Time for Another Update

I've had quite a few people ask me why I just abruptly stopped blogging once I started my dive business full time. It's a bit complicated, and yes, I have been extremely busy, but I guess a big part of it had to do with all the negative blogging controversy with some Saipan bloggers a couple years ago, and a few less than pleasant situations with some fellow dive instructors. But as far as I can tell, most of them are either gone now, or have just silenced themselves after accomplishing all the destruction they could manage. I do realize that many people followed by blog and lived vicariously through my dives and my pictures. So with this in mind, I'm going to make a concerted effort to try posting things on a regular basis again.

It's been a very busy year, I've certified over 150 divers in my first year and a half, and taken many divers out who were visiting Saipan. I've had people come to dive with me from Belgium, Germany, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Israel, London, Switzerland and the list goes on and on. I've taken out students from BYU in Honolulu to collect marine animals for their labs and classes, I've taken out dive professionals who came here to see Saipan, and I've taken hundreds of divers who just wanted to experience the Grotto. Yes, I'm still very glad I made the career switch and decided to make a business out of my passion. It's also been a year of monumental milestones. Kelli and I traveled to Florida in March to meet our first grandson - Adam. We spent a couple weeks visiting with Josh, Regis and Adam and it was amazing getting to hold my grandson. It was a feeling I doubt I will ever be able to adequately describe. I can't wait until I get to teach "the little pirate" to dive and join me on my underwater adventures. While we were in Florida, we took a one day trip down to the Florida Keys to meet with a dive resort owner and look into the possibility of moving there to be closer to our new grandson. We discovered that the economy there was even worse than it is in Saipan, and they pay their dive instructors very poorly there, so it really wasn't much of a temptation. I was also very disappointed in what the Keys have become. They have always been one of my favorite places, but no longer. They aren't what they once were, and if you're thinking of going on a dive vacation there, I'd think again and head somewhere with better visibility and diving.

On June 7th, Kelli and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, quite a milestone these days. We had already spent enough on our trip to Florida, so we decided to stay on Saipan and just celebrate it quietly together. Our daughter Sarah and her husband Chris arranged for us to have a private dinner for 2 in the gazebo at the Hyatt. It was truly a magical setting and a great way to celebrate a lifetime together.

We also found out around the same time that Sarah is expecting our 2nd grandchild in January. It's amazing how our family has been growing lately and all the changes as a result. I still don't really feel old enough to be a grandfather yet, well unless I've done 4 Grotto dives in one day, and then I feel my age. I guess you never really expect to be the person that your own grandfather was, you somehow always see yourself as much younger. I am looking forward to being able to spoil my grandchildren though, and to try to instill my love of the ocean in them as well.

Kelli also finished her Divemaster course and is now an official Divemaster. Hard to believe that she has really come that far. And just in case you're thinking that I just gave it to her, that wasn't the case, she had to earn it the same as anyone else would. It took her over a year to get it all done, but she has become an amazing diver and Divemaster in that time. I'm proud to have her along on my dives with customers, and she can definitely pull her own weight.

Then in October, Kelli and I both turn 50, fortunately though, Kelli turns 50 first. Yup, quite the year and we're still going strong. I would rather just let the day quietly pass, but I think Kelli is determined to make a big deal about it, so we'll see.

If you're following my blog and want to see more dive pics and stories of the dives, let me know and I'll make an effort to tell you some of the stories and show you a bit of my life.

Still Alive & Kicking!

I realize I've just disappeared for the past 10 months, and many rumors have sprung up as to what happened to me. Every time I see someone in public and they say "hey weren't you Harry Blalock, that radio guy?", I say no, he's dead, I'm the dive guy. So I guess it should really come as no surprise that there are the perpetual rumors that I have actually died, but rumors of my demise are greatly exxagerated, trust me. A new owner took over the radio station that I was managing last May, and after determining he was a complete dweeb I thought it might be a good time to retire from radio and pursue my dream of having my own dive business, well full time I mean. I had a very busy first year as a dive instructor and dive guide on the island of Saipan. I certified over 75 new divers, which is quite a few when you realize that I do mostly all private lessons, no classes. I also became a Master Scuba Dive Trainer and have a whole slew of specialties that I teach now as well. I also became the primary Saipan dive guide that MDA, the big dive shop on Guam sends all their divers who want to dive Saipan to. That has also been a very nice cushion to my instruction business. And that's in addition to the military that have already heard about me through word of mouth and come looking to dive with me. Then I've also had quite a few couchsurfers come to stay with us and get certified while they were here as well. If you've never heard of couchsurfing, it's a very cool concept, check it out at http://www.couchsurfing.com/ I've certified couchsurfers from London, South Korea, Germany and I took a couch surfer from Israel out on a Discover Dive. It's been a lot of hard work, but I wouldn't trade it for my old life, not in a million years. So you can see why I've been a little busy and haven't had a lot of time to update my blog. But I've had several people tell me lately that they really miss my blog and that they think it brought a lot of business my way, so I promise to try to find time to update you more often.

As long as I'm bringing you up to date, I suppose that I should also tell you that Kelli and I are about to become grandparents, our son Josh and his wife Regis are expecting our first grandchild in the middle of March. So Kelli and I are taking a very rare vacation for 2 weeks and going to meet our new grandson, Adam Patrick Blalock from March 15th through April 1st. I know, it's very hard to believe that I'm actually going to be a grandpa, I'm simply not old enough! But in spite of specific instructions from me to both of my kids to wait until I was 50 to turn me into a grandfather, my son had to defy me and make me a grandfather when I was 49 and 5 months.

I've had an awful lot of people who come to Saipan and want me to take them on a couple Grotto dives. After having dove the Grotto well over 1,000 times, I'm probably one of the most experienced Grotto guides around. The top picture is some of the Gregorian fan coral that lines one of the swimthroughs outside of the Grotto. It is quite spectacular to swim up through the passageway and look up through the fan coral. In the picture directly above, a few sea whips are lit up by the flash and stand in contrast to the deep blue of the ocean out the other side of the cave. I know where the sharks and barracudas like to hang out, I know all the best places to find the nudibranchs, and most importantly, I know how to get you safely over to the rock in the Grotto and out of the water safely. Many people are under the mistaken impression that just because they are certified, they are qualified to dive the Grotto. If you don't have extensive experience in the Grotto, you need to go with someone who has or you can very easily get yourself into big trouble in a hurry. This big white tip reef shark was hanging out in the fan coral cave when I took some divers down last Saturday morning. I've seen him there several times before, but none when he was as friendly as this one. He just kept going out and coming back in putting on quite a show for us. All in a days work. That was a 4 Grotto dive day for me, and I have to admit that those days definitely take their toll on me, but again, it sure as heck beats sitting in a radio station talking about idiot politicians. Yup, the work is hard, the hours are long, and occasionally the students can be very challenging, but there is just no better job satisfaction than seeing someone's eyes light up when they see their first turtle on a dive. Absolutely priceless!

NBC Nightly News & MSNBC

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of taking Ian Williams of NBC News out diving. Here is the clip that just played on NBC Nightly News on April 23, 2009.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30376206#30376206 You will see me briefly in the water as one of the guys rolls off the back of the boat, and then cutting some fishing line away from a piece of coral.

MSNBC also had a story that Ian put together using some different clips. In this clip you will see a segment of a morning talk show they filmed with myself and Angelo Villagomez, and there is a segment where you see me diving. I'm the one in all black with the shaved head. This was truly great publicity for Saipan. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30369070#30369070

Hopefully this won't be the last time that we are in the spotlight as a result of the recent marine monument designation by President Bush.

Students & NBC Nightly News

I know there are those who think I've dropped off the face of the earth, or maybe more appropriately, disappeared beneath the crystal blue waters of the Pacific ocean surrounding Saipan, to only occasionally surface for air and food. The latter isn't very far from the truth, I'm already approaching 200 dives for the year, and it's only the middle of April! Every week, I seem to pick up several new students so that now I've got a waiting list that stretches out over the next couple of months. I'm still taking students on a first come, first serve basis, so the first one to book some time for dives or lessons gets that slot. Suren is one of my latest students and has provided one of my biggest challenges so far. She is Mongolian and is in the process of learning English. She can speak some English and understand a fair amount and can read it fairly well, but when it comes to sitting down and reading the PADI Open Water manual, that was a little more than she was ready for. So I worked with her every afternoon for the better part of two weeks, going over all the chapters, looking up words in her English-Mongolian electronic translator and making sure she understood everything. I wasn't sure if I would be able to adequately teach her everything in the book, but she got it all, and aced the exams when we were finished with it. I don't think this quite qualifies as a Mongolian dive instructor, but it does mean that if you have a student who really wants to learn, and an instructor who really wants to teach, it can be done! I also have an assortment of students of other nationalities that I have lined up to teach in the coming weeks, so life is never boring.

In addition to all the students, I seem to be getting more and more requests to just take people out diving that are just here visiting. Some of them come to me from recommendations, some find my blog or my Smugmug picture site, and some of them just heard me talking about diving on the radio. I've taken some Coast Guard personnel lately, some policemen and firemen here training our local police and firemen, and a reporter and his cameraman from NBC. Ian Williams was here to do a story on the Marianas Marine Monument and wanted to do some diving as a part of the story. Thanks to Angelo, another of my Advanced students lately, I was picked as the Divemaster for the day and the one who got to take Ian and Kyle to several of our dive sites. Mike Tripp, another dive buddy of mine was hired for the day to do some filming of the dives. We started out our day with an early morning Grotto dive, always a good way to start any day! There was a big brown stingray just sitting on the bottom outside of hole #1 that we got to get right up to, and hopefully Mike got some amazing video footage of. We also got to see a green sea turtle and the usual assortment of fish. The sun was shining brightly and lit up the water perfectly.
I never get tired of seeing the huge Gregorian fan coral that guards some of the caves outside the Grotto. I think Ian and Kyle were properly impressed with the grandeur of the Grotto, Ian kept saying how it was an intense experience. Next we went and got on the Aquajet boat and Scott Eck took us down to Naftan point for our second dive of the day. Before we even left on the boat, there was a group of about 15 spotted eagle rays that came right up to the boat sitting at the dock. We looked down and there they were as though to greet us and welcome us to an awesome day of diving. I was a bit surprised as we headed down to Naftan, that Kyle had the TV camera tightly focused on my face as we were headed out, and then Ian came over and did an impromptu interview me on the side of the boat. I didn't realize I was going to be interviewed as well, I thought I was just the dive guide for the day. After our dive at Naftan as we surfaced, Ian wanted to go over next to the boat and do an interview while we were still in the water with our gear still on. So Kyle was shooting looking down on us, it was all pretty strange for me being on the other side of an interview.
The next stop on our dive tour was Ice Cream, we were going to visit the spotted eagle rays. Visibility wasn't that great when I got in the water, but fortunately that didn't seem to matter to the spotted eagle rays. There were over a dozen of them swimming back and forth and doing acrobatics for us when we got there. I took Ian and Kyle to the top of Ice Cream to just watch them swim in front of us, but evidently Mike thought I was in his way for filming, so motioned for me to get out of his way twice. I decided I don't really like being in an underwater video, and having to worry about cameras and film angles. I'm more into taking divers to see spectacular sites and letting them just enjoy them. Oh well, live and learn.The spotted eagle rays put on quite a show for us that day and Kyle got in the water to enjoy them as well. Everything was coming together to give these guys a picture perfect day of diving and they said later that it ranked as one of their best days of diving ever.When we got to the shipwreck, the great diving luck continued as we had some of the best visibility I've ever seen there. Conditions were awesome and the shots were coming out crystal clear. Above is a picture of Ian just floating over the shipwreck. Kyle dove on the wreck with us again and seemed to really enjoy himself as well. For me the highlight of this dive was finding a Tiger Cowrie that had taken on the rust color of the wreck, giving it an amazing golden glow.I have only seen a couple other shells that took on a different color as a result of their surroundings like this, but none as remarkable or beautiful as this one. The shell was live and was happily nestled in the sand. I waved over John Starmer, a marine biologist who was with us on the dive to show him, and he seemed as impressed with it as I was. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. We don't really know yet how much of the interviews or footage they will use in the finished story on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, but the story is supposed to air sometime during the week of April 20th. Needless to say, Axe Murderer Tours may be on the verge of a little bit of national publicity. Not too bad for a dive operation that started out as a joke.

Why I've Been Too Busy To Blog

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.

Who Do the U.S. Navy Divers Call When They Want To Dive the Grotto? Axe Murderer Tours!

I got a call last weekend from a friend I met a month ago or so, his name is Randy Duncan and he's the Chief Warrant Officer of Company 16, Mobile Diving & Salvage Unit One, based out of Hawaii. He and his crew are currently stationed on the USS Safeguard and have been removing coralheads from the shipping channel in the Saipan lagoon. He said that he and a bunch of the Navy divers would like to dive the Grotto and they wanted me to lead the dive for them. These guys dive for a living and take it very seriously, so they know the inherent risks with diving a spot you're not very familiar with, and of the importance of having someone who knows their way in and out of all the holes. I was quite honored that they chose me to be their dive guide for the day. It should come as no surprise that Axe Murderer Tours gets the call when the military wants to go diving though, we have a long and colorful history together.

Speaking of Axe Murderer Tours, now that I'm an instructor and getting things going with instructing, I've decided to finally make my fictional tour company official and went in to get business licenses for Axe Murderer Tours both as a dive instruction company and a professional dive guide service as well. So Axe Murderer Tours is now in business and is ready to become a professional dive service on Saipan. Hopefully I'll stay pretty busy with military, Americans, English speakers or Japanese who want an interesting American dive guide. So it's probably time to look into getting a clothing line, and diving accessory line going with the Axe Murderer Tours logo on it that is affordable. Cafe Press is convenient and doesn't require an investment on my part, but it's not cheap. So I'll be checking into a few different options locally, and also seeing if I can get some good deals from companies abroad to supply me with scaps, mask headbands and rash guard dive shirts, and maybe even bikinis and board shorts.

There may be some pretty big developments in the coming months regarding diving on Saipan and my future, stay tuned and I'll keep you informed. But in the meantime if you want to get certified to dive by the old Axe Murderer himself, or you want a custom Axe Murderer Tour yourself, let me know. Axe Murderer Tours is open for business and is official, FINALLY!

Best Job In The World!

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!

Scott Swimming With a Turtle

Just in case you've always wondered what it would be like to swim with a turtle, this video of Scott swimming with a green sea turtle at Lau Lau might give you an idea.

Meet Lisa - My Latest Student!

When I went to the dive shop on New Years day to get my tanks filled, Mr. Lee told me about an American couple who were here looking to get the wife certified to dive and asked if I would be interested in taking care of it that weekend. He said they wanted to get her certified as soon as possible. I called and left a message at their hotel, and as I crawled out of Lau Lau for my 2nd dive of the new year, my phone was ringing in my truck. Lisa's husband Scott was calling to see if he could arrange to get Lisa certified. They wanted to buy a mask and fins for her, so I arranged to meet them at the only real dive supply store on island and help advise them on equipment for her. We got her a mask and decided to hold off on the fins for the moment and see what style she liked using in the water. Lisa is coming out of the water in the picture above, after her final confined water training dive, very happy that the confined water training portion of the course is over.

Scott is an F-18 pilot on the USS George Washington, and Lisa teaches English in Japan, so they were perfects candidates to be the next victims of Axe Murderer Tours. Kelli and I asked if they would like to join us at the Seaside Grill at Pacific Islands Club for Happy Hour drinks and appetizers. Since they really had no plans or agenda, other than getting Lisa certified, they seemed more than happy to join us. We met up with Randy and Dayl, who I had been taking diving earlier in the week. Randy is a Navy professional diver, and he wanted Dayl to have an awesome dive experience, so he asked if I could make that happen for them. Not a problem! So we all enjoyed the sunset, a few drinks and appetizers, and Randy dutifully told Scott and Lisa that I was a great dive instructor. You would have thought I had paid him for the commercial, but he was just being nice.

So the plan was to pick up Scott and Lisa for lunch Friday, and then head to Sugar Dock for her confined water training. I decided to stop by the Post Office before getting them, and sure enough, Kelli's and my new cameras were there!!! What great timing! Lisa was an awesome student and put up with way more harassment from Scott and I than anyone should have to endure. It was starting to get a little dark though before we finished, so we decided to finish up the final two confined water dives on Saturday morning, and then head off for an open water dive.
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.

Hanging With the Spotted Eagle Rays

I took Randy & Dayl Duncan out on the Sunrider dive boat to check out the spotted eagle rays at the Ice Cream coral formation. Randy is a U.S. Navy diver who is on the USS Safeguard which is currently docked on Saipan. They are getting ready to pull some of the big coralheads out of the shipping channel so that military vessels can come and go easier and hopefully bringing us more military ship visits in the next year. Dayl was his fiance until last Saturday, when they tied the knot on Saipan island-style. David Sablan brought Randy in to the station last Friday morning to join us on the talk show, knowing that I would love talking with another diver. I told him about our Christmas morning dive with the spotted eagle rays and showed him the video and some pictures. He said he really wanted to get Dayl out diving somewhere that she would have a great experience, and that looked like just the ticket. She has been certified and did a few dives, but never really had a great experience, we were looking to change that. The spotted eagle rays made their appearance and got fairly close as you can see from the video, maybe a little too close for Dayl's liking.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!

Lewie Discovers The Wonder of Turtles!

I took Lewie out for his first two Open Water dives Sunday afternoon. He had been certified with NAUI years ago, but hadn't done any diving since. Because I will be putting him all the way through Divemaster, I figured it would be a good idea to just have him go ahead and take the Open Water course over again to reacquainte him with all the skills and get him comfortable underwater again. I took him to Lau Lau for his first two Open Water dives because I think there's something absolutely magical about seeing turtles on dives. Lewie got to spend some quality time with a couple green sea turtles and just watch them eating the growth on the rocks. After being slightly nervous at the beginning of the dive, you could just watch him visibly relax and start to really enjoy himself underwater.
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.

Here is the video I was taking when the one spotted eagle ray decided to tickle my neck with his tail.

Christmas - Saipan Style!

This was the sight that greeted me Christmas morning as I rounded the far corner on the Ice Cream coral formation just outside of Saipan's lagoon. We went on a Christmas morning boat dive with Brad & Kathy, Brad & Jeong-ah and Angelo. That may seem like a pretty strange way to celebrate Christmas morning to some people, but to all of us, it was a magical way to celebrate it! When you're far away from family and home as most of us were, it's great to be able to hang out with some good friends and share some amazing experiences and memories. We took the Sunrider boat out to Ice Cream for our first dive. And by the way, just in case you're wondering, no my new camera didn't get here that fast, these were taken by Kelli with my first underwater camera. She is doing an amazing job with it, and I'm sure her pictures will be even more spectacular with her new camera that is on the way. But back to the dive, as soon as I rounded the backside of the Ice Cream formation, I saw this wall of white moving toward me. The wall of spotted eagle rays was higher in the water than I was, so I was looking up at their white bellies. I was just completely dumbfounded by the sheer number of these graceful and huge creatures. I had never seen so many in one place before. I started counting and got up to 45 before they started circling back on themselves. I know there were far more than 45 in that initial bunch of them, but that gives you a good idea of just how many of them there were in the water. These are not just some small fish, their wing span from tip to tip will be anywhere from 3-6' across, and I'm guessing their weight to be anwhere from 100-200 pounds. I tried to get everyones attention so they could see the same spectacle I was experiencing. Kelli saw them fairly quickly and started snapping away with her camera. You couldn't take your eyes off them, they were just so majestic! We all picked a spot to just hang out on the coral formation and let them swim back and forth over the top of us. They put on an amazing show for quite a while.
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.

After brunch, we decided to go see a movie and watched Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories. Certainly not a traditional Christmas by any stretch, but certainly a memorable one. I hope yours was as good!

Disappointed with Sealife Cameras!

There are those who have expressed their disappointment to me that I really haven't been blogging much ever since my camera was stolen. I admit, it did take all the joy and fun out of it for me, and I didn't really feel like just telling the diving stories without the pictures to go along with them. Up to this point, I have been saving up for my Instructor's course and all the specialty ratings that I need, so the money has all been earmarked. However it is Christmas bonus time, so I just got done ordering 2 new Canon SD 950 IS's for Kelli and I for Christmas. I got her the Canon housing, which is small and compact, and I ordered the Ikelite housing for me with the Ikelite AF35 strobe to go along with it. This is the same setup I had that was stolen, and it's an upgrade for Kelli.

I was going to order a couple Sealife DC-800's with an external strobe, one for each of us. Sealife was offering a special deal on two of them to PADI instructors, so I thought that would be a great way to go, and Sealife was trying to get their cameras in the hands of dive instructors who would be using them to teach their students. Unfortunately Sealife showed me that they really didn't care about selling cameras or taking care of customer service. It took me several weeks and about 6 e-mails before I got anyone to respond to me at all from Sealife. Then when I finally got someone to respond, she didn't go out of her way to be helpful at all and gave just the minimum information she could get away with. Sealife was also totally inflexible when it came to shipping options, and insisted it had to be shipped by Fed Ex. Fed Ex is usually a very expensive option to have something shipped to Saipan, so I asked them for a shipping quote before ordering the cameras. The lady couldn't bother to find out the information for me, and just gave me the Fed Ex website and told me to get a quote myself. I tried, but Fed Ex not only would not let me register, but would not give me a price quote. I wrote back to the lady at Sealife, but she never responded, I guess she didn't care that I couldn't get a price quote or that it would mean I wouldn't make the buy through them. I am just always blown away by examples of horrible customer service like this, and can't believe that a company can stay in business treating their potential customers that way. So no, I did not order Sealife cameras, nor will I ever order anything from them ever again after this experience. And I would warn anyone who is considering buying from Sealife that their customer service totally SUCKS!

I ordered my Canon cameras from Adorama at http://www.adorama.com/ and have always had great luck with them and exceptional service. They make sure I always get my order in under a week, and that's saying something when it goes half way around the world. I highly endorse Canon cameras as I've had 5 of them now and absolutely love them. Buy Sealife only if you want massive hassles and to be ignored. Maybe they need a few lessons in customer service!

So with the new cameras on the way, I will start taking pictures on dives regularly and posting them here again, as well as pictures of all my new dive students. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, unless you're Sealife cameras, and then Bah Humbug to you!

Ready For Students

After going through the IDC and the IE in Guam, I got the certifications I needed to be able to teach scuba diving, everything up through Divemaster. Then when I got back I signed up for Liability insurance, both for me and my equipment that I may use, that set me back another $690, and that was after spending well over $3,000 for the classes, books and PADI fees on Guam. It is not an inexpensive proposition to become a dive instructor, and it's not so easy a caveman can do it. But I think it was worth it, and I am thrilled to finally be able to certify divers and have them get a certification card at the end of it.

One thing that has definitely changed is my thinking on the need for further instruction and courses beyond the Open Water course. Back when I got certified, the course was taught by a former Navy Seal, and lasted over 3 months long. You learned pretty much everything he could think to cram in your head and prepare you for whatever you might want to do diving. But that was back in the mid 70's, things have changed a bit since then. Now the purpose of the Open Water course is to get divers in the water as soon as possible, and to give them just enough information and skills to be able to safely dive in a fairly shallow, safe environment. That's great, but it's not enough for most people who plan on taking their diving seriously. If you only plan on diving once or twice a year on vacation, and you have a Divemaster or Instructor with you, then maybe an Open Water course is all you will ever need. However, if you plan on diving regularly, and going out without any diving professionals in the group, then you are going to want more training to make you a safer and more self reliant diver. The Advanced course is really just a matter of reading a few short chapters, doing the knowledge reviews and then doing 5 different dives. It gives you experience in different types of diving, like night diving, deep diving, navigation diving and your choice of a list of other specialties. Definitely something that most people are going to want to do. And quite honestly, if you live somewhere that you can dive every day like we do and you plan on doing it often, you really should consider taking the Rescue Diver course as well. It will give you the skills and knowledge to not only be able to take care of yourself more efficiently, but it will also equip you to be able to help others who may need your help as well. There is nothing worse than seeing someone in trouble, but not knowing what you can do to help them out, or being afraid to help them out because you just aren't sure of yourself. It is a very small investment in your life and your friends lives, money well spent in my opinion.

I'll be honest, Divemaster definitely isn't for everybody. But if you're one of those that likes to understand the theory behind everything, and be able to actually work in the industry if you feel like it, then the Divemaster course is a great experience.

I've already got about 10 people lined up for various courses and will be fairly busy for a while, but there is always room for more. I have also agreed to be a merit badge counselor for scuba for the Boy Scouts, and I'm sure that will generate a fair amount of business as well.

And for those who have always wondered about scuba and wanted to try it without having to take the whole course, I'm ready to accomodate you too. There is a Discover Scuba program that gets you in the water learning about the equipment the first day. We could even do a dive down to 40' to let you experience the wonder of scuba diving and see how you handle it. If you wonder what is so amazing underwater that I have spent 650 hours down there in the last 2 1/2 years, give me a call or send me a message and let me introduce you to my world!

Open Water Scuba Instructor

After 9 straight days of the Instructor Development Course, 2 days of the Instructor Exam, and another 2 days to become an Emergency First Responder Instructor and an O2, Oxygen Provider Instructor on Guam, I am now officially a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.

I had spent the 2 months previous to the course reading all the books, and cramming studying, so I really felt like I was prepared for the course, even though I have to admit I was more than just a little nervous. The first thing they had us do in the IDC when we arrived was to take an exam that would be similar to the written exam we would have at the end. It was to let the Instructor know what our strengths and weaknesses were. I was a bit surprised when he told us it was a closed book test, since we had been told previously the tests would be open book. But as I started through it, I realized that I was ready for it, the answers were all right there. I missed 3 questions out of about 200, not too bad. You had to score 75% or better on each of the different exams to pass, so I had easily passed. Brad, who went over to take the course with me also passed the test, and Kat, a student who was taking the test as part of her Assistant Instructor course, and would be joining us later for the Open Water Instructor portion also passed, but the other 4 students who took it didn't do quite as well. Fortunately this test was just for evaluation, so it didn't count against them, it just showed what they needed work in.

The thing PADI is looking for in their Instructors is the ability to follow their guidelines and methods and incorporate everything they want. I caught on to that very quickly and tailored my presentations following their formula exactly. I have to admit, many of the endless class lectures did get to me after a while, since it was all information I had already read and gone over. I'm the type who prefers self study to sitting and listening to lectures. So there were some days I was ready to beat myself unconscious with my Instructor's Manual. It didn't help matters any that after about 3 days of the course I came down with a horrible head and chest cold, I felt terrible, and couldn't stop coughing and sneezing. I knew I was going to be in for trouble because I couldn't clear my right ear because of all the congestion in my sinuses. We only had one more open water dive session as part of the class though, and the instructor said we didn't have to go down past 15', so hopefully I should be ok even if I couldn't get my ear to clear. It wasn't fun, but I did manage to make it through that session. I was just praying that it would all clear up before the Instructor's Exams though, a bad head and chest cold was the last thing I needed for that.

Finally we got to the end of the 9 day IDC and we had a couple days off before the Instructor's Exams. Brad and I went to have lunch at the Food Court at the Outlet Mall, and I decided to try seeing if my ear would clear or not yet. Much to my surprise it actually cleared, so I told Brad we could head out and go do a dive for fun. He was all for it, so we went back to the dive shop, got tanks and headed for a beach in Agat that I knew we could dive. My right ear wasn't crazy about going diving, but it did eventually cooperate and we had a good dive. The next day we decided to do a shallower dive and went to the Piti bomb pits and Fisheye Marine Park. It was fun watching the tourists in the snuba helmets and seeing the people look at us from the observation deck underwater.

Wednesday morning it was time to show what we had learned though, the Instructor's Exams took place at the Marriot hotel. As was usually the case, Brad and I were the first ones to show up, not because Brad likes being so punctual, but mainly because he was riding with me. We chatted with Michael, the Examiner out of the PADI home office in California, who had arrived at 2 am that morning. The first part of the test was the written exam and Brad and I were both a bit shocked when we were told it was to be a closed book test, since someone else had told us previously it would be open book. It didn't bother me too much though as I really felt prepared for this test. There was a time limit for the tests, but it seemed to be far more than what was actually needed. I finished all 6 tests fairly quickly and turned them back in. Michael, the Examiner asked if I was sure I was ready to turn them in, that I had plenty of time to look them over. I said no, I was ready and just wanted them graded. He motioned me back up a couple minutes later and congratulated me on getting a perfect 100% on each of the tests. I have to admit, that really felt good!

Next we started preparing for our classroom presentation and our confined water presentations, and then broke for lunch. I guess since I was the first one to turn in my written exams, I was tagged to go first for everything from that point forward. So while others got to watch how I did things and learn from it, I was happy to get it over with and just be able to concentrate on the next test. I sailed through the classroom presentation, the demonstration of water skills and the confined water teaching skills, and that was the end of day #1.

We met at Fisheye park for our Rescue demonstrations and our open water skills tests. I missed getting two perfect scores on the water skills tests by a hair, all because my Divemaster let the two divers she was supervising descend away from the rope. Oh well, I'll take a 5.0 and a 4.8 any day, with 5 being a perfect score. I also passed the Rescue demonstration on the first try and that was it, I was now officially a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. They had a little ceremony right at the parking lot of Fisheye Park, and gave us all new PADI Instructor hats, although I had already bought myself one several days earlier. Brad said that it would have jinxed him, I figured it was just showing that I had conficence that I would be passing.

Then the next couple days we had to take the First Aid Responder Instructor course and the Oxygen Provider Instructor course as well. You need to be able to teach those courses in order to put someone through Rescue Diver, so it was another necessary time and financial investment, but we got those two taken care of as well.

So now I am a certified, insured PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and am quite eager to get back in the water and start showing people why I love the underwater world so much, and equipping them to be able to explore it as well. If you've been thinking about getting certified, let me know, I'd be happy to teach you how to dive!

Me, Nervous?

I realize that to anyone who knows me very well, they would probably be shocked to learn that I'm a bit nervous about heading off to the PADI Instructor's course in Guam tomorrow. After all, I've been diving since 1970, I got certified through the YMCA in 1974, and I've logged in over 2,000 dives in the 12 1/2 years that I've been on Saipan. So most people would think I wouldn't even have to think twice about any of this, but the problem is, I'm a self admitted diving dinosaur. Soooooooooooooooooooo much has changed since I started diving. I've been learning all the new information and techniques and hopefully am up to speed on all of them. But I have always struggled with memorizing formulas and random figures, like the weight of one pound of water, or the various figures you need to remember to do the calculations to figure water displacement or pressure. I've been pounding them all into my head every single day for two months now, and yet I still break into a cold sweat when I think about taking the Instructor's Exam.

For most people who are just doing this as an enrichment sort of thing, I don't suppose they would be feeling as much pressure. But for me this is the beginning of a huge life change and career change. Everything is riding on this, and I really don't want to stumble right out of the gate. Part of the problem is probably that I'm extremely perfectionistic in some things, and yes, this would definitely be one of them. I've had many people ask if I'm excited to be heading over to Guam for the course, and the answer is no. I'll be excited when it's all over and I've got my PADI Instructor's card. Anyway, just over one day and I'll be heading over there. If you're the praying sort, I would certainly appreciate your prayers as I head over there that I don't freeze up and forget everything when it's time for the exam. I feel like I'm back in high school with a huge exam the next day, I didn't like that feeling back then, and I still don't! But then again, this too shall pass....

Just Another Dive?

This is the latest group of victims of Axe Murderer Tours. I was contacted a couple weeks ago by e-mail asking if I would be willing to take some of the visiting White House dignitaries out diving while they were here. Of course the answer is always yes! Axe Murderer Tours is almost always available and always eager to please. I told them I would accomodate whatever would fit into their schedule, to just let me know when they were free. It was soon established that Tuesday morning, October 21st would work out best for them. I went to the meeting they attended at the Fiesta Resort the night before and met a couple of them and arranged to meet them at the dive shop at 8 am, as soon as I got done with the talk show. In the picture from left to right are: Sean Morton - Director of Coastal Policy for the Council on Environmental Quality, Tim Keeney - Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of Commerce/Oceans & Coast, Yours Truly - the old Axe Murderer himself, Allen Tom - Regional Director for Marine Protected Areas & Sanctuaries for the Pacific from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Jim Connaughton - Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Lyle Laverty - Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Interior/Fish & Wildlife. Yes, I was obviously way out of my league with these distinguished gentlemen, but they didn't act any different than anyone else I know. They were all down to earth, friendly and genuine, and truly seemed to enjoy the chance to go diving.

3 of them wanted to go scuba diving and the other 2 were going to snorkel. I had been watching the conditions on the reef line and thought it looked like a perfect opportunity to sneak in another Wing Beach dive, even though the season should have been over months ago. I told them not only was it my favorite dive, but it would also be the best place for the snorkelers to see some spectacular coral.

We had a plainclothes police escort along with us just to make sure there were no problems. I really appreciated having someone at Wing Beach to watch my truck as we were on the dive. When we went down to the beach to check the conditions, they were absolutely perfect, so the dive was on! I gave them a pre-dive briefing, telling them what we would be doing and what to expect, and then we walked out to the cut. The water felt awesome and refreshing after the walk out wearing the heavy equipment in the hot sun. It was a bright sunny day, so the coral was all lit up looking like a Christmas tree. Tim had a fin strap buckle break as he was putting on his fins, so I gave him mine and I used the ones with the broken buckle, just jamming it onto my foot. I led them all out to the crevasse, and we dropped down to check out two huge lionfish resting on the bottom. They all seemed very relaxed and like they were very experienced divers. The current was pushing us back as we worked our way along the wall, making for a very easy swim back. Jim Connaughton was taking pictures, and I hope he got a good sampling of our underwater beauty.

We got everyone back safe and sound without any incidents, and they all seemed to think it was just an awesome dive. When we got back to the dive shop, Jim presented me with a blue box with the Presidential seal on it. Inside was an official Presidential Seal pin, with the President's signature personally engraved on it. He told me it was from President Bush with his thanks. I was absolutely speechless. I've received some very cool momentos in the past, but this one would forever be the most impressive.
I don't care what your political affiliations are, you have to be absolutely humbled by something like that. Now I guess Axe Murderer Tours can claim to have had a connection with the President of the United States.
It just happened that the group from the White House was also going to Rotary for lunch that day, so I went to my office, threw on some dry clothes after the dive, and met them all at the Hyatt for Rotary. Sean Morton sat at my table with me and we talked quite a bit. He asked what my future plans were and I told him about getting my PADI Instructor's card and then moving to either south Florida or the Carribean early next year. He got this shocked look on his face and asked if I was serious. Then he told me that he might wind up in Florida next year as well. He told me to look him up as soon as I got down there and see what was available. Isn't it amazing how things work out sometimes? I don't know if anything like a job would ever come of it, but I do know that I've made a friend hopefully for life who I'll most likely be connecting with quite often for the next couple of years. All because I want to share my love of the ocean with everyone I can, and do it under the guise of a make believe dive company called Axe Murderer Tours. This is definitely a story for my book!

An Update To The Plan

If you've been following my blogs at all over the last several months, you know that our lives are about to take a drastic change and head an all new direction. After over 26 years in radio, I've decided to hang up my microphone and pursue my passion. I'm going to Guam in about 3 weeks to attend the IDC to get my PADI Instructor's card, then I plan on becoming a full time, professional dive instructor. Where we'll wind up is still up in the air, I guess it all depends where we can find a spot that we can dive all year long and earn enough money to feed the two of us. There is the possibility that I'll have to be a full time Wal-Mart greeter, and a part time dive instructor to survive, but let's just say that's the back-up plan.

As I was finishing up my Dive Master course a couple weeks ago it suddenly dawned on me that if I put Kelli through the Rescue Diver and Dive Master courses, then we could bill ourselves as a team to resorts that we might like to work at. A Dive Instructor with his own built-in Dive Master would have to make each of more valuable. That way, they could house you both in the same housing, and cut down on their expenses, plus that would be one less position they would have to worry about filling. I talked it over with Kelli, and at first she said she didn't think there was any way she could do it. I assured her that I thought she could, we would just spend as much time going over the various skills and bookwork as she needed. I explained how I thought it would give us a real competitive edge for many positions though. So after much discussion, she agreed that if I was willing to teach her and put her through the courses, that she would be willing to do it. So that is the plan, as soon as I get back from the Instructor's course, we will begin putting Kelli through Rescue Diver and Dive Master, so that we're both ready to go once we move. And if you thought my 200 dives for the year was a milestone, Kelli has gotten 50 dives in for the year now. And if you know Kelli and know how hesitant she was to dive before this year, you will know what a monumental accomplishment that truly is. I'm really proud of her and know she is going to be an awesome Dive Master. That's her in the picture above posing with the friendly green sea turtle from this past weekend.

200 Dives For The Year!

My goal this year was to hit 200 dives for the year once again. Now I know that to most dive industry professionals, that's no big thing, many of them will hit 400, 500 or 600 dives a year. But I'm not a dive industry professional, well not yet anyway. I managed to get all those dives in by October 5th as just another weekend diver with a normal day job. Now you may not think that 200 dives in a year is a big deal, but when you realize how many dives that adds up to every weekend, it shows that you pretty much lived under water on the weekends. My new goal is to hit 250 for the year now, it will be the first time I've ever accomplished that, and I think the goal is fairly achievable. I had to get in 7 dives this last weekend, in order for #200 to be with my great friend Hozumi and her last dive on Saipan.

The picture above was of a green sea turtle we saw at Lau Lau Sunday morning. He was having breakfast and just didn't seem to care if we were there or not. He let us take all the pictures we wanted and posed graciously. After posing for that picture, I decided to borrow the camera from Kelli for a second and take a couple pictures of the turtle myself.

I always love gazing into a turtles eyes, they are just so soft and full of personality. This guy was very accommodating about having me that close to him, didn't seem to mind at all. So I snapped a few pictures and then let him get back to his breakfast. This was definitely one of the coolest turtle encounters I've had in a very long time though.Yup, these couple pictures convinced me that I really need to start saving up to replace my underwater camera though. I miss capturing these moments on the camera and then being able to share them. Kelli took a picture of Hozumi and I together on this my 200th dive of the year and her last dive on Saipan. It was a great dive, and Hozumi really seemed to enjoy herself and just soak everything in one last time. I will really miss taking her out diving occasionally and watching her face light up when she sees a turtle, or watching her recoil in horror as I hold a sea cucumber out to her. Thanks for sharing that dive with me Hozumi, you will be greatly missed!