Author: Bill

Fairly sure I have used this title before, but it’s what popped into my humble little brain when I opened up a new page. Up by shortly after 06:00 after a decent night’s sleep…… I guess the Peacocks have all got their mating out of their system or they have moved on as it was blissfully quiet last night. The air has been [just] barely cool enough when we go to bed at night, that we are still getting by without the A/C. Up and a slow easy start to the day. We were supposed to go to Blues to meet up with friends for brunch but they cancelled late last night. We discussed going ahead and going, but the main reason we were going was to hang out with them, so we talked ourselves out of going. My Bride made us a tasty little breakfast and we just stayed here taking it easy. About time Angie got up to do dishes, I decided to level out the clumps of grass growing sporadically around the yard. As it turns out, I wound up mowing the entire yard just so I was sure it had a decent uniform cut. Also required some fairly serious weed eating and I spent almost as much time weed eating as I did mowing. Without my trusty pick-em up truck…. I couldn’t run into town to see if the ATV yard needs any work….. afraid it’ll just have to wait for another couple of days. Hopefully I’ll get my truck back Tuesday or Wednesday~~

Once I finished up all the yardwork, came in and rehydrated and cooled off – I went in and got me a shower and settled in on the couch. We picked ” A Fall from Grace“…… interesting show…. turned out to be much better than we hoped. A couple of big names you should recognize…. keeps you guessing…. I’d give it a strong 8+. Taking a break now to chat with you all. Scheduled a couple of Discover Dives for our visitors here on the island for in the morning. As it turns out, the 4-5 day break I thought was gonna happen from diving started filling up late last night so I could dive everyday….. however…. my truck being out of commission wasn’t a factor at the time…. or our visitors. I did commit to taking pictures for our visitor, and I am looking forward to it (kinda like taking video on a person doing their first jump) I get to watch the excitement and the amazement in their eyes, plus I will get to claim it as a ‘work’ day  😉 . Tuesday we’re going to go ATVing with them… well, I am, not sure if my Bride is going to join us. So [if my truck is ready] hopefully back in the water by Wednesday. Please keep your fingers crossed…… didn’t realize how much I depend on the old Double D~!

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

Well my trusty ole truck conking out on me yesterday kind of threw a wrench into my works….. a great big ole wrench…… a really big friggin’ wrench….. but hey—- nothing I can do about it right now (that I haven’t already done)….. so make the best of it and move on. I reached out and told our visitors what had happed. They offered up their rental Jeep and while it wasn’t quite as roomy as my truck— it ran [nicely] and took us all over pretty much the entire island. We were still pretty much feeling out how Chris and Elizabeth wanted to ‘tour’ today so we improvised as we went. The place we wanted to take them for breakfast was packed…… NO open seats and I was advised it would ‘be a while‘…. when islanders tell you that, you might as well either move on or get comfortable. Most of us were getting hungry so we decided to move on. We settled for Angry Nates…. nothing noteworthy about this place. The meal was average. It tasted good, but when you had your mouth ”set just right” for a Toast Diner breakfast…… nothing else is gonna compare. Bellies full – we started our day of touristy stuff…. shops, walking, gawking…. that kind of thing. We then loaded up and headed to the East end of the island where we showed them several of the nicer beaches, Buck Island, Cheeseburgers in America’s Paradise and wound up out at Point Udall….. The Eastern most Point of the United States. Taking a more scenic route back to ‘our’ end of the island, we stopped by Blues Backyard BBQ so they could meet Jim, Deb and Eddie, plus had a refreshment. From there we went out past Salt River, Columbus Landing and on out past Cane Bay, going up and over the Beast. We showed them the Zip Line Center and then went out past the Domino Club and the beer dinking pigs and on out the road until we wound up at our house.  We all bailed out there for a quick bathroom break, before we finished up their tour and dropped them back at their hotel. Their plan was to do some snorkeling, but from the yawning going on, I’m pretty sure a nap was in the forecast as well.

We came back here and pretty much settled into the couch for a mostly stupid movie. Now taking a bathroom break and for me to get caught up on here. Then try and find another movie, that’s worth a crap this time. Tomorrow we are meeting up with friends for a late brunch at Blues. Blues is where we met these folks and none of us hang out there much anymore. They said (at dinner the other night) that they have been wanting to try Blue’s new brunch menu, so we are meeting them tomorrow. Then probably more movies (since I don’t have a truck to work on) 😉

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

flounder 21s <—- Peacock Flounder video

Up really early this morning after an absolutely miserable nights sleep. Among other distractions while I tried to sleep, our resident area Peacocks are apparently in the midst of mating season and the ones hanging out around here are….. how shall I say……amorous….. horny as it were…….. and they ‘squawked’ all night…..all night. Good grief~~~ I hope they get over that soon. I got up and busied myself like I do almost every morning, sipping lemon water, catching up on the news, bump charging all batteries and loading them in the cameras and lights, before making me a right tasty breakfast and settling in to see what is going on in the ever messed up world of Face Book. I had most of the morning to myself as since the Peacocks get weirdly quiet when the sun starts coming up, my bride, who had apparently as almost a fitful nights sleep as I did, slept in enjoying the quiet for her slumber. She came stumbling out a couple of minutes before I had to head out for the day. A really small boat with only 3 guests on the boat today. Water was reasonably calm and we had decent visibility and managed to pretty decent dives. Sharks, turtles and sting rays [[oh my]]….. no Green Eels  🙁  I managed a couple of dozen savable pictures~! Headed back to the house, looking forward to running Stephanie’s friends around the island tomorrow and a longer than usual time off (our slow season is in full swing now). I had to swing by the local pharmacy and pick up a couple of prescriptions. I stopped and got half of what I was supposed. Seems as one script expired and Doc could not be reached to renew it, so I guess I’ll go through the long weekend on half of my BP meds…… I tell ya, sometimes this place…………………… anyhow~~ I pulled out of the parking lot and just barely made it through an ugly busy intersection when my truck sputtered and died…….What the Hell??? I quickly pushed it into neutral and luckily had just enough momentum to coast across the lane and into the grass on the side of the road. DAMMIT Emmit~!! I tried multiple times to restart it, but no dice. It almost acted like it was out of gas. My gas gage only works some of the time- but I am satisfied that it has ample gas in it. Now the quality of that gas is a whole different conversation. I have had zero problems with the truck in the last year, so not sure what to think……. clogged up fuel filter maybe ?? Fuel pump ?? DAMMIT EMMIT~!! Here I was going to have all these days to work on the body and try and get it back in shape….. dammit, dammit, dammit~!!! I’ve had the truck towed to the shop. Course, they couldn’t get to it today and they’re closed tomorrow, Sunday and Monday (because of the holiday) so it’ll be Tuesday before they can even look at it. Dammit Emmit~!

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

Another wonderful day of diving……. lots of critters and good fun folks to dive with. No spectacular photo’s but still enough to fill my heart as I take the pictures, because even now, well after a full year of doing this professionally…. I am still in awe of the beauty and all the cool stuff I am being paid to look at every day. It’s even better that I get to share it with you all~!!

Met up with some locals from The Harm …… Mr. Chris Logan and his lovely wife Elizabeth. They landed our our little rock a day or so ago and reached out. As with anybody from our old stomping grounds that show up here— we offered to spend a day with them, taxi-ing them around and showing our place off. We thought it would be prudent to get together and discuss what all the day will entail, so we picked them up at their hotel and took them to my Bride’s favorite Taco place. We ate and discussed the goings on around the island and there was some re-hashing of stuff that happened “a hundred years ago”.  That would be my Brides doing. Angie told me all about the interaction of this young man and our Daughters back when they were all in NHHS…….. I’ll be honest…. I don’t remember any of the tales my wife was talking about and wouldn’t have known this young man if he walked up and popped me in the mouth…… so I took her, and them, at their word as I sat and listened. A chat with Daughter Rachael earlier in the day brought some of the memories back, but still……………… We had an agreeable meal, a drink or two and caught up a bunch. We are scheduling a couple of things for them that we can get some decent discounts for (ATV’s and SCUBA diving) and Saturday we are going to spend the day driving them around and enjoying our island with them. Should be a good time. For now….. my happy a$$ is heading for a dark, cool, quiet bedroom and some sleep……   I need to take a shower first though…… dammit Emmit.

Vera— warning… LOTS of EEL pictures  😉

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

Goofy start to the day…. kinda…… seemed like I never went completely to sleep last night and finally just got up this morning. I must have got some sleep and some rest because I have made it through the day fairly decent so far….. who knows. Got up and got started…. fed my bride and me before both of us heading out the door.  I knew we had a small boat today (4 guests) and was looking forward to it as I got in bed considerably later than I usually do and then having that goofy nights sleep. Two unique dives. First dive we had crazy good visibility… well over 300’~! I got to hang out with a big green eel and a gorgeous little Green sea turtle who let me take all kinds of fun pictures of her. There were a couple of sharks and a couple of sting rays- but I couldn’t get close enough to them for any pictures, let alone decent pictures. Still a really great dive~! Motored back toward the marina and our second site. From the surface, it looked like the visibility was going to be just as good, but we were majorly corrected when we went over the edge of the wall…..wow…. it went straight to crap. Looked like maybe coral spores or something, but peee-uke~! We barely had 70′ most of the dive. We still managed to salvage it as there was another green eel, and another super cooperative turtle. Our guests were nicely understanding and accepting, there really is not a hellva lot we can do about the viz going to crap….. just luck of the draw sometimes…

Wonderful meal last night with wonderful friends. I got a bit of a sticker shock when we got our check…… Just over $300 before they added their 20% [for two people no less] I had the special…… Surf & Turf….. a very small filet and a small Lobster. Guess I should have asked about the price….. turns out it was $125 just for that…… jeeeez~~ It was good, but dang…….. Guess I better stick with stuff I can see the price on…… Regardless…… the company more than made up for it. Friends of ours getting ready to retire and they have been traveling around looking for places to retire. They wanted to ‘pick our brains’ about our moving around experience. Hate to see them go, but envy where they are at in their life. Plus, they are doing it much smarter than we did— so they’ll be good to go. They are already saying they cannot afford to live here….. even though they own 2 condo’s here….. that should give you some idea what the price range is here. Live and learn. More diving with a slightly bigger boat tomorrow….. can’t wait~!

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

Probably gonna be short tonight. I just finished up my editing and getting today’s [[sharky]] pictures put up and have [hopefully] enough time to get a short blog up here before we take off. We are having dinner out tonight with some friends and I am really looking forward to it. We have been trying for the last 3 months to get our schedules lined up to go out and tonight is the night~!! It is also at a restaurant that I have been wanting to check out for a while now….. that coupled with going there with these two people, have got me amped~!!  I had a tiny, tiny little breakfast this morning (still fighting that bloating thing) and nothing else today other than 3 or 4 bottles of water (and yes, a Budweiser) but that’s been it and the old fat boy is a starvin’ Marvin~!!

My bride picked up my MRI results while she was out and about and I am ecstatic to say that everything appears normal and good. Only thing is now– that begs the question….. what the hell is going on inside me ? EVERY test I have had done so far says that I am in pretty decent shape for an old fat guy……. that’s something else…… I’m gonna start dropping weight, regardless of who I have to pi$$ off or what I have to do……… but I digress. I have an appointment with Doc mid next month —- and I aim to tell her that unless she comes up with something else (that makes sense to me) I’m gonna have to look at a different Doctor. I really like her and I think she is doing what she can – but I think I need to take it up a notch…… Something has to change…… soon. The weight thing…… I get, I quit smoking and eating more crap than normal…. but the last couple of months I have taken some pretty drastic steps to try and stop the onslaught of pounds accumulating on me and I just keep gaining weight…… WHAT the HELL ??? I’ve never done ‘speed’ before, but am starting to think about it….. I absolutely hate the way I look right now. I don’t want to do any of those ‘miracle’ pills — they just make you $hit your brains out….. that’s the last thing I need……. Gonna wrap it up here— anxious to get our evening with friends started….. some pix from today….. more diving rest of the week~~~~~~

Good Night Y’all………………….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Going to try and hurry up and bang this one out….. neighbors are on their way over, so I won’t get anything accomplished while they’re here other than shooting the breeze. Today was a pretty typical day. It sure was nice to hit that water….. it is warming up nicely and feels soooooo good when you fall into it. Really small boat today. Makes my job easier….. plus these folks were fun….. friendly, engaging, just a pleasure to be around. Not always the case. A young lady on the boat threw a little bit of a ‘fuss‘ when she found out who I was this morning….. “OH MY GOD~!!! I follow your pictures!!! They are SOO WONDERFUL~!!! I can’t believe I get to dive with you~!!! It was a little bit embarrassing (and kinda neat too) the fuss she was making. She said  “OHH you’re famous….. all my friends follow your pictures.” Guess I should have told her to tell them to start buying some of them 😉  but anyhow…. it was kinda cool and she struck a bunch of fun poses anytime I got near her with my camera. Her husband apparently not as enthralled with me, but I guess you’ll have that. AND– apparently…. they are on the boat this entire week….. so looks like I’ll have my own little fan club all week. Plus– the boat captain asked me who my friends are that are diving tomorrow. I told him I have no idea what he was talking about…. apparently a couple or three folks that I have chatted with on line have landed on the island and are booking dives with “my shop” and dropping my name in the process. Guess I get to meet them tomorrow. HHMMmm….. wonder if I can get famous enough to get a roadie or two to haul and set up my gear ???  LOL

Neighbors (next door ) have been over and gone already. They had a big day diving today as well apparently. It’s a dirty thankless job, but somebody’s gotta do it~! I have already had my shower….. I forgot to call the MRI place….. dammit Emmit~!…. I’ll leave a note to myself for tomorrow~! I’m diving all week and I believe I have a full boat everyday….. we’ll see. Maybe add another ‘fan’ or two~~  😉

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

corals and fish     <—– Video

Crashed a little bit early last night because of a long day, a couple of beers, and a bunch of heat. I had a good day diving ( I almost always do) — I was invited to stop by a local place after diving for some Roti, a local dish that I like but my Queen is not a fan of. Because she was at a doctors appointment and wasn’t going to be home, I accepted the offer and stopped. I had 2 beers while I enjoyed my chicken Roti and chatted with the couple of guys that were already there. The place was packed, as Friday’s are ‘Roti day’ at this place and according to many, has the best Roti on the island. I have not had enough of it to agree or disagree with that statement, but what I had was pretty tasty. I did bring a beef Roti home for a meal later and let Angie try it, I figured she liked her cheeseburger taco’s she might like this….. but nope….. So a busier day than usual for me….. a couple of beers during the course of the day…3 actually (had one on the drive home) and the heat. Ah the heat— the main reason I picked this island. I love it, but seems like the last year or two, I have to get “used” to the heat again as it starts warming back up. Couldn’t have anything to do with getting older….. naaaaah~~~  😉 So we crashed a little early and even though it was reasonably cool— I fired up the A/C again….. it was the perfect opportunity. Neither of us had to be up early this morning and with the A/C running, the room is mostly blacked out, it is awesome cool and the A/C running is a perfect kind of ‘white noise’ to filter out most of the outside noises……. perfect conditions for sleeping in~! So we did…… well, my Queen did. I was up close to my normal time but tickled to pieces Angie slept in.

Finally up— a bite of breakfast and some odds and ends done on line, I moved over to the couch for movies. First movie was pretty Blaise …. so much so, once again I forgot the name of it (you really don’t want me to remember the name of a movie that was that bad anyway do you ???) Second one was one of the sappy feel good romantic movies my Queen likes. It was called A Perfect Pairing [Netflix].  Not bad…… Vera, you would probably like it. Now Angie is working on spaghetti (leftovers from the other night) and then probably headed back tot he couch for another movie. Exciting life here on the weekend for us~!  LOL

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

Sorry about missing yesterday…… it turned into a long tiring day. We were both up early to get ready for work.  I had a really full boat, which means lots of pictures and even more time and effort when it comes to editing all of them. Fourteen divers….. a lot of people in the water and making sure everybody gets at least a couple of pictures. Plus- the first site we did had Sea Biscuit (the islands largest sea horse) which means several shots of everybody riding Sea Biscuit….. and almost everybody wanted their picture taken on her. Once we got back to the marina, it takes extra long to get a WHOLE bunch of air tanks unloaded and I handled way more than my fair share of them. Doesn’t really matter but it really got my back singin’~! Once I finally got in the truck, I had to detour through town to a flower shop. You see, yesterday was our anniversary and I cannot, not, get my bride at least a little something to acknowledge the day. After 44 years, the big gifts, the extravagant nights out all kind of take a back seat now-a-days to comfort…. at least for us it does. We agreed many years ago that we would stop getting each other presents, but again….. I just cannot, not, get her a little something. After putting up with my a$$ for the past 44+ years….. she dang sure has earned it and I’m going to continue to do it as long as I am able. Yesterday was a small bouquet of yellow roses (her favorite). Because she was running a tad late, I actually beat her back to the house, so I had the arrangement and a drink waiting for her at her space on the table when she walked in. We took it easy sitting in front of a fan having drinks. I actually broke down and had 3 or 4 drinks with her. My first Vodka in well over a month……. [no I have not heard back yet from my MRI] and it tasted wonderful~! I am back to mostly water now and my after dive Budweiser, until I can figure out if it’s “safe” to resume drinking ‘constantly’.  While we sat here and enjoyed some back ground music and enjoyed our anniversary dinner (Mickey D’s) the neighbors stopped in just as we finished up and they sat and had a couple of drinks and chatted for a bit…… by the time they left– It was late enough and I was just too pooped to get on here and rattle on……. It was a good day and been a wild and crazy 44+ years….. I hope we still have a lot, lot, lot more of each in our future~!!

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

Up after a toasty night…… I hate to say it, but think the A/C has to come on tonight. I laid there and sweated a whole set more than I would have liked before I finally cooled off and fell asleep. I came out of my deep sleep often enough to also realize that it was right on the edge of clammy during the night. The night air cooled off, but was awfully damp, which is not exactly what you’re after for sleeping conditions. We’ll see….. there is still a nice breeze going right now to help take the sizzle off of our setting sun. I just logged my dives for today and my computer is already showing 81° for the two dives today. The water temperature just started going up the 9th of this month….. jeesh that is a scary jump (78° – 81°). While the warmer water might feel good, it is also good for boosting hurricane’s… which is a big bummer. I kinda digressed though. While watching our new ‘non series’ show (still haven’t found out what OA stands for yet) a ping came in from the dive shop chat board that I am on. I picked up my phone [without my glasses] and saw it was a copy of the schedule board. From what I could see, it hadn’t changed from the last half a dozen times they posted it….. so I didn’t pay it much mind. This morning after getting all my gear put together, making me and my Bride some breakfast, I saw my Queen off on her way for her day at Blues and I jumped into the truck and was right behind her on my way to the marina. Except when I came around the corner where I can first see the marina and the boat (and where I always think to myself….. “That’s my Boat“…..) I didn’t see my boat….. dammit Emmit~! I went the extra 3 minutes or so to the parking lot of the marina, pulled up my phone and the message I got the previous night and because I was wearing my glasses now… I could very plainly see the word ‘West‘ penciled in on today’s slot~! DAMMIT Emmit~!! Can’t be mad at anybody but my dumb self…….. I shot a quick note letting everybody know ‘I’m an idiot‘ and that I was on my way back. Driving maybe a smidge aggressively….. I made record time and got back, got on the boat and ready before any of our guests showed up. All was right with the world again. I once again have 2 big ole strobes to take pictures with (even though I have a puny video light…. at least I have a light for that). This mornings boat turned out to be a lot smaller than it was supposed to be, so that is always a plus for me…… and the folks we had on board were fun agreeable folks, which just makes the day that much better~! More diving tomorrow— out at Salt River….. I think  😉

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