Every so often something comes along and you realize it was custom tailored just for you. That was the feeling I got after reading a story Kelli forwarded to me. I showed the website to a couple friends of mine, and they both said, this is unbelievable, they are looking for you, they just don't know it yet. Here is the story:
"An Australian state has launched a global search for candidates for "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.
The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the successful applicant's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.
In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, soak up the sun, snorkel the reef, "maybe clean the pool" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
The winner, who will stay rent-free in a multi-million dollar three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy, must be an excellent communicator and be able to speak and write English.
"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas.
"The fact that they will be paid to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel and generally live the Queensland lifestyle makes this undoubtedly the best job in the world."
Lucas said the campaign was part of a drive to protect the state's 18 billion Australian dollar a year tourism industry during the tough economic climate caused by the global financial meltdown.
While the campaign has elements of some reality television shows, a candidate's looks will not be a prime requirement, Tourism Queensland chief executive Anthony Hayes told AFP.
"No, I don't think beautiful is what we want, I think charismatic is what we want," he said. "The reality is we are looking for a fantastic communicator.
"What we want this person to do is travel throughout the Great Barrier Reef and just try every experience, every adventure they can find and report back via blogs and video to tell the world why Queensland is a great place to come for a holiday."
Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said some people might question whether it was risky to let an unknown person become an unofficial tourism spokesperson for the state. "I think the biggest risk will be that the successful candidate won't want to go home at the end of the six months," she said. "This is a legitimate job which is open to anyone and everyone."
Applications are open until February 22. Eleven shortlisted candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process and the six month contract will commence on July 1."
So let me see if I got this straight, they are offering $105,000 US plus airfare and expenses to the winning candidate. They are looking for
someone to stroll the white sands of the beach (
I love wandering beaches),
soak up the sun (
I always soak up all the sun I can, and never use sunscreen, I think it's for tourists),
snorkel the reef (
not only will I snorkel it, but I'll dive it extensively, and I'll even certify anybody I run across who wants to learn to scuba dive),
clean the pool (
it will be sparkling when I'm done with it),
and report to a global audience via weekly weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates (
seriously, I mean this is sooooooooooooooooo me it's scarey!).
They are looking for an excellent communicator who can speak and write English and has charisma. Seriously, after 28 years in radio, I don't think I could possibly be any more custom tailored for what they're looking for. And then they say a candidate's looks will not be a prime requirement, they are not going after beautiful, they are going after charismatic! Not that I haven't been told I'm beautiful by certain blind fans of mine in the past, (they were obviously big fans of the bald is beautiful movement), but it's awesome that they aren't looking for beautiful, again I am totally their guy! They are looking for a fantastic communicator who isn't shy and can effectively promote their islands and diving. I've been doing it for free for Saipan for the past 13 years, without so much as a thank you from MVA or any government entity, just think how much more effective I can be in a situation where they want to help me promote them!
I need to put together a 60 second video telling them why I'm the perfect candidate for the best job in the world. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head it feels like it's ready to explode. Once I get my video posted on the site as an official applicant, I'll be asking for all of you to go there and give me a high rating on my video. Wish me luck, this could be a life changing job!
Now there are those who might think I've just gotten lazy or not interested in blogging - not true! I've just unbelievably busy as a dive instructor and have had all the students I can handle lately. Meet my latest student, Jennifer Snyder. She's a professional beach volleyball player who came out to Saipan as a part of PIC's beach volleyball exhibition. There were several others who came out as well, including Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhauser. I had been contacted a couple weeks previous to their arrival and told that Jenn really wanted to dive and get certified if at all possible, but she had a pretty tight schedule, and they were wondering if I could accommodate her or not. Soon after I said yes, I got an e-mail from Jenn telling me how excited she was that she was going to be able to get certified and do some diving. When I have a student who is really excited about it, I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen. So I claimed two full days of her time, and took two other half days and got her certified and also managed to take her out on a night dive after her course, and then a Grotto dive as well. Jenn was every instructor's dream, she took to everything naturally and just had a blast diving. She promises to come back next year to get her Advanced certification and do some more diving with me before the tournaments start. And by the way, no I don't ever ask to get my picture taken with anyone. I've met some very famous people, but I'm just not the kind who cares about souvenir pictures. But we went to watch Jenn play at the pro exhibition at PIC last Friday night, and she came over to our table to talk to us for a while after the games. Kelli insisted on me getting my picture taken with her, and I figured this wasn't the time to argue with my wife about posing with my latest student. But then she made me pose again with Janelle, Jenn's partner in the tournament, who is also a pro beach volleyball player.
I know, it's a tough life I lead, but I was just trying to make my wife happy. I've got plenty of dive pics I'll start posting soon as well, and a new color correcting filter that makes a huge difference underwater. Here is an underwater pic of Jenn using the filter.
I've been doing 3-4 dives every day for the last month, which would explain why you haven't seen me unless you've been underwater. But Axe Murderer Tours actually has a business license and has been busier than ever, and it looks like it may take on a life of it's own soon. I'll keep you posted. 
Here you see Scott and Lisa in the water at Lau Lau. Even though we were getting some very gusty trade winds, and high waves on the other side of the island, Lau Lau was calm and beautiful. The visibility was the best I've seen there in a very long time. Almost as if on cue, as soon as we came to the end of the rope going in at Lau Lau, we ran into this guy.
He was munching on seaweed and algae right next to the pipeline, and let us get right up to him for a good look. I can't think of a better way to get someone hooked on diving than spending some quality time with a green sea turtle on their very first open water dive. He was also very cooperative about posing for some pictures as well.
I know I've said it many times, but there is truly something magical about just swimming alongside of a turtle. You tend to forget about everything else and just exist in the moment with the turtle. It was an outstanding weekend all weekend for diving at Lau Lau and the turtles were everywhere.
Here is Scott just watching as this turtle decides to go up for some air. It was a great weekend of diving, and Lisa is just one dive away from being certified now, which will be happening this afternoon. My next 2 months are going to be packed full of dive students and classes, but there is always room to fit in another if you're interested. I'll introduce you to my turtle buddies at Lau Lau.
Randy was quite excited to see this big piece of ammunitition from WWII still sitting down there on the bottom. We even saw a couple smaller bullets from a rifle just sitting down there amongst the coral. Dayl seemed quite relaxed and to really enjoy herself, and why wouldn't she, she was with Randy & I.
I think they both enjoyed diving the Chin Sen Mauru the most though, that was the 2nd dive of our boat dive. The were enjoying looking through all the holes and at all the old pieces of equipment on the wreck. Of course all the fish that seem to be everywhere on the wreck help add to its charm as well.
Not a bad way to spend a honeymoon, and hopefully these will be the first of many dives that they will do as a couple over the years. As always, I probably had more fun than they did, just because I'm really more than half fish, but they seemed to have a good time too. 
Two more happy victims of Axe Murderer Tours, who hopefully will still make a dive at Lau Lau to go see some turtles up close and personal. Congratulations on your recent wedding Randy & Dayl, and may you have many more happy dives together!
Yup, you really can get this close to the turtles and just observe them, they don't seem to mind at all as long as you don't try to touch them or make any fast or threatening moves. Even after thousands and thousands of dives, and spending thousands of hours with turtles, I still get excited every time I see one and get to spend some time with it.
Kelli has been using my first underwater camera as she hones her underwater photography skills, and I'd say she's doing an awesome job! Especially considering that the camera no longer has its flash diffuser, and that it doesn't always work the way it's supposed to. I can't wait to see the kind of shots she comes up with when she gets her new camera this week. And of course I'm very excited to be getting a new camera myself this week, so there should be some great pictures coming very soon.
I was looking under a few rocks on the way back in and I discovered this live Textile Cone mostly buried in the dirt. This is the 3rd most deadly cone shell in the world. It's very beautiful but very deadly, which is why I'm carefully holding it by the base end, and have the point end pointing away from me. I put him back after Kelli took a picture of it, and after she was giving me one of those looks asking what the heck I think I'm doing. We had a great weekend of diving, managing to get in 5 dives for the weekend, which puts me just shy of 300 for the year, not a bad year at all! I think Lewie is totally hooked on diving now, and I keep getting new students lined up every day. I may have to clone myself before too long.
And just in case you think we only got to see them at a distance, they came in pretty close to check us out as well. No zoom was used in any of these pictures, that's just how close they were getting to us. They were so close you could see the detail of their eyes and watch as their gill slits rippled as they opened and closed. But believe it or not, they even got a little closer.
I was watching this one come right up to Kelli, but she was focusing on some others that were on the other side of her. As she turned around there it was right next to her face, so she snapped a few pictures. At one point she offered me the camera to take a few shots with. I decided to try capturing some video. I was shooting about 8 of them that were coming closer and closer. I finally locked in on one that seemed to be coming in for a collision course with me. He came right up to my face before veering away at the very last second. But as he swam away directly in front of me, his big whip tail came right for me and brushed against my throat as he swam away. I know firsthand just how much damage they can do with their whip tails. When I was a young boy I had a stingray use his tail like a sword and slash the backside of my swimsuit wide open, and that was after driving the barb on his tail all the way through my hand. We won't talk about how that happened right now, but I do believe it's in my book, so you'll have to read that if you want to hear the rest of the story. So as I felt his tail brushing against the skin of my throat, I realized that if I spooked him at all, and he gave his tail a flick, he could easily slit my throat from ear to ear. I was hoping that everybody else realized it too and just sat still and watched them. I just kept the video rolling, what else can you do? I'm sure there were scenes of the Crocodile Hunter's final moments with that stingray going through Kelli's head. She was right next to me watching. I'm not really sure how I always wind up in those situations, but somehow I seem to attract them. 
Here is a picture of Brad, Kathy and I at the shipwreck. You might notice that none of us have regulators in our mouths. We have evolved and learned to just suck the oxygen out of the water and therefore only carry the tanks as a back up plan, (don't we all wish!). I think everybody had an awesome time and were quite happy that they decided to spend their Christmas morning that way. 
Here I am just hanging out on the shipwreck on Christmas morning! If you want to hang with me, you'd better bring your gear and get ready for some serious bottom time. It really was a spectacular way to spend Christmas morning, and we all have Kathy to thank for it. It was all her idea to give a boat dive to Brad for his Christmas gift and she wanted to do it on Christmas morning. She didn't have to invite me twice to convince me, and I didn't really have to work very hard to convince Kelli either. Since both of our kids have abandoned us for Christmas this year, we just wanted to have a totally different Christmas, and we succeeded. 
After our dive we invited Angelo and Edz to join us for a Christmas brunch at the Hyatt, a great way to completely over indulge and spoil yourself rotten. Angelo said that they were going to be the new Josh & Sarah since our kids had abandoned us. I don't know if Angelo realizes that might be problematic considering I don't think he really considers Edz as a sister. Oh well, I'll let him figure that out. He has said he has dibs on Sarah's room now though, so I think he might be serious.
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