right in the whatcha-ma-call-it….. Wow~! Once you’re in though, it becomes very comfortable. We headed out and a swam around taking pictures of Deana as she completed her next series of tests. One of them is to manually inflate your BCD (Buoyancy Compensation Device) the thingy that helps you float. She also had to remove her mask – completely, then put it back on and clear it. Not really that hard to do – just a tad intimidating the first time….. but it is a really good skill to have – for many reasons~! She also had to demonstrate navigational skills – and she nailed it. After all those were done, we took off to explore – and explore we did. There was a shark….. I got a picture of it this time, albeit, just barely…. and turtles~! Big, friendly patient turtles…. well – 2 of them were, the 3rd one didn’t want to have much to do with us. Finally headed back for the shore and Deana had to do an [ simulated] emergency ascent…. or ESA (Emergency Swimming Ascent) Complicated little maneuver that scared the $hit out of me when I had to do mine. Because I did not do mine to my Instructors liking, he made me do it again…. and then a third time when he was finally happy with it……. I’m much more comfortable doing it now 😉 That is another good skill to have…. Can get you out of a world of trouble in most cases. After that, we came back in for our required surface interval. The appropriate amount of time to let nitrogen dissipate from your body before going back in the water. The music festival was gearing up and the smells of multiple grills going really got the saliva going…… but there was another dive to do~! This dive for Deana was a lot better – no instructional skills to perform…. it was basically a welcome to the sport dive for once last chance for the instructor to watch and point out anything that needed corrected. Saw another turtle – I heard there was a sting ray, but I managed to miss it… and again – a go-zillion fish to accompany us on our swim. Almost back to the shore, the instructor stopped and had Deana read a small slate he was carrying – that basically said, you have completed your PADI Open Water certification course and you are now a certified SCUBA diver~! Pretty neat little moment. Yes, I got pictures of it. 😉 I am very proud of her – she done a good job and I am honored and tickled she invited me along to document it. CONGRATULATIONS Deana~!

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Rolled out early this morning to be able to make it back to Cane Bay for 2 more dives by 09:00. Woo-Hoo — I have now made more dives in the last 5 days than I have in the last month~! I Like it~!!! Met up out at Cane Bay to meet a friend who is getting PADI ( https://www.padi.com/ )certified for her Open Water certification. It’s a big step and I was more than happy to accept the invitation to come along on the dives (and snap some pictures for prosperity’s sake) Kinda of reminded me of my sky diving days when I would take pictures of people making their first jump. It’s great to watch the excitement and wonder on their faces as they are put through their paces. It is a world of difference and eerily the same all at the same time. After all, it has not been that long ago I was going through the same thing……. Our friend did a really good job (nod to the instructor as that shows he was doing his job well)and she knocked each task out of the park (well, maybe other than descending) 😉 You would think that would be easy — but you would be wrong. There is a right way and a wrong way to descend…. but she finally got it. I got her going through most of her training and over the next 2-3 days will share those pictures with you, with an occasional comment under the pictures for you to try and explain what you’re looking at. After the training pieces of the dive, we set out to explore some of the reef. We got to see a sting ray, a Barracuda and a go-zillion other kinds of fish. I spotted a beautiful turtle, but could not get the rest of the groups attention to share it. ( I did get pictures though). We eventually made our way back to the beach – had our required ‘surface interval’ – the required time to spend before it’s safe to go diving again and were soon suited up and back under the water.

Our friend successfully completed the rest of her training for the dive and we were once again off to explore the depths. Pretty uneventful dive other than being able to enjoy the absolute beauty that is under the surface. After the dive, we hung out for a cold beer or 3 and discussed the dives before heading back for our abode…… after all, we had a celebration to attend…. tonight was our 1 year anniversary discovering Blues Back Yard BBQ~! We got our showers, uploaded pictures and caught an episode of Mountain Men before heading up to favorite haunt. LOTS of friends made an appearance to help us celebrate~! It was a great time~!!! Electric Andy was playing (Vera – I recorded part of one of their songs for you– see it on FB) Folks were buying us drinks and saying how happy they were that we were part of the island…. it warmed the heart immensely. Knowing I have another 2 tank dive tomorrow morning (and plan on attending a music festival) I gathered up my Bride, bid adieu to a ton of good folks thanking them all for the well wishes….. and headed back here to chat with you a bit before I crash. Over my limit now and still a lot to share – I bid YOU ALL a good evening so I can put up some pictures and crash~~~ Been a great year — can’t wait to see what the next one brings~!!

Good night Ya’ll . . . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!

What a wonderful day, today turned out to be….. we got to sleep in a bit (06:15) Had plenty of time to wake up and do our thing before loading up the truck and heading out to Cane Bay. I had been invited by some friends to tag along on a dive they were making. The dive turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be – even though the visibility SUCKED….. once we got out and over the ‘wall’ the visibility cleared up a little bit – but still only 50′ or so (80+’ is good visibility) Wasn’t very far into the dive before coming up on a pretty little sting ray. She laid there long enough for a picture or two before scooting off along the Sea floor. We worked our way down one of the coral chutes getting progressively deeper as we went. It wasn’t another 10 minutes before I caught that awesome long shadow easing toward me that I recognized as a shark~! Being the conscientious good diver that I try to be, I immediately set out to get the attention of the other divers, signaling a shark has been spotted. By the time I got their attention and their gaze directed in the right direction, the shark had already moved away. I hung there suspended almost as if frozen, scanning the murky blue water – and there she was again~! The other divers had already grown tired of looking at the blank space I was staring at, so I took off after her to get photographic evidence that I was not indeed just seeing things. VERY shortly into my pursuit, I glanced at my computer, only to find out that in an instant – I was already at 117’……. E-Gads~!! (You use up air much faster the deeper you go) so I fired off a couple of pictures and immediately hiked my a$$ back UP into a little shallower water (-100′). The rest of the dive was pretty uneventful. Lots of pretty corals to look at, but the visibility made picture taking almost futile. Sometimes you have to deal with low vis……. One guy signaled 1/2 tank, so we immediately did our turn and headed back toward the shore. Not a lot to say about that swim other than the surge picked up which made the swim back in a tad more challenging.

Finally back on terra-firma – we off loaded our gear – cracked open a beer and discussed our dive. We wound up sitting on that gorgeous beach and watching the goings-on and chatting and just had a really good time. After a couple of hours, I was out of beer and smokes and called it….. time to head back to the middle of the island. Neither of us had any kind of breakfast before we left and both agreed we needed to eat something, so we stopped off at Blues for a bite and a drink…. well, okay, several drinks. Bellies full and a nice little buzz going – we headed home. I’ve done had my shower and figured I’d mix things up a bit by getting this put up a little bit early. I have a 2 tank dive tomorrow – so more diving pictures (hopefully better visibility)…… then the rest of the week gets really busy~~~~ 😉

Good night Ya’ll + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

Good Evening everybody — this is going to be a little later than usual and I’m not sure how much there will be, simply because it’s late and I want to hit the hay. Today – almost to the hour – is ONE YEAR that we have been on this beautiful island. We rolled in about this time one year ago – so we didn’t get a very good look at the island as we followed another couple in a car who led us to our first temporary residence. Doesn’t seem like a year yet….. crazy how fast time is going, but fairly easy to understand this year – as we learned our way around the island, found grocery stores and doctors offices. Looking for places to live, and trying to understand our new home. It hasn’t been all easy, but sure has been a lot of fun~! We just wrapped up a verbal agreement with our landlord (paperwork to follow) to renew our lease for another year~! It should be interesting at the very least to see how this year transpires, now that we have our own vehicle, know lots of people, know most of the good spots on the island and getting involved with several clubs and organizations. Bring it~! We’re ready for it~!!

Had to be downtown this morning as a spokesman for the Fish With A Vet organization to do a radio spot on the local radio station with a couple other members of the group. Nice little spot on the radio, I hope it helps. The DJ told me I had a ‘good radio voice’…… that was nice, just glad he didn’t say a face made for radio~~ 😉 That out of the way, I had a couple of quick errands to run and then back here to work on spreadsheets for about 3 hours. I don’t miss that at all, but now that I have everything built and updated, shouldn’t be a lot more to it. I finally finished up all my computer stuff, just in time to catch a couple of episodes of Mountain Men – before we had to load up and head out for a brainstorming meeting with our dive club (CRABBS). We drove out the North Shore road to Off the Wall bar and spent the next 2.5+ hours, brainstorming ideas to help keep the club a fun and active group. I also got to try their pizza~! Not bad, but nothing to write home to Mom about. Safely back at the condo now (that is an ugly drive at night) – I’m gonna sign off and put up some pictures for you. The next 3 days are going to be full and hectic and after tomorrow – I’m not sure when I’ll get to chat with you again.

Good night Ya’ll – – – – – thankx for stopping in~!

Woke up to an alarm this morning and now find myself wondering how I did that for so many years….. nasty, nasty way to have to wake up, but I rolled on out. Got up early to get my morning stuff out of the way so I could be up to Blues by 08:00. I have been trying to get their fence painted for quite some time and I was bound determined to get into it. I got the paint mixed and finally delivered to Blues last week. My Bride decided she was going to help and with a little nudging had her out the door [barely] to be up there by 08:00 — I started in on the section of fence that I rebuilt earlier last year….. the wood was horribly dry and you could almost hear the lumber sucking the paint in. My bride was working on the section right next to the entrance. The sun was blazing straight at me out in the alley and I actually got a little bit of a sun burn on the back of my legs. Even though our temps are in the low 80°s (after all, it’s winter time here too) 😉 2-3 hours of this sun will flat redden you up – even if you’re used to it. I finished up the tall section of the fence by 11:00 (when Blues opens up) and Angie finished the section she was on. I don’t like to be there working on stuff once they open. We cleaned up our stuff and took a seat at the bar. I had me a couple of ice cold Budweiser’s to help cool me down and then ordered me an egg salad sammich. Blues smokes their eggs and it gives an amazing taste to a “hard boiled” egg. We both wound up having one. We stayed for another drink or two, then headed out. We were taking up valuable real estate there at the bar, as it was rapidly filling up with the lunch crowd.

Came back to the condo and we both agreed we were both pretty pooped. So the rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch watching Mountain Men. I’m going to try and catch me an early shower and some sack time as I have to be back out the door again fairly early tomorrow. Seems I was ‘voted’ to join the President of Fish With A Vet, on a radio spot tomorrow morning to talk about the next event we have coming up. It is the 78th anniversary of the USO and we are putting on a 1940’s Themed Talent “GONG” Show in honor of it. I’m sure you probably seen at least one of the ads that I share daily on FB. Not sure what I have planned for the rest of the day.

The rest of my week looks to be super busy…..tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary on the island~!! We have a dive club Board meeting tomorrow, I have at least 1 dive on Thursday, at least 1 dive on Friday, plus we are meeting a bunch of friends up at Blues on Friday PLUS – Friday is our 1 year “Blues” anniversary and at least one dive on Saturday (If I survive Friday) 😉

Good night Ya’ll . . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!

Maybe a new week, but will start out talking about last week….. yesterday has you may recall, I had a gig as a rescue diver for a swim team here on the island, racing from the pier to a local bar about a mile down the beach. We showed up at our appointed time, got our instructions and then bailed into the water to await the swimmers. It’s a unique vantage point from my side, seeing all the swimmers line up along the pier getting ready to make their dash. Even more unique watching them swim over top of you….. Even though visibility was crap in that area of water that I was in (it normally looks like an aquarium, but there had been a lot of boat traffic) but I did manage some pictures so you can get an idea of what I saw. The other really cool thing about it, is the noise those swimmers made going over top of me. Next time I do that, I’ll have to shoot some video the next time so you can hear it – amazingly loud~! I did see one swimmer who appeared to have cramps or something, but as I eased up towards her, she finally straightened out and took off. After the swimmers were gone (they had kayakers follow them the rest of the way) the divers all still had a mostly full tank of air – and since we paid for it – well…. we had to use it 😉 and we were right there at one of the top diving spots in the world. The Frederiksted pier~! Always a lot to look at down there and this dive was to be no exception. You’ve probably already seen some of the pictures. There was an Octopus, a bunch of squid and a couple of spotted Eels plus thousands of different fish to watch. When the dive was over, we all gathered for lunch and I was invited to join a couple of the divers for another dive at Cane Bay, which I happily accepted.

After a nice lunch at a local spot – we met up at Cane Bay, one of the most popular dive spots on the island (other than the pier) and we were soon kicking our way out through a rougher than usual surf to the next dive spot. We finally sunk beneath the waves into calm beautiful blue water….. wonderful visibility (probably 80′ or better). We proceeded towards the wall, where the depth drops from about 45′ to thousands of feet deep, an almost vertical drop off. It’s fun and a little bit intimidating to swim up to it and go over that edge~! I have some pictures of it – but now that I have put this in print — I’m thinking I may do a video next time, swimming up to it and going over it, so you can experience that thrill with me~! Got to see my very favorite sea creature on this dive – a giant green Moray Eel. He was a smaller one, but still gorgeous. My video didn’t turn out as well as I would like, but still a good one none-the-less. Sorry but you’ll have to go to FB to see it.

Well over my limit already – so LOTS of pictures for you and more ramblings tomorrow.

Good night Ya’ll – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

I gotta be right up front with you tonight…….I wound up making 2 dives today and then spent the afternoon on the beach with friends until the sun set, and am just now getting good and back home and I am pooped….. just plain ole tuckered out. I’m gonna put up some pictures from my phone that I took today and everything else is gonna have to wait [[sorry]]…. but I just don’t have it in me tonight….. I have close to 100 pictures from the dives that still have to be uploaded and edited and I’m gonna wait and do that tomorrow morning. Right now I need a shower and some sleep. I might even write a little bit more tomorrow morning to make up for tonight…… So until next time~

Good night Ya’ll . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!

As I stated yesterday…. our afternoon/evening was booked with an event at a local bar/restaurant to say ‘thank you’ to the volunteers that helped out at the islands most recent Triathlon. Our day started out ever so slow and boring like usual….. got up when we woke up, gorgeous blue skies, temperatures easing into the mid 80°’s… a soft trade wind, palm trees and a gorgeous beach…… AWWWEEEeeeee — I know…. poor pitiful us Huh?? 😉 Had a nice breakfast and sat and watch a couple of episodes of Mountain Men…. We’ve seen most of them – but it’s nice to sit and watch them poor so and so’s – nuts deep in snow and shivering and to for us to be able to look out our back door at the Caribbean……. 🙂

It got to be time to head out for our appreciation event, so we cleaned up and headed on out the door. 20 minutes later we pulled into the Deep End bar and restaurant. Everybody there made the effort to get our names and understand the role we played as a volunteer at their event, they also seemed truly happy to see us. It truly is nice to feel that kind of appreciation. Seems like that doesn’t happen as often as it should. It was a cash bar but they had a very nice Taco bar set up and you could eat to your hearts content. Due to the fact I somehow became Mr. Popularity and was drug off to the side for multiple conversations…. I didn’t actually get to taste any of it – but it smelled heavenly and according to my Queen was delicious~! By the time I had made it over to the buffet table, the heaters had been turned off and it didn’t look quite so enticing anymore…. that and I had 2 or 12 drinks by then….. which almost always stunts my appetite. We hung out and chatted with friends and in general had a pretty nice time until the event ended. On top of the appreciation felt – I also managed to finagle my way in on a couple of dives next week and may possibly pick up another position on a committee to help disabled folks (challenged, whatever the correct term is) be able to make a SCUBA dive. More on that as it develops. It got close to dark and I gathered up my Queen and headed for the house…… I had a lot of alcohol sloshing around in my belly and was developing a headache that would kill a Moose.

Safely back home – I figured I better get something solid in me….. I have had a hankering for the past several days for a good ole grilled burger. Not just any burger… one of my burgers~! I had talked myself out of grilling some up for the past week – so tonight – I waltzed my happy a$$ out there, uncovered the grill and fired it up~! Now, an hour or so later, my belly is full… my headache is almost gone and I’m chatting with you all. I have a dive early tomorrow morning (rescue diver) so should have lots to chat about and lots of new pictures for you tomorrow… right now – I’m gonna go get me some sleep~~~~

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Slept like a rock for most of the night last night…. man I love it when I do that~! It was only about 6 hours – but it was one of those really good sound solid sleeps~! Woke up not feeling like I had been beat with a bat~! Not a lot to ramble on about for today. Bulk of the day was spent talking with landlords and realtor…… good news is that our Landlord is willing to renew our lease~! Yay~!!!! Caveat…. is that to keep our rent at current rate – he is requesting use of our second bedroom for a week or two — 2 or 3 times a year. Lot’s of details that I won’t go into here – but my Queen and I are thinking about it, because finding a place here on the island to live now has become damn near impossible and the ones you find [that you like] have rent most people living here can’t afford. We are taking a day or two to think about and discuss it. I have met the guy and we hit it off pretty good. He said he may be bringing a girlfriend with him…. so that’s an unknown….. but I don’t know….. what to do…… what to do……. ? Our realtor has been looking around and after chatting with her the past several days – confirms what I said earlier about availability….. with still a lot of FEMA based people on the island and the 800+ guys coming in to start part of the refinery back up…… real estate of dang near any kind here on the island is at a major premium. We even are discussing buying something, knowing that if we change our minds…. selling it in the next couple of years (or renting it out for income) is an easy option.

Rest of the day was watching movies in between phone calls and texts. Didn’t watch any that was worth mentioning…… Now, because I really don’t have much more for you….. I’m gonna sign off and leave you with more of the best of 2018 pictures. Reminder: We have the appreciation dinner tomorrow evening…. so there is a slightly above average chance – that I will be too FUBAR’d or tired to post anything tomorrow night 😉

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Vera~!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

Good night Ya’ll . . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!