Happy Birthday Evon

Dale and I went to El Campo to celebrate
his younger brother, Evon's 60th
birthday. Older brother, Harlo and his wife
Rhonda drove down from Houston
for the celebration. Carolyn and Sandy brought Dale's Aunt Helena to be with the group. We spent time talking and had grilled hamburgers for supper. Bailey baked and decorated a birthday cake for Grandpa Evon. After dinner we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the breeze, catching up like old times. Rhonda gathered the group for some photos to mark the occasion. We also got to see Craig's little girl, Haley and Cody's little boy, Marshall, both are real cuties.

Keeping the Line Wet in POC

We decided to try our luck at fishing, even
though we heard it was slow. We left the
dock and headed across the bay to the
lakes in search of redfish. We drifted
across the lake, seeing a few reds and
catching ones that were to small to
keep. Several times we would drag
the spoon right in front of the fish,
only to have them turn and swim away.
We managed to catch a few trout,
but it was slow.
We moved to another location and
did find a red tailing on the shore and
put him in the ice chest. We began to see more reds, but they weren't biting today. We moved back across the bay and tried another spot before we headed back to the dock. No Luck! We headed in with our meager catch---one legal red and a trout.
I guess they it why they call it "fishing" instead of "catching"!

After the Brac

Well I have been working on all my photos from the Cayman Brac Dive Trip and have them up on the web. The dive group will get together in a couple of weeks to share photos, with three of us taking pictures we are sure to get a good photo.
We have been busy around here catching up on things.

Back from the Brac

Home again, washing dive gear and unpacking clothes, another dive trip comes to an end. We arrived home late last night after a long day of traveling-Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman, Grand Cayman to Houston, and Houston to Victoria.
We left the resort around 4:45am for the airport, our flight was delayed until 7 am and arrived in Grand Cayman about 7:30 am. We rented a small car, stored our luggage at the car rental office and took off to tour Grand Cayman. We stopped in Georgetown, ate breakfast at "Eats", made a stop and tour of Hell, and did a little shopping. Grand Cayman was very quite, no cruise-ships in town, no tourist. We headed back to the airport and waited for our flight to Houston at 4:40pm.
The flight was good and we landed, picked up our vehicle and headed home.
The trip to Cayman Brac was great, the diving good, the resort was great and the food was top notch. I made 12 dives and my first night dive on the boat, "Big Sister". Our divemasters, Menne and Ian were lots of fun, told us corny jokes and made the week one to remember. I also made a very good wreck dive on The Captain Tibbitts.
Looking forward to returning "Back to the Brac" one day for more great diving.

Don't Mess With Texas in Cayman Brac!

Well our trip has come to an end and we're headed back home after a great dive trip. They picked us up at 4:45 am this morning for the short ride to the airport. Now we have a two hour wait until our flight to Grand Cayman.
Yesterday, Dave and I made two dives in the morning. We saw some turtles, grouper, and lots of fish, but nothing new and exciting. I did complete my 70 dive on this trip and made my very first night dive. After lunch the group went on a tour of the island with a local guide, Cantrell. We climbed in caves, went to the museum, and listened to the history of Cayman Brac.
Yesterday Chris and Laurie painted a sign for our group and Dale put it up on the post on the way to the dive shop. We have now left our mark on Cayman Brac for all to see on the way to the dive shop.
We have a long layover in Grand Cayman before our flight to Houston, so we will go check the island out.

Shark!!!

We got up this morning, enjoyed a tasty breakfast and boarded the dive boat for Little Cayman. Dale decided since the reef was going to be shallow he would go along and snorkel off the dive boat.
The ride over took about 30-40 minutes. The first dive site was a wall dive called Merilyn's Cut just off of Little Cayman. We entered the water, went over the wall and down to about 80 feet.
The wall was straight down, so you had to watch your dive computer to keep from going to deep. We saw a lobster and lots of fish. Dale snorkeled while we were down and saw several barracuda.
We then moved to Jackson's Reef. We all entered the water and began our search for marine life. About half way into the dive a big nurse shark swam between most of the divers--Surprise! We also saw some big Grouper, just hanging out. Laurie found a big crab hiding in a hole, so I stopped to get a photo. Dave pointed out a BIG lobster and I moved in for a photo.
Dale spotted some turtles and tried to herd them toward the divers. The reef was shallow and Dale had a good snorkel. The dive lasted about an hour, since we had been shallow for most of the dive.
We headed back into the dock, grabbed a light lunch, picked up the rental van, hit the grocery store before heading back to the resort.
After another great dinner we sat around outside talking dive talk! Tomorrow we have our last two dives as this trip comes to an end.

Under the Sea

Got two great dives in this morning, the wreck of a Russian Frigate the Captain Keith Tibbetts and Buccaneer Reef. Saw a big barracuda and lots of smaller ones, turtles, stingrays, lemon-rays, and lots of marine life. Both were easy dives, no current and good visibility. The wreck was at about 85 feet at the deepest point and the reef was a shallow dive. I am waiting to hear if we are going out on a night dive tonight, hope so, my first.

Blowing Bubbles on Cayman Brac

We arrived on Cayman Brac, no problems with our flights, Continental Houston to Grand Cayman and Cayman Airways Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac. The resort, Cayman Brac Beach Resort is very nice and the food is "Gourmet". The service is fantastic and we have valet diving, no dragging dive gear, they take care of everything.

We did two dives yesterday, both were good, didn't see anything fantastic, but good dives. Today we did two more morning dives, saw lobster, turtle, and a stingray.
We got in shortly after lunch and enjoyed a snack for lunch around the pool.
Tonight they have a manager's "Welcome Party" out by the pool. Mostly divers staying here from all over the USA, a big group out of Florida.
Dale has been taking it easy, reading his magazines and taking an occasional nap.

Salt Water, Sea Air, Sand and Shrimp!

Tim and Pam came down from Fort Wort to spend the weekend with us. They arrived Friday afternoon, Dale and Tim went flying while Pam and I went dewberry picking along the fence. Saturday we decided to head down to the coast, the weather wasn't conducive for flying, so we took the car. Our first stop, was the world famous "Big Tree" of Lamar, Texas. We then headed across the bridge to Fulton Beach with a stop at the Fulton Beach Mansion, a tour of Key Allegro and a stop at the marina in Rockport. We toured the newly opened Rockport aquarium and checked out the shrimp boats in the harbor. Pam and I tried to sign on with a guy from Quebec that needed a crew for his sailboat that was leaving on May 5, but we changed our minds on hearing he was eventually headed to Monacco across a "Big Ocean". We found a lady heading some beautiful shrimp and Pam bought 10 pounds to take back North. She was thrilled---salt air, salt water, sand and 10 pounds of shrimp headed to her freezer.
We drove on down to Aransas Pass and took the ferry over to Port Aransas. We were starving and headed to The Wharf for a delicious late lunch of fried shrimp. Then it was down to the beach and a stroll on the sand where Dale was almost hit by a low flying pelican. Dale took us out to Mustang Beach airport and then a brief stop at the store with the big shark out front. We took turns taking photos in the jaws of this great creature. I tried to get Pam to lay in the mouth of the beast with a look of fear, but her photo looked more like a pin-up photo that I called "Pin Up Pam". Tim even climbed in the jaws and showed her how to do it. It was getting late so we boarded the ferry and headed back home.
When we got to the house we enjoyed some snacks and some great wine they brought out on the front porch. Sunday morning we enjoyed coffee and the morning paper. I prepared an early lunch so they could get an early start back home.
We enjoyed a great weekend with good friends!
"Pin Up Pam"