Author: Bill

A reasonable night’s sleep… bride up just before me so I wallered while she did her thing– I finally got up and danced a small jig while making the bed ( I had to pee really bad)….. bed made, pee done… faced washed, teeth brushed…. remaining hair combed…. YES – I comb my hair…. what’s left of it- probably a hellva lot more often than I should……. but I have always been a bit of a freak about my hair…. especially when I had some. Got to sort them last few remaining dudes out to where they look like you care.

Into the shop, everything opened up, machines moved across the street and into the yard and ready for our biggest day yet. 3 tours – mostly full each tour ( 3 or  more bikes) First tour went great…… second tour was a bit of a bust when one family became petrified when they found out there was dust and danger involved….. yes, it will be muddy and dusty, yes – there are some drop offs along side of the road– no, there are no guard rails….. yes, we go through the rain forest on the way to the top of a mountain….. yes – we will be a long way up in the air……. yes – you’re probably gonna get [at least] a little bit dirty…. yes, there will be bugs and insects…….. Seriously dude ??? Did you read ANY of the website information before you booked this tour ?? ( I did not actually say this to the ‘Dad’ – but I really wanted to)    No Sir – I cannot do anything about the mountain being very high up in the air……. You may [hopefully] find this funny – but I promise you… these questions are not made up….. I answered every one of them this morning……. I think for the sake of everybody involved – the family decided to not do the tour and left – so for the noon tour – we had one bike. One couple, good riders and we had a ball with them…… 3rd tour of the day were all inexperienced – but they give it their best shot and with one exception where one of the ladies bailed off of the bike thinking she was going to tip over – the tour went without a hitch. Happily, other than a couple of small scrapes – she was fine. Sure makes for an interesting day when you have a crowd as varied as today’s was…….

My Queen is doing her weekly day of employ at Blues tomorrow and I am doing a much needed day under water tomorrow….. so you’ll have some ocean pix to look at instead of the same old trail pictures…..

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

A really messed up nights slumber….. felt like I slept about 4 different times… BUT- each time felt like a good deep slumber – so when I figured my Queen was done doing her thing – I rolled on out to greet the day this morning. It was still only 06:30 and even though I was late to bed after our delicious meal last night. My Queen made us a breakfast a little bigger than I wanted, but like the hog I am, I went ahead and cleaned my plate…. regretting it later as I started moving ATV’s across the street for todays romp through the rain forest and mountain top. Once you have reached a particular age (and it varies with everybody)…… bouncing around those trails starts taking it’s toll on you. Today, thankfully was 1 tour and I knew the ‘ring leader’ of the group. I consider her a friend and she was hosting friends of theirs from the states. They were prompt and had their paperwork all filled out and we were soon on our way. We have had just enough rain to leave us a couple of sizable mud puddles up on the mountain top and our friend was bound determine to ‘race‘ through everyone of them. She was handling her machine well, so I let her and took an enormous amount of satisfaction, seeing the grin on her face as splashed through each big puddle. She even managed to douse me in mud as I positioned myself “in harms way” to get pictures of said mud splashing….. Because they were ”friends of friends” we took the long scenic way back for a little added treat. Back at the yard – everyone looked to have enjoyed themselves. They got cleaned up and was soon on their way.  We got the bikes cleaned up, gassed up and put away for a very long day tomorrow. The ‘boss’ has already sent two revisions to our schedule… and that’s just today… so we now have a very long week coming up.

The day I hoped to sneak out and do a dive for my other Boss has now been blown out the window with the newest schedule….. but other Boss knew that was a distinct possibility when I took the job…… there will be other times for me to make up the dives….. So—  a bite to eat, a shower, hopefully a wee better nights sleep and tomorrow another [[looooong]] day on the trails (3 tours)……………….. I suspicion trail pictures may get a bit repetitive for you all, so I’ll try to put some other older dive pictures in as well to hopefully help keep them all interesting…….

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

Easter on the island……. got up around 06:30 and was greeted with mostly blue skies, a fairly nice breeze and about 78°….. yep – a pretty great way to start off a very casual Easter morning. Happy Easter Ya’ll~! A small breakfast ( I shot down a recommendation of Polly’s because I wanted to make sure I was good and hungry by the time our dinner reservation rolled around)  So a small breakfast and I settled in to hammer out another day of doing absolutely nothing~! I was about as successful as I could be doing it it too~!

After watching several documentaries on how bad us humans are screwing up our planet – it was time to head out to dinner. I have been looking forward to this meal all week and even more so when I found out Dave & Liz were joining us. I have been looking forward to steak and Lobster all week and tonight was it~! Liz and Dave were there when we arrived. we joined them and in short order had our drink order in. The sun blazed a little bit warmer than any of us would have liked, but it only took about 20-30 minutes or so, before the heat laid down and we got to watch another fabulous sunset from our table, all the while enjoying some bang bang shrimp appetizers. Wasn’t too much longer before steaks, salmon and lobster all hit the table. The table got considerably quieter as we all dug into our meals and watched the sun as it finally dipped below the line of clouds on the horizon. We ate and chatted, ordered more drinks and then finally dessert. A couple of Chocolate Cappuccino Sundaes, a Key Lime pie and followed that up with a couple of Chocolate Martini’s….. MmMmMm good! Any meal is sooo much better with good company like my Queen and Dave and Liz~!!

Back home….. checked on Dave and Liz to make sure they made it all the way back to mid-island safely…….. My Queen is on the couching playing on her phone and I’m sitting here trying to write while I rub my very full belly….. ( and I wonder why I can’t lose any weight). Back to work tomorrow for a couple of days this time…. riding ATV’s and corralling folks around the mountain top. I am already missing being under water….. HMMmmm, Wednesday is a day off from the trails……. HMMmmmm….

Good Night Ya’ll  & & & & & & & & & & Thankx for stoppin in~!

Mediocre nights sleep, better than last but not as good as I would like…. Got woke up, batteries charged for the GoPro…… My Bride offered up some breakfast – but belly didn’t want anything to do with it. So I opted for a shot of OJ and my daily morning dose of pills – that is just about breakfast in itself.  Out the door a little before 09:00 – got the place opened up, looked over all the machines and got them brought across the street and situated in the yard, ready for today’s adventures. First tour was a family vacationing from Ohio. Good group – all experienced riders, yet they rode like they had sense and treated the guides and the machines with all due respect. They were polite, asked good questions and was just fun in general to have on the tour. Like yesterday – I’ll take groups like that 4 times a day all week long. Second tour was 2 groups. Not as experienced – but equally polite, minimal issues and made for a mostly enjoyable tour. We had some troubles with one of the machines and I wound up having to pull it back, but I don’t think it hindered the tour and I didn’t hear any complaints. We finally got everybody back and on their way….. machines all washed and put away for the next tour, on Monday. I think it’s just the 1 tour Monday – and I know some of the people in the group…. fellow divers…. so it should be an easy day. One more day off after that and then we set into a long busy week……. but we’ll contend with that when we get to it.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. My Queen and I have dinner reservations at our favorite West end place. This dinner should be extra enjoyable as Dave and Liz are joining us. Good company always make an enjoyable meal – better. They have a tantalizing menu in store for our meal, couple this with good company and an amazing sunset on a gorgeous beach…… it should be a really nice evening. We are both very excited about it~!

For now- some aspirin (‘arther‘ in the fingers is killin’ me), a shower and a hopefully good nights sleep is in the line up for this evening. Some trail pictures for you and probably some underwater pictures you may have not seen yet……

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

Another night of fitful slumber that left a WHOLE lot to be desired….. sweaty… dammit I’m gonna have to turn the air on soon – even though leaving a bare limb exposed from under the sheet will leave you shivering if left uncovered….. what is that about ??? Even though I stayed up a smidgeon later than I usually do – I didn’t get to sleep in on my first official day off in quite some time. Up by a little after 06:00 – I spent my entire morning sitting at the table looking at [mostly] stupid sh* stuff on line. Even though I offered Polly’s – my bride cooked up a most wonderful breakfast. Couple types of sausage and even a biscuit~! Even though she didn’t partake in much of it – I ate enough for both of us. She decided she needed to go shopping… or something and away she went. I tore myself away from my spot at the table long enough to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up before she came back. Most of the afternoon was spent still at the table as I knocked out a bunch of little odds and ends and listened to it rain off and on.

Angie was gonna make dinner – but I reminded her of the left overs in the fridge. Not sure why, but it pains my soul to throw perfectly good food out. My Bride is not a fan of left overs, so I am generally tasked with the removal of said food…. that in itself pains me a little bit – but I think it is one of those things when you have lived with somebody for 40+ years – kind of grates at you, even when it shouldn’t. The fact that I had a double quarter pounder from Mickey-D’s sitting in there waiting on me – did not help one friggin bit……. but I have my priorities….

Phone calls done, texts done, on-line stuff done… bills paid up for the next 2 weeks done…. in pretty good shape for the up coming very busy week…… and a much needed day off in the books. Got to work a couple of days riding trails before next day off — Easter Sunday. We’re having dinner out and being joined by two very close friends….. can’t wait for that~! Following that will be a busy, busy week. Not sure if I’m diving any in the next 10 days…. but may try to sneak one or two in-in the middle if I can. Right now – I think a shower and some sleep is in order…… been a tough day doin’ nothin’~~~  😉

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

P3040202 <—Video

Tried to sleep in this morning – but the old belly and bladder had different plans…. right on the edge of way to friggin’ early to get up – I did it anyway, primarily because I went to bed early last night AND had a pretty presentable nights sleep….. so in pretty good shape for rolling out that early~~~ One of the ‘nice’ things about riding trails, is they start a lot later….. so I not only had me a tasty wonderful breakfast that my Queen whooped up – but got to screw around online to my hearts content before gathering up everything, closing up the house – and heading into the yard. ‘Kids‘ just got there and was getting everything ready to drop in our laps. We started doing our thing while the kids ran around and did theirs. Somewhere in the mix – Angie ran them out to the Air Port and dropped them off while me and Jamal finished up the second tour of the day. Absolutely LOVED the two tours we had today…… even the second one when I had a rider with me…. Oliva…. I’m guesstimating 8 or 9 years old…. but she done good….. and rode like a trooper. ALL the riders today – took their time, respected us and the machines, asked good questions and was just a pleasure to tour with. I’ll take these kind of groups – 4 times a day, every day~!

Back from the noon tour about 1:30….. bid all the people good bye- got the machines cleaned, gassed up and put away and ready for the next time. That next time is Saturday….. YES…. day off tomorrow~!  I thought about getting on a boat, albeit briefly. A day without diving or driving…. sounds pretty good to me right about now. My Bride made us a dinner of Cordon Bleu with rice and corn and I have been working on it while working on this. I’m ready for a shower to wash the dust off me….. and am looking forward to a day of NOT diving or driving…… at least for now. For now, I’m gonna put up some trail pictures from today…. and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

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

A semi-reasonable, half messed up, decent nights sleep…kinda…sorta….  LOL 😉 Got up a smidge earlier than intended to deal with the call of nature – and then just stayed up….. gave me a couple of extra minutes to enjoy the cool solitude of the dark house before my Bride came stumbling out and bumping into everything. I made a small breakfast for us while she did her breathing treatments and it wasn’t long before she was out the door. Because the dive boat is still docked out here on the West end – I got an extra 20 minutes or so before I headed into town. However. Apparently, the decision was made, for whatever reason….. the dive was not going to start until 10:00 a.m. instead of the customary 08:30. Apparently, as well, no one bothered to notify anybody about it except the captain (one of the more important folks) and the Dive Masters….. apparently also, there is no need to notify the lowly photographer…. I could have slept in, made a serious breakfast and then headed into town. Hate when I don’t get the memo…….. so I humped all my stuff back to the truck and trudged the mile and a quarter back to the house – where I had me a banana drizzled with honey [that is really not as good as I thought it would be] and watched some videos until it was time to head back into town. Nothing overly awesome to rage on about for these two dives. I chased newbies around underwater and tried to keep them still long enough to get at least one decent picture. I did find out at the beginning of my second dive – apparently my camera housing has sprung a leak and it clouded over the entire lens surface. I knew something was wrong underwater, but couldn’t figure it out until I got back on deck. Using a little bit of creative editing – I managed to save about a ¼ of the pictures I took…. so I do have some new pictures for you…. once my camera gear dries – I need to sit down and try and figure out what the issue is…. I have lots of spare 0 rings and door seals, so I should be able to fix it once I understand the problem. Life’s little problems.

My Queen finally made it back from her day of employ… dragging home a bag of Mickey D’s goodness. I have inhaled the 2 double fish filets she got me….. and debating about hitting the double quarter pounder……. what little good sense I have in me says wait until tomorrow…….. might probably ought to listen to  that piece of intel…….

Tomorrow starts a very busy week running the ATV business. Angie runs the office while I pull guide duty and [of course] taking pictures. It’s been drier than a popcorn fart on this end of the island this past month or so and I have been told the trails are a special kind of dusty right now…… oh good. At some point, apparently fairly soon, we are supposed to get quite a bit of rain….. which will turn all that dust into mud…. oh good. Out of the next 10 days – 7 of them are booked with tours…… oh good. First day off in almost 2 weeks is Friday…. not sure whether to go dive or stay at the house and not do a $%^&*&^%$ thing…. we’ll see. Have dinner reservations for Easter Sunday at our favorite place (on this end of the island) and what is going to make it more wonderful is that 2 of our dearest friends are joining us. Life is good~! Well I went a tad over….. dammit emmit~~~

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

P3310137 <—- Video of Sting Ray [for my Mess]

Semi-pitiful nights sleep last night…… my Queen was up and down all night… must have been something in the air……. Got my 2 morning dives done and was about ready to head to the house when the ‘boss’ asked if I could shoot some afternoon pictures of a visiting family……. sure…… Only one dive – but it took almost 3 hours to get over with… lots of training and ups and downs and do overs and swimming……. finally got it though and I think the boss and the family will be happy with what they got. I got to try out a couple new settings on my camera and l wound up learning some fun new stuff about it….Yay~! Only trouble is…. it is now 20:00 (8:00 pm for all you civilians out there) and I just now finished my editing and posting…… makes for an extra long day like that…… but I asked for it – and am n0t complaining. Thankfully neither is my Queen [yet]  😉

Don’t intend to ramble a lot tonight – tired, need a shower and some sleep for tomorrow – my last day of shooting dive pictures for a while. Thursday I will start wrangling folks on ATV’s for the island kids while they head back to the land of plenty for a visit. It’ll be a nice little break – at least I get to sleep in a little as the ATV tours start considerably later than my dives do. but. I’ll be taking pictures doing that also…… some things never change……..Hopefully early day tomorrow and I can chat a little longer……

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

That’s not a past tense title… That is a particular type of Sting Ray—- one, not seen often around these parts….. and today, we not only saw one – I managed to get my fat old nash up close enough to her to snap off a pic or two~!  Yay me~!! (and I only used about a ¼ of a tank of air doing it)….. but I got her by golly~! Gorgeous~! Now – back to the beginning…… an almost wonderful nights sleep. One interruption to make natures call and right back into a nice slumber. Up at the crack of Oh My Gosh it’s early~ but I kinda like that time of the morning. Always have…….it’s usually a little cooler, a little quieter and the world tends to look and sound like a much nicer place at that time of the day…. plus I like to watch the sky brighten up as the sun rises……… It is especially gorgeous when you’re sitting on a favorite body of water, alone or with a favorite person….. it’s quiet….. almost eerie, and you are waiting to make that first perfect cast into a pile of logs or maybe some lily pads and wait anxiously for the mirrored surface of the water to explode as a Large Mouth bass decides your offering is a tasty treat~!!! I play that scene almost every single day in my mind at some point of my day…… Mercifully, joyfully, Thankfully – I have lived that particular scene countless times…. each time as special if not more than the previous…. many, many times by myself and countless many times with the very special people in my life……. and I wouldn’t trade it for all the bass boats in Louisiana~!   Wow~  Not sure where that came from but it apparently needed to come out. Not in the mood for breakfast because of a wee tender tummy this morning – so I opted for a small shot of OJ and a banana and was out the door. The boat is staying on this end of the island [until further notice] due to anticipated nasty conditions on the North shore where she normal  resides. Gear loaded, camera assembled and away we went —-

Lots of the ‘Boss’ ‘ family in, so I am taking lots of people pictures….. occasionally breaking away for sting rays and turtles…. Not a bad gig for an old retired guy…. Had another ‘thing’ on the second dive…. I can’t go into lots of details – but let’s say I got to rescue one of my most very favorite sea critters. I didn’t get any pictures or video because I was busy rescuing…… but let’s suffice to say there is a gorgeous 5′ Giant Green Moray Eel swimming happily and free because of me and a Dive Master on the load……. 😉

Gonna leave it right there……….. Pictures from today….. diving again tomorrow….

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

{{{ Happy Birthday Paul…… Love you }}}

Not sure why I called yesterdays post ‘Sunday’…… probably cause I thought it was Sunday [duh]…… guess I should have said ‘weekend’….. any who…….. Up this morning ready for another day of employ….. not gonna call it work….. even though there is a little heavy lifting that has entered into the equation…… it’s nothing like work~~ I didn’t get much sleep last night – but what I got was good – so I was re-energized and ready to go. Everything loaded into the truck, I whooped me up a couple of eggs and followed that up with a Banana and was ready to dive. Due to some real squirrely weather – the boat is on our end of the island until further notice – so I only have a 3 minute commute…… it usually takes 15 minutes to find a parking spot…… but you get the idea. If we lived any closer to the pier I could just walk in – but my gear and camera adds a whole new dimension to that walking stuff. Finally parked, I grabbed my stuff, navigated around the side of the fence (gates are locked on the weekend) along a small concrete wall and onto the boat. I was there plenty early and had the entire boat to myself to prep my gear…… I like it~! The group (10 of them) showed up as well as the Captain and the Dive Master. Because there was only the one Dive Master on the load today, I became ‘crew’ and assumed boat duties…. specifically helping getting the big ole boat pushed away properly/safely from the pier. I also help out on the boat as needed. Folks needing help with their gear (yes, they are ALL supposed to be certificated divers) and helping to keep an eye on them during the dive. ( I’m usually in the back anyways and it is an optimal spot to watch from).

First dive was at my most very favorite site – Armageddon~! It’s deep, there are lots of corals and sponges and sharks [oh my] and Barracuda and just a really great place to dive. Because it is so deep – it is usually only a 30-35 minute dive – but BOY-HOWDY is it fun~! I did manage to call in a couple of sharks but for reasons much too complicated to list here right now…… I never got any in very close to me…….. still a great, great dive~! On the way out to the dive site, we thought we saw one of the whale sharks that have been spotted in the area – but that never came to fruition……… dammit emmit~!

Second dive was a much smaller, much shallower dive site – and I was tasked with getting lots of people pictures…… which I did. I also managed a couple of sea life pictures for you all. I can’t forget my loyal readers~!!! Everybody safely back and unloaded, 50 different tanks loaded and unloaded [total] – back at the house gear rinsed, belly filled with a yummy hamburger something or other with Crescent rolls and “one or two” drinks……. Pictures are all loaded, you can see them all at: https://billhein.passgallery.com/-_projects_18740447/gallery (copy and paste it if it doesn’t become a link)  More diving in the morning~ More pictures….. ya’ll want to see anything in particular ???? I would do my best to find it for you…. might even give you a shout out for it.

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