Author: Bill

Up early this morning in anticipation of trying out new gear and making my 300th dive. In all honesty….. the pee monkey was on my back and I would  have had to got up fairly early anyway to appease him. Up and got my day started… it wasn’t much longer my Bride came stumbling out getting ready for her day. We both woke up on our own accord and got ready for our perspective day. I missed the mark this morning by not offering to make her breakfast……. my bad….. my brain was somewhere else – but [happily] she made herself a couple of eggs and ate before she left. I left 5-10 minutes ahead of her and arrived at my spot at the marina, to find nobody there….. what the hell ? Okay – it’s the island……. they’re running a little late. After 5-8 minutes, a truck pulled in and up next to me – it was the Dive Master (that was supposed to be on the load this morning) and told me the load had been cancelled. What ? Wait~! I didn’t get the memo…… well Dammit Emmit~! I understood why the dive was cancelled…… it does not mean I had to be happy about it. I fired up DDII and headed back to the West end. Got to the house, made me a dandy breakfast [which I foolishly skipped earlier] and commenced to ‘piddle’ for the rest of the day. For me, piddling involves getting a lot or nothing accomplished during the course of a day. Today was kind of in between. I did get a couple of things done…. and a lot of nothing. Dammit Emmit~! My Queen finally indicated she was headed back from work – and I had her a drink made when she walked in the door. An hour or so of The 100 and a couple more drinks, I made us some cheeseburgers per my Queen’s request for dinner. Now continuing to watch the boob tube, snacking on cookies (dessert) and writing you all. I’ll go in and get the dishes done before settling  back in on the couch.

As it turns out – we will be working at Blues tomorrow night for another night of entertainment by Mama’s Blacksheep – so probably no post….. too old, too tired, etc., etc., etc. Since I didn’t dive, no new pictures, so putting up some I’m hoping you haven’t seen yet.

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

Playing with the light…..

Some of my piddling… hanging big top picture and bottom electronic picture~

Tried to sleep in a smidge after a marginally better nights sleep – but the pee demon was lurking around and pounced enough that I had to get up and answer that call. Nice (almost cool) leisurely start to the day. Had just settled in for coffee and all the news that is news when WAPA did their thing and fans, lights, modems and all things electric went quiet. Dammit Emmit~! I sat and sipped on my coffee and watched the breeze blowing the trees limbs around until that got old – so I got up and went to work on our back door. That was part of my plan today – just not that early, but it needed done and I really didn’t have anything else to do. I had my cordless drill so I didn’t need electricity for the job. Just about the time I was finishing that project up – the juice came back on, I rebooted our router/modem and I finished up reading all the rhetoric on FB, content I had already finished one job. My Queen made a mighty tasty breakfast for us and shortly after I finished my plate, I headed out to start mowing.

Even though the air was warming up, the breeze was cooling off which felt wonderful as I marched dutifully back and forth around the yard. Finished the lawn toot-sweet and grabbed the weed eater and knocked the trimming out as it started to sprinkle. I drank a bottle of water and had a smoke with my Bride, before putting my BC and Regulators in the truck and heading to town. A couple things on my dive gear has been leaking and starting to malfunction, so even though it is a little bit early – I went ahead and dropped the gear off at the shop for it’s annual inspection (and whatever needed repairs)  The shop gave me a sweet new BC as a loaner and a new regulator. That BC shore is purty~!! I’ll snap a pic of it tomorrow [I have a 2-tank dive in the morning] out on the boat. I went from the shop to the ATV yard, got most of the weedeating done before running out of line….. so I fired up the lawn mower and started mowing just in time for it to start raining like-a-hell…… Dammit Emmit~! I drug the mower up under that dang fine looking porch they have, and sat down to respool the weed eater and have a smoke (I’m only doing about ½ a cigarette now) while I waited out the pouring rain. As suspected, it didn’t take long for it to quit and I was back at it. Less than hour and that yard was done and I was headed back to the house. I fooled with the weed eater a little more…. I apparently didn’t lock the head completely in place after I respooled it and it was about half FUBAR’d. Finally – – done —  Showered and watching movies. Angie tried making the taco Spaghetti…… it didn’t turn out quite like what the picture looks like – but it wasn’t bad. Should make for some great lovers. Again….. diving tomorrow…. first dive of the day will be # 300~!!  Woop-woop~!

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

(( VERA — EEL warning ahead ))

P2080129  <=== Turtle Video

P2080148  <===Eel Video

P2080151 <=== Eel video

Well Sir…….I did something last night I haven’t done in almost 4 years…. yes I took a bath…… LOL…. just kiddin’…… I watched the Superbowl in its entirety…. well, as much as I could…probably 45% of it…because the rest of the time the screen was frozen in a hideous highly pixelated screen. That is compliments of our illustrious cable provider here on the island. Viya….. some of you may have heard of it. That outfit is almost as worthless as our electricity provider. I swear some of the things you have to tolerate to live in an otherwise paradise. I should be thankful I guess. From what I see almost all of my family back in the states are getting their collective as…. butts frozen off right now with a nice little complement of snow or ice or a happy combination of both. So I’ll sit here and beef about crappy internet service, after spending the morning SCUBA diving and running around in 85° weather……..  😉

What I did see of the game, it was pitiful and OMG what in the holy hell was that half time show…… what small bit of it I saw, I didn’t know who the performer was – but he [?] was terrible~! (and that’s probably an understatement) I missed most of the commercials which is the primary reason I watched the game in the first place, as I really didn’t care who won – but admittedly would have like to seen Tom Terrific get his butt kicked.

Up this morning after a wicked night…… long story, but it involved drunken neighbor (to the East) being delivered loudly to his house around 11:15ish. I had just laid down and actually faded off to sleep when they started up out in the yard, 50′ from my [open] bedroom window…… factor in an annoying barking dog (another neighbor) maybe 1 or 2 too many vodka’s – a belly full of bar food (wings, flatbreads and sliders) and getting to bed late and then dealing with the noisy neighborhood……. let’s just say I didn’t wake up quite as refreshed as I would have liked……….. dammit Emmit~!  I made myself get up and started getting ready for my day…… My Bride, who managed to get herself just a little bit ‘Hootied‘ herself – mercifully slept in. I got my gear ready, me ready [as I was gonna get]  loaded the truck as quietly as I could and took off as quietly as I could (my truck sits 3’ outside our bedroom window)

A 40 minute [very wavy] boat ride to the first dive site…… I put on my gear and bailed overboard. The water is at probably the coolest point it will get before it starts warming back up (about 78°)- and let me tell you what….. Talk about waking you up! Wooo-doggie~! I was awake and alert then~! Wound up having 2 wonderful dives before heading back to see my Bride. While I was diving – she went and got her first COVID shot and I am very proud of her. So far, other than a slightly sore arm…… no bad side effects. I’m staying home tomorrow to get mowing done here and the ATV yard, plus a couple of home maintenance things that need done…. life in the fast lane~~~~

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

Happily amazed…. my first 4+ hours of sleep last night was almost like that Nyquil sleep the first time you take it….. deep, solid and wonderfully refreshing. The next 3+ hours wasn’t bad….. so I’m very happy with that~! Up to a classic Caribbean morning. Huge blue skies, a couple of big ole white puffy clouds, that wonderful trade wind and about 78°……. really does my soul good on mornings like that…… especially knowing what they are [about to] get back where I came from….. From what I can tell….. Ya’ll [collectively] about to catch it, regardless where you’re at. Maybe not so much snow – but as Dear Old Dad used to say – it’s fixin’ to get “Colder than a well diggers as …butt”. I wish the best for you all – but I am happy as one person can be, to be here where I am now…….  🙂

Another day of doing not much of anything….. after a wonderful Polly’s breakfast, we were taking it easy and enjoying the weather and some TV. I did get out and work on my truck, jiggling the seat belt thingy loose so it would work for a while. That motivated me to clean a couple of the windows and add another strip of Gorilla tape to the top and windshield. Back in the house, I was doing a little computer work in between computer and TV until WAPA ( our version of Vectren) did it’s thing, for the second day in a row – and managed to black out the entire friggin island….. I used that opportunity [only because I was bored out of my mind] to lug in that massive step ladder of ours and set it up in the living room to clean the ceiling fan. It’s always running during the daytime and I never really noticed how much it need cleaned. That done – I checked the other fans…. they were good. Then I had to clean up the dust and dirt that I knocked down. That got my Queen up and swiffering, so we did some light dusting and sweeping and a quick vacuum before the electricity finally came back on (50 minutes later).

I finished up my computer stuff – and started in on my evening stuff while Angie made us some Salisbury steaks….. I absolutely love them dudes~! Probably grossly unhealthy, but I don’t care. I had to eat my smashed taters and green stuff too…….. Gotta keep my strength up – I have to be in at the pier tomorrow morning to be a Safety Diver for the local swim team that is having a competition starting off of the pier. Whole thing shouldn’t take more than a half hour max [for what I’m needed for] – and then I am free to use up the rest of my air diving the pier…. I’ll take it~!! Because of the complexity of this event – I will not have my ‘big’ camera with me…… but I do intend to have my little Go-Pro strapped to me…… it’ll be fun to use it again….

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

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Early to bed, early to rise….. makes an old fart grouchy and sore if he didn’t sleep worth a darn…… Up to start the day and work out the kinks from a miserable night. I hope it’s not our brand new mattress ( I really doubt it ) I suspicion it is me absorbing the Chantix and weaning off cigarettes…… fun, fun, fun. It is starting to become noticeable now, not smoking first thing in the morning, skipping more and more smokes breaks with my Bride – and when I do have one with her – I rarely ever finish the whole thing because it is starting to get that crappy taste to it.  Small steps. We took it real easy today. Angie made us a tasty little breakfast and I did the dishes before sitting down and got some on-line stuff done. I Finally moved from the table to the couch for a couple of movies…. First one, I actually sprang for the $3.00 and rented – Grudge Match. Regardless of what you think of the 2 main actors – this one you should watch. Well done, good story and funny~! The second one was terrible, even with Bruce Willis who got listed 3rd in the credits. Definitely one of his worst performances I’ve ever seen – terrible movie over all [Trauma Center]…. Third one “Looking for Monday” was interesting and I would definitely recommend it. Already 7:00pm here, so getting my evening stuff done. Short and sweet tonight — gonna give you a break on underwater pictures and put up a hodge-podge of pictures I’ve taken from the last week. Hope you like them.

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

Taking a break clearing trails for ATV’s —

P2050003 <—- Video

Up earlier than I wanted this morning to prepare my tired old butt for a day of diving. Up, awake, gear gathered, a hamburger for breakfast in lieu of what I probably should have had – but hey– it works. The island ‘kids‘ came by to gather me and my gear up – as next door neighbors had requested to borrow my truck for something. We got loaded up and was off like a herd of turtles for mid-island and the Salt River Marina and some diving. Got there – got loaded on the boat and just about to take off when one of the divers realized they were missing a really important piece of gear….. a little bit of chatter and everyone quickly agreed to wait while he ran back to his house to get needed gear. I would never mention the name of someone who does something so obviously rookie…… but let’s just suffice to say he had to drive ALL the way back to the West end of the island and up to the mountain top to fetch needed gear…… it only took him an hour and 15 minutes or so — and all the rest of us, being the kind hearted souls we are ….. never said a word about it when he got back. LOL…..   🙂 Finally under way….. and boy howdy were we rewarded with our patience….. a very rarely ever dived dive site was slated for our first dive. There is a multitude of things that have to come together to do this dive site – and it happened this morning. OOhRahhh~!  The site is named Vertigo…. way to complicated to go into here, right now, but suffice to say it is a coveted dive site by most divers on the island. More on it when I need something to rattle on about. We did a ‘hot’ unload (another story to tell when I need material to write about) and into the site……. awesome, awesome, awesome…… definitely did not disappoint. There is not a lot of sea life or topography on this site – but still a righteous dive site in of its own. Safely back on board, we motored toward our next dive site…. when we all hear the unmistakable call of WHALES~! I grabbed my phone and scrambled out onto the nose of the boat just in time to see a giant ‘back’ arch and slide beneath the waves. Couldn’t get a picture…. Dammit Emmit~!

Moored up to the next dive site – I got in the water early to get some exit shots off of the boat, when I heard DOLPHINS~! As I turned to look – they were headed almost straight at us~! I no longer cared about exit shots, the dive master or anything else – I took off as fast as my tired old legs would propel me toward the dolphins. They finally dropped below the water – and so did I. My camera was set for surface pictures, so about the time I made eye contact with them – I was desperately trying to get my camera into underwater mode. While I didn’t panic, per se, I probably wasn’t too far from it. The pod of Dolphins slowed very briefly as they went by and I did manage to squeeze off a couple of pictures before they were out of site. [going a little long here]…… The rest of the dive was pretty lackluster compared to that – but OMG – what a great day diving~! Lots more to rattle on about – but am calling it here for the sake of brevity…. hope you enjoy the pictures from today.

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

P2040015 <===”Going over the edge” video

Up early earlier than I wanted after…… do I even need to say it ??? I waited for my bride to get done with her stuff before I rolled out and got my day started. Angie had her day of labor at Blue’s in front of her and I actually had some ‘work‘ to do as well. I happily made my Queen a couple of eggs and a couple of apparently nasty [to her] heat and eat sausage patties. I was happy she had the 2 eggs though. She loaded all her stuff and was gone in short order. My ‘job’ didn’t start until a little after lunch so I got to monkey around a bit. I made me 3 eggs and finished off the heat and eat sausage (not great but I like them). I did a couple of small odds and ends around the house before gathering up my stuff and heading out. I was contracted by a local dive shop to digitally document their Boat Safety training (take pictures of everything).

I arrived at the dock, boarded and was soon busy scurrying around getting pictures of the Captains and crew as they were put through their paces learning the ins and outs of the boat, including all emergency procedures. It was kinda cool to watch and I learned a bunch of stuff during the process. We also headed out into the bay for a “man overboard” drill – that was fun~!  I was invited to join the team back at the owners house for a meal. I had just enough time to run back to the house, upload the pictures onto a flash drive, clean up, collect my Bride (who was already home) and head back to mid island for dinner. A nice gathering, delicious food (chicken in some kind of light BBQ sauce, a type of semi-fried potatoes and some righteous baked beans) and some great company. While I don’t think Angie enjoyed it as much as I did – It’s nice getting to know these folks on a more personal level (the little social butterfly that I am)  😉  We finally bowed out and headed back to our end of the island. Always an adventure, facing people who don’t know how to use a dimmer switch – or better yet – have no freaking lights on their vehicles at all~!! I’m just never gonna get used to that. Nonetheless – back, safe and sound and relaxing in our little place.

Have a 2 tank dive off the boat with the island kids tomorrow morning. Should be off of the North shore (where most of the sharks are) and I am really looking forward to that. The pier dives were nice, the turtles were amazing… but nothing beats having a 6′ shark heading right straight at you~! So hopefully lots more of underwater pictures and hopefully me rubbing the belly of a shark as it swims by~!

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

( Vera – several more Eel pictures)

Scorpion fish in the foreground~!

To give you an idea of the size – that is a finger (with a glove on it, next to the Sea Horse)

P2020149 <=== Video

P2020156 <=== Video

Hello, hello, hello……. been a couple of [very good] days…….. didn’t do much yesterday morning…. left out early yesterday afternoon to meet some of our ‘cronies‘ from Blues at a new place opening up that offered an extensive happy hour menu of deep fried ‘stuff‘……. yaaaassss indeed……. we got there and was greeted by the “Blues crew” already there. It is nice to be still be considered part of that gang even though we don’t frequent the place near as often as we used to…… The server [finally] came to take our food order….. and I made it real easy for her [I thought]…… I handed her the menu we had at the table and said I want “1 of everything”…… I really didn’t think it was that complicated….. and once I assured her I wasn’t trying to be a smart a$$….. she smiled, gave me a sideways look and walked off……. flash forward 45 minutes later….. several items started trickling out…….. nothing other than the shrimp was noteworthy….. sliders, fried pickles, dang….. I can’t even remember what else we got….. I do know I only got about half of what I ordered….. bummer…. I was really looking forward to the wings and the Mozzarella sticks…..  I strongly suspect – this was this young lady’s first week at this particular job….. maybe even her first day….. whatever – she was really bad at it. She called in backup from another server and it helped [mildly] but the service really made the evening slump. Wasn’t just us…. there was probably 15-20 of ‘us’ and we all struggled to get a drink when you wanted one. Most people started ordering 2 at a time – which did help a little. We were just a bit “tired” by the time we got back to the house – and I opted out of trying to sit at the table and write versus, plopping down on the couch and pretty much falling right straight to sleep..

Another flash forward to this morning…… woke up slowly while starting our day while I waited for a call from the ‘kids‘ to say they were on their way into the shop. Shawn had requested I lend a hand finishing up the last bit of clearing trails. He finally admitted even for an old Air Force guy – I was decent help for that task……… We finished that and headed into town to swap brush clearing gear for diving gear….. and soon wound up in the clear cool blue waters of the West end headed for the Frederiksted Pier….. one of the consistently top rated sites in the world~! It did not disappoint….. we dropped down onto 6 turtles…… Cynthia said 8…… but not sure……. but pictures…… smack my mouth, did I get some pictures for you all…… also a Seahorse~!!!!!! A stingray and Dolphins would have made that the perfect dive~~~!! (Going into condensed version for brevity) – Ended the dive and the day with PIZZA and good cold beer!!! Was tired enough I was gonna cop out again as I still haven’t my shower yet….. but had to share…..

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

Vera – the last couple of pictures have an Eel in them…… <3

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P2020059 <=== Video

Another mostly squirrely nights sleep…. most which of I am contributing to the level of Chantix building up in my body. Goofy dreams, having to whizz to often, cramps [legs and belly] too hot, too cold – jeez what a mess. At least I hope it’s the reason~~~ It’s starting to work though. Cigarettes are starting to get that funky aftertaste and I find I’m going longer between them and then not completely finishing them before I put them out….. please keep your fingers crossed for me.

A leisurely start to the day, taking our time waking up to coffee and all the news that is news…. good or bad….. My Bride made us a dandy little breakfast to get our day started. I was supposed to make a dive at the pier with the island kids today – but a couple of morning pings indicated they were dealing with a couple of problems with stomach issues  being one of them and diving was probably not in the works for the day. I hated that and hoped they get everything lined out. The weather was a stumbling block for all of us at it was raining, blowing and cool, but the longer I sat here – the more I thought about diving. I looked it up and it has been September of last year since I dove the pier and I was missing it. The sun was shining at the time and I told my Queen I was gonna go ahead and go. Now as a rule, even if you have been properly trained, solo diving is not recommended as the desired way to dive….. but stuff happens. I have did my homework and felt completely safe diving by myself at this particular location, so I loaded up my gear and headed in town. I stopped in town, got a tank of air, ran back out to the house to pick up my weights I forgot, found another parking spot and before I knew it – was trudging my way toward the water. Keep in mind, wearing my gear – with weights, tank of air, my mask, my camera and my fins, knife, flashlights and what-not all pinned to my BC – I am packing probably an extra 50-55 lbs. Now when you’re on a boat and take 4 steps and you’re in the water, is one thing…… sauntering your happy ass 400-500 yards wearing all that makes for a whole other experience….. definitely cardio for the old fat boy~ Whew~!! Finally in the water…. a little weird at first, not having anyone around me – but as soon as I sank and started taking pictures….. I was ‘home‘.. and comfortable, and relaxed. I Loved it.  After, a couple of spotted Eels, 1 Snake Eel, a Stingray, a turtle, and countless fish and 77 minutes later – I popped up at my exit point and headed back to the truck. There was a surge to contend with and the visibility was probably as bad as I’ve ever seen it at the pier (which made getting decent pictures an extra challenge) – but it was still a wonderful dive…… getting to go at my pace, bottling assing around as long as I wanted at any given point~! I will be doing more of that dive…. lots more~!

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

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P1310040 <=== Video

P1310041 <=== Video

An easy start to the day yester morning after another pitiful nights sleep. A casual breakfast and relaxing before, donning our ‘work’ clothes and heading to mid-island for an evening of labor. I was bar back and my bride was bar maid for buckets of cold beer and “Blues” Margaritas. The visiting band from the states ‘Mama’s Blacksheep’ was busy on stage setting up and they were rapidly drawing in the crowd they usually do. This Duo have a draw of ‘regulars’ on this island and any of the places that hire them know it……. very good for business and usually requires extra staff to support the throng of folks that come to see them. Hence me and my bride being there when they are there. It’s a good thing too…. as this is their second set at Blues and the crowd was even bigger than their first show. We got their about 4:20 and set straight into work – and stayed “balls to the walls” for the next 4 hours. One last rush at 8:30 for ‘last call’ and we got to start winding down. I’m not saying “we are too old for this shi…. stuff”…… but I think we’re getting “too old for this stuff”. By the time we wrapped the place up, restocked, ran everybody off and finally got back to our end of the island… it was almost 11:00….. tired and worn out, we both agreed to skip showers and ‘stink’ and fell into bed. I can’t speak for my Queen – but I did miserable until about 03:00, when I got up to whizz, take 4 Ibuprofen and crawl back into bed. I managed a decent 3.5 hours of sleep until it was time to get up. A very comfortable slow start to the day today….. A scrumptious breakfast from Polly’s and just plain ole taking it easy after that. By Noon, my conscious got the better of me – and I manage to motivate my tired old butt to go out and cut grass. I REALLY didn’t want to – but the rest of the week is shaping up to be a lot busier than I initially thought and I didn’t want to have to contend with the lawn. ( I think I scored another [smaller] photo gig)

Looking forward to a pier dive with the island ‘kids‘ tomorrow. Been a long hot minute since I’ve dove the pier and the picture taking opportunities on that dive are almost unlimited. Especially tomorrows dive – which should be a nice easy relaxed dive that I can take my time and shoot all the pictures I want.

Made us a quick dinner of cheeseburgers tonight and while I write I am looking forward to a phone call with my Lil Sis and her ‘Damn Neighbors’… I think maybe talking about coming to visit us…… I am really looking forward to that call~!c So there you have it – a pretty standard lack luster day of Living the Dream…… but it’s our dream….. and so far working out really great for us~!

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

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