Monday, April 27, 2009

Three Random Pics

I've had these pictures kind of sitting in the side lines of my folders because I wanted to put them in a blog. But I never got around to writing a good blog for them, so here they are. The one below is Phil from the professional Volleyball Games at PIC. I love this picture. He's almost twice the length of the kids. Made me smile.
This is Sarah, Kevin (my nephew) and Katelyn at her wedding. This is such a cute shot of Katelyn, I love it. Sarah wasn't too fond of the funky hairstyle, but she had a great time being with her extended family and getting to attend Katelyn's wedding.

Harry and I at the Peroni Party. We sampled some good white wine and hung out with friends. Fun evening - thanks to Fran C. for the picture.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Saipan on NBC Nightly News

NBC Nightly News sent a crew out to Saipan to cover the Marianas Trench Monument, and the Friends of the Monument group. This is an exciting moment for all who worked so hard to make this Monument a reality. Congratulations Angelo and team for an amazing job well done!!
Voices from Saipan April 22: More pictures and extended interviews with scientists and activists on the importance and meaning of the new marine national park. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30369070#30369070


Working to preserve a world under water April 23: The Northern Mariana Islands are in history books as the site of one of World War Two's most decisive battles, but they may ultimately go down in history because former President George W. Bush made the Mariana Trench, an area the size of Arizona, a protected marine reserve. NBC's Ian Williams reports. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30376206#30376206

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Lau Lau / Obyan Dives

Since Harry had two students last weekend, I led Dave (visiting couch surfer and fellow diver) on a couple dives at Lau Lau and Obyan. Below is the path leading to the shoreline at Lau Lau. Such a beautiful dive site. This is Dave inside one of the swim-throughs at Obyan. And here's Dave checking out one of the many stands of coral loaded with little fish at Obyan. A large piece of coral with christmas tree worms. Very pretty. Harry is checking out his photos at Obyan. And here's a recent familiar site - Harry helping his students fill in their dive log books. Sara is still going through her book work, so she will do her last two open water dives at a future date. But Mike just completed all his dive skills, bookwork and exam. So he's a newly certified OW diver. Congrats Mike!Ah, lately, such is our life on Saipan. Diving, students, visiting divers and awesome sunsets. I am thankful for my island dive life.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Oops, I mean "Divers and Eels and Nudis, Oh My!"
I went through some old dive pics. Are you in the oldies? Ok, yes, for me a year ago is old dive pictures. But hey, I had fun looking through them and picking some out for this post. So Brad, what number are you now?I haven't seen this guy down there in a long time. I see these guys down there fairly often, though. Mean looking and pretty at the same time. Hmm - I think the word is funky for this guy. Awesome and friendly, I always enjoy seeing the turtles. Cross cultural connection. Mr. Ugly. But don't judge a book (fish) by his cover. He could have a really nice personality. I'm not risking it however. Saipan Diver. This guy comes up for air - sometimes, but not as often as most. Do you recognize this pretty diver with the pink fins? Clue - she had a recent close encounter with a shark. Somebody is home, but door is shut. Underwater fin thief. Octopus giving a hug. Life is good. Hope this post made you smile today.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Girl's Guam Weekend

Sarah and I decided to have a girl's weekend together in Guam. We wanted some quality mom/daughter time together before she gets married. So . . . we're leavin' on a jetplane. Ha. Well, it's better than when I sing the McDonald's filet o' fish song. Farewell to Saipan for a few days - we're off on our shopping adventure. Here's Sarah taking in the view from our balcony at Fiesta Resort in Guam. And me - trying out the bed. We had alot of shopping time, but plenty of time to relax and sip tea, read stories out loud, read the resurrection stories in the gospels (Easter), sample some hagen das raspberry sorbet (it's the best!), eat at our favorite places, go for a swim in the pool - yep, we fit in all that and more. That's right, I always have to get Mongolian bbq at least once while I'm there. Sarah got some too, and a .50 bowl of miso soup. We found this great white dress for Sarah on one of our shopping expeditions. The wind turned her into a marilyn monroe photo shoot a couple of times - ha. The girls had a great weekend together. And we spared the boys from having to go bra and shoe shopping - their least favorite shopping chores. I'm still smiling at all the fun we had.

Visiting Couch Surfer

We had our first couch surfer come to visit our home in Saipan last weekend. Dave is working in Korea and had to exit for a few days for his visa renewal. It was fun having him stay at our house, as he also enjoys diving. Dave has alot of experience as a couch surfer, both hosting and traveling so he was a good source of information about what we should expect on both ends. The photos in this post were all taken by Dave. He says he enjoyed his stay on Saipan very much. In the photo below, Harry is heading around the rock, to lead another Grotto dive. Dave got this great shot of Harry through the fan coral at the Grotto. While Harry was teaching some students, Dave, Chris and I went diving at Obyan. Here I am exiting after our dive. Dave came along on one of the student training dives at Lau Lau, too. Photo: Harry, Dave, Kelli, Sara (new OW student). Harry and Sara worked on OW skills and Dave and I went looking for turtles and other good underwater photo ops.

Friday, April 3, 2009

NBC

While the NBC film crew was on Saipan to do a story on the Friends of the Monument, Harry had the opportunity to take them diving all day on Wednesday. They wanted to do some underwater filming, with the assistance of Mike Tripp, and wanted to see some of our amazing dive sites. Harry took them to the Grotto first, where they saw a large gray stingray. They enjoyed the "drama" of the Grotto dive, as they put it, meaning the awesome experience of the hike down, crossing to the rock, and diving down into the cavern. It was fun hearing the description of the dive, from someone new to the whole majestic underwater experience of the Grotto. After the Grotto, they all rode in Scott Eck's Aqua Jet boat out to Naftan Point. I have some pictures in a previous post from the wall at Naftan Point, if you want to see it. It's definitely a beautiful dive also. Their next stop was Ice Cream, where they saw about a dozen eagle rays. I was so thankful they got to experience the very cool critters that often appear at Saipan's awesome dive sites. Their last stop was the shipwreck. There were plenty of nudibranchs and loads of fish around the shipwreck. So, with 4 dives for the day, they got a very nice overview of our awesome Saipan diving sites, and hopefully some great footage and photos. You will be able to see Harry, Angelo and Mike on NBC Nightly News sometime around the week of the 20th of April. I'll try to remember to give you a heads up when the interview airs and when it is available online. Wow. How cool is that?!