Author: Bill

Amazing the difference in one little ole day out on that big body of water. First dive was the same one we went to on Wednesday…. and it was a whole other site. Wednesday easily had 100+’ visibility….. today…. 40′ at best, which makes it really tough to get any kind of decent picture quality. A fun group of folks – a lot of the same ones from Wednesday…. so they were a lot more comfortable with me swimming up to them and lifting my camera up into their face….. finally done there…. up and on to the next site.  Had a young lady approach me and asked a whole lot of good questions about underwater photography. I answered each question the best I could and like to think she was happy with the conversation~~

Second dive site – visibility was considerably better, but not a lot of big creatures to photograph – so I improvised. I hope you like my improv~~ Really about it….. came back and started editing pictures. My Bride was gone and a text said she was on the beach with her childhood friend that is here visiting. They all wound up coming back here and having a couple of drinks and chatting for a bit before retreating back to their Catamaran Sail boat. We are doing left overs for dinner so it is a hodgepodge… but tasty and filling. I had a couple of pieces of KFC and a double quarter pounder…… both losing a lot in the reheating stage. I am taking the day off tomorrow – in anticipation of a really busy week next week. Will probably dive almost every day because Little Sis is supposed to come in with friends the following week – and I want to make sure I don’t have to work while they’re here…………….. Sure will be nice to see family~! [and their friends]

Happy Birthday Brother-in-Law Daniel~!!!

See my entire gallery at: www.billhein.passgallery.com

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

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Actually slept in a teeny tiny bit this morning after a mediocre nights sleep. Got up and settled in at the table for a fairly relaxing start to my day. A wonderfully delicious light breakfast and I was soon out the door tending to some odds and ends that I have let go since my recent employ. Nothing noteworthy, just time consuming crap and driving around getting agitated with folks that don’t know how to drive. Running all done – back at the house by 1:00~ish…… spent a couple of minutes going through a whole butt-load of mail… thankfully mostly crap mail… a bill or two and a new Readers Digest…… mail sorted – and even though I was not in the mood – I put on my comfy shorts and some shoes and went out to tackle the lawn…… Haven’t touched it in about 3 weeks….. and it still looked halfway decent – but the random stranglers were starting to grow together creating a fairly ratty looking environment. So I went out and fired up the lawn mower and for the next hour, stirred up a LOT of dust and leveled out the grass in the yard. We are getting DRY here…. the grass is now crunchy, except in the spots where I rinse my dive gear (lookin’ really good right there). Thought I was done – but had just enough stragglers, I felt compelled to break out the weed eater and do some trimming there too. Another 20 minutes or so with it and I was done….. dusty as get out…. but done. Looked like I just came back from an ATV tour. We need some rain…… bad enough with the crunchy grass, the dust and all….. but soon we are going to run out of water in our cistern….. which means we will have to start buying it. Dammit Emmit~! Definitely don’t want to have to do that because it is almost expensive as our electricity. Almost. So we all are collectively keeping our fingers crossed for some rain……

Spent the rest of the afternoon at the computer with a fan blowing on me….. Summer is about here and it is starting to get toasty warm here. Last dive the water temperature had gone up a degree according to my new dive computer (loaner)…..on that note- My new vest showed for diving, to help keep me warm~~ Which is about par for the course now that the water is warming back up. Oh well- I’ll have it ready for next year~! Really about it…… typical island day. My Bride has dinner going…. stuffed green peppers and probably corn or green stuff. Some pictures left over from yesterday…..

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

Crawled into bed with a full tummy last night after being out with Angie’s friends….. even though I didn’t think I slept very good – morning rolled around awfully quick – so maybe I did better than I thought…… sure didn’t feel like it, but got up and got started for a day of picture taking….. got my gear loaded into the truck- made sure all of my batteries were charged up and got my camera stuff loaded – then went in and made me a small breakfast in anticipation of a busy day swimming. I didn’t miss that call by much. Loaded and out onto a Sea that looked more like a lake than a small ocean……visibility was amazing~!! Well over 100’~! Just the way I like it. First dive site was a favorite….beautiful topography and usually has cooperative sharks….. but not today  🙁  The reef life was beautiful as ever though~! Folks on the dive were a little camera shy, but Jeff talked to them in between dives and Lord have Mercy….. that second dive I had them all over me. It’s all good though……… I liked it. Being at Emerald Gardens I should have expected it though as that is the home of Sea Biscuit…. the big Carousel horse mounted to the ocean floor. Also had a big pretty Hawksbill turtle that was hamming it up for my camera…. even took some video of him. One couple on the boat had their Mother with them…. I’m guesstimating she was in her late 60’s early 70’s maybe. Bless her heart- she struggled a little bit moving around the boat with her gear….. but underwater she swam just as good as everyone (better than some) Her Son was talking to me on the boat after the last dive— I had asked him if he saw the big turtle…. he said he didn’t but hoped his Mom did…..” I’d give a $1000 for a good picture of his Mom with a turtle”…. course….. he said that after I mentioned I do not charge anything for my pictures….. sure would like to see the look on his face when he sees this:

That is is wife and Mom……..!! Sure would be nice if he coughed up part of that grand as a tip~~ 😉  I’m joking and serious….. but it makes me happy to be able to get these kind of shots for people….. I just need to refine my pictures a little bit more….. where I’m ‘more happy’ with them. Granted…. even I will admit to myself I’m starting to turn out some pretty decent underwater photo’s…. but I’m still not where I want to be…… all in due time~~~

Well,  my Queen is finally home (and brought Mickey D’s~!) we’re drinking,  aggravating the hell out of each other and just having a good time in general. Been a whacked couple of days……. tomorrow is a down day for me….. gonna try and get the lawn leveled out…… maybe….. kinda….. then back in the water Friday and probably the weekend….. again, we’ll see.  Damn retired people……………..

Sea Fan

Up a hellva lot earlier than I wanted this morning after not getting in bed until well after Midnight….. but things come up and obligations to meet have you doing things you sometimes don’t want to do……. My Queen did manage to get a nice breakfast in us before we both took off to tend to our day. Kids still had the truck, so I had to go round that up – picked up half of My Brides friends and drove him around half of the island picking up odds and ends they needed, before meeting back up at the house with Angie and his wife, who were both out doing the same basic thing we were. We had a couple of four drinks before running in and picking up one of the island kids [that needed the truck again] – after the truck left – we all climbed into the convertible and ran “into town” for a bite to eat. Angie’s friends treated us to dinner as a thank you for all the running. We watched a beautiful sunset while we filled our bellies with good food and more drinks.

Finally dropped them off at the pier so they could dingy back out to their boat that is moored in the harbor and came home. My truck is back, all the fans are going (it’s HOT in here) and things have about settled back into our comfy little routine. Stephie called to chat for a couple of minutes and now here I am….. I am diving in the morning off the North Shore and really looking forward to that~! Plus – I’ll be able to get you some fun underwater pictures…. as this dive has no specific agenda…. so I get to ‘play’ a little bit……. I think. A little bit short – but I’m gonna leave it with you right here…… here is some pictures from tonight and 5 years ago… enjoy.

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

I hate that expression – I really do… but kinda had to bow down to it today. What I thought was going to be a normal 2 tank dive and then chase a family around the pier while they snorkeled……. turns out the boat was the snorkel trip, which included some site seeing and some more snorkeling. I had already run a dozen scenarios through my tired old brain on how I could come up with some unique shots of snorkelers that I thought would “wow” my employer….. a little tougher assignment than I initially thought. But I loaded onto the boat, got my gear assembled and started working on my camera. I had about 8 teenagers on the boat that I was charged with photographing while they snorkeled. Dang but them little beggars swim fast~! Luckily I didn’t have to try and conserve air – so I could huff and puff as much as I needed chasing them little beggars. I discovered the afternoon sun this time of year is a bugger to shoot into… but I adapted and managed to pull off some shots I think “the boss” will be thrilled with……….. finally done – I pinged my bride for a ride (she had my truck picking the ‘kids‘ up and turns out they had their own set of challenges….. lost luggage and all)…… Readers Digest condensed version….. kids JUST now got their luggage and back at the house (10:00pm) after landing at 2:00 this afternoon.

Fast forward to our house – My Queen went and picked up a child hood friend of hers that her and her husband were here visiting our little island while doing some sailing on a newly purchased sail boat. She brought them to the house, we got some Pizza Gusto and had a marvelous 3+ hours of munching on pizza, drinking and discussing whatever came up in conversation.  They eventually was ready for some rest – so my Bride ran them into town to get them  on their way back to their boat while I started editing pictures. Sorry, but not a lot [actually none] of fun, pretty underwater shots today — but I think you may still get a kick out of some of these pictures……… I’m taking tomorrow off to run new found friends around the island [I think] if they need it……. resuming getting back in  the water on Wednesday……… right now – I severely need a shower and some sleep. LOTS of booze – sufficient amount of pizza to keep my belly quiet for a little bit……. yeppers – should be some decent sleeping tonight~!

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

My Honeybear and my ‘Mini-Jeni’……LOVE these faces~~ <3

Nuthin’  but trouble~~~

Sandy Point – where the final scene of Shashank Redemption was filmed~!

Tried to sleep in a little bit this morning – even after staying up a little later (10:30pm- Oh my~!) but it wasn’t in the cards. To many things working against it I think, I was still a little hungry, I was still a lot of sore, I had about 4 dozen things running through my brain and just could not get it to shut down. Then we had the standard chorus of frogs going full tilt – a neighborhood dog that is fixin’ to get his as…. butt shot if he don’t quit barking through the night and the occasional cat fight breaking out. Luckily, the drunk neighbor who gets dropped off at night is having someone new bring him home now instead of the fat chick with the back alarm on her van (you can’t make this stuff up). Besides, she apparently can’t back up very well in the dark, so a normal 10 second back up takes a minute or two. Also growing partial to the folks who come out to pick him back up, to take him back into town, that pull up and lay on the horn to wake him up so he can stagger out to the car and go back into town again. Quite the little routine that old dude has going there……but I digress…… Up by 06:00 just because… I couldn’t get comfortable, arms and legs would fall asleep because of laying on them wrong….. HMmmm… maybe I need to find out a way to fall asleep wrong on my head…..

Up, coffee’d, read the news…. had a bite to eat and pretty much spent the day here at the computer. I ordered me a couple of pair of lounging shorts, as I am down to one pair…. checked out my ‘loaner’ dive computer (mine malfunctioned remember? and I had to send it in) so dive shop gave me a loaner to use since I will resume diving tomorrow. Boss had already pinged me for specific shoots tomorrow. She wants me on the afternoon boat and then do a family snorkeling event at the pier. Oh Boy~~ I’ve tried to explain to her that once you take about a half a dozen shots of people snorkeling…. you’re pretty much done because they all pretty much look the same after that…. but…. that’s what the boss wants, so I will do my level best to just impress the hel heck out of her~!

Other than run in town and pick up our breakfast from Polly’s and later, run several bags of gar–bage out to the dump and stopped and picked up a couple of things at the store for my Queen – I didn’t do a friggin’ thing today….. and it felt really good~! The “kids” flight has been postponed multiple times so far — and as of right now they are now scheduled to come in around 9:15 ish our time…. so I’ll be late getting to bed after picking them up. Good thing I’m diving in the afternoon tomorrow~!

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

Almost all of the women in my life……..

Another messed up nights sleep – another day…. breakfast, head into town, ready the bikes….. yadda-yadda-yadda. A couple of pretty diverse groups today though. First group was fun but  they thought they were much better drivers than they actually were – but everybody had a good time, seemed to enjoy themselves and made it back safely…. which is paramount~! Next group was already in when we came in from the first tour ((which is rare here lately)). We did a quick turn around, gave our briefing and away we went again. Both groups each had that one person that had never driven an ATV before and was absolutely petrified. The second tour – that person was the Birthday girl. She apparently talked to the other newbie on the first ride and was told that they have a guy that will stay right there with you and help you and talk you through all the rough places…. (that would be me)…. and the Birthday girl took that piece of of intel to heart…… wow……but….once again, everybody had a good time, seemed to enjoy themselves and made it back safely. AND – everybody left a nice tip….. trust me when I tell you, it means a lot….. especially when we are putting out the extra effort we are to accommodate these types of drivers. Bikes are now once again all washed up, fuel topped off and stored for the next ride.

Tomorrow is a day off other than picking up the kids from the airport. Even though the yard needs a bit of a trim – I’m not sure it will get done….. but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. For now – I’m covered in dust, hungry, tired and hurt in entirely too many places. I’m gonna start with another drink [which should help with the pain], take a nice warm shower, which will take care of the dust and help some with the pain…… and probably munch on some left over KFC….. that probably won’t do anything for the hunger…. but again- we’ll see~  😉      Comments under some of the pictures~~~

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

My day didn’t start off as good as I would have liked……

The Birthday Girl~!

Early to bed last night (8:30) and under the influence of Vodka, a handful of muscle relaxers, a very long day in the heat and a full belly…. I barely remember laying down on the bed and don’t think I moved a muscle until about 03:30……. one of those sleeps when you wake up, you have to think about where you’re at and when you went to bed kinda things…… I then just snoozed off and on until a little after 06:00 when I got up to start my day. Same routine, a small bite to eat and out the door for another day ATVing….. Machines all checked (oil, air, etc) and moved over to the yard for the day. Had the machine from yesterday that needed a little TLC and between me, Jamal and the mechanic – we had it ready to go by 10:00. Fortunately [I think] all customers were running really late. Late enough we had to improvise a short tour, to make sure we got them back to the yard in time for the next tour…… They were ALL ‘needs lots of work’ drivers and I was happy when the tour was over. They all had a ball and I don’t think they even realized how short their tour was…… but you’ll have that when you show up that late for your appointment. Second tour was a little late – but they were all excellent drivers and that tour was an absolutely blast and nobody came anywhere close to dying. Back, bikes washed, filled with gas and put away for the next day.

Back here – pictures edited and put up…. one or 6 drinks and a bite to eat…. I’m ready for a shower and doing it all again tomorrow. My back is healing up nicely – although still tender…… Some way or another – I managed to get stung again today by those $%^&^%$ Jack Spaniard wasps. Nasty little bast…. beggars….. Tomorrow is our last day in the ATV  business for a while as the ‘kids‘ come back  Sunday afternoon…. so they’ll take their business back over and we’ll go back to our other life…..I intend to take Sunday ‘off’ before getting back on the boat and spend it with my Queen. Right now — I’m tired and sore and ready for my shower and some rest/sleep……

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

This is gonna be short Ya’ll………. we had a gentlemen on the first tour today that launched his machine off the road and dropped roughly 15′ into a washout/ravine kind of thing…….. I kid you not when I tell you – he should have died in this accident. He landed upside down with them machine on top of him at the bottom of that fall. All I can think of is “it wasn’t his turn to go”. He had one small scrape on his shoulder and even a smaller scrape on his neck….. that was it. As it turns out – I got tore up worse than him trying to get him out of his predicament.  Turns out there was part of a barbed wire fence down there where he landed and I got tangled up in it trying to get the machine off of him….. also apparently turns out…. those machines are MUCH heavier than I realized…. as I leaned into it to get it off of him enough to get his legs free….. I felt several ‘things‘ in my back doing stuff I’m pretty sure they shouldn’t have been doing.

To make a REALLY long story short – we got the guy back to the shop none the less for wear other than afore mentioned scratches….. we got the second tour done safely and satisfactorily, got the machine out of the ravine and risked the health of DD II – pulling that machine up out of that ravine. I have a kind of impressive ‘welt’ running up the center of my back that I am fairly sure is an out of place muscle… but 3 Anacin…. a couple of my Brides old issued muscle relaxers and a whole lot of vodka — I’m feeling fairly decent right now…. but really looking forward to going in and laying down in bed – because I ‘get’ to do it all over again tomorrow… woo-hoo~!

So I’m gonna quit right here….. muscle relaxers are really kicking in and it’s getting tougher to sit up right, right now……. I’ll be good in the morning. Night Ya’ll.

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

Up not quite so bright but definitely early…. needing to get up in time to get bathroom stuff out of the way and still make it out to the marina in time to catch the dive boat. First time in a week [and this month!!!] that I have been in the water – I was ready~! Camera all fixed up – batteries all charged…. everything loaded into the truck. I gave my Bride a good bye kiss, as she had to leave a little early to drop her car off at the garage before reporting to Blues for her weekly day of work. I closed the house up and was soon on my to Salt River Marina to climb aboard the dive boat. On board….. gear assembled, camera assembled and tested — and away we went. Sea’s were a bit ‘sporty’, a term we use for the water instead of rougher than hell……. visibility on the first dive was iffy at best – but still a nice dive. I hadn’t been to that site in a while and had forgot how much I liked it. Got a couple eel shots [Vera – keep in mind when you see those eel pictures – the ones in these pictures were about as big around as my thumb] tiny little dudes…. not the big Green meanie that I like~! One is a Golden Moray Eel – the second is a Spotted Moray Eel.

Managed to see some sharks ( 3 to be exact) on the second dive, but they were really uncooperative. I didn’t save any pictures – but do have a video…. look closely at the video – there are 2 sharks in it…….. I was asked to go on the afternoon boat – but a prior obligation kept me from doing that…… so back to the house….. other obligation fell through [dammit emmit] so I settled in and started editing pictures while I waited on my Queen. Several text messages and several hours later, she finally come rolling in the drive way….. topless~! By that I mean she had the top down on her convertible. [get your mind out of the gutter]  😉  The garage finally got her motor fixed to where she can drop the top on her car now and she is loving it~!

Inside I started plying her with drinks and we are now nibbling on a little bit something to eat and having more drinks. Tomorrow starts our last run of ATVing… 3 days straight and each day has at least 2 tours. We will pick the kids up Sunday from the airport and hand the business back over to them, so I can go back to diving my brains out and my Bride can take it easy…… after we get the laundry caught up and the house cleaned up a little bit. Baby Sister is coming in, in a couple of weeks and I can’t let her think Big Brother lives in a sty…….   😉

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

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