Today was a very standard typical day. I didn't see anything too far out of the ordinary even though team 1 spotted and photographed a manta ray. The only other noteworthy piece of news is that there was a storm that popped up halfway through my lunch break so we spent an hour and a half driving South to outrun it. We were successful and finished the day strong.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
21 June - Florida Keys
We did 5 dives today but the big news is that the Heat won the NBA Championships 4-1 over the OKC Thunder tonight! It was a 15-point margin after a well-fought game on their home-court. had they lost this one, they would have fought for the title in OK City for games 6 and 7.
LET'S GO HEAT!
LET'S GO HEAT!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
20 June - Florida Keys
Today the conditions were too rough for diving so we stayed dry all day long. It was decided that conditions up in Key Largo would be better than in Key West so we spent the day puttering our way North in no hurry since we would not be diving until tomorrow regardless of how early we got here.
I spent my time eating, sleeping, reading, talking, reading/sleeping, eating, playing dominos, watching the film The Birdcage, playing euchre, eating, talking on the phone, and then coming to bed (not exactly in that order).
Hopefully tomorrow will be better conditions for diving and I'll have stories of being in the water instead of sitting on a boat developing cabin fever. here's to better diving tomorrow!
I spent my time eating, sleeping, reading, talking, reading/sleeping, eating, playing dominos, watching the film The Birdcage, playing euchre, eating, talking on the phone, and then coming to bed (not exactly in that order).
Hopefully tomorrow will be better conditions for diving and I'll have stories of being in the water instead of sitting on a boat developing cabin fever. here's to better diving tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
19 June - Florida Keys
What an unexpected turnout for today. The first round of diving was full of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, waves, swells, and low visibility. This made for lots of difficulty getting back onto the boat via the ladder. Being the last team out of the water for the first round, I was surprised to see the next team in dry clothes. It turns out they decided to cancel all diving the rest of the day. I spent the remainder of it eating lunch, reading, napping, watching movies, talking on the phone to Christina, then watching the Heat go up 3-1 against the Thunder in the finals.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day of diving. I guess I'll find out when I wake up!
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day of diving. I guess I'll find out when I wake up!
Monday, June 18, 2012
18 June - Florida Keys
Well here I am back on the Spree. Mel is still not my best friend and still has the personality of a ticked off drill sergeant. I will continue to be nice to her and expect only scowls or complete disregard in return. This trip is only 7 days, 3 days shy of the last cruise. The diving is not expected to be world class but at least it's diving.
My dive buddy Katie and team member Amanda both work at Biscayne National Park where Christina works. I haven't heard anything about Katie but Christina has said good things about Amanda. The 4th team member, Ben, is the wild card. He seems pretty cool but time will tell how compatible we are. Hopefully everything is wonderful.
So here's to another 7 days on the Spree with what is expected to be foul weather. Let's make thebest of it and have a great time. Ready? Go.
My dive buddy Katie and team member Amanda both work at Biscayne National Park where Christina works. I haven't heard anything about Katie but Christina has said good things about Amanda. The 4th team member, Ben, is the wild card. He seems pretty cool but time will tell how compatible we are. Hopefully everything is wonderful.
So here's to another 7 days on the Spree with what is expected to be foul weather. Let's make thebest of it and have a great time. Ready? Go.
Friday, June 8, 2012
8 June - Dry Tortugas
Thursday, June 7, 2012
7 June - Dry Tortugas
Highlights from today: Jean-Ann didn't fill my tank properly last night so when I discovered it this morning I was able to negotiate the nullification/retraction of my beer fine from a couple days ago.
I started reading 1984 again and now I'm 37 pages into it and would like to keep going.
The diving was not interesting at all today. The Heat won in Boston tonight and will host game 7 for a place to play OK City for the championship. Unfortunately I'll be riding home from Key West during the entire game.
I still don't think I've found my place on the boat with this crowd but I've had a good experience overall. I'm looking forward to the last 6 dives, getting home, and coming back out for a week cruise in the Keys in a couple weeks.
I started reading 1984 again and now I'm 37 pages into it and would like to keep going.
The diving was not interesting at all today. The Heat won in Boston tonight and will host game 7 for a place to play OK City for the championship. Unfortunately I'll be riding home from Key West during the entire game.
I still don't think I've found my place on the boat with this crowd but I've had a good experience overall. I'm looking forward to the last 6 dives, getting home, and coming back out for a week cruise in the Keys in a couple weeks.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
6 June - Dry Tortugas
Yes, today was a definite improvement from yesterday. I decided to start learning the scientific names of the fish, we had great dive sites, Ben saved me from getting yelled at by Mel for having my shorts tied up to dry too close to the life rafts, and I saved Michelle from being swept away by the current. After the first dive, I grabbed the end of the rope and she somehow ended up behind me and I reached back in just enough time to grab her wrist and pull her back in.
Best of all, my wrist is slightly better and I'm in bed before 9:00. Now I'll read until I fall asleep. Only 2 and a half days of diving left and 3 days until I go home and get to see Christina.
Best of all, my wrist is slightly better and I'm in bed before 9:00. Now I'll read until I fall asleep. Only 2 and a half days of diving left and 3 days until I go home and get to see Christina.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
5 June - Dry Tortugas
We finished diving early today so now I'm washed, dried, snacked, and waiting for dinner.
It turns out that my wrist is worse today. I can only put little pressure on it and can't bend it very far.
Today has been the worst day of the cruise. (I took a nap at this point then had dinner and so now it's much later) It started out with waking up to a dream that Anne Moss was in, reminding me after waking up of how she recently took her life. I then came upstairs to an average breakfast as I discovered that my wrist is much more hurt than I thought. It seems to be a mild sprain. The sun hardly showed itself all morning and only seldom did it appear the rest of the day, of which I was on intern duty meaning I was responsible for helping recover divers all day long. As I came back from my second dive, in my haste to get lunch, I forgot for the first time to take my first stage regulator off my tank and a group of people publicly called me out on it (forgetting results in owing the crew beers). Taking it all in stride, I hurried back inside to get lunch. After about 4 bites, the door opens and Mel in her standard biting, demanding tone hollers in "divers are up and we're lacking in Team 5 interns..." Of the 5 teams of 4 divers, one is selected each day from each team (in rotation) to have intern duty so there are 5 interns each day. Instead of asking me to come out and take a break from lunch, she went for the more roundabout approach which really rubbed me the wrong way. The reason it got to me so much is that it was a buildup of several things. The worst of all of them, as silly and melodramatic as it may sound, is that I don't feel like I'm closely connecting with people on this trip. I don't feel like I am quite as qualified to be here as a fish ID specialist. There are some awesome people on the trip, but I don't feel like I'm really close to any of them. I'm kind of the odd one out. It's weird feeling most comfortable here in my teeny bunk behind the cheesy little frog-themed curtain around the bunk instead of being around people, or even diving for that matter. Honestly I think I'm just being moody and worn out emotionally after 6 full days on board. This being said though, the Heat loss added insult to injury tonight 90-94 putting them down 2-3 in the series. Tomorrow is a new day and I will hopefully have a better attitude. Goodnight.
It turns out that my wrist is worse today. I can only put little pressure on it and can't bend it very far.
Today has been the worst day of the cruise. (I took a nap at this point then had dinner and so now it's much later) It started out with waking up to a dream that Anne Moss was in, reminding me after waking up of how she recently took her life. I then came upstairs to an average breakfast as I discovered that my wrist is much more hurt than I thought. It seems to be a mild sprain. The sun hardly showed itself all morning and only seldom did it appear the rest of the day, of which I was on intern duty meaning I was responsible for helping recover divers all day long. As I came back from my second dive, in my haste to get lunch, I forgot for the first time to take my first stage regulator off my tank and a group of people publicly called me out on it (forgetting results in owing the crew beers). Taking it all in stride, I hurried back inside to get lunch. After about 4 bites, the door opens and Mel in her standard biting, demanding tone hollers in "divers are up and we're lacking in Team 5 interns..." Of the 5 teams of 4 divers, one is selected each day from each team (in rotation) to have intern duty so there are 5 interns each day. Instead of asking me to come out and take a break from lunch, she went for the more roundabout approach which really rubbed me the wrong way. The reason it got to me so much is that it was a buildup of several things. The worst of all of them, as silly and melodramatic as it may sound, is that I don't feel like I'm closely connecting with people on this trip. I don't feel like I am quite as qualified to be here as a fish ID specialist. There are some awesome people on the trip, but I don't feel like I'm really close to any of them. I'm kind of the odd one out. It's weird feeling most comfortable here in my teeny bunk behind the cheesy little frog-themed curtain around the bunk instead of being around people, or even diving for that matter. Honestly I think I'm just being moody and worn out emotionally after 6 full days on board. This being said though, the Heat loss added insult to injury tonight 90-94 putting them down 2-3 in the series. Tomorrow is a new day and I will hopefully have a better attitude. Goodnight.
Monday, June 4, 2012
4 June - Dry Tortugas
The visibility on today's dives went down the hole. With it, however, did not go the quality of dive sites. The redeeming factor was the supreme amount of reef relief (topographically speaking). The sites today had pinnacles, valleys, swim-throughs, walls, plateaus, caverns, etc, enough to rival Shark's Cove in Hawai'i. The visibility unfortunately did degrade the overall quality of the dive but I still had my favorite dive today. I think my outlook on diving and quality of dive sites will change when I get back home. I think I will start to notice fish species and abundance much more automatically than I do now. A bad site might be redeemed by a rare dog snapper instead of some random big fish. I'll find out when I get back to diving in Miami.
Two more noteworthy things happened today, neither of which are necessarily good. First, on the second dive of the day, Oryiey (really not sure how to spell his name) got lost looking at fish. I finished my count and together with Nathan we found Michelle. We waited for him then searched for a couple minutes before ascending, with a full 3-minute safety stop. Sure enough he was at the surface and he had in fact gotten lost but not knowing that gave us a bit of a scare underwater. The other noteworthy tidbit is that while doing pull-ups (I miss climbing) on a 3"x3" betal beam, my left hand slipped a bit and was pulled in a weird way as I tried to hang on. The back of my hand below the pinky and ring finger hurt as if I've pulled something. Hopefully a good night's rest can remedy the situation. I'll keep posted, but the first step is to sleep and it's already past 11pm.
Two more noteworthy things happened today, neither of which are necessarily good. First, on the second dive of the day, Oryiey (really not sure how to spell his name) got lost looking at fish. I finished my count and together with Nathan we found Michelle. We waited for him then searched for a couple minutes before ascending, with a full 3-minute safety stop. Sure enough he was at the surface and he had in fact gotten lost but not knowing that gave us a bit of a scare underwater. The other noteworthy tidbit is that while doing pull-ups (I miss climbing) on a 3"x3" betal beam, my left hand slipped a bit and was pulled in a weird way as I tried to hang on. The back of my hand below the pinky and ring finger hurt as if I've pulled something. Hopefully a good night's rest can remedy the situation. I'll keep posted, but the first step is to sleep and it's already past 11pm.
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