Author: Bill

Greetings and salutations Y’all………. Shortly after I posted last night, I got a ping from the Dive Shop with the next days schedule on it. The once vacant slot for Monday morning now said ‘Private Charter’…… followed shortly after by a ping from the Dive Master on that load telling me about it. He wanted to know if I saw it and if I did I want on it….. Yes, I finally saw it….. yes- definitely put me on it.  Small group (6 divers) which is about the perfect size group for me. Easy to keep up with, easy to keep track of who I took pictures of – and this was an enjoyable group. Polite, engaging on the boat. Not real needy and mostly pretty decent divers. Can’t ask for a heckva lot more than that. They didn’t seem real receptive to the camera, but I think after they see today’s pictures they’ll be a little more inclined to strike a pose once in a while…… that is usually the case. I see where they are on the boat again Wednesday, so we’ll see if I’m right or not. As of this moment…. no boat tomorrow. A cruise ship is scheduled in but there is some pretty serious doubt whether they let it dock or not…….. you know, the whole COVID thing……. jeez what a joke…… You can do this, but not that – but only if…… gimme a break…… sorry…. I don’t really want to get into that mess in here. A small break and still no word from the shop—- If I don’t hear anything…. I will presume I have the day off to piddle…….. maybe even bottle-ass around a little bit. I have been itching to take my new camera down to the beach and experiment with it. If nothing else, I need to spend some time with the manual so I can make a presentable showing at the photo shoot that the boss has planned. No not Angie…. the dive shop boss  😉   For now though….. I’ve already had my shower, dive pictures have been edited and posted….. and I’m about done with this….. so maybe an early evening for me…….  Got to get back to Ozark episodes~!

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

We had been invited out to join other friends for a farewell of sorts for yet another soul gone to soon. He went by J R and I’m not sure anyone really knew his name. We had met him several times and knew him from our earlier days up at Blues. He was known by many for get togethers he would hold on local beaches. Nothing exotic…. burgers, dogs and whatever sides anybody cared to bring along. There was always decent music playing, lots of laughter and generally always a good time. I never heard a definitive cause, but suspect it was cancer of some sort. He was around my age and usually appeared in decent condition. Whatever the case….. he was much to young. Today’s outpouring of people that showed up in his memory was an easy, clear indication of the friends he had. In the same fashion as his get togethers… there was music, laughter, food and everybody was having a good time. There was a couple somber minutes as a local pastor spoke a nice little eulogy and led a quick prayer. The weather was perfect and it was just a very enjoyable afternoon gathering. I’m sure J R would have loved it.

Back here now in time to see the Bengals making a decent comeback to tie the game at 21/21. I just got my tentative schedule and it looks like I’m not diving until Wednesday, but that can  change with one text….. so I guess we’ll see. Looks like I have a photo shoot for the shop doing new staff pictures for the website, so I can use a couple of down days to get to know my new camera and hopefully look like I know what I’m doing come Thursday (shop photo shoot) For now— think I’m gonna get comfy on the couch and enjoy whatever down time I come up with.

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

In the dark, cool, wee hours of the morning this morning….. I reached down to the end of the bed and grabbed my little corner of the small quilt that we have on the end of the bed and pulled it up and smiled slightly to myself as I snuggled down under the ‘weight’ of the quilt as it warmed me up just enough to put me back into a satisfying slumber on our slightly coolish morning… knowing that I was comfy and this morning could sleep as long as my little heart desired…… Yay~! Fast forward an hour or so….. and I think to myself……damn…. it’s hot….. hot ??  wait a minute, that ain’t right…. I was just freezing an hour or so ago………. As I ‘came to’….. it dawned on me our bedroom was unusually quiet as well as warm….. neither of of the two fans in our room were turning, hence the warm…. there were no numbers on my alarm clock…… which only means one thing….. WAPA is at it again….. no electricity……. Dammit Emmit….. comfy and snug in my bed NOT HAVING to get up and the power goes out….. !@#$%^&*()_  Oh well….. I got up, made the bed and opened the shutters to try and get a breeze moving through our now stuffy bedroom. My Bride had got up 15 minutes before me and closed the door so I could sleep in  😉    So shutters opened, I made the bed and moseyed on out to start the day. I did what I could in the bathroom (without electricity… we have no water [[ we have a water pump to pump water up from our cistern]]…. but managed to get enough water to wash my face and get ‘all‘ of my hair combed. We sat quietly and played games [her] and read the news [me]. About 45 minutes of that….. juice finally came back on, so we started the coffee and resumed what we were doing. A wonderfully delicious breakfast, and just enough time to let it settle before the power went out again…… Thank you WAPA (Water And Power Authority)…. I’m not even go to launch into how inept the bunch that manages it is………… so my Bride took off for the store and I headed out to do some much needed mowing. Issues with my new mower made my mowing a challenge, so I grabbed the ‘old’ mower and knocked the yard out. I then sat and fiddled with the new mower after watching a U-Tube video (yes- power back on again) on the problem and had the new mower going again in nothing flat……… amazing what you can learn from a video…… some times. My Queen back from the store- picked up some items we are bringing to a memorial tomorrow for a friend that passed away recently, very unexpectedly. She made us drinks and we settled in for some boob tube watching. Instead of a movie, we have started Season # 4 of The Ozarks. We thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 seasons….. Already on episode # 3, but stopped so I can catch you all up on life here on the island…… More tomorrow~~~~~

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

P1250146 <—- Video

Let’s see if I remember how to do this…… something about writing….. oh yea…. Last we chatted I was talking about a really relaxing Sunday— Ahh yes, that was nice….. AND- I was expecting a really laid back week from the look of the schedule I have to go by. Well that’ll learn ya, durn ya…… wow…. boy did that week take off. I went from thinking I was gonna be lucky to get  4 or 6 dives in that week…. well as it turns out dear readers….. I wound up getting in 18 dives this week. That is Eighteen….. 4 dives a day M-Thurs with just 2 dives this morning. Holy Moley~! I love diving, but will openly admit, I was glad to quit diving for the day when I got off of the boat after today’s dives. All the morning boats were the same group of people. A dive club out of Arizona, spending the week diving with us. Multiple skill levels among them, but we didn’t have to ‘tend‘ to hardly any of them and they were just a good enjoyable group. That makes a world of difference over the period of a week. And pictures….. Oh My Goodness…. I was taking right around 700 pictures every day. I wasn’t getting home until between 5:30 and 6:00 pm everyday [leaving at 07:30 each morning]. By the time I got a shower, pictures edited and put up, it was usually well after 10:00 pm and my tired old touchas was a draggin’ by that point. So that’s why I wasn’t writing on here….. Lord knows I had plenty to jabber about. Only because I’m doing the “ONE Liner” thing on FB is the only reason I was on there…… I can do that in nothing flat (because it’s only one line and I don’t have to look and see if it is a duplicate)….. plus, it let folks know that I hadn’t been eaten by a shark or met some other untimely demise…… even though it may have felt like it a couple of times. I was gonna say relaxing tomorrow to recoup….. but the lawn is in serious need of mowing….. so I’ll relax after grass cutting…. maybe….  😉

I was gonna say my schedule for next week looks super light again….. but I’m kind of afraid to, after what happened this week. I did take my new camera out on the boat with me one day for a big group shot of the AZ folks….. wow…. it’s every bit as nice as I had hoped for and then some~! Can’t wait to start using it for some creativity shots around the island. (Not a fan of taking it on the boat, at least not when there is diving going on) For now— I’m gonna jump in the shower and take a nice long shower. My Bride is working at Blues tonight helping them out with an event they have going. I don’t really like her doing that— but don’t really have a lot of room to gripe about it~~~!

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

I tried to sleep in this morning but that pesky a$$ bladder of mine just wasn’t gonna let me do it. It got to the point it was painful… so I went ahead and started my day without the day off luxury of sleeping in. I got up and enjoyed a cool, quiet morning with my glass of lemon water and the news…… both being about equally sour. Onto FB and it’s nonsense…..at least it’s [usually] entertaining. My Bride finally came stumbling out and I had a coff of cuppee with her while she woke up. We eventually had a tasty little breakfast, a little more time on line stuff and then moved to the couch for some movie watching. The last movie we watched (Honest Thief) with Leeum Neeson was worthy of being watched.

I have now moved back to the table to grab a bite to eat (nuked a burger) while I did my ‘stuff‘….. writing this, being part of my ‘stuff‘. Not a lot to ramble on about. I do have some pictures left that you haven’t seen yet, so I’ll be putting some of them up. (Vera— there might be Eel pictures in there somewhere…. )

Oh yeah….. the MRI clinic called and said their machine died…… or something to that effect and that my appointment has been cancelled. “We’ll contact you later“. Now ain’t that a kick in the head….. island life.

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

P1190289  <—– Video

As suspected, yesterday turned into a very long day. Started with a couple of good dives and from there morphed into safety training. What to do aboard our beloved vessel in the case of emergency. I photographed it last year. This year I was required to participate in the training [as well as photograph it] I remembered most of what I learned last year….. but it was different actually applying what you learned. How to put out fires in the engine, shut off fuel, block vents, what to do if you loose your steering…. just all kinds of helpful shi…. stuff…. and it was fun documenting the training. It was done on a very casual basis so it was enjoyable yet informative. After a [probably longer than I should have] bullsh*t session with a friend over a couple of Budweiser’s after training….. I hustled out to the ‘Staff House’ where a staff meeting was in progress. Even though I am ‘Staff’ and soon to be Dive Master…… I don’t quite fall into the ‘true staff’ category, as I will be a Dive Master only being an extra set of hands and eyes on bigger loads when no one else is available. The logic being, I am back in the back anyway….. watching and helping as needed….. just gonna be “legal” now. So once again— I documented the event and kept an ear open, as all those rules do apply to me when in Dive Master mode……… the rest of the time… I am just a humble photographer~~  😉  A couple of good dives yesterday and even better couple of dives today as the last dive was ‘sharky‘…… got a couple of shark shots I like. Yesterday got to interact with TWO big Green Moray Eels (Vera– this is your warning]   😉  Pictures AND Video….. just not sure where/when they will turn up….

Today were two very relaxed easy dives…. love them…. I get to ‘play’ with my camera learning more fun stuff about it. Back at the house, my Bride had rustled me up a batch of egg salad and had drinks ready when I came in. I got my gear cleaned and hung up, I got me a shower and cleaned up before sitting down and getting pictures edited and posted. It probably sounds a bit tedious to you all…. but I love it. By the time I get to editing, I have forgotten about half of the pictures I took, so I get to relive the dive again….. and I knew today I had what should be at least a couple of decent shark shots and couldn’t wait to see them….. I wasn’t wrong or disappointed…..  🙂  My Bride decided she hadn’t had her burger taco’s in a while – so we took off and remedied that. I had a fully dressed Cheeseburger with an icy cold Budweiser……. bellies filled while we watched a beautiful sunset with the most righteous breeze you’ve ever felt……. Island life…… love it~! Off the next two days for the weekend……. Clinic called and cancelled my Monday appointment for my MRI…… apparently the machine died…. Dammit Emmit. I will be ‘advised’ when they can reschedule……… Island life~~~~   😉

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

P1190071 <— Eel video

Up a half hour before the alarm this morning after taking what seemed like half the night to get to sleep….. dammit Emmit……. Got up once to see what ‘all the light’ was about filling our living room, only to discover we had a very bright, gorgeous, full moon that was causing it. I went ahead and made a lap around the house looking out the windows just to ensure there weren’t any ne’er do wells lurking about…. finding the grounds secure….. I went on back to bed and laid there and “chewed my self out” for not completing that first swim yesterday like I should have……. so I’m gonna do it again….. except I’m going in with an entirely different strategy. I’m going to hate myself forever if I don’t and we just can’t have that now can we ?? I digress…… got up, woke up, got my Queen fed a good hot breakfast and got her on her way to her long day at Blues. I had to leave shortly behind her and in short order was gone as well. I pulled into ‘Eddie’s’ well before my appointed time (traffic wasn’t near as vicious as I was expecting) but happily they took me right in. Said it would be about 2 hours….. yup was expecting that…. so they came around and got my truck while I pulled up a piece of shade and made myself comfortable watching traffic go by.  It hadn’t been 20 minutes when my truck backed around to where I was at. The driver through a very heavy Puerto Rican accent said that my windshield was cracked. Yes sir… that’s why I’m here….. No Senor’…. your new windshield is cracked….. Dammit Emmit~!! That thoroughly confused him…. he just handed me my keys and walked back around the building……. The young lady inside breathed almost as big of a sigh as I did….. and in a nutshell said we’ll have you a new windshield next week. We’ll let you know when it’s in……

I left  and stopped in at the Home Depot to pick up my order and a few other ‘odds and ends’……. got to admit… the cost of odds and ends is really getting up there. Anyhow, had an amazingly decent experience picking up my online order and in fairly short order was on my way….. I spent the rest of my day, making and inhaling a delicious breakfast, playing with my new camera, unloading the truck, doing dishes, hauling a boatload of … well, actually a truck load of empty boxes, to the dump, doing dishes and uploading some new galleries for a customer request. Nothing strenuous, but kept me mucho busy. My bride is now home and I am plying her us with drinks as I watch a gorgeous sun set…. I have a boat full of divers to take pictures of tomorrow and then a Boat Safety course in the afternoon. I did it last year- but was just taking pictures. This year, as Staff, I am participating….. and maybe taking pictures  😉 Either way – I’m probably gonna be late getting back….. so not sure if there will be a blog or not.

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

Lion Fish

Managed an ever so slight sleeping in this morning…..can’t get to used to it though as I have to start getting up in the morning before I probably want to. Also will have to stop laying on the couch at Midnight watching Seinfeld episodes…. Even though there is actually going to be a boat tomorrow, I have already made an appointment to get the wind shield in my truck replaced. I think I’ve mentioned it and the fact I have been trying to get this done since long before Christmas….. but I finally have my wind shield and an appointment to get it put in…. tomorrow morning~! I got to tell you….. I am absolutely dreading it….. call it a hunch…. call it dealing with this type of situation for the last 4 years…. call it what you want…… I am absolutely friggin’ dreading it~! Cross your fingers for me and I’ll hope against hope I am wrong.

I woke up to a text this morning from one of the Instructors from the shop saying he was going to be working with another Divemaster candidate and wanted to know if I wanted to join in to get some of my stuff done. It took some schedule shuffling – but I did manage to join them. First thing on the agenda….. swimming. LOTS of it. Did I say LOTS of it….. I meant LOTS of it. First one was the one I was dreading most…… 400 meter swim…. timed. No mask, snorkel or fins. Dammit Emmit~! When you do not have hardly any cartilage left in a rotator cuff, swimming becomes a real challenge. We were allowed to swim using any method we wanted as long as you didn’t stop and made it back to the starting point. I didn’t do so good….. matter of fact…. I sucked…. horribly…… I tried everything I knew and was holding my own until the wind picked up and I got into a current. DAMMIT Emmit. I gave it my all…… I didn’t drown, which is about all I can say for that particular test. I scored a zero on it.   🙁  Thankfully the passing needed for the test is an accumulation of scores of multiple tests/events. Next one was a 800 meter swim with mask, fins and snorkel but you are not allowed to use your arms [no worries there]. My legs have always been my strongest part of me (years of packing bundles of shingles up ladders) and haven’t given out on me [yet]. After a brief rest…. I donned my gear and away I went….. killed it~! I even a little bit smugly can say I beat the much younger guy that was swimming with me. Scored me a big ole 3 [out of a possible 5] on that one~!! Yeah I did~~! I have one more swim test to do….. it is a 100 meter tow…. in full gear (BCD, tank, mask, fins, etc)…… both swimmers. I’m not really worried about that one….. again, most of that is legs (and I can use an arm if I want)…. I have to pull (tow) another fully geared diver 100 meters. Instructor said we will wait until we are back from a boat dive to do that. That way we didn’t have to get out of the water, go back to the shop and gear up and then do it. Dang….. just noticed I’m already over my limit………..  :-0

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

Dammit Emmit…… I started this over an hour ago…….. got my title put up… which I struggled with by the way…….. you wouldn’t think that something that generally only involves a small handful of words would be a challenge…. but I’m afraid dear readers….. you would be mistaken…… Now that I am reading what I put there for the title– I’m not exactly sure why I chose it. It’s our neighbors fault…… no, not our Damn Neighbors….. our next door neighbors. They came over just as I put the title in….. a drink ‘or two‘ later with some fun conversation and now I’m not sure why I chose that title….. Dammit Emmit~!

After some deliberation…..thinking, as it were….. I think the reason I put that as the title, is, in the next couple of days I am going to be inundated with stuff. Fun Stuff! Stuff that requires learning and work! For an elderly old fuddy-duddy….. I’m looking forward to it. My Queen agreed to me getting a camera that I have wanted for a loooooooooong time…… long before I left the working population, long before I could ever justify owning this particular camera. It is supposed to be in, tomorrow~!!! I feel like a kid at Christmas……. There will be a lot of work involved learning the particulars to this camera (I had a less expensive version of it I used for skydiving pictures), so I hopefully will come up to speed on this one fairly quick. The hopes is to start getting a few more photo shooting opportunities where I can make some serious money doing them. If nothing else…. I will be able to take some great shots of my Grand Babies when we are back in the states…. ALSO tomorrow….. I will be picking up an order from Home Depot, that will have everything I should need, to tear out, remove and replace the tile in our kitchen. Again, talked it over with my Queen and think it will behoove us to go ahead and put a new floor in our kitchen. (Understand it is well under 100 sq.ft) but I had to buy a bunch of tools to support that effort. I think it is going to pay off for us in the long run. If not, well I need the exercise and two, I won’t get sick to my stomach every time I look at the floor in the kitchen…….AND…. on top of that…. I’m getting closer to wrapping up my Dive Master certification……. so LOTS going on for the old fat guy. Will try to get some pictures of everything along the way. Just got notice….. no boat again tomorrow 🙁 and I’m off Wednesday to get the windshield in the truck replaced….. so- busy week, even if I’m not diving. Will be taking some pictures, but will probably have to resort to putting up older SCUBA pictures for you until I get back in the water~~~

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

A quiet start to our Sunday today. Slept in ever so slightly before getting up to start our day. My Queen following me as soon as I came out of the bathroom. Had a nice breakfast of Biscuits, Sausage and Gravy. The sun shined brilliantly all morning and a very comfortable 84 degrees. A nice stronger gust of wind every once in a while helped dry the grass out just enough I finally got up and went out and mowed. Mowing and weed eating done, I got a shower and sitting here on line while watching the Eagles get their a$$ romped by the Buc’s. My bride just made us a drink and we are discussing what we’re gonna do for dinner. It has been decided that I’m gonna grill up some burgers. We haven’t had them in a while, so as soon as I finish this…. grilled burgers coming up~!

Today…. actually this evening about 10:45 pm, will mark 4 years to the day we stepped foot on this little rock and declared it as our new home. That night was a whirlwind. We were running late, (airlines fault, not ours) the people that met us at the airport was PO‘ed because we were so late and wanted to get us to our place asap. We both wanted a cigarette, which did not bode well with our very impatient escort, the line at the care rental place took forever, which also did not set well with our escort and then they took even longer bringing our car to us. We finally got our car, we finally got our bags, finally got a smoke and got into our car. Oh— and it was raining like a cow pi$$i….. peeing on a flat rock,,,,, and away we went. In the dark, wrong side of the road, no street lights, and going like a bat out of hades……. it only went South once we got to our place, but I am not going to relieve that nightmare right now……. Looking back, I’m really surprised we wound up staying here on this island, our budget was already shot, the people we had dealt with [up to that point] were RUDE, just nothing went right……. but am Oh so glad we did. It ain’t been easy….. but still glad we did. Some times it seems like we have been here our whole lives and other times it seems like just a couple of weeks. Probably more recollections tomorrow… Apparently no boat tomorrow due to lack of customers, so another day off….. good and bad. I have some running to do so I can get that done…… but that also means I’m not diving. Right now though, I’m hungry….. and I’m cooking…. so I’ll catch ya tomorrow~!

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

(Vera— Eel pictures and video’s toward the end)

P1120179 <— Eel Video

P1120180 <— Eel Video