5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 11

[justmestace]

Belated Wishes....Sam's BD was 2 days after yours.....Consider it a joint celebration. (Stacey - that's joint as in friends. Not joint as in pain in the...

OK - that came out wrong, not joint as in almost broken.....hee hee )

No offense taken. Ow ow ow...that hurts! Cannot pound hand on desk!!

 

[Dancind]

Irene, welcome home. And I want to hear the rest of your trip report. Good start, keep going!

Stacey, glad to hear it is "only" a sprain. Sounds like it hurts enough without having to go through a resetting.

Monica, I hadn't thought of that. Since we now have a Mac laptop with airport, I have been on the internet in front of the TV. Nice when the show has a lot of commercials. DISing in bed sounds like something I might have to try. At least when I'm in my office with the door shut, the cat can't come in and whine at me.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

We woke to a beautiful morning in St. Thomas. Coffee in bed and then a short drive to the dive boat - gear was already on board....this is the life.

There was another (young) couple who dove our entire schedule with us, more about them later.

Today's dives were a wreak the Kennedy (tow boat) and a shallow reef. Blue Island divers (thanks again Kevin) send Dive Instructors on all their dives and may be the only company that caters to reef divers, so this was a good experience for me.

The Kennedy sits in about 65 feet of water - which you can see from the surface....Decsent (in new wetsuit) was easy as you can use an anchor line and then "turtles"....we spotted one first thing and Sam has the cutest picture...it is crush to a "T"...... There are 3 swim throughs on the wreck, which you can take at your own pace. We ended up with Crush's older brother sharing the space - totally neat.

The other sealife included interesting formation of corral and too many fish to mention.


Compliments of Blue Island Dive Page...
"Depth to seabed = 65ft, 20m
Depth to top of site = 50ft, 15m
Type = WRECK
Tidal = NO

The Kennedy Barge is a landing craft barge that had been fitted with a concrete platform. It sunk in about 1986. At the time, it was being used as a passenger offloading and onloading platform for the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. The Kennedy was moored off of St. Thomas and one night the barge sank. As it sank it flipped over and the concrete deck separated from the barge. The barge now lies in 65’ of water and the concrete pad lies in front of it at a 90 degree angle.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Second Dive was "Hidden Valley" or "Limestone" - must check the dive logs for sure.

But, it was amazing. It was if you were swimming in an aquarium. The reef was close to the surface, so we were limited by the dive boat (please surface in one hour, not when your air runs out days from now). This is opposed to the wreck dive where we needed to surface in 30+ minutes due to 2 factors (one being my dive partner who sucks air -- and the second being depth and nitrogen.....nice that they matched up).

OK, back to the reef...it had fingers of corral and bottom and corral and bottom and all sorts of fish and sea life....pictures to come I promise. It was an underwater landscape of amazing formations. You were left to explore on your own (Instructor in the water but no need to stay close). Sam and I swam around too many fingers to count. Luckily the boat was close.....

What did we see - everything - Lobster, filefish, angels, tangs, baracuda, tiny, tiny, spots of color....words do not do this dive justice. And it was so relaxing, kick, drift, look, wonder.....smile.......

Oh yes, and new wetsuit was good at keeping me warm.

Back to the dock and then to Tickles for the beer after the dive and lunch. Dive Company rinsed and stored the gear...I could get used to this.....

Then the plans were to explore, but the bed was sooo tempting.

That evening we planned on dinner at a recommended resturant - found it it only served brunch on Sunday so we ended up at the Best Western's resturant a walk down the beach. Quite good - Mushroom Rissoto (sp?).

We watched the cruise ships sail off the shore (we also lost the photos - anyone know a good disk rescue program???)

And then bed, to Dive another Day. Later.....

 

[tinksdad]

St. Thomas was ever so wonderful and relaxing, I can't wait to share...


And then off to the Blue Island Divers to drop off the gear. THANKS AGAIN KEVIN - they were so good to us. They set up, rinse and store gear each day, no lugging to the hotel shower.....
Day Two was the start of the dives........

Later...

Cool! They're a good dive op, glad you enjoyed it.

 

[tinksdad]

So sorry. I'll try to do better, but it's too cold here to be sitting at the computer. Must go sit in front of the fire.

Laptop with wireless!!

 

[tinksdad]

For all of you gadget guys, can any of you help me? I heard an ad on the radio this a.m. for Bose in-ear headphones (http://www.bose.com/inear). Does anyone know/think if they are worth $100? Can earbuds really make that much of a difference? If they are that good, I thought they might make a nice gift for Bruce for his I-pod.

Ang

I have the Etymotic earphones and they are pretty good. Except they lack the bass response I would like. The earphones that go into your ear canal block a lot of the ambient noise out and I think are better AND more comfortable than the "over" the earphones.

I want these now, have heard GREAT things about them.....

 

[tinksdad]

And we're having a heat wave, wondering if Fall is ever really coming! Still in the 80's.
Too warm for me to be wearing jeans....but I can't shave my legs!

That explains that Yeti sighting they had over there........

 

[justmestace]

That explains that Yeti sighting they had over there........

That's what Jared said last night! You boys!!

Or maybe it was Chewbacca!

 

[wdwgoose]

well HAY
been busy moving alot. thought I would post a fast HI!!!!!!!


okay back too packing, gee is this what a 11 day cruise would be like if I NEEDED TOO PACK EVERYTHING ???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




gaRRy

 

[wdwgoose]

Well Okay Just One More

 

[wdwgoose]

NOW THIS SHOULD BEE THE ONE


did everyone one but me know my DD has a BELLY RING ???????????





AND A TOP












gaRRy

 

[justmestace]

NOW THIS SHOULD BEE THE ONE


did everyone one but me know my DD has a BELLY RING ???????????
gaRRy

Yeah but did you find the tattoo yet???????

 

[justmestace]

Off to get my first chicken comb injection....... Wait...that's a TURKEY.....

 

[scuba diver]

I have the Etymotic earphones and they are pretty good. Except they lack the bass response I would like. The earphones that go into your ear canal block a lot of the ambient noise out and I think are better AND more comfortable than the "over" the earphones.

I want these now, have heard GREAT things about them.....

Christmas is coming so you need to be a good boy.

 

[DVCDebb]

And we're having a heat wave, wondering if Fall is ever really coming! Still in the 80's.
Too warm for me to be wearing jeans....but I can't shave my legs!

Can we have some heat. Snowing and 35 degrees in SC.

We will all be sick just in time for WDW on 10 Dec. Hope your hand heals quickly. Happy Thanksgiving

 

[ohiominnie]

Heading out tomorrow for FL. I know it's going to be warmer than Ohio, but I was hoping for 85 and sunny!
Busy busy two weeks while we're there. Got various family coming and going! Catch ya all when I get back.

 

[WDWLVR]

Heading out tomorrow for FL. I know it's going to be warmer than Ohio, but I was hoping for 85 and sunny!
Busy busy two weeks while we're there. Got various family coming and going! Catch ya all when I get back.

Safe travels and have a great time!

 

[tinytink]

Hi all, it's been a while but we just found out today we didn't get selected for the DVC 2007 Member cruise so we will be in the boat with all the other members trying to book their cruise. Did anyone else get selected?

 

[WDWLVR]

Well we weren't eligible for the lottery so we'll be calling on the 9th. I'm really amazed. I didn't see very many people her on the DIS say there were even trying so I thought everyone who did would get in, but it seems more people got rejected than accepted. Wonder how many cabins they are booking on the 2nd and how many they'll have open on the 9th.