Good times with Great People!

So for the past several weeks we've had some great guests here that have really made my time here fun. I'm sorry if I forget your name but there's just so many great people that have visited.
We had...
Faye and Wayne- Congrats on your AOW certs!
"Aunt" Nancy and "Uncle" Bill- thanks for all the laughs and fun times
David- Congrats on 40 years and 5000+ dives!! and Sue Thanks for being such great shore support!
"Mom" Mei- Congrats on finally getting your Open Water!
The Liebersbach Family- Congrats to you all on your Rescue Certs!! The stories were hilarious!!
and Jim and Sue are leaving today. Congrats to you both on getting your Master Scuba Diver ratings!!
Page is coming in tomorrow, my parents arrive the 31st and last night Vinny told me Chuck and John will be here the 7th!
Also a farewell to Landon, who is headed home after 4 months here on the Rock and a big welcome to Dom arriving today!

The Adventures of Bahama Vinny

So one of my co-workers, Vinny, is from Oklahoma and he writes a blog about his adventures on his MySpace page. His most recent posting is about a dive that I was on as well. I was with my group just behind him and the Liebersbach family. He had a much more interesting experience with the sharks than I did as about the time they went into the tunnel I was already turning around and headed back to the boat. The sharks were very agitated as he wrote and it was a bit unnerving. check out his post here... http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=71682907&blogID=461724420

2009!

Well the new year has begun and we started it with a bang! On New Years Eve we planned a midnight dive to watch the fireworks from underwater and have some champagne as well. Due to concerns about rain the fireworks were sent off about 20 minutes before midnight so we were still assembling gear when the display started. The show was nice and we quickly finished assembling our gear and were underwater by 11:57. At midnight we used our underwater noise makers and popped open the champagne. Some of you may wonder how to drink champagne underwater... It's quite the project especially when the cork doesn't want to come out like it did for us. So once it's opened, the opening of the bottle is covered with ones thumb and then the bottle is shaken and the pressure shoots the champagne into ones mouth and it's enjoyed. It's best if you get the bottle early in the round to reduce the amount of salt water you ingest along with the champagne.
After the dive we had a great water fight with the hoses. A great time was had by all.
On January 1st the group of us on the morning boat saw humpbacks swimming along side the boat for about 5 minutes which was quite majestic. A great way to start the new year!!

The Holidays are here

So it's almost Christmas here in Columbus. The village occupancy has gone up and we are at about 60% currently. At the present time I am teaching an Open Water course for 4 students aged 18-12. The waters were calm for a few days but as the wind picked up over night the waves did as well and we are back to diving from the marina. Today we saw a turtle on our second dive at Pyramid. Not bad for a dive limited to 40 feet.
Santa will be visiting in the next few days and we are preparing for his arrival. Amy and I decorated a real tree that was delivered to the island and is at the entrance to the two specialty restaurants. We will be having a special nativity "show" tomorrow night as well as a fashion show and some other special events.
We have had two post night dive BBQs at the Sea Center for the divers and others who join us. The first two have been a big hit and we expect the numbers to grow each week as we continue to plan and promote it.
We've had some sightings as well. We saw more pilot whales last week(but of course I didn't have my camera) and another day that I wasn't on the boat humpbacks were spotted.
The hammerheads are becoming more numerous as the winter season continues. A school of about 15 were spotted a few days ago as well as some spotted eagle rays.
I forgot my camera battery charger at home so until my parents come I will only have limited use of my camera. So I hope to have pictures, but they might be from other people's cameras.
Happy Holidays to all!!

Time Flies

It's been two months since I have posted. Yes, I'm still alive. I've been working very hard and having alot of fun along the way. Alot has happened since I last posted...
Half of the scuba team have gone home. We got two new instructors but they didn't like G.O. life and they left as well. We have gotten one new instructor and a new Chief of scuba.
Last Friday the assistant manager of scuba was fired while the chief is still on vacation and I was quickly selected to take over in the mean time. I managed to take care of things from Friday night until this morning when I left for my 2 week vacation. The Chief returns tomorrow afternoon so the team is without me for a day until he returns. It has been a long few days learning as I went. I also hadn't had a day off for 2 weeks. So I am definitely ready for my vacation and plan on spending it relaxing and refueling for the next 6 months of work.