Happy Birthday...My Hero!

Celebrating Dale's birthday today was kinda difficult since he is still recovering from total knee replacement. I fixed him some of his favorites for lunch and for dessert.....a homemade dewberry pie. Later in the afternoon we drove out to the airport to check on the plane and to just get out of the house. As we left the hangar I drove over to the Public Gardens on the pretense of taking pictures. We walked around looking at the plants and ponds when I surprised him with his special gift. I had ordered a brick paver with his name and military service to be placed in the Military Honor Garden. He was so surprised to see his name among the other servicemen....a great way to honor his service to our country during the Vietnam War.

My Bionic Man

On August 10.. Dale underwent his second total knee replacement at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston. Things ran about the same as the last surgery, except for a few new glitches to make it interesting. He was released from the hospital on Friday and we went home for him to recover and start rehab in Victoria.
This time we were better prepared and knew what to expect....so things went smoother. He started rehab at Warm Springs and his "Physical Terrorist" has been working him hard three days a week.
Things are progressing well and hopefully my "Bionic Man" will be going full speed soon!

Floating the Guadalupe

Karen and I drove up to the New Braunfels area for a float trip on the Guadalupe River, a welcome relief from an extremely hot South Texas Day. After renting tubes, they drove us up river and dropped us off for our float. The river was COLD when we first got in, but soon felt great, a welcome relief from the sun.

The water was crystal clear and the current was slow, but we had all day. The first rapids really cooled us off, as we splashed our way down river. Taking a break we enjoyed a cold drink and snacks on the river bank. We finished our float and decided we would drive over to Gruene for a late lunch at Mozie's enjoying a couple of frozen margaritas. We made a few stops to shop in some of the stores before heading home.

A great day, with a great friend!

Back to the Brac with Lady GoDivers

After flying into Grand Cayman and staying overnight, I was off to Cayman Brac and my first dive trip with the Lady GoDivers. It was great to be going "Back to the Brac" and seeing how it was rebuilt after hurricane Paloma nearly destroyed it in 2008. Patty, my roommate greeted me at the Brac Beach Resort, after unpacking, and grabbing lunch we waited for the others to arrive. Bonnie and Beth showed up later in the afternoon, with Mary, Lil, and Janice arriving late at night. Our 6 days of diving began the next morning with the valet pickup of our dive gear. We were assigned to the boat Little Sister, with our group the boat had about 20 divers onboard. We began each morning with a hearty breakfast, before heading down to catch the boat for our morning 2 tank dives. Arriving back at the resort about Noon we rinsed off before a tasty lunch and some down time to relax and float around the pool. The final dive of the day was in the afternoon with plenty of time to enjoy before dinner at night. Patty had booked 3 boat dives a day, 3 meals a day and 3 drinks a day package....which left time for much else, except sleep.


The weather was great the whole week, with a few thunderstorms during the night. The water was warm and the visibility was pretty good....making for some good diving. Unfortunately we saw many lionfish on our dives....in fact the last dive of the trip I spotted a group of 3 hanging out.....beautiful, but deadly to the reef ecosystem. The dive on the wreck of the Tibbett's was great and Patty even had me swim into a small opening for a photo.

Omar our waiter and bartender took very good care of us...fixing us his special "Mudslide" and one night making me his deadly "Bob Marley" which he set on fire before drinking. The food at the Brac was awesome, service was top notch, and the rooms were great. Several of us enjoyed a spa treatment......what a way to get spoiled! When not diving we enjoyed bicycling, kayaking, and stargazing at night......plus I began each morning with my cup of coffee and a walk on the beach. Another highlight was the morning I had coffee with Mr. Tibbetts the owner of the resort, quite a character. I even survived the initiation ceremony and became an official card carrying member of the Lady GoDivers.

Patty surprised us with gifts most nights and I brought fake tattoos for the group, lots of silly fun! We had a great time, lots of laughs, and made some new friends. The final day we left as we arrived at different times, I was the last to leave the island. It was a long day of travel and arrived home just before midnight to see my husband, whom I missed very much while I was away.

Attack of the Sand Fleas----Honduras!

Dale, Laurie, Chris, and I left Houston headed to Roatan, Honduras just after Tropical Storm Alex has passed nearby. We landed in a light rain, with cloudy skies...but were greeted by the reps for CoCo View Dive Resort. We checked in to our over the water bungalow after a brief van ride and a short boat ride. Our room was nice with all the basics with a balcony overlooking the water, this is where we saw spotted eagle rays several mornings swimming by. After our required orientation and check out dive we were ready to board our dive boat CoCo I with dive master, Mark. The resort attracts a lot of hard core divers....with two walls and a wreck dive just offshore. The morning dives were a boat dive and then what they called a drop off dive...meaning they dropped you off on the one of the two walls and you made your own way back to the resort. The visibility wasn't the greatest, the water was warm with almost no current. I managed to get in 13 dives during out stay.

We enjoyed the new resort managers, fellow Texans Deb and Mitch...and met folks from all over. We also booked a flight in a seaplane and enjoyed meeting Bob and Clay, our pilot. The plane was an Air Cam, with an open cockpit, great for photography and sightseeing. Honduras was beautiful from the air!
The highlight of our trip was a Shark Dive we booked....the dive was great with lots of sharks, but the boat ride was HELL! Winds and rough seas made the boat trip miserable for all, with several people getting sick. The sharks, all pregnant female Caribbean reef sharks cruised among the divers, passing very close by. The highlight was a demonstration of a feeding frenzy with the dive master opened a bucket with some fish in it.....that was totally awesome! The dive ended and getting back on the rolling, pitching boat was another adventure.
Dale enjoyed lots of hammock time, reading and sleeping....while we were diving. The food was served buffet style and was about average....with only the Conch Stew being horrible! Dale loved their brewed ice tea which was available all day and of course we looked forward to "Happy Hour" every day!
The resort was nice, very safe....but a swimming pool for relaxing would have been nice. Dale and I did snorkel one day and the shallow reef was beautiful, with lots of huge sea fans.
The WORST thing about the whole trip were the nasty, tiny Sand Fleas that attacked us. We all received bites, but I won the prize for the most....despite many measures to prevent them. Boy do they itch!!! I arrived back in Texas looking like I had a disease!!
The flight home was easy, and we arrived back home safe and sound.....covered with lots of flea bites.

Flight to Port A

Our morning flight was bumpy and warm, but we landed in Port Aransas just after noon and caught the trolley into town for lunch. We headed to Beach Station Street Grill, one of our favorites in Port Aransas. Dale had fried shrimp and I had the grilled Mahi Mahi with fresh Pico, both were excellent. Since the island was packed with people for the holiday weekend we decided not to venture down to the beach....it was wall to wall with people and cars. We took off, climbed up high, the air was cool and the flight home was smooth.

Hey Man....It's Cayman!

The airport was quite and our plane took off on schedule....landing in Grand Cayman on time. We grabbed our bags and picked up our rent car before heading out to Compass Point on the East End. The staff greeted us warmly and told us they were waiting for us to arrive, showing us to our condo #102....WOW! The condo was.....great, fully furnished, a complete kitchen, Cable TV and even a jacuzzi tub. We unloaded the car, unpacked, stowed the groceries, and made ourselves at home. I ran over to the dive shop to register and check on my dive time for the next day. After a light supper, a hot shower, some time on the internet....we turned in.
Up early, I placed my dive gear outside the door for pickup...this is valet diving, they take care of all your stuff...you just show up, jump on the boat and go diving.
I was anxious to use my new 3 mil wetsuit that I finally purchased. With only 5 on the boat, we got in two dives very quickly...the water was warm and visibility was great. Dale was waiting when we docked and we quickly drove up the main road to the fried fish stand at the Blow Hole, the staff had told me the Mahi Mahi was really good. We enjoyed our lunch on a picnic table across the road from the Blow Hole while talking with other tourist on Cayman. Dale grilled for supper and then we watched the last rays of sunlight while sitting on the pier. Our first day on Grand Cayman came to relaxing end.
The week consisted of 12 great dives, 2 awesome night dives, lots of great weather and a first class dive operation. My deepest dive was 102 feet and the famous Cayman Wall was breathtaking. I saw sharks, rays, turtles, tarpon, lobster, crabs, barracuda and a beautiful reef system. The night dives were shallow and so easy, with hot chocolate, muffins and warm towels when we surfaced.
Dale and I were really impressed with everyone, so warm and friendly........made us feel right at home.
During the mornings while I was diving, Dale would walk and work out in the training pool. In the afternoon we went snorkeling, sightseeing, or made a run to the local grocery store. We enjoyed cooking almost all our meals at the condo and enjoying them on the patio overlooking the Caribbean.
Our final day, we enjoyed a late breakfast, finished packing and headed to the other end of the island for a final picnic lunch before checking in at the airport. It was a great end to a great week. Our flight home was on time and easy, no problems!