As promised……
Family day
March 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
We (Pete, Anne, Emily & I) successfully completed two dives yesterday. The first one was a quick run out to a site called “The Pumpkin Patch”. Tons of coral along a shelf of a 6000ft drop but relax Gary, we stayed at 50ft! Visibility was incredible and our bottom time was about 40 min. We climbed aboard and switched tanks for our 2nd dive. This was a wreck dive. The very same wreck/location where they filmed “Never Say Never, Again” with Sean Connery. Naturally, they send a photographer along to grab shots that you can purchase back at the dock. We’re going back tomorrow for another 2-tank dive (Pete,Anne & I) so we’ll take a look at all of the images then and decide if there are any that we can’t live without 
Pete had his camera with an underwater filter and I think we got some great ones too!
We had dinner on the property last night at an Italian restaurant and I have to say that I was mighty impressed. Great food, tasty and well presented…coupled with a great Chianti! Altho’ we were all pretty wiped from the day we stopped outside and played ping pong and I assisted Amanda in her quest to beat her dad at the giant checkers! Duh! Winning! 
Sunday is family day in the Bahamas. Like Mexico, families flock to the beaches and hang out all day together. We will start ours by attending church at Sacred Heart, in town, with Pete’s Aunties and perhaps grab a bite at the “Poop Deck” at Sandy Beach.
Sunny, 80 something, light winds, calm seas.
Home. Sick.
March 6, 2009 By 1 Comment
I brought something nasty home with me from
Playa. I’ve been in bed for 2 days…nearly 3.
I decided that maybe I should peel myself
out of the “sick” sheets, wash them and throw
myself in the shower in the hopes that I might
feel a little better. The jury is still out.
Gary and I had a fabulous time! I dove 6 times
and I am now an official SCUBA diver!! I can’t
wait to go diving again!
Here’s a couple of shots that Stan (a diver from
Oklahoma) took on our 80 foot dive at Tortuga
just south of Playa.
This is Katie (rt), she’s from Moscow. Katie works
at the Abyss and did the first 2 of my 4 check out dives
which I arranged for through the Abyss Dive Center
before I left Minnesota.
She has the most precious accent, speaks perfect
English and has what I’d like to refer to as the greatest
“tank-side” manner. Super calm, very patient and overall,
top notch skills! Kudos to Dave Tomlinson, owner of
the Abyss, for finding such a gem!
I flipped quite a bit and will sift through
all the footage and post some of the fun in the
days to come. As for photos, I mostly shot with
my phone in the event that I could pick up
wifi around town and send images to this blog…
that didn’t happen.
Gary brought along his Canon SD1100 and we shot
with that a ton too.
I guess I could have left both the laptop and my
camera gear at home after all….good to know for
future reference!
I passed on 2nd shooting the wedding on the 28th.
Why? I don’t know…just did.
Oh, I almost forgot! In the middle of 5th Ave.
I ran into Tasha Herrgott and Kristi Kienholz!
2 of my colleagues from Minneapolis. They were
in Playa shooting a wedding! So cool to see them
there amidst all the crazy, night time bustle that
is Playa del Carmen! I hope I get to see some of
their pix soon!
The only bummer of it all was the fact that for
some strange reason, I was not able to connect
to the internet down there, so I thank my sister,
Anne, for making a couple of plugs for me in my
absence.
I have to say that writing all of this has made
me exhausted so I’m gonna go lay down.
I HATE being sick!
Muchas Mas, luego….
SCUBA Update.
February 16, 2009 By 2 Comments
Well, it’s official!
I passed my written test and spent a few
hours in a pool yesterday brushing up on
my skills to prepare me for my 4 check out
dives in Playa! Ben, my nephew and I went
together and had a blast.
I am so ready for my open water testing!
Even whipped off my mask (under water),
put it back on and cleared it with no problemas!
Carpet’s going in as I type and I’m anxious
for this whole mess to get “squared away”, as
my dad would always say!
I have to say that the pregnancy shots I took
on Saturday are awesome, I just haven’t been
able to work on them much…perhaps later today
when the carpet installer is gone.
Carpet.
February 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Our carpet came today!
However, the edge that is nearest the bar
requires some sort of puttsy process that we didn’t
know about so we have to postpone the installation
to next week! waaaaaaaa! It’s so close to being
completed that the setback is so very frustrating.
The lovely gents decided to go ahead and unload the
pad & carpet anyway, and why wouldn’t you, right?
So I can at least stare at it and envision it complete!
Nonetheless, Nicki is venturing over to re-plaster
the bar (that’s for YOU Sandi!) to remove some of
the gold shimmer. I decided that I liked it without.
Ordinarily, I’m not so HM but anytime I can get
re-plastered in a bar…right? Okay, I’m kidding
I’m taking my SCUBA exam on Sunday and heading to
a pool for a review so that I can finish up my
certification in Playa…I am soooo pumped and I
NEVER use the word “pumped” so you know I’m excited!
You see, you have to finish with “Open Water” dives
which, in Minnesota in the winter, isn’t possible.
So, I’ll be diving in Mexico! Hi, how you doin’?!
We are into the “10 day” weather outlook on the web
and it’s looking good. Not that we can do anything
about it but it’s just fun to see..”85, feels like 92″
I think I haven’t mentioned yet that we have recently
learned that Nedi is no longer working at the hotel that
we always stay at. Therefore, we have to ask around
and find out where he is so we can get together.
It just won’t be the same without going to his home and
seeing his family. I miss them so much and it will just
be so different without that experience. 
Woops, I just discovered that Gary ripped out my external
TB hard drive when he was measuring flooring last night.
CRAP! I gotta go…that’s where ALL of my photo are!
More later.