Author: Bill

After a MUCH better nights sleep….. I begrudgingly rolled out of my nice comfy position in bed just a couple of minutes before my clanging alarm went off. Did my morning stuff and was mostly done by the time my Queen joined me to start a new day. A light bite to eat, a splash of OJ and all my medicines and I was out the door for “work”…….. LOL    I arrived plenty early at the marina, got my rig put together and my camera and settled into the boat for the morning. It turns out, most of the people on the boat were on a previous load with me – and as it turns out – I had several ‘fans’ of my photography. It was kinda cool…..I usually don’t cater to the ‘fan club’ mentality…. but for just a little bit – it was kinda cool. What made it even better – is they were more comfortable with me buzzing around them underwater….. so they started ‘hamming it up’ a little bit. Made take pictures just that much more fun. The first dive site was mind bending…….!!! Rapidly taking over as my favorite dive site. SOOOO much to see and chase and take pictures of. Will probably take me a couple of days to get all of those pictures put up…. so I hope you enjoy them.

Second site wasn’t quite as good – but equally fun and lot’s of photo Op’s…. I love it~! Back up on the boat – boat docked, unloaded and finally back here at the house. Gear rinsed, pictures edited and now been fed Pork Chop, [mediocre] corn on the cob and smashed taters and gravy….. and now listening to my bride run her gums on the phone with that noisy ass Sister of hers in Kentucky. I’m on the boat now, the rest of the week…… so lots of pictures on the way…….!

Gonna leave it here for the evening….. I am in serious need of a shower and get away from the conversation I am being ‘forced‘ to listen to……  😉

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

Up much, much earlier than I cared for to tend with a grumbling belly – but made the most of it after I got back in bed…… only to get up again before the alarm went off. Getting to where a tender belly is getting to be a pain in the posterior…… yea, yea, yea….. I have made ‘Doc’ aware of it and it’s being looked into. I personally think it’s just another down side of advancing age. Made me a bite to eat and had the truck mostly loaded before my Queen came stumbling out. Got to spend a little bit of time with her before loading myself in the truck and heading for mid-island.

It felt good to be back on the boat and bouncing out across that gorgeous blue water heading for our first dive site. I like the site and it almost always holds some sharks~! Today it held one very dis-interested shark. I managed one usable picture before he moseyed on his way. Still a gorgeous site and all the divers from a very full boat – all mostly did well on the dive. Did a lot of people-pictures on the two dives today…… and it seemed to be a big novelty for most of them – so it was entertaining watching them ham it up for my camera. The boat ride to the next dive site took almost an hour so we were able to get in the water almost as soon as we got there~! I like it like that!

This site is known even more so for holding sharks and we weren’t disappointed. I even managed a decent close up shot. I re-iterate, as a rule, I don’t use a zoom lens to get those dandy close up shots….. sometimes my hands are literally a couple of inches from the sharks mouth…. or the Moray Eel or anything else I photograph with teeth……. Finished the dive up and headed back to the house. My Bride has fed me, pictures are edited and put up – and I am ready for a shower. Tomorrow is another day under the water…… hopefully with an uninterrupted nights sleep under my belt~!

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

For the first time in recent memory — I took [and got] an entire weekend off. Normally not a fan of week end diving anyway (that is when most of the ‘water Gods‘ come out) and did dang little during the course of said weekend. Yesterday was fairly calm….. I did breakfast dishes, but damn little else the rest of the day as I caught up on some on line appointments and phone calls that I had skipped all week. We did drive “all the way to [almost] the other end of the island”, to spend the afternoon with a diving buddy of mine and his wife. They had invited another handful of people and it turned into just a fun enjoyable evening, topped with Fajita’s, alcohol and just some fun conversation. One of the people there was hearing impaired and there was two different friends there to interpret for him. That was kinda neat and me and my Queen both mentioned it would have been fun if Daughter Stephie was there and she is (or used to be) versed in ASL (American Sign Language). The evening went by so fast and before we knew it, it was already 9:00. We had a solid hour drive back to our place…. at night, after drinking….. so we bid adieu to what I’m sure is a bunch of new friends and away we went.  Arriving safely just a little after 10:00 last night – I was in no mood (or condition) to try and put anything on line……. This morning, I did even less, or at least that was the plan. My Queen made us a delightful breakfast of bacon, sausage and pancakes and after eating entirely too friggin much……… I finally managed to waddle my big touchas out the door and start mowing the lawn. I think I said it the other day – with our most recent little bursts of rain – I am now back to mowing the yard about every 3 days…… I hate it – but the good Lord knows I can certainly use the exercise. Mowing and weed eating done…. the yard looking just spiffy as S**t…… I came in to set my big nash down in front of the fan to cool off a little bit. It has now started getting ‘down right toasty’ here on our little island and if the breeze lays down for even just a little bit — it gets sweaty pretty quick.

After cooling off just a skosh… we settled in on the couch (in front of a fan) to watch Black & White, with Kevin Costner…a solid 10 out of 10~! After a couple of drinks, I made Dinner during the course of Pursuit of Happyness (Will Smith and yes we have seen it but wanted to watch it again) here I am. Tomorrow begins what will probably be 5 solid days of diving for me, since I won’t get much done after next week [diving wise] due to prior engagements and visiting family. NOT complaining one bit – – – – Can’t wait to see my Honey Bear and her group~!! So for now – gonna call it a wrap, ready for a shower and some sleep and get ready to go chasing more sharks tomorrow~!!

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

After a fairly tiring day that followed a very tiring day….. we decided kinda impromptu to go out for dinner. Probably did not think that all the way through as we both had ‘several’ drinks in us at that point – but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We cleaned up a little bit and headed down the road to our little spot we always go. Pulled in and I came around to get the door for my Queen when I realized that my tail gate was down and that some of my dive equipment that was in the bed of the truck was no longer in the bed of the truck….. dammit Emmit~! I apparently had a tad more to drink than I suspected – as it never occurred to me to drive back down the road and look for said missing stuff. Hey…. I’d been drinkin’, I was starving and we had a reservation….. so it made sense to just go on in and eat.  By the time we left….. I had forgot about said items until we came back out to the truck (in all fairness…. I did a birthday shot with a young lady celebrating her birthday ((the young lady in blue sitting behind us in the first picture)) I think it was 151, but what ever it was – it sure packed a wallop… yowsa….) …. and didn’t even cross my mind to look for my lost stuff on the drive back.  Long story short — made it back to the house safely…. but in NO condition to do much of anything other than fall into bed. I got up this morning…. with not a lot of pep in my step – forced a small breakfast into me and went out to gather my stuff for today’s dives. Thankfully, I didn’t lose anything last night that was vitally important. Just my gear bag and I was about ready to replace it anyways cause it was getting pretty ragged. I sure hated to lose the stuff I had squirreled away in the end of the bag though….. probably $200 worth of ‘goodies’ in there for whatever might come up in minor emergencies. (Aspirin, Rolaids, extra fin straps, etc.) DAMMIT Emmit~! Some lessons you just need to learn the hard way I guess……it could have been a LOT worse~!

A couple of [thankfully] pretty tame dives today. No Sharks or anything where I could have lost an appendage…… and I was soon back at the house. Rinsed my gear….. edited and put up pictures… finally ran into town and got a new gear bag (Dive Shop owner/neighbor has decided he likes it when I drink)…… a couple of other items to keep me in the game and I’m good to go. My bride has fed me some (fairly nasty) fish sticks, Mac-N-Cheese and some green and orange stuff…… may have to sneak a burger in later……. not sure. The plan, not do a friggin’ thing for the next 2 days before I put in a very long week of diving in anticipation of being out for a week or so when our youngest Daughter and her crew come in…… although I’ll probably have to mow the yard tomorrow or Sunday. We got that much needed rain so I’m back to mowing about every 3-4 days….. dammit Emmit~! JUST got invited to a friends house for dinner tomorrow afternoon. They live out on the East end on a mountain top – so an above average chance there will not be any kind of post tomorrow………….

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

Due to [apparently] every changing circumstances…. well tended to plans ALL changed……….. so today – instead of doing what I had planned on ALL week…… I got to sleep in a minute, have a nice breakfast and still make it into the ATV yard to help out the island kids. That entailed showing up to ride tail on a tour of some fun folks from Alabama……… good riders, friendly – fair questions and good tippers~! We got them back in ample to take advantage of the second half of their land and Sea package (we’re land)  😉  As it turns out, there was a second tour and Shawn had already laid claim to it — so I gathered up my camera and launched my happy a$$ right on out the gate……… (well….. it is after all Shawn’s birthday…. so I ‘had’ to let the ole Jarhead get his way)  😉

Back at the house – I uploaded my trail pictures, cleaned up, and loaded into the truck to head to mid-island. My Queen made a request last night and I was bound determined to fulfill it. She wanted/needs a new iPad/Tablet…. for her games. Her little one apparently finally bit the dust…… and I was on it~! Went to Sunny Isle where Office Depot is located. Please understand…… I would rather have my tongue branded, than go any where near this particular location on the island…… but sometimes…… just sometimes……. a feller has to do what a feller has to do. I finally made it into the store….. dealt with the required number of locals in the store who said “we are out” until I finally got one who at least acted like he cared. A looooooong ugly story later – I walked out with a tablet I’m hoping my Queen will like. From there on to  Home Depot……… Oh good….. another 2″ x 4″ across the forehead……… I am going to spare you all the sorted details of that experience… lets suffice to say — I finally left with a new grill, a grill cover and some replacement line for my weed eater.  I finally broke down and got a new grill….. I really do miss grilling food…… but with my Honey Bear and her crew coming in the end of the month – I [hope] they will want to save a ton of money and just have burgers, dogs and ‘grillin’ stuff here for most of their visit….. and I need to be ready for that~!

Back at the house, grill unloaded and set up…… edited and uploaded ATV pictures… started ‘breaking in’ the grill while I did that….. little ole multi-tasker that I am……. FINALLY got the message from my Bride that she was soon headed my way…… an hour later….. she showed up. I had drinks made….. she has her new tablet charging, still debating whether either of us are hungry enough to fire up the new grill yet or not….. but our day is happily wrapping up. Angie is working a half day tomorrow….. followed up by Mani-Pedi’s with a friend afterward…… I am back on the boat…. again out on my end of the island…….. ready to get wet…. and hoping the Sharks are extra friendly~!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Up much to early this morning after a pitiful nights sleep. I figured I was much to tired last night to worry about taking Advil PM’s, so I skipped them. That’ll learn me not to try and think~! Tired and not wanting to get out of the sack – I rolled out anyway to keep my alarm from waking up my bride who seemed to be snoozing just fine. I forced myself through my morning ritual and soon settled in at the table to see the latest crap being spewed out that they are trying to call  news. At least with FB – I know it is all BS and no one is (believably) trying to convince me otherwise.

I made myself eat an egg/sausage/biscuit, so I had something in my belly to take my meds on. That done, my Queen now up and having a coff of cuppee with her, I was soon out the door a little after 08:00 to be at the pier by 08:04…… one of the reasons I love having the boat on this end of the island………On board, gear put together and camera put together… I welcomed the (very) small crowd of guests aboard….. love them small boat loads, but not very good for business. Sure does make it easy to get “people pictures” of every one on board. First dive site this morning was my personal absolutely favorite dive site – Armageddon~! My camera kept working (it has malfunctioned the last 2 times on this site) and I had one shark that just made my day…… if you haven’t seen the picture on FB yet — it will be posted below and there should be no doubt in your mind which one I’m referring to……. love it, love it, love it~! Second dive was pretty non-descript…. but that’s okay…. you’ll have those every so often!

Everybody safely back at the dock. Everything unloaded and me back home to my Queen. Gear rinsed, a wonderfully delicious supper of Spaghetti and meatballs with mushrooms and onions…. Yummers~! I may have to sleep out in the truck tonight – but it’ll be OH SO worth it~!

Taking the day off (from diving) tomorrow to help out the island kids with an ATV tour ( I didn’t quite catch the specific’s but did get the part where they were asking for help if I could). THEN it finally dawned on me…..duh….. tomorrow is Pork Chop’s (Shawn’s) birthday and being the loving wife Cynthia is [cough, cough] – she does not want him working on his birthday……. very happy I can oblige~~ So – probably some trail pictures for tomorrow, before I spend the rest of the week underwater~! Since I will have the bulk of the day off — I may run out to Home Depot and pick up a grill……. my Honeybear and her crew will be here the end of the month and I need to get it broke in so I can fix them burgers and dogs………. gotta keep my crew fed~! Right now – I’m gonna go get a shower and take my Advil PM…. and see if I can get some sleep for my big day tomorrow.

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

Up bright and early this morning to start off a new week of diving. Finally got caught up on everything I needed to be and moseyed my tired old touchas into bed around 9:00 last night. I do not hardly remember my head hitting the pillow before I was ‘out’. I could get all kinds of attached to that~! I woke up around 03:00, still on top of the sheets about to freeze…… crawled under the sheets and spent the next 3 hours, uncovering and covering myself because I was either to hot or to cold…… it was still a decent nights sleep though and I rolled out anxious to get in the water. Even nicer that the boat is out here on this end of the island for the next couple days in anticipation of less than stellar weather. Neither dive today was noteworthy…. no sharks….. Dammit Emmit…… nothing big – although I did get a couple of nice turtle shots….. one teeny little spotted eel and some topography shots. Second dive was a nice slow paced mostly shallow dive and I got to  play with my camera a  little bit…. I like those, as that’s where I am learning the cameras capabilities~! Back at the house – gear rinsed, a wee bit of dinner and I’m ready for my shower. Another day on this end of the island tomorrow – so we’ll see what that brings. You can bank on the fact there will be more pictures though~! For now – I’m calling it quits early tonight………

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

Sorry about skipping last night – but by the time I came back from my third dive of the day [Dive with your Junior day]…. and got my gear rinsed…. almost 400 pictures from the entire day loaded…. edited, sorted and filed correctly….. I had time for a quick bite to eat, a shower and some sack time. Even though I knew I got to sleep in the next morning….. I was worn out~! Especially…… ESPECIALLY if you’re following my FB posts…. you know that I had a wonderfully magnificent SHARK experience yesterday~!!!! I not only ‘bumped’ one shark off of me using my camera…………… before it was all said and done – I bumped 5 sharks off of me….. I cannot honestly say it was 5 different sharks (at that time they were moving VERY fast and it was really hard to tell if they were the same ones or not). I did my level best to be cool as I knew I had at least 4 different sharks circling me and coming at me when I did my “call”. Instead of fleeing for the safety of the surface like my last encounter…… I stayed in position and used my camera as a shield to bounce off the bigger guys (biggest I’m estimating was 6.5′) didn’t really matter though….. from my vantage point – they all might as well have been whales~! Trust me when I tell you – – – as someone who has jumped out of an airplane [from some pretty crazy heights] well over a thousand times……. THAT was an adrenalin rush that would rival any almost any jump~! The beauty of it — I got several awesome shark shots that I am just proud to pieces of~!! Yes….. I get an immense amount of pleasure knowing I ‘got that shot’~!!!!!!! I apparently left my truck keys laying out on the table over night – along with ALL my gear – but- EVERYTHING was still there this morning….. so I guess our little place is a little safer than I thought~~

Laid in bed and ‘forced‘ my self to stay there until almost 08:00 when my Queen finally rolled out. I dutifully made the bed and straightened up the bedroom before finally getting my access to do my thing. After getting good and woke up  I made us both a nice breakfast. I cleaned up and did dishes before going out to mow the yard (yes I JUST did that 3 days ago) but we have had rain and it is back to growing like no body’s business. Yard done, I drove to the dump to drop some stuff off – got gas for my truck, stopped by the dive shop to drop off a flash drive for the boss before coming back out and making us drinks. I jumped in and made what turned out to  be a very feeble attempt at dinner for my Queen (T-bone steak and baked tater and garlic bread) Long story to that one – but I mostly loused it up. I am [sadly] out of practice doing that – but am committed to doing better from here on out.

Mothers Day today for lots…… I hope all you “Mother’s” out there had an extra special day today. I hope you got to talk to your Mom if you’re lucky enough to still have her in your life. If you are now the ‘Mother’ in the situation – I hope the other people in your life at least tried to make your day special…… You’ve earned it and dang near every day should be ‘Mothers Day’.

Diving for the next 3 days that I know of………  Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – –  Thankx for stopping in~!

Up this morning bright and early even though I REALLY wanted to keep my happy tired old touchas in bed……… I was sleeping soundly when my internal clock told me to get the hell up so my alarm didn’t disturb my Bride. Up and mostly at ’em…. I rolled out, bumped charged a whole set of batteries (after all it had been over a week since I used any of them!) Fixed my cooler (4 very cold Budweiser’s), some water and some snacks. I was reasonably sure I was going to be ‘bullied‘ into shooting the afternoon boat [a bunch of snorkelers] and I didn’t want to go the entire day without something to eat if I did. While I was politely invited to tag along on the snorkel boat – I unloaded the tanks, grabbed my gear and politely said “Oh, hell no“. They left it at that and I was soon on the road back to my Queen. She was still asleep when I left this morning [which delighted me to no end] and I left as quietly as my old truck would let me.

She was up and making a drink when I pulled in – and for the first time in well over a week, our routine was back to something close to ‘normal’. I told her about the dives. Nothing extraordinary on them – first dive had “ermazing” visibility [150+’]…. second dive – ‘vis’ was horrible – but  still a good dive. I managed a few salvageable shots and everybody had a good time……… It sure felt good to be back underwater~!

Back at the house now…… ALL pictures (from the last 2 days) edited and put up in their respective places….. have had a bite to eat and 2 or 8 drinks…… ready for a shower and some very much needed sleep. Caught up with our Damn Neighbors a couple of days ago…. regaling us of a new drink they have come across…. sure do love hearing from them (even when they are feeding us a line of [suspected] crap about their [still have] drinking prowness~~~~ bunch of rookies… but we love them……………..

Longer day tomorrow. 2 tank dive in the AM – then a 1 tank dive in the afternoon for a “Dive with your Jr” day. Something the shop does Quarterly or so……. getting your [age appropriate] kids to go diving with you…… that is always a lot of fun – watching kids diving with their parent(s). Looking forward to shooting that~!

Got a late birthday gift in the mail from my Honeybear…… sent me a pair of ‘deck’ shoes that I absolutely love…… she got me a pair before – but this pair I can actually put on without getting winded (first pair was JUUUST a smidge small) They will be here in just over 2 weeks and me and ‘Ma‘ are just absolutely beside ourselves in anticipation of seeing her and her ‘crew’…….. That’s it for now……. more tomorrow….

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

Greetings and salutations Ya’ll………. I’ve got a couple of minutes before my Bride gets here and thought I better see if I can get a couple of words out to you before you forget that I’m at here on the world wide web. I got Lil Sis Nelia and her crew off to the airport fairly early this morning. She just pinged me and said they are in Chicago right now – so they’re almost back. Sure was nice having them here. I always look forward to getting to spend some time with her and her husband. Their ‘damn‘ neighbors are a hoot and the six of us all had a ball…… at some point – I need them to meet our Damn Neighbors….. that could be dangerous.   😉

Angie decided she was going to go into work at Blues in anticipation of a big day tomorrow there. We are both working tomorrow to help support the big Cinco De Mayo celebration that Blues usually has. With the island mostly opened back up – people are ready to get out and party and I expect a sizable crowd. My Queen just pulled in and I made us drinks and am now waiting for her to get in her ‘comfies’. I kept myself fairly busy today, doing some long overdo mowing, weed eating, did a little cleaning around the house, did the dishes and just piddled with a bunch of little odds and ends. I ran in town to get the Gecko’s yard cleaned up – but they were in the middle of tours changing – so I said I’d be back in the morning to get their yard cleaned up. I should have enough time to get that done before getting a shower and heading out for Blues.

My Queen and I are already into our third drink…… so I’m gonna quit right here. I have quite a few pictures to share with you. Pretty sure there will be no rhyme or reason to the order I put them up in, so bear with me and I’ll try not to duplicate any. Just a reminder – it’s probably going to be late-thirty before we get home tomorrow night, so doubtful there is a blog tomorrow. Somewhere around Friday our lives ought to return to some semblance of normalcy for a little bit – at least until my Honeybear comes in with her brood at the end of the month. Can’t wait~!!!

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