Shop Til You Drop!

Have you ever heard the saying "Shop til you Drop"? Yesterday we did! My daughter, Lanell called and wanted me to go to Houston with her on a shopping trip. She needed to find a couple of dresses for her upcoming "Dances With The Stars Victoria" debut.
We didn't get away until almost Noon, so we canceled our lunch stop and proceeded on our mission. First two stops were at Baubles and Beads, a high end resale shop, but no luck really. Next stop Memorial Mall.....Macy's and Dillard's, plus a couple smaller stores. I gathered dresses and keep bringing them to her in the dressing room....what a zoo! We found some candidates and narrowed down the selections, some very funny, some to darn expensive and some were plain ugly!!!
After making her final selections and narrowing the field down, we headed to Charming Charlie's for some bling. Half starved by 7 pm we stopped at
PF Chang's for dinner, only to be informed it was 1 1/2 hour wait...No Way! Down Hwy 59 we went and found a Salt Grass with a table available....steaks and drinks were ordered for the ravenous shoppers. Home then, pulling into my driveway about 10:30 pm....what a day!
Lanell should look like a million dollars when she hits the stage with her partner to do the Salsa and Bolero in a couple of weeks.....I hope!

Ladies Gone Wild in Roatan

After checking in at Bush International Airport for my flight, I met up with the Lady Go Divers gang for our flight to Roatan, Honduras. A short flight, and we were soon checking into our rooms at Anthony's Key Resort.....Barbara and I had cabin #12 over the water on the Key. Unpacking, then our first meal together at the resort before turning in for the night. I was up early the next morning and took the water taxi over to the mainland for breakfast with the group....then it was time to check in at the dive shop, do a check out dive and get ready for our first boat dive. Our boat, Haydee and crew, JoJo, Boat Captain and Hector, Dive Master were waiting for us at the dock. The check out dive consisted of demonstrating a few skills, then it was off to see the marine life and reefs of Roatan. Patty had booked 3 dives a day......so we had a dive at 8:30 am, then back to the dock; a dive at 10:30 am, then back to the dock and lunch; then a dive at 2:30 pm, then back to the dock with time to relax at the pool before dinner. Since the sand fleas were so bad we spent a lot of time showering off and applying layers of bug spray in hopes of avoiding the nasty creatures.....no such luck!

The resort had lots of entertainment planned for the week and we always took advantage of Happy Hour......2 for 1 Monkey La Las! One day we did two boat dives, then we had a picnic lunch at Maya Key with time to swim in the pool and relax.......with one more dive on the way back to the resort. On Island Fiesta Night we were entertained with music, a fire dancer, great food, and a local dance troupe. A yummy picnic for lunch was awaiting us on the Key after one of our morning dives....then it was time to hold down a hammock rocking in the breeze on the porch.
Beth and Bonnie traded cabins and I joined them for a sleepover.....the cabin was not air conditioned....HOT! We did have lots of laughs at our little slumber party!!!!
As per the tradition established last year we enjoyed a late night skinny dip in the Caribbean.....OMG was that funny.....especially the synchronized swimming. It was all pretty innocent....a dark night, a secluded beach, and a bunch of mature women!!!
The diving was good....we saw lots of turtles, a spotted eagle ray, crabs, lobsters, and some big Groupers. Hector even managed to find us a beautiful sea horse and a "Happy Face" sponge. I did manage to get in 16 dives, despite one day I didn't feel the best....to many Monkey La Las, I think! My favorite photo of the week was one of a Peacock Flouder. I inched up to him laying on the bottom and settled my camera on the bottom close to him for a close up shot. Peacock flounders are master of diguise. The peacock flounder changes its color and the pattern on its skin to exactly match the sea floor...as you can see in the photo! I love those two eyes checking me out!

We had another first on this trip......we all did the night dive on Thursday, only thing was no one got in the water. JoJo took us out on the water to a dive site, we tied up and enjoyed the sunset and later sat under the stars while listening to music....it was great! A real estrogen therapy session.....poor JoJo and Hector!!!
The resort had a dolphin show several times a week and we sat on our porch to watch the dolphins perform. I also booked a dolphin dive...but the male dolphins were in "love" and would not join us.....so a Dolphin Dive with No Dolphins!
The week was over to quickly with our group departing in two different flights. Patty, Barbara, and Ann were on my flight and we said our final goodbyes in Houston. A great week, with a great group of ladies....looking forward to next year with Lady Go Divers!!!!

A Whopper of a Fish!

Fishing this morning, cloudy skies with a threat of rain....but off we went across the water. Dale casted toward the bank and the water swirled...he had a big red on his line.....29 inches! The fish almost managed to take off all his line before he finally gave up the battle and was landed. We took a few photos before putting the big boy back in the water to swim free......a really nice fish. I did manage to land a 20 inch trout that was pretty nice. The afternoon turned hot and very windy and we caught a few more fish before heading in.

Eels on Wheels

Arrived in Bonaire at the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort with the Eels on Wheels group...it was a hectic first day, checking in, grabbing lunch, attending a dive briefing and doing a check out dive before lunch. Tired but full after lunch we did our first boat dive of the trip. The next morning up early it was time to get down to some serious diving. Three disabled divers were put on each boat, and it was an amazing and heart warming sight to pull away from the dock with the wheelchairs left behind. The diving was usually easy, with great visibility and little current.

Although one day we did manage to get in a pretty swift current on the swim back to the boat.....but all went well! The divers with use of their arms were able to propel themselves under water with ease, most having lots of upper body strength. The divers that had little or no use of their arms and legs were towed along under water. I can't even imagine the freedom they must have felt being underwater with neutral buoyancy.
Our dive masters, Enrique and Orlando were both great and spotted out lots of creatures. I told Orlando since I was alone, he was my husband on the boat and needed to watch out for me....so did several other gals!
We did two morning dives, came in for lunch and a break before doing one afternoon dive. I logged 17 dives during the week in my dive logbook. We saw eels, seahorses, turtles, starfish, octopus, barracuda, a frog fish, lots of lionfish and the highlight for me was a massive bait ball of small fish. It looked like a huge tornado underwater.......swirling around in all directions.

We spent our down time at the pool just relaxing with a trip into town the last day for some retail therapy. A cold, smooth Mud Slide sure was a great way to end a day of diving!!!!
Even though I was only a small part of this group, I felt truly blessed to be with them. It sure made me see the world through the eyes of someone with disabilities......so many challenges. Their courage to tackle the underwater world is amazing and heart warming.
I met lots of great folks and made new friends that love diving as much as I do. I gained a greater appreciation for the obstacles faced by the disabled and the courage they have to conquer them every day.
I guess one of our disabled divers, Joe summed it up best.......
The trip was AWESOME!!!!!!

Bon Bini Bonaire

The packing has begun, leaving on Saturday to dive in Bonaire with a group called "Eels on Wheels". The Eels on Wheels Adaptive Scuba Program is a registered not-for-profit organization that provides people the opportunity to dive at their own ability level by certifying divers through the Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA). Eels on Wheels provides life-changing experiences for people with disabilities. I have volunteered to help in whatever capacity I can and am looking forward to an amazing week at the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort.

Limited Out!

We got a late start this morning because of a thunderstorms and rain.....but we managed to limit out on (6)Reds. The weather was great down at the bay, but it did got HOT later in the day. This was only our third trip out in our new boat...sure did run good in the shallows and even out in the open bay.
We stopped on the way home at a Dairy Queen to celebrate our successful trip with a ice cream cone.

Cayman-Kittewake-Hunting Lion Fish

A short flight, bumpy landing and we were back in Cayman...picking up our rental car, stopping for groceries, then a drive out to the East End to find our downstairs condo #103 ready and waiting. The weather was terrific, the water was warm, and the winds were light.....kinda perfect! The diving began on Sunday morning on Eastern Skies with some of my old friends at the dive op making me feel at home. On Tuesday I did the 2 tank morning dives, then grabbed a quick lunch and made the Kittewake dive in the afternoon..thanks to my chauffeur, Dale. Sure will be interesting to see how the marine life develops around the ship in the future....a really nice dive!
Dale spent the mornings taking a long walk and catching up on his reading....in the afternoon we hung out at the new pool and hot tub or grabbed a nap. Wednesday evening we enjoyed "Diver's Night", a delicious dinner of ribs and chicken, with rice and beans, potato salad, sweet cornbread and pineapple upside down cake while watching videos that Ellay made.

Thursday I had 2 morning dives and signed up for the "Lion Fish Hunt" a 2 tank dive in the afternoon. I was a spotter, Dennis was the bag man, and Steve was the hunter...two other guys on our team just swam off with huge cameras to take photos of the reef. The whole boat got 37, while our team had 12 in the bag. Steve cleaned them, and TJ grilled them when we got back to Compass Point, my first Lion Fish meal. After my last two dives Friday morning, Dale and I decided to have lunch at Over the Edge, then drove to Rum Point and found a shady spot on the beach to relax.
Saturday we packed our stuff, finished off most of our food and drove to the airport for the trip home. This trip ran like clockwork, the diving was good, we met new friends and had a wonderful relaxing week on the island.