Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous!!

Limping along with my bad knee, I caught a very early flight to Charleston, then onto St. Lucia to join the awesome ladies of Lady Go Divers!  A shuttle picked us up and we were on our way to the beautiful Anse Chastanet resort.  It was so good to see all my old friends and great to meet some new ladies that joined our group this year.  Cecilia, my roommate and I had a beachfront room, 11C-Star Grass with AC....thank goodness!  Our room was lovely, very spacious and comfortable...with a large outside sitting area!  We all met for a lovely dinner and then crashed after a hard day of travel.
With over a 100 steps to breakfast we quickly figured out that the shuttle was our best means of transportation....my knee agreed!  So every morning our shuttle arrived promptly to take us up to breakfast and sometimes to dinner at night......amazing service!
Bright and early we had breakfast, then checked into the dive shop, had a meeting and then did an orientation dive on the house reef.  After demonstrating our skills we enjoyed a dive and then we were on the boat the rest of the week. Our terrific crew consisted of Bernita, Errol, and Zina...plus a boat captain. The boat was spacious, with lots of shade, and our gear was waiting on board every morning. The dive sites we all close to the resort, so we had short boat rides! Cecilia made her 500th dive in St. Lucia and got thrown into the water after she was back on the boat!


The resort had a beautiful beach with lots of palapas and lounge chairs to enjoy. The beach crew would set up the lounge chairs and make sure you had plenty of fresh towels.  At certain times of the day a beach boy came by with cold towels, fresh fruit, and a mister that sprayed "Happiness"!  It was actually cold eucalyptus water that they sprayed you with....quite refreshing! If you were thirsty or hungry all you had to do was put your flag up and someone quickly took your order! Gosh did we get spoiled!!!!

One of the highlights of my trip was finding that the folks of St Lucia love Country and Western music.....I even managed a little Texas Two Step with a bad knee!  Who knew?  Cecilia and I also found that we had a mutual attraction for Mojitos and enjoyed one or two almost every night after a day of diving! Our bar bill reflected that at the end of the week! We even converted some of the other gals! One day the boat took us over to the resorts other beach where we enjoyed the best hamburgers on the island and some of the gals did a hike to see some old plantation ruins!  I held down a hammock on the beach with Bonnie!!!


The resort service was top notch and all the employees were extremely friendly and helpful.....Always trying to make sure we were having a wonderful time!  One night the resort set up a tent on the beach just for our group for a lovely candlelight dinner! Our final dinner with a cocktail party was just as wonderful up in the Tree House Restaurant, where the new ladies were officially made members of the Lady Go Divers. Congratulations!

During our wonderful week of diving we saw a frog fish, two seahorses, a octopus, lots of eels, and some even saw a turtle.....plus lots of small stuff!  The diving was easy with a little current at 40-60 feet!  The visibility was pretty good and the dive masters always tried to get a site with the best visibility.
Cecilia and I had a wonderful week together, enjoyed some great diving, and had lots of laughs! Thanks Anse Chastanet!

Floating the Comal!

It was time for our annual Pre 4th of July float on the Comal! Off to New Braunfels in our finest red, white, and blue attire, including Karen's favorite Green Frog Feet shoes......we got into the river around 10.
 
The weather was perfect, the river was crystal clear and cool, and the holiday crowds had not arrived yet! The float was easy with just enough current to carry us leisurely along. After about 3 hours, we got out, caught the shuttle back to our car and cleaned up for lunch.
 
We decided to drive up to Gruene for lunch at the Old Grist Mill overlooking the river. After a delicious lunch and some cold drinks we drove down River Road to check out the Guadalupe River! Great day, with a good friend, and yummy food!
Happy Birthday USA!

Eels on Wheels 2015!

Flying into Bonaire I joined the rest of the Eels on Wheels group for a week of diving at the Divi Flamingo Dive Resort.  This year we had almost fifty people in our group, and my roommate was Jill Crocker.  The group was divided into three boats and we were on the Sea Queen with Luis and Orlando.  Our schedule consisted of three dives a day, three meals a day, and lots of time around or in the pool! The diving in Bonaire is always great and this week was no exception....lots of critters!

To honor the memory of a member that passed away we attended the Bonaire Coral Restoration Project meeting at Buddy Dive and made a donation in her name.  The group purchased a tree and a thicket.....a project I am sure that Patsy would have loved!

We enjoyed a stroll into town some nights for a yummy gelato and had a great farewell dinner on Saturday night before we left at Cuba Compagnie with lots of laughs and great food and drink!
During our week of diving we saw an octopus, lots of eels, some seahorses, lots of fish and pristine reefs.  We also had a young couple get engaged underwater....Congratulations!

It was a very rewarding week.....getting back far more than I can give to this awesome group!
RIP Patsy!

Big Bend or Bust!

We left early, met up with Karen and Jimmy in Stockdale, before heading out to Big Bend National Park for a five day stay.  It was a long drive with a lunch stop in Del Rio at the Blue Oasis Cafe.  We arrived at Far Flung Outdoor Adventures just before 5 pm and checked into our cute Casita #4.  Hot dogs were on the menu that night for supper.  The next morning Karen and Jimmy headed to Big Bend State Park and a drive along the famous River Road....we headed into the National Park for the day to explore.  We drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, making lots of stops to explore and take photos.  After a stop in Castolon we drove to Santa Elena Canyon, and a walk down to the river, which was very low.  The canyon is magnificent and makes you feel pretty small.  It was at this stop we met a charming couple.....Roland, 91 and Elsie, 92 who were getting married in two weeks.

We talked with them a while and wished them many years of happiness.  Their spirit was amazing and I told them they were my heroes!  We had a picnic by the river and took a brief nap on a picnic table before heading into the Basin. The drive into the basin has lots of switch backs, but it is beautiful.  We parked and hiked The Window trail to get some photos.  At one of the spots we rested on a bench with The Window in front of us.....very picturesque!  It had been a great day hiking, exploring, and viewing the beauty of this area.  We joined Karen and Jimmy for dinner.....ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob and dessert at the Casitas.

The next day we all headed to the Hot Springs.....it was another beautiful drive.  The road into the Springs was very narrow, but we made it safely and after a brief hike Karen and I were soaking in the 105* degree water....the guys sat in the shade and took pictures as we acted crazy! We had a picnic together under some big Cottonwood trees and then split up to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Dinner that night was back at our casitas.  The next day Dale and I were scheduled to do a half day river trip.....so we were off early!  The weather was perfect, nice and cool as we put the canoes in the water and began to paddle.  We made our way into a small canyon and had a few small rapids to run....nothing to hard!  A stop half way for snacks on the Mexican side of the river was nice.

We enjoyed the trip and soon were back at the Casita for lunch.  Karen and Jimmy went into the National Park that day.  Later we explored Terlingua's Ghost Town and the movie set called Contrabando.  For our last night we had dinner at the Starlight Theater in Terlingua.....a nice way to end our trip and the food was pretty darn good!  Up early we headed home!  Big Bend was awesome, beautiful, unique.......and HOT! Except the morning we left it was 59*!

Diving with the Dietzels!

After a brief flight, I landed in Cayman, and met Tamara and Dennis at the airport.  We headed to the condo after a brief stop at the grocery store.  The weather in Cayman wasn't great.......wind blowing, rough seas, and showers!  We signed up to do the X Dive, but it was a bust since we had to go to different dive sites because of weather......no sharks!   The highlight of my trip was a great picture of a fingerprint flamingo tongue.

On other dives we spotted a moray eel, sharks, turtles, and a few rays. We did two morning dives each day, had lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool relaxing.  Chef Dennis cooked most nights and the food was awesome.  I did take over a couple of times for some Tex-Mex dishes.  I treated my hosts to dinner at the Italian Kitchen one night. Dennis and Tamara both had ear issues, and did take a day off! Tamara and I got up early one morning and went to the local farmer's market for some fresh veggies and Nam Duc Mangoes....the best mangoes in the world!! Thanks Steve for telling us about them!

Sandfest or Slopfest?

Karen and I loaded our cars, hooked up the golf cart, and headed to Port Aransas for Sandfest 2015!  This year we rented a condo at Sea Mist Condos for our week long stay.
The weather had not been very good lately and the beach roads were nasty.....we found that out quickly in my car on our first trip down the beach road.  We spent Thursday in Rockport and had a yummy lunch at Paradise Key, plus some retail shopping therapy time.  Friday morning it was off to Sandfest to check it out....this time we took the golf cart.  There is only one word to describe the place......SLOP!

The poor vendors were trying to set up and it was a big mess!  We walked around, checked out the vendors and watched the sculpting begin. We spent some of our time driving around town, walking a nature trail and visiting the bird watching area.  We gave up on the idea of decorating our cart, the weather was just to nasty. Saturday we made a trip back to Victoria as Karen had an event to go to and I just went along to see Dale.

Sunday we headed back and the weather had improved, but the beach roads were still a disaster!  We checked out the finished sculptures, but didn't make the awards ceremony.  Sadly some kids got in one night and messed up the amateur sculpture's works of art!

Junking Fun!!!

A late start, but we were off to Round Top/Warrenton for some Junking Fun! Traffic was already bumper to bumper as we neared Warrenton.  Our first stop was the square in Round Top.....I got a necklace and some  homemade pasta....Karen got a necklace and some plants!  The clothes were all the Hippy Dippy style of the 60's.....been there, done that!  We had lunch at Bistro 108 and relaxed and rested.....her foot and my knee!  Back to Warrenton we shopped  and looked....but nothing really caught our eye!  Karen made one final purchase and then we headed home!  Margaritas and Guacamole in LaGrange at a Mexican Restaurant to end the day!