Author: Bill

Up whether I wanted to be or not…. after a less than ideal nights sleep. For some goofy reason – I was waking up on the hour all the way through the night…. I hate it when I do that…. I go right back to sleep – but just don’t feel rested when I get up. Knowing I only had 1 tour, I opted for just a breakfast biscuit before heading out — a bit of a slow start but finally got everybody on the road. A mild rain shower over night did a nice job of knocking most of the dust down from the trail. One Aww ‘shoot’ during the ride – that was eventually fixed, kept the ride interesting and even with that, I think everyone had a good time. I helped clean up the bikes before heading back to my Queen. The Sarah dust is now well settled through our area – it almost hurts your lungs to look out at the distance and see it hanging in the air. Our beautiful blue skies are now hidden by the large gray cloud of sand that hangs in the air. Not much to look at – but our chances of a hurricane drop to almost zero while that stuff is in the air….. so the bright spot of it.

Got back to the house to find out the internet was down….. lovely…. just %$#@ lovely. Fortunately I can edit pictures without the internet, it just don’t load up to the cloud. An hour or so editing pictures and I was done – I just could not get them loaded on to the FB page for the business. Dammit EMMIT~! My Bride in an effort to make sure I was having a nice Father’s day – started feeding me drinks, while I did what I could to keep myself occupied on the computer. No internet also means nothing decent to watch on TV. Amazingly cable was working, so the TV blared in the background with bull riding and golf…… Just in the last ½ hour – the internet is finally back on, after being out 6 hours….. so I am scrambling to get my stuff done before my Bride gets back with my KFC chicken…. not exactly what I had in mind for a Fathers day meal….. but some times you just have to roll with the options you have.

[[ Intermittent pause for face time with my Mouse, Sugar Pop, Squirt and Sam the man wishing me a happy Fathers day- and have my now arrived KFC. Disgusting nasty chicken… but every once in a while – I got to have some…. found it funny my Bride said they did not have any Cole slaw, no, French fries or mashed potatoes….. So – chicken and biscuits it was………Island Life~~~~! ]]

Diving off of the boat tomorrow~!!  YAY~!! That not only means 2 deep long dives… also means no long surface swims….. double yay~! On top of that – my second dive tomorrow will be my 200th certified dive~!!  My dive log tells me that will mean I have spent almost exactly one week under water……. I love it~!

That’s my limit — so out of here…. Happy Fathers day for all you Dad’s reading this….. I hope your day was at least half as good as mine was~!

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

Up before I really wanted to be this morning….. but work to be done and obligations to be met – so I got up and mostly ‘at ’em‘ this morning to do it. It gets a bit boring pretty quick, riding the same trails and the same monologue at each ‘scenic overview’ – but it’s not ‘old hat’ to the people on the tour – so you have to generate the enthusiasm the folks on the tour expect – or else it’s no fun for them and you can kiss any kind of tip good bye. I am working on that and using the fact the guide on my tour is  a Jarhead [Marine] – and I use that a lot to keep a friendly banter going between us that the folks on the tours seem to enjoy it. I am honing my pictures down and only taking 70-80 pictures per tour now….. that edits out to about 40-50 pictures per tour which is just about right to put up on the FB page for the business. I still need to fine tune it – and will probably have to go to the next step up in internet service – as this mickey mouse outfit I am with now, is killing me with their upload speed…….. I’m gonna have to kick that one around a while before I spring for the money they want…… but two new ‘jobs’ both require uploading LOTS of pictures and it adds an easy our or so, sitting here waiting for some scrawny ass pictures to load…… a leisure pleasure I no longer want to give up because of pissy-a$$ internet service…… more on that later probably…… I put up a lot of my trail pictures on here…… but if you are interested in seeing more – you can check it out on FB – @ Gecko’s Island Adventures.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day…… but since I don’t have any of my girls near me to make a ‘fuss‘ about it – it is just another day for me – and as such – am doing 1 tour tomorrow morning. My bride is trying to do something special for me (even though I am not her Father) – I’m thinking a nice steak dinner in a nice A/C room might be nice – but finding that here on the island will be a challenge – and will probably wind up making us burgers or something for dinner. While I appreciate her effort – it’s just not the same when your kids aren’t near to celebrate the day with you….. AHhhhh, just another price to pay to live an Island Life……..

Already had my shower……. you ever heard a shower gag when you get in it??? NO… not because I’m disgustingly fat [well, I dunno… maybe part of it] – but just from the sheer amount of dirt that comes off of you. I’m getting ready to cool the bedroom off and looking forward to closing my eyes and having all the dust wash the rest of the way out of my eyes….. so until then – we’ll see what tomorrow brings~~~~~

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

PORKCHOP~!!!

LONG day on the trails today and a TON of pictures to edit and post… a process I really need to fine tune…. 4+ hours of editing is a wee much…… course – our stellar $#@ internet didn’t help that process any – but definitely need to shave editing time way down……. for now – I’m gonna put up some shots from today and call it a night….. another long day on the trails tomorrow.

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

Up to a wonderfully cool morning and a belly in knots…. I suspicion from the onions on my fabulously delicious pizza I had last night. A price – I guess I must learn to pay in my advanced age…… I’ll happily keep paying that price until I can no longer stand it. Getting older really does suck…. I don’t recommend it at all…. and if you figure out a way around it – please let me know ASAP~~~  😉  After a busy morning of putting a final charge on my cameras – getting a cooler ready and wee bite to eat before I ran out the door to show up for my first day of photographing trail rides in a while. Both tours proved to be a challenge as the bike in front of me always tend to be the slow one….. and I need the group close to each other to get the shots that I want to try and get. I brought my new camera with me – but have not yet figured out a way to use it with that I am comfortable with – so my little GoPro did most of the work. An early day today as we only had 2 tours – so I was back at the house by 2:00….. something I’d like to think my Bride was happy about. I still had to sit down and edit pictures for an hour or so and get them put up on the business website….. but at least I was back at the house with my Queen and enjoying a drink with her and her company.

I think long days, heat and minimal food intake is messing with me a little bit – as I have been getting several bouts of light headedness in the evening… especially getting up from a sitting position…. but I am talking with ‘Doc’  trying to figure how to deal with that mess. My Queen convinced me to get a shower before I got on here to chat with you all – which I did and that and a shot of OJ and I am feeling amazingly lucid for this time of the evening now (7:00pm now) . Another day of riding the trails tomorrow [3 tours tomorrow] so it’ll be a long, hot, dusty day….. but that’s okay… keeps me busy… I make a couple of bucks – and I get to practice my photography…… tons of pictures to share with you…. diving and trails… and not sure what I’m gonna share with you…. so you get what you get – I hope you like ’em~~!!

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

A long, long day for the old fat boy…… couple hours of class…. another couple of hours underwater – and one 24 minute kick out for the last dive….. OMG …. I JUST finished up my evening stuff….. and I am whooped. My Bride got me pizza for dinner and I am full of pizza and alcohol….. and just too pooped to do much of anything else right now….. so lots of pictures for you tonight as I cut out early. I am riding trails tomorrow and taking more pictures……..I’ll try and make up for some words tomorrow……..

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

One BIG A$$ anchor (this thing is taller than I am)

With the knowledge of kind of an unexpected day off…. I stayed up a little bit late…. but still woke with the sunrise, once again feeling decently refreshed…. I really like it when I do that. Nothing other than getting another walk in…. I had nothing else planned for the day. I put my new handy-dandy insoles into my new shoes – put on a new pair of socks and headed out like a herd of turtles~! The plan was to maybe, possibly, kinda might hit the 4 mile mark today. Suited up appropriately for the journey….. I started out with good intentions. What I did not start out with, was a little something in my belly. I have found out I don’t really like to walk after my normal breakfast….. but today I learned – I need to put a little bit of something in there before I head out. About ½ way through my planned journey…. I noticed I was starting to huff and puff…. something I don’t normally do until right at the end. I guess that one swaller of OJ didn’t get me very far. One small course change in my journey messed it up…. taking me a little farther than I originally planned…. and I paid for it. But I hung tough – still taking some pictures I think you’re gonna love, and stayed at it, finishing close to my target time per mile. Finally back – tired, and soaking wet with sweat….. I made and still felt pretty good about the trip. Like I said – I got some shots I think you’re really gonna like, as my entire trip kept me right along the shore line of our beautiful Caribbean Sea.

The rest of the afternoon was spent editing pictures, trying to resuscitate our checking account and watching one of the sappiest series we have seen in a while. My Queen likes the series and has been watching it, and I join her in watching it every once in a while (When Calls the Heart) I think even the title is stupid, but what do I know. Dinner is cooking in the kitchen and after I get done with my evening ‘stuff’ – I get to watch my latest series… Designated Survivor. As a rule – I don’t particularly care for Keifer Southerland, but he does a suitably acceptable job in this role. A little bit hokey at times – but still a good series. (Vera– if you haven’t seen that one yet – you will probably like it)  😉

Tomorrow starts a very busy 5 days for me….. diving taking pictures and riding ATV’s taking pictures every day. I am looking forward to it. Keeps me busy…. makes a little bit of money and I am doing things I enjoy doing….. a pretty good combination~! Not sure if I’m going to try and use my new camera on the trails, as the camera takes a pretty good beating while riding…. but we’ll see…. just another challenge…….. 😉

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

Massive old anchor

Up after another mostly wonderful nights sleep. Up a minute or two after 06:00 and ready for anything. Happily, my bride slept in for a couple of hours while I bottle-a$$ed around and got ready for my day. I made me a breakfast sammich, got my gear and my cooler ready and still had time to kill before I ‘reported for duty’ at the dive shop. I did get to spend an hour or so with my Queen before taking off which is always nice.  I showed up at the dive shop just in time, to drop my gear and start snapping pictures of the class. Only a couple of shots, but they were pertinent to the session. There was an actual DSD [Discover Scuba Diving] class going on at the same time – so I slid over and scored a couple pictures of it while it was in session. The class moved out into the water, and for the next couple of hours, I swam circles, figure 8’s and every other position I could get into, to get shots of these guys getting put through their paces. The instructor is not letting up and making sure these guys are hitting the mark in every scenario he is presenting. We surfaced and dropped a half a dozen times during the day for review of what the guys were trying to get accomplished. Fun to listen to and even more fun trying to capture it in pictures. I took almost 600 pictures today and wound up saving 200+. I deleted multiple pictures I would have normally ‘slobbered‘ over – but they no longer make the cut with the inception of my new camera – Guess I am just getting a heckva lot pickier now.

I was supposed to work for Island Daughter tomorrow – but those plans changed and I now have the day ‘off’ – Yay~! I plan on getting in another ‘walk about’ and spending some time relaxing with my bride. Guess I better enjoy the day off tomorrow – as I am scheduled to work either diving or taking pictures on 4 wheelers for the next 5 days in a row. While it is ‘work’ – it’s a hellva lot of fun and I enjoy doing it. I get to challenge myself to get the pictures I think everyone wants to see….. so you should have loads of new pictures for the next couple of weeks…. under water or above…… It should be a hoot either way~~!

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

Had one of them sleeps Last night – that you’re always happy to have. Woke up right off the bat – awake – and ready to get up. I fell asleep within a couple of minutes and didn’t hear or feel a thing until I woke up. I guess my long day of kick outs/ins and long dives and brilliant hot sunshine caught up with me. I didn’t have a heckva lot to drink yesterday [compared to normally] so I don’t think that was a factor. Just plain ole pooped………. I was a little bit long getting my morning stuff out of the way and my Queen was hungry early – so we had a bite of breakfast, before I strapped on the second half of my early Father’s Day present and headed out the door for another walk. A couple of my girls went together and bought me a pair of high-fa-lootin walking shoes for Fathers Day. Nice lookin’ shoes – although they may look at little bit gay…. but I like them and love the thought behind them. Off I went….. a little bit of spring in my step…. don’t know if if it was the shoes or finally a decent nights sleep. About a mile into my journey – the cramping on the sides of my feet told me – the shoes still need broke in and/or I had them laced up to tight. I carried on and by mile two – cramps were gone and I was boogie-ing through the country side.  Past horses, cows and barking dogs. I strayed from my planned path and right in the middle of it found a neat little [albeit muddy] short cut that dropped me back onto the previous planned path. I did not – however- factor in where said short cut dropped me out, back on planned path – and a minor miscalculation added about a ½ mile to my walk. No worries – in my new shews, I could walk farther, run faster and jump higher….. dammit – wrong shoe….. anyhow – I stayed at it and was soon plodding back into our yard. Pretty happy with today’s walk…. I’m now gonna have to re-arrange all the shoe inserts I have to get my new ones into the new shoes…… heck- I may even be able to run the next time after I do that….. LOLOLOLOL…….  😉

Rest of the day was pretty easy… TV, smokin’ and drinkin’. Dinner was corn dogs and French fries….. and now here I am…. new pictures and some more dive pictures for you. I am going back to ‘work‘ tomorrow….. diving and taking pictures…… a tough life but somebody’s gotta do it…..  😉

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

Remnant of an old aqua duct system on the island

Well – I managed to drag my touchas out of bed early enough to get all my morning stuff done, snag a morsel to eat, pack a beer cooler and head out the door to the dive shop for a tank of air. I met up with everybody – and headed out for our dive spot – which turned out to be about 2½ minutes from our house. Beautiful little beach that I walked by just yesterday. “Ahh it’s just a little bit of a kick out”…BULL COOKIES~! We kicked out for 37 minutes before finally dropping below the waves for some diving. And dive we did…… we dropped down almost on top of a giant green moray Eel – my most very favorite under water creature~! He was tucked waaay back in a cubby hole and I would have happily spent the entire dive watching him – but we agreed to all stay together – so I hurriedly snapped a bunch of pictures and caught back up to the group. Sadly, in my rush, I forgot to adjust the settings on my camera so out of a dozen shots – I got one picture that just barely qualifies as good enough to show you. Something I never had to contend with, with my little GoPro…… but I am now starting to learn and understand all those new settings and I really think it’s gonna pay off for me in the long run. About ¾ through our air – we started heading back for shore, wanting to spend as much time swimming under the surface as we could (remember it’s a lot easier)…. I swam as far as I could until my air gauge told me I needed to head for the surface. I was really hoping to be a LOT closer to the shore than I was when I popped to the surface – and wound up having a 27 minute kick in…… Dammit Emmit~! So- the old fat boy got a really good cardio work out today AND an hour and ten minute dive…..! I like the dive site – but don’t think I’ll ever do that kick out again to dive it again. I’ll wait until a boat is available to dive it~!

Dropped off my air tank, rinsed me and my gear off and started to set down to edit pictures when the electricity when out…… geez Louise this is getting old….. Thankfully, it was only out about a half hour- but with no fans, it gets pretty stuffy pretty quick and you do NOT get into the fridge, to keep the inside as cold as possible – because you never have any idea how long it will be out. I was happy I got to rinse everything before the power went out though. I finally got my pictures edited and spent the rest of my day with my Bride. We watched a ‘highly recommended’ movie….. Knives Out….. not bad — it makes you think and keeps you interested. I wouldn’t highly recommend it – but it’s not bad.

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

My giant green Moray Eel

White Sea Urchin

Teeny tiny juvenile Trunk fish (about the size of a pencil eraser)

Up fairly early after a marginally better nights sleep to some scattered showers. Our catchment system for the house is definitely full now – so no immediate concerns about running out of water for a bit……… that’s a good thing. Better rested and a little more relaxed – I popped in my super insoles (early Father’s day gift) into  my walking shoes and headed out the door. The plan was to get in 3 miles in under an hour. My walking has a little lee way though – as I stop and take pictures, and scratch friendly horses and chat with the occasional friendly locals. My ‘app’ has a pause button – but by the time I unlock the damn phone and get the pause button pressed – I have already taken the picture and moved on – and when I am chatting with folks – well, it’s just rude to pull the phone out and mess with it then – so I rarely use the pause button – unless I’m halfway or at the top of a HILL and I have stopped to be able to try and breathe… breathing is crucial in this part of the effort….  😉 but today’s planned route was reasonably flat and all I was looking to do was make my 3 miles in less than hour. I dang near made it. Several more picture taking opportunities than I planned on….. and I  misjudged my distance by a smidge…… but I was close enough that I was not completely disappointed when I came plodding back into our yard…….

Showered, I sat down and pestered Expedia long enough – I finally got a response I was [mostly] happy with about getting the $800 those ^%$#@ charged me for our hotel stay on our most recent trip – that THEY cancelled….. I ain’t even gonna go there – because right now all it would do is pi$$ me off and the last 5 hour have been wonderful enough – I don’t want to screw that up~! ( we also spent a delightful 20 minutes or so on the phone with our ‘Damn Neighbors‘ in the middle of all that…. sure do miss those people~! Those last 5+ hours have been, traveling to Blue’s, hanging out at Blues and navigating back. I learned my lesson from the last time – that as it starts getting close to closing time…. I start drinking either straight Cranberry juice or just a bottle of water……. Makes navigating that drive back to this end of the island a whole set easier [and safer]…….. I got chatting with friends there at Blues – and have manage to worm my way into a ‘fun’ shore dive with them tomorrow morning, just down from the house – one of them is a photography buff and we have about decided to let every one else go shoot lion fish – and we’re gonna work on our camera skills. Should be a good time. For now though, I’m ready for hopefully a decent nights shuteye and looking forward to fun diving tomorrow.

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