Author: Bill

Hello All…… today was just as typical (wonderful, but typical) as it could possibly get and loved every minute of it. I had a presentable night’s sleep, didn’t have to make any emergency bath room runs, woke up with feeling like I had been [badly] beaten with a ball bat. Made a scrumptious breakfast and was out the door without forgetting anything. Traffic was as smooth as can be expected on this island. Loaded on the boat, small, experienced group of divers, crazy good visibility again today, two long, smooth, easy dives, back here, pictures already edited and posted and now getting ready to whip up a bite to eat. Short of seeing a whale shark or some other spectacular sea creature….. almost a perfect day. I like it~! More diving tomorrow~! Easy-peezy…short and easy~~

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

Following a really exasperating and brutally busy day yesterday, I got back– got a butt load of pictures uploaded and posted and felt like a night out to eat was in order. My Queen was agreeable to it, grabbed her a quick shower and we were out the door. We have a small gift certificate for the place we decided to go to and since we haven’t been there in a bit-  figured it would be a good time to remedy that.  We sat and watched a gorgeous sunset, had an agreeable meal, 2 or 8 drinks (yes, I broke down and was hitting them fairly steady after the day I had) and had a scrumptious dessert. By the time we got back, my belly was full, and I pretty much just locked the house up and crashed. I knew I had to get up early this morning and sleep was sounding really good right about then. I guess it was a good thing I went to bed a little early, as my belly gave me an ugly reminder about 04:00 this morning on what happens when I drink a lot….. UGggh…… I finally got up a little after 5:00 and just stayed up and dealt with that……… Dammit Emmit~! Got everything ready for work….. went in and got Angie up as today is a workday for her…. apparently she had a long tough day today, as she is not back here yet. She did ping me and said she was on her way….. So I’ll have a drink waiting for her and I’ll stick to my flavored water…..woo-hoo~~~ I wasn’t really in the mood to eat anything…. but made myself nuke up a sausage, egg & cheese biscuit. Not as good for me as my usual, healthier breakfast but at least it was something. Got to the dock, boarded our boat and got my gear ready. Fairly full boat again today, but everyone on board was certified divers and shouldn’t require a whole lot of attention…… Heading out, a young lady on the boat asked me a question about her rig. Turns out she is making her first ‘non-training’ dive today….. which means this is dive 6 or 7 for her. Working with her to get her rig assembled correctly, the Dive Master starts yelling frantically from the front of the boat. I am a little bit annoyed by this as I was doing his job and not mine (photographer) I finished up what I was doing and hustled up to the front of the boat [camera in hand]. Dolphins………. LOTS of Dolphins~! That is a rare treat for us here on this island. We drove around with them riding our bow wave for several minutes. Long enough for lots of pictures and some video. The ensuing dives were fabulous…. Visibility was still awesome and lots of friendly underwater critters. Most of the divers were receptive about getting their picture taken….. just 2 really good dives~! Going back out to the North shore tomorrow (back to my 1 hour round trip driving).

Vera— I sure hope you’re getting healed up and feeling better~!

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

IMG_4877 <—- Dolphin Video

P2190194 <—Video…… ever wonder what it looks like on a night SCUBA dive…. watch this~!

Up bright and early this morning after staying up a little later than planned finishing the latest series we were watching (Inventing Anna). Would have never thought I would enjoy a show like that, but I did, so was a little bit bummed to realize it was over…….. oh well…. plenty others out there to sort through. Anyhow, up early, batteries all bump charged and loaded, gear all loaded into the truck. Made me a small breakfast and was just finishing it up when my bride came out to join me….. We chatted a bit and had our coffee before it was time to go. Got to the marina, mid-island and got on board and got my gear all put together. Lots of activity going on as I found out we were putting in a new mooring on a rarely visited, but oh so desirable dive site called Vertigo. This is probably the deepest dive site that we have here. Not a site we bring tourists or inexperienced divers to. You can get in trouble real easy on this dive if you are not careful……. well, truth be told, you can get yourself in trouble on pretty much any dive if you’re not careful….. but this one is way easier to do it…… let’s just leave it at that. Easy to go past recreational limits on this dive, recreational limit being 130′.  I probably don’t need to elaborate much about this dive….. so I won’t….. but it is an amazing dive~! Not a lot of pictures from this one….. so guess I’ll just have to go back~~  😉  Second dive was at a trusty favorite site that almost always holds sharks and today was no exception. It not only held sharks…. they were friendly….. really friendly. How friendly you ask ??

THAT friendly~~!! I tried reaching out and ‘petting’ them a couple of times, they were that close. Remember me talking about ‘the shot’ I want….. my hand on the side of a shark as it goes by and getting a picture of it…….. Thought I had it today~! They are moving so incredibly fast, that doing that is a heckva lot harder to do than what you would think…… just touching one let alone getting my camera up fast enough for a shot when it happens. Maybe I need to work on just getting to ‘pet’ one and get comfortable doing that before I worry about the picture…….. The whole dive was a good one. We only had 4 guests on the dive, so getting their pictures was quick and easy, which left me lots of time to chase sharks and get good pictures for you all…….. Back out here (West end) tomorrow for yet another cruise ship. Really thought cruise ship divers would be a better source of tips, but the last load I dealt with, out of 12 divers I did not get one single damn dime……. cheap bas  …..#$%^&. Oh well, keep smiling and taking pictures…. it’s what I’ll do…… after all, not many people can say that have a retirement gig as sweet as this one……  😉

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

Just a quick little blurb to let everyone know I’m alive, well and kickin’. Just enjoying a mostly sedentary weekend for a change. Haven’t done much of anything other than eat and watch movies. Will go back to diving tomorrow, so a little more to rattle on about and more pictures, although I probably have hundreds you have not seen yet. Already had our showers and some scrumptious Salisbury steaks for Dinner. Creepy scary how small those things have got over the years….. but just as good as they always were. Probably just as bad for you, but kinda like KFC or Long John’s Silvers— sometimes you just gotta have that fix. Days are getting longer here on our little island (6:45 pm and just now sun set) and the day time temps are ever so slowly creeping back up. That’s a good thing in that it means water temperatures will start going back up. I am getting nasty cold by the end of my second dive each day……. Not a good thing in that it also means we’ll have to start turning the AC back on for bedtime soon, which also means about an extra hundred bucks or so a month on our electric bill…….. Dammit Emmit~! Gonna leave it here…. back to the couch for more stupid movies………  😉

Happy Birthday to my big Sis Ela~!

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

After one of the THE most confusing starts to my day that I’ve had in quite some time…….. I finally headed down town to Historic Frederiksted, to hang out at the dive shop. Since I am a bona-fide employee of the shop….. I stood inside, leaning against the counter like I owned the joint and made small talk with the small crowd of folks who were drifting in from the freshly moored cruise ship docked across the street. I answered a LOT of typical tourist’y‘ type questions the best I could. The time finally came for me to go to ‘work’. We had a dozen people all lined up on the front porch (so-to-speak) and starting their introduction to SCUBA diving. Commonly referred to in our business as a DSD….. or Discover Scuba Diving………. these are usually folks who have never tried to breathe underwater before and are curious about the pastime. This was a fairly diverse group… young, old, male, female…… a nice mix…….. I snapped pictures I know to be preferred and waited quietly until we were all gathered on the dive boat, which is when my real ‘work’ goes into over drive.  My picture taking finger stays really busy for the next 3 hours at this point. Today was no exception……. but I did so happily, swimming around in that gorgeous blue water, watching these people (most of whom have never been to our gorgeous little island) living the life of a world traveler, experiencing things that a big handful of the worlds population don’t get to try. It truly is satisfying to watch. Even more satisfying to me that I get to document this particular opportunity for these fine folks. Our weather was doubly cooperative today, with huge white puffy clouds and water that looked like it belonged in an aquarium. The sea life today was also equally cooperative with Sting Rays, turtles and dozens of different species of fishes making an appearance. Just a really great day all the way around. Nobody panicked or needed any special tending to….. so just a really good day for everybody involved. I wound up taking almost 400 pictures….. which is a LOT for a 1 tank dive… even for a DSD….. but the people were fun, the water and sea life was amazing….. so I did what came naturally…… and like to think that there are a dozen people that sometimes in the next 12-24 hours will have a great big smile on their face when they see pictures of themselves underwater…. SCUBA diving~! And that those smiles will be compliments of my handiwork with a camera…….   I am truly living a dream in that I get to do this in my ‘golden years’………. and when I get to see or hear the various comments about “Oh my gosh… I can’t believe how beautiful those pictures are…..” or any variation of that…… it just makes this old heart beat a little faster and prouder……… I hope someday every one of you reading this….. get’s to try out SCUBA diving so you get to see first hand all the cool stuff I get to see every day…….. and I hope I am there to capture it on ‘film’ for you~!

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

P2240233 <—- Video

Yesterday was all over the map about whether there were divers and boats and such. Turns out there were no divers for the morning boat (from the cruise ship) so because the [dive] boat was being held for cruise passengers…. it meant ‘no boat’ for the morning…. so I got to hang out and get caught up on some odds and ends after getting my Queen fed and sent off to work. There was a small boat scheduled for the afternoon and my employer being the stand up operation they are, sent the boat out even though there were only 2 divers (guests) on it. So we went. I had taken quite a few pictures of these two people the day before…. so wasn’t any need to pester them unless they asked (they didn’t) That gave me two dives to play and experiment with my camera…. which I did. Had a ball….. got some good pictures and a bunch not so good…. but it was a good training kinda day for me. I got back and got pictures uploaded fairly early and had just started editing them when our neighbors came over. They had some wetsuits for me to try on (that’s a whole other blog) but they sat and had a couple of drinks and we chatted for a while. By the time they went home, and I got pictures edited and posted, it was bedtime, I was tired and I crashed.

Got up this morning and realized I had forgot to put my batteries on charge last night before I went to bed……(I told you I was tired) Trying not to panic- I made a couple of quick adjustments and soon had enough charged batteries to get me through a couple of dives. I fed my bride and got her out the door again. I got to leave a little later this morning because the boat is out on this end of the island for the cruise ships. I just got my camera and case ready, put on my trunks and rash guard and was about to head out the door when my phone pinged and said dive has been cancelled. Dammit Emmit~! Apparently we had funky enough water, it was to rough to dock the dive boat up against the pier. Always looking out for the safety of our guests, the dive was cancelled. So here I sat….. all dressed up and no place to go. Dammit Emmit. So I got back into my comfies……. and I bottle A$$ed around…. for the rest of the day. Came close to piddling a couple of times, but slowed it back down. My Queen got back from work (1/2 day) and we settled into the couch to [as it turns out] finish the latest series we have been enjoying. It was Raising Dion….. far fetched, but we really enjoyed it. 2 seasons. Now we will go back and finish Inventing Anna….. or watch a movie….. we’ll see. Diving tomorrow…… maybe…..

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

((Pictures from the Night Dive the other night))

P2190194 <—- Video

Not sure I ever thought about it…… but after today, I can’t stop thinking about it. I got slapped by a shark. Never really thought I’d be able to say that …. but I can now. Our first dive today was at a site that is known to hold several sharks…. and because the mooring ball had been torn off, it’s been a hot minute since we have dove that site, so I was anxious to get back down there. It’s also been a hot minute sine I have gotten a ‘good’ shark picture…… all those minutes got ‘cooled off’ today. Just barely got started on the dive when one fairly good sized shark showed up. I waited until the bulk of the group went on about their way before I sank down to where he was at. (about 90′) I ‘clinked’ my camera tray and had an instant response as the shark pivoted around looking for the sound. As he got near– I did a rub on my lens shade. It is a grunting sound, that has been explained to me sounds similar to the sound a lobster makes when it is in distress. (we aren’t the only things that like to eat lobsters). When I did, the shark coming at me cruised by me…… as I followed him- I noticed I now had 2 more sharks circling me, apparently intrigued with the sounds emanating from me. I ‘aimed’ at the biggest one and started ‘grunting’ again….. he/she was really intrigued…… he/she made a bee line at me. I waited until he/she was close enough for a really good close up and fired. Typically, as soon as my strobes fire, the shark will turn away. Typically….. apparently this was not a typical shark…… he/she kept coming…. so I took another shot, my strobes fired again…… by now Mr./Mrs. Shark is now within arms reach…… holding tightly to my camera, I braced for impact, when the shark turned abruptly away from….. whew…. what I did not plan on, was that when the shark turned, his/her  body whipped around behind him/her….. including her tail….. which came around my solidly braced arms and slapped me firmly and solidly up side my head.  Luckily, it didn’t knock my mask off or bust anything vital. Bounced one of my strobes out of position, but that’s not a big deal. Honestly, being slapped by the shark wasn’t that big of a deal…… getting the shot that I got… now that is a big deal~!!! I finished taking the shots I wanted and started up to catch back up with the dive group. As I came up I saw another photographer on the load watching me…… his eyes were about the size of saucers. I just kinda grinned, flashed a cool divers sign with my hand and swam off……… Yea….. I’m a cool underwater photographer that gets slapped by sharks~!  😉

Boat is out here on the West end the next 3 days, so hopefully I’ll get to do Armageddon at least once~!! There is a chance I may be doing afternoon dives for the next 3 days….. if I do, the odds of writing this blog go way down because I’m usually editing pictures until 9:00. We’ll see.

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

My Queen decided she wanted a couple of her hamburger taco’s for dinner, I got my pictures up today in reasonable time- so off we went…… venturing that entire 6 minutes to Louis & Nacho’s bar, for that gorgeous view and aforementioned taco’s. Because the shorts I was wearing was entirely too tight [damn things have to be shrinking]……. I wasn’t in the mood for a big meal, so I opted for a new item on the menu….. Pop-corn chicken, with your choice of sauces and 1 side. Again, not starving and shorts to tight, I opted for the fries as my side. It is always hit and miss on the fries…… sometimes they are really good and sometimes they are really not so good…. I had a 50/50 shot. In a quick 15 minutes… our meal was brought out. Apparently they cook the chicken in the same grease as they cook the fries……. and they cooked it really good…… making sure there was not was single sliver of raw chicken…. also making sure there was not one single drop of juice left in the meat as well. No worries….. I can just smother it in BBQ sauce and it will be all good. Wow…. not sure what kind of BBQ sauce that was, but it had as much bite as the fries and the chicken. Unsure whether it was indeed BBQ sauce…. I had my Bride try it. She confirmed that I was not imagining things. I even called the bar maid over and asked her if that was the restaurants standard version of BBQ sauce. She looked at me like I was nuts and confirmed it was. Note to self….. do not order BBQ anything from there…… Unless you have LOTS of beer to wash it down with, then, it wouldn’t be too bad. Me however, in my current mostly sober state…. was not in position to wash it down with lots of beer……………. so I brought the remainder of it home and had it with my BBQ sauce…… much better. Speaking of beer….. When we arrived and placed our drink order…. instead of my usual Budweiser….. I noticed what looked to be a Margarita fresh served to the table next to us. I inquired about and was confirmed that it was indeed a Margarita and would I like one ? Well yes I would, liver, pancreas and other affected body parts be damned~! While waiting for it- I noticed several posters around the establishment proclaiming today was National Margarita day~! It just so happened to be sponsored by a place that makes Tequila…. well now ain’t that a heckva coincidence ?? I might add, that this particular brand of Tequila leaves a lot to be desired in it’s role a Margarita ingredient…… but I powered through and finished it. Never let it be said I don’t support local business’~!

A good day diving today…. another lined up for tomorrow with another full boat. Don’t really like the boat that full, but it’s real good for business….. Big group today as well….. fun group….. not much on tipping…. but solid divers and a fun group. Beats the heck out of the alternative.

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

P2160247 <—- Video

Up bright and early in anticipation of another day of stepping off the back of that big ole boat and into that gorgeous blue water. With the massive decrease in my alcohol consumption (jeez I’m becoming a dull old fart) my bathroom routine is greatly diminished so I have plenty of time to catch up on world events and all the fluff that is Face Book. Got batteries all swapped out and all my gear loaded into the truck, came back in and made me my normal righteous breakfast and was enjoying it when my Queen came out and joined me. She did not have to work today, so she slept in a little bit. On the boat and gear all put together and ready to roll by the time our guests started showing up. A little bit bigger group today. I knew some of them from dives a day or so ago and three new [to me] folks. I gave them my spiel as we motored out of the marina and we were soon sinking beneath some right fine sporty waves. Nothing spectacular about these two dives. I did manage a couple of fairly decent shark shots…. another big Lobster and lots of fun people pictures. All in a days work for a staff photographer. Lot’s of conversation on the boat during the course of the day about the approaching night dive (tomorrow night).  I took a lot of ribbing and kidding about going on the night dive because all my ‘co-harts’ know I do not like or ‘do’ night dives. I have done enough of them to know, I don’t like them. Let me re-phrase that….. I don’t like doing them with other people. I can get some amazing shots at night (that is when ALL the critters come out…. so lots and LOTS and LOTS of photo opportunities)…… BUT….. most people know that “the photographer” always has a lot of light around him and they tend to hang out near him….. and usually bumping into them, or hanging onto them or stirring up the sand around him… or otherwise just aggravating the @#$%^&o out of him. So you kinda see where I am going with this ?  Just now, sitting here editing pictures…. I wound up in an online discussion about the night dive and before I knew it real good….. I am now signed up to go on said night dive. Dammit Emmit. Yes, I could take myself out of the dive…… but ya got to get yourself uncomfortable every once in a while…… you know….. kinda keepin’ yourself on your toes and “not letting the old man in”………  😉   ((Probably no blog tomorrow))

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

Vera – – LOTS of EEL pictures below~~

Sitting here trying to think of a title for today’s blog (never a good sign when you can’t even think of a title for the blog and you have 500 words you need to try and write) when it occurred to me that tomorrow is already Friday. Holey Moley, where did this week go ?  I guess I have stayed a lot busier than I realized. I like it though…….. Out on the North shore again today. Strong goofy winds are keeping the water out on the North shore ‘sporty‘. I think I have explained, we are not allowed say the water is rough, to our guests. It’s sporty. And sporty it was today….. wow, we had easy 8′-10′ swells and it made for interesting boat rides. Once you’re under the water, it does not affect you as bad. It does have a tendency to pull sand up from the ocean floor some times and makes getting good sharp pictures a real challenge, but outside of that….. much, much calmer ‘down under’. Getting back up on the boat after the dive has it’s own set of challenges in big waves…. but we got everybody on and off the boat [twice] safely…. so we’re good to go~!

On the second dive, while I was trying to coax a shark to come to me for some close ups…… I noticed the Dive Master waving frantically trying to get my attention. Getting another divers attention is normally done by taking something metal and tapping on your tank….. normally….. unless you’re trying to get my attention…. I am deaf as a post underwater, which is why he was waving frantically. When he finally caught my attention, he pointed up. I looked up just in time to see a massive Spotted Eagle Ray~! Big enough, I first thought it was a Manta Ray~!! Again Holey Moley~!!! I almost bit through my mouth piece on my regulator. I took off as fast as I dared, up toward the Eagle Ray. If you don’t know…. coming up from a dive to fast, is dangerous. Really dangerous. It can be deadly. As I raced toward the Ray….. I felt my computer on my hand going nuts. ( I have it set to beep & vibrate for warnings- see comment about deaf as a post) Just as soon as I realized my stupidity…… I rapidly slowed down to a safe pace and resigned myself to the fact I was not going to get any mind blowing pictures of the Ray. (They are fairly rare around this island). Rest of the dive was fairly uneventful and I didn’t inadvertently try to kill myself after that……. Almost 65 years old and [still] learning something new every day~! I now incorporate a technique I used skydiving into my picture taking that will greatly enhance my awareness when doing stupid stuff like chasing giant Eagle Rays~! More diving tomorrow~!

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

P2110281  <—- Video