Harry

It's Harry's birthday tomorrow - October 17, Friday. Please join us at Godfather's for cake and drinks to celebrate! See you there around 8 or so.

October Wing Beach Dive

Saturday morning Harry, Michael, Rhea and I ended up doing two Wing Beach dives. Yep, I know the season is over, but it was a perfect Wing Beach day. Actually, it was probably the best Wing Beach dive I've ever had - great visibility. Here's a picture of me, with my new prescription mask. It looks kind of funky, but makes diving easier. This guy followed us for a ways on the way out to the crevasse. He was pretty big. And I always enjoy this view as we swim over the corals on our way out. As I was exiting the crevasse, I took a look at my gauge, then dropped down to 104 ft. to take a picture of a nudibranch. I was taking a picture of a lion fish and turned around and Harry had this right up close for me to see. I think he was hoping to gross me out, but I'm no Hozumi. Ha. Harry and I were using up our air towards the end of our dive, and went into this little cave in the shallow corals. It was really cool in there, with many fish hanging out. We saw schools of these little silver fish with black and white checked tails. Very cool.

Great dive morning. We dove Lau Lau in the afternoon, but it was low visibility and a bit of a current, so not that nice.

Boat Dive - Ice Cream and Shipwreck

Today is my birthday. There was a rainbow out to greet me this morning, as I went to work. I was going to take the day off from work, and go to the spa or something, but we have friends coming to visit from Guam during the week, so I think I'll use the day off to visit with them. But I still got to do some really fun and amazing things for my birthday. Yesterday I got to go on a boat dive on a brand new dive boat. This was such a fun experience for me. This boat was completely decked out, with onboard showers even. In the picture below you see Barry, Harry, Rhea and Mike as we ride out to our first dive site. Here's a better picture of Rhea and Mike. Really, this was such an awesome boat. The adventure begins. Our first dive site was Ice Cream. Harry spotted this nudi on the low corals. In the Advanced Diving Course, one of the chapters is on Underwater Photography. So this was my UW photography dive. Here's Barry taking some pictures too. He wasn't in the class, but was enjoying the photo opportunity.Rhea, regulator out and UW grin. Harry is relaxed and sending up bubbles. The dive boat guy swam right through the ring close to the surface. Harry's UW grin, and Mike in the background. I was practicing my macro shots up close to the anenome, trying to catch the fish swimming inside. I finally got a nice close up shot of this fish. This eel was fairly cooperative for a photo shoot too. Mike found this WW2 bomb. We used his fin to measure the length. Lion fish. Mike keeping an eye on the group. Barry shooting a picture up towards Harry.I tried to follow the dive book's advice and get low for this shot. It turned out ok. Here is the regular level coral shot, and further away. The highlight of the dive was getting to see eagle rays. I got to see three. Here is the first one approaching over the coral. Here's a little closer shot with the fish trailing him. I think this was my best picture. He was a fair distance away, so I was really happy to get this photo. Another nice photo of the eagle ray. These two were busy doing something in a frantic connected kind of way. They separated for a minute when I snapped this picture. This was one of the most fun dives I've had. The sun was bright, the colors were great, and I got to see eagle rays! Happy Birthday to me. Still smiling. The shipwreck was an awesome dive, too. Very fun to explore. But Rhea had the camera for that one. It was so cool, while I was swimming along the shipwreck, suddenly a submarine went by. Awesome day!

Farewell to a Good Friend

Before I talk about our farewell to Hozumi, I am taking a brief commercial break to ask everyone to help Angelo find his dog, Oreo. He was last seen in the China Town, Garapan area. If you see him, please return him to Angelo as soon as possible. Oreo is friendly and should come right up to you if you call him. This morning we all went down to the airport to say 'farewell' to our good friend Hozumi. We've been friends for many years, shared many dinners, talks, tears and laughter. I will miss her very much. It is so hard to say good-bye to people you love. I guess that's one of the big setbacks of living out here. For Hozumi's final weekend, we did some "last" things together. We chose things that had become our tradition. For the last few birthdays, Hozumi has treated me to a "nailing". So Sarah and I went to the shop with her one more time and got our nails painted. Here's a picture of my very pretty toenails. Tomoko is the nail artist. This picture shows Sarah's fingernails, too. They are so lovely. I protected my nails while diving by putting socks on before putting on my dive boots. It worked great. And here we are . . . at the airport again, saying good-bye. Hozumi, we love you! You are always family to us. I know we'll connect again in other places. Yes, I cried. Sarah says I'm banned from the airport when she leaves.

Hozumi's Last Dive

After living on Saipan for 8 years, Hozumi is leaving this week to move to Singapore. Harry and I will miss her very much. So this weekend we did alot of "last time" things with Hozumi. This post is about Hozumi's last dive before she leaves Saipan. She chose Obyan. It was a great day for an Obyan dive, high tide, fair visibility. We swam out to see the garden eels, then made our way back along the coral and swimthroughs. Hozumi is enjoying the coral and fish. We forgot to bring her dive skin, so she's wearing mine. Hozumi getting a closer look at the fish. I always enjoy seeing these little neon blue fish. Harry found this nudibranch on a big rock outside of one of the swimthroughs. And this pretty lion fish was hiding under the edge of another big rock. Harry found this slug-like thing with white sticky strands hanging from it. Harry held it closer for Hozumi to see, and she literally shuttered underwater. We all laughed in our regulators. Harry is likely searching for critters. The coral was all lit up really pretty in the sunlight. Hozumi and Harry.Hozumi and Harry checking out some critter in the sand. Kelli and Hozumi.This guy was digging in the rocks, kicking up mud, but he was really pretty with his shiny silver back and black stripe. Here's one of the clams I saw along the way. And I always enjoy the coral. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a photo with fish swimming in and out of the coral, but not today. Harry is sending air rings to the top, and Hozumi is trying to catch them. Hozumi decided to lay on her back to watch the air ring show. One of Harry's fine air bubble rings. Harry and Hozumi in the sunlight streaming down from the surface. Harry and Hozumi exiting one of the swimthroughs. Hozumi coming out of the swimthrough.I'm still underwater coming in on the rope, so I snapped this shot of Hozumi and Harry - well, their legs anyway. Here they are - heading up towards the beach at Obyan. Hozumi giving Harry a hug for taking her on her final Saipan dive. This dive was also Harry's 200th dive for this year. Great dive, great day.