Author: Bill

Up this morning, looking forward to a bit of a twist on the boat, by diving without my camera. The last time I did it, I didn’t know what to do with my hands. Well as it turns out….. I did not have to ‘Dive Master’. The Boss did a little improvising and got another Dive Master deciding it was more important [to her] to have me in the water with my camera. Not sure what I think about that, but it really doesn’t matter…… I’m pretty good about doing what I’m told when the boss is talking. As it turns out, it’s a pretty good thing I did. I got fantastic shark shots~! I watched this approximately 6′ long shark go after a Lion fish….. and missed~! He broke off a chunk of coral and it lodged in his throat~!! He went nuts trying to get it out. He was swimming frantically and whipping about and for a teeny tiny second there I thought I was in trouble because I was a whole lot closer to him than I needed to be. He finally got it out though and went right back after the Lion fish and I was in his way~! I bumped him with my camera a couple of times and rolled him off me once before he finally found and got the Lion fish. WOW~~! My pictures didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked because of the amount of the sand he was kicking up……. BUT…… I did have my video camera running the whole time~!! I haven’t uploaded the video yet, but I can’t wait to see it~!!! I just hope I don’t look or sound too uncool as he gets whizzing around me. I’m anxious to get to the video, so I’m gonna put up some shots from today and get started on the video. As it turns out, I’m diving tomorrow too, but looks like I’ll be off Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday because of lack of divers….. dammit Emmit.

Good Night Y’all # # # # # # # # # # # # Thankx for stopping in~!

Wrapped up my photo shoot last night and the young lady that hired me was ecstatic about her pictures. She showed it with a generous tip. A whole lot more easier money than what I’m doin’ with diving, but I like diving way more…… so I’m just gonna go for a happy mix~! Two dives this morning. Small boat load this morning. Three people, a guy and his sons. I dove with them yesterday so we were familiar with each other. They loved their pictures from yesterday as well….. and if they liked them, they’re gonna love todays. We had sharks and sting rays and Sea Biscuit…. it was just two really good dives~! On the boat again tomorrow— only I’m working as a Dive Master tomorrow, so not sure I’ll bring my camera with me or not. I’ll have it on the boat, just not sure I’ll take it on the dives or not, especially the first one until I see what kind of divers we have that I’ll be watching over….. maybe on the second dive? Haven’t heard anything from the shop, so I guess it’ll have to be a play it by ear thing……… Really not a lot else to carry on about….. I have lots of really good pictures for you today. One Sting Ray picture I’m really proud of….. I even got goose bumps looking at it. I think I have a couple of fun video’s too but I haven’t uploaded them yet. I’ll catch ya tomorrow.

Good Night Y’all > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stopping in~!

Sorry about missing yesterday…… I told y’all about the photo shoot I had yesterday afternoon, but it didn’t register that by the time I got back and everything done with pictures it would be entirely too late to get on here. I got on FB for a quick check in and wanted to leave a note where I know most of you would see that I wasn’t blogging. I have the second half of that photo shoot this afternoon and didn’t want to miss two days in a row, so I’m gonna try and get a little something up here before I take off.

Went diving this morning and tried using my camera without my big wide angle lens (because I’m afraid it’s gonna fall off and lose it)…. but that was that a huge mistake. I had forgotten just how tough it is to shoot people pictures without it, so I attached it the best I could for the second dive. Thankfully I didn’t loose it. I have ordered another one, so I’ll have something to use when I send that one in, plus it’ll be nice to always have a back up handy when I get it back. If the business takes off like it looks like it’s going to….. I can’t afford not to have a decent back up system in place.

My client loves her photo’s from last night’s shoot, so I guess my photographic eye extends up to on land as well. Make’s it a lot easier to do when you have the right camera and editing is so much easier simply because there is a lot less to edit. I gotta say though….. diving until 1 in the afternoon, editing pictures and getting done just in time to head out the door for taking more pictures and probably not back until after 7:00 this evening, sure feels a whole lot like work….. plus I have to edit some more when I get home. Oh well, maybe it’ll help get rid of this big ole belly……. Gonna leave it here and get some pictures put up, so I can get ready to head out the door…….

Good Night Y’all & & & & & & & & & & & & & & Thankx for stopping in~!

Another non diving day…… slept in…. 06:00 LOL~~ Up, choked on the news…. jeez that’s depressing. An article came out today….. the brain trust that is our Government on this island has decided the smart thing to do is order 1.3 million dollars worth of Tesla electric cars (24 of them I think). Now this island struggles to keep the island with electric service on.any.given.day……. we were out… island wide, for almost 5 hours today….. and these Einstein’s think a fleet of electric cars is just what they need to get the island back in shape. It is so far beyond ignorant, it is laughable.. or cry-able, not sure yet. We have no hospital to speak of and the rest of the medical offerings here is minimal at best. I just read about the local Coroner finally got fed up and quit. They wouldn’t fix her X-ray machine, so she finally wound up going to Home Depot and buying a stud finder to help her find bullets during crime scene autopsies…… I ain’t lyin’ y’all – – – you can’t make this stuff up. Same article she said human liquids from autopsies sometimes have to be wheeled down the hallway to toilets (in mop buckets) because the disposal equipment there in the autopsy room doesn’t work…… pitiful….. just unbelievably pitiful……… wow…. swung out a little wide with that…. can’t help it….. the incompetence that manages this island is staggering~!!!

Did some leg work getting my photography business up and running a little stronger. I journeyed to mid island to a small souvenir shop and chatted with the owner about selling some of my work. She was amped about the idea. (The electricity went out while we were talking and we both laughed)….. We discussed ideas and a decent plan of action and I wound up leaving the three pieces I brought with me, there with her. Stopped in at Blues and had an icy cold Budweiser with Jim and Deb and we laughed about the purchase of all the Tesla’s……. They were closed today, so I had them to myself. It was nice. Finally back here to my Queen who had already got back from her Doctor’s appointment.  We sat here without any fans or internet. Thankfully there was a fairly decent breeze blowing through our place that kept us almost reasonably cool. We sat for several hours before we finally heard things click and come back to life. I got on line and ordered a lot more stuff to put in the shops for sale. Mostly prints…. but this will get me started. I got several really good ideas about incorporating my land camera to be able to expand my offerings. No diving again tomorrow…. but there will be a boat Thursday, Friday & Saturday. That’s enough to get me a paycheck and scratch my diving itch. Plus my photo shoot tomorrow and Thursday evening~! I’m on the move~!

Good Night Y’all > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stopping in~!

Tried to sleep in this morning……. fat lot of good that did. Ya know, I have used that particular expression dozens of times…. and now that I see it in print…. what the hell does that mean ??? Fat lot of good. Wow— you surely don’t want to break that one down literally. Funny how something changes when you see it in print. Also, funnier how much less you give a crap the older you get~~~ but I digress. Waited for my Bride to get done doing her thing in the bathroom before I come tripping out of bed this morning. Bed made, room opened up to welcome that wonderful trade wind. Coffee, news, phone calls, biscuits & gravy~!!! What a great start to a day. While my Bride chatted on the phone with Daughters…. I headed out to cut the damn grass~! Now I think most of you know, I usually enjoy doing that particular activity…… but when I just did it 3 days prior……. not so much. Because of only being 3 days….. weed eating wasn’t so much of a priority….. and the fact it was HOT….. how hot ?? Damn Hot~!! I skipped the weed eating. Because My Bride was still on the phone when I finished up and was now talking to that cackling Sister of hers…. I grabbed the trash, loaded the truck and took off for town while the two of them Hyena’ed back and forth on the phone. I got the ATV yard polished back into shape, stopped and topped off the truck and filled up both small containers for the lawn mower and weed eater with gas….. ran past the dump and dropped off the gar-bagé and then back to the house.

The plan…… was to catch a movie, but that didn’t happen either. I got caught up on some online stuff and then got hung up on video’s watching people being stupid. Angie asked for a ‘burger’…. so I fired up the grill and let four  ½ Lb burgers simmer as we stayed busy on the phone and internet. Burgers were supposed to be USDA Prime Beef….. horse hockey……. these were just barely 1/3rd pounders by the time the fat cooked mostly out of them. Dammit Emmit. We, however are nicely fed now and I’m trying to think of what to say next and what pictures I’m gonna show you. I did discover that with my recent withdrawal from excessive drinking, that I am apparently becoming a ‘cheap date’.  I opted to have a couple of drinks with my Bride and now….well into my 3rd [very well made] drink, I already have a buzz and on my way to …… well, you know. It appears there is no diving scheduled for the bulk of this week……. dammit. I just texted the boss to see if she wants me involved in a Junior program I heard about…. will have to wait for that response.  I have plans to try and get my hair cut tomorrow (oh hush) and stop and talk to a local store owner whose is interested in selling some of my stuff. I hope to show off some of my ‘wares’ and maybe get into her store with a couple of pictures I already have printed. Keep your fingers crossed…. this has the potential for some easy income~! Maybe LOTS of easy income~! I also have my first official photo shoot the middle of this week. Since I have found a couple of great shoot locations.. I am really amped about it. There is also some planning in the works to get my name “out there” for more of [well] paying shoots. I’m excited (and waaaay over my word limit here).

Good Night Y’all : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Thankx for stopping in~!

Pictures from 2 years ago on a night dive~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

P7250197

Up after a mostly decent nights sleep last night. A nice cool morning, a tasty breakfast of pancakes, [turkey] sausage and a couple of pieces of bacon and a small glass of icy cold milk to wash it all down with. Enjoying quiet table time with my Queen when I got a ping from Island Daughter saying everybody was ready for their photo shoot. Actually, Kaidence  [not a 100% sure that’s spelled correctly) was my ‘subject’.  First location was was an old plantation/ distillery location located up in the brush a bit. Beautiful location with a bunch of old ruins. I’m intrigued enough with it, I may have to take a trip out there for some picture taking and learning a little more about it….. Pictures done there, we headed for the “Beach shoot”. The beach that parents had in mind had enough people on it we opted to skip and look elsewhere. Boy-Howdy am I glad we did….. we found a gorgeous little [empty] stretch of beach that had every ‘prop’ I can ask for, for a beach shoot. Beautiful water, big rocks for waves to crash into, scenic palm tree, rocks good for sitting pictures…..just all around a gorgeous place. May have to come out and explore it a little more to and see if the water is swimmable…… although me thinks the waves may be a bit much the way they come in through the rocks…. but still, more great picture taking~! From there we headed into town for some shots around the old fort and pier area. My ‘subject’ is a gorgeous young lady, that was very patient and made getting beautiful pictures a breeze. The parents had the shoot done for her impending graduation. Parents have seen the finished product and seem to be very happy with it. That makes me happy.

My Bride just came stumbling out of the bedroom. She has been getting her a nap and just now getting up. I think maybe a new medication she just started taking may have caught up to her. I got carried away with TV watching yesterday and just couldn’t bring myself to stop and write….. I had a big ole batch of hot, salty pop corn while we watched The Man from Toronto with  Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, Kaley Cuoco, and Ellen Barkin. It wasn’t bad….. maybe got a touch ignorant right at the end, but I’d give it a solid 7 (out of 10) – Then I wanted to check out Snowflake Mountain. I read about it on line and just wanted to ‘check it out’.  Kinda like a Survivor game show kind of thing….. only 8 episodes but we wound up watching all 8 episodes. It was mostly as stupid as I thought it was gonna be, but one of those where you kinda have to watch the next episode to see what happens next…… If you want to laugh at a bunch of snotty kids (19 – 26) that would be a good one to watch. Sadly, no dive boat tomorrow. Dammit Emmit. Truck needs work. The damn grass already needs mowed again…. yes…. I just mowed it Friday~! Dammit Emmit~!

Good Night Y’all + + + + + + + + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

Was kinda of amazed at the response to the title of last nights blog….. I guess my more matured readers understood the title was a song title from the Carpenters circa 1971……..  I understand why the younger generations wouldn’t get it (even though they were raised in one of the most musical house holds in all of PoCo……)  LOL ~ still can’t say that without laughing…. but I guess what I don’t get, is why they thought, I thought it was Monday…… I mean, after all….. the title was Rainy days & Mondays……  maybe they didn’t know what & means….. ? You know, like us old farts that still think # means number (or pound) and not hash tag ???? LOL~~ but again…. it was Rainy Days AND Mondays…. and I was talking about rainy days, so I don’t get…. well I do, just gonna act like I don’t…. LOL   Anyhow…. It made for some fun conversation so it was totally worth it. totally~~  😉

Up bright and early for my rendezvous with our boat and a presentable crowd from the local cruise ship. One of the smaller ships, it only had around 3000 or so passengers….. There were some issues and challenges on the first dive that proved to be quite taxing on the old fat boy – but I stepped up and done what needed done…… divers wound up back on the boat safe and sound and that’s the bottom line. We swung by the pier and picked up a bunch of DSD’s… (Discover SCUBA Diving) and ferried them out to the next dive site. That dive was as complex and challenging as I expected it to be…… but we wrangled everybody, made sure they were all safe and when it was all said and done, had a good time. I am happy and [a little bit] proud to say that I managed at least a couple of decent shots of all 12 divers…. singles and ‘dive buddy’ shots. I like to think that helps paint a good picture for our dive shop for the cruise industry.

Back at the house, pictures edited and posted and here I sit chatting with you all. The sun has dropped below the horizon now and it is starting to cool off a little bit. We’re down to 83° and becoming nice and breathable now. I ate way too much of some delicious spaghetti that my Queen made for us….. good Lord I feel like I’m about to pop….. haven’t been this full in months~! I need to jump in the shower before I get to comfortable…. so I’m cutting out here. Tomorrow hopefully is a day of absolute laziness. Laundry is all caught up, mowing is all done….. sounds like a day of movies to me~!!

Atlantic Spade fish Video

They don’t always get me down, but they sure can FUBAR a guys plans for getting yard work done. As a rule, rainy days have always been a favorite of mine because as a kid, it usually meant getting out of work. Now any of you that know me, pretty much have to admit, I’m not afraid of work, never have been, probably never will be….. but as a young teenage boy I always enjoyed any ‘free’ day I got. It meant running in the woods, going fishing or just doing nothing and after I got my license…… it meant just ‘bombing around’. So, I think that’s where my fondness of rainy days came from and has stuck with me to this very day. Even when I was supposed to do yard work. I woke up a little after 02:00 this morning listening to distant thunder and drifted off in and out of sleep for the next couple of hours listening to the rain and the thunder. When I finally got up to get my Queen off to work….. the ground was saturated and it continued to rain periodically. My Queen fed and gone….. I made me my big ole breakfast and sat and watched it continue to rain. I did get some odds and ends done and had just engaged the boys from the Geek Squad when my Queen came rolling up. My computer has been dragging this past week and I figured I was about due for a good tune up and the fine folks at Geek Squad do a really good job doing that. As I sat and chatted with my Bride…… I finally decided I just couldn’t take the way the strip of grass across the alley looked like and told her I was gonna go and mow at least that strip. It had quit raining, so I went out, raised the mower up a little bit and had at it. I finished that strip and still wasn’t raining (the radar was full) so I lowered the mower back to yard height and commenced on the yard. I was 10 minutes from finishing when it started raining again. I persevered and finished the yard. I was already wet from sweat and the mower was doing good in deep really wet grass, so what the heck…… on the island, sometimes you just gotta do what needs done, in the rain. So I loaded everything up…. went into town and knocked out the ATV yard and came back and finished weed eating around the house.  A very hot, sweaty, wet three hours later and I was done. Not exactly the sharpest crispest looking mow job I have ever done – but it ought to do for the next 4-5 days…… and I’ll be able to chill ALL day on my only day off this weekend. I’m overdue to spend some movie time with my Bride. Cruise ship in tomorrow and lots of newbie divers….. gonna be a fast paced action packed day.

Good Night Y’all + + + + + + + + + + + + +  Thankx for stopping in~!

Vera— last 2 pictures are of an eel….. but he looks cute in these pictures  😉

GX010226 <—- Fish Video

My morning was about half FUBAR’d because of camera issues, so I didn’t get to make my bride her breakfast and I didn’t get to have my normal big ole tasty breakfast.  (I did manage a nuked sausage, egg & cheese biscuit) before scrambling out the door. The dives were okay— lots of fun stuff for our guests and I actually got to shoot some ‘scenic’ pictures instead of managing struggling new divers. Viz left a lot to be desired on both dives, but the divers all were happy and at the end of the day — as long as they are safe and happy, that’s what we’re after I guess. Back at the house, struggling with the same issues I had this morning with my camera housing and lens. I have made phone calls to California and swapped several emails and it’s looking like I’m gonna have to send my housing and a lens in for some work. Dammit Emmit~!!  I don’t think the costs of the repairs will be too bad, but it means being without my camera for probably at least a month…. Dammit Emmit~! CRRRRAAAAAAP~!!!

Taking tomorrow off to mow the yards and because I have worked a full week in a row and that’s just unacceptable for being retired. As it turns out, there is ‘No Boat’ tomorrow due to lack of divers…… so is it still really a day off ?? LOL  At least I’ll be able to get the yards mowed…… I’m too flummoxed to think about anything else except my camera…. so I’m gonna quit right here.

OH Snap….. I almost forgot….. I also did this today……

Good Night Y’all * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~!

GX010224 <—- Turtle Video (Big male Hawksbill)

Shark Video

Not a lot to chat about really…… I’m afraid it’ll be more rattling on than anything. Last couple of days have been a lot of ‘work’…..not in the hard in the manual labor sense…. I don’t know, kinda of hard to explain if you don’t understand a lot about diving. It was a lot of photography, a lot of swimming a lot of hands on type training, even though I’m not the Instructor and a pretty good mental press as well. I don’t want to sound like I’m running the Instructor, the shop or the students down, cause I’m really not….. but it’s taken a (more of a mental) toll on me (I’m fine in the ‘How are you’ sense) ….. just a tough couple of days. The family involved have been delightful in about every way you could asked and as we parted ways today, they handed me a tip and thanked me profusely for ‘everything I have done for them the last 3 days’.  I didn’t look at the tip until after I got back to the house and let me tell you…. talk about making a feller feel a lot better about the work he’s been doing. Wow~~ One of the biggest tips I have ever got….. ever. I think they are on the boat again tomorrow. I certainly hope so as I feel like I owe them a much more sincere thank you than what they got as I was walking off today. I was tired and had all my gear hung off of my shoulder as I tried to get out of there……

Back here at the house, pictures are all done and posted. I went to log into the bank to check my account like I do almost every single day and they have rolled out a new website with all new security features and all new ways to be a pain in the touchas to get into. Jeeezus I don’t need this crap right now~! I buckled down and in a “brief” 35 minutes was finally able to log into my bank account again…. Dammit Emmit~! See — I told you…… rattling….. sorry. Maybe tomorrow better ?

Good Night Y’all – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!