Little things...

Whenever I think of spring...I think of little things...like daffodils...tulips...the smell of the hyacinths while walking along the walkway to the front door of my mom's house...and of Easter....this years Easter celebration was the best since, well, since I can't remember when...a few years anyway...thanks to Dennis and all those who chose to wake up a little early and join in...for the simple, short, sweet service and singing of praise. And, thank you Jim for sharing your very special cruising miracle....followed by breakfast...thanks to John and Suzie for organizing and to cruiser volunteers, like Wayne of Big Fun....All in all a wonderful Sunday morning...Relaxing and enjoyable...To the Queen of the boat...not such a little thing anymore...she is growing up...hmmm, I might say a little spoiled... and, is now in active training to be a potty trained cat... We have started taking daily dingy rides so that she will feel comfortable, when we hopefully get off the dock! This was her first time out of the kitty crate in the dingy and she did really well...even to lying in my arms as a kayaker rowed by chatting about a kitty aboard! So...back to little things...flowers...fragrant smells...a simple Easter service...sunshine...and, our little kitty. Today, I am thanking heaven for all of the little things...

Inspiration...

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you have gained, you lose something else", Author unknown. Upon my return to Roatan and the boat, my most recent dive buddy Stan had already taken Homer's Odessey around the point to West End. He had a friend that had come down to join him to help sail the boat to the Rio Dulce. Since we had rented a car to take Mizzen to the local vet for her rabies shot...we took the time to drive over and meet them for lunch. Stan was telling us about the submarine trip that he had taken with his son and after lunch we drove over for a look at the sub. This is an amazing story of a young man with a dream and desire...I would suggest checking out his website. www.stanleysubmarines.com We then said goodbye to Stan. We will certainly miss his company and I will miss diving with him! I am slowly getting back into my afternoon "routine"...hop on my bike...ride around the island...stop and play volleyball...go swimming and then back to the boat. On my ride sometimes I stop and chat with other cruisers...sometimes not...but this day I took the camera and sure enough the peacock was showing his colors! He even turned around for a picture...and then back again! To the volleyball...that is another story and one that has been made possible by Suzie and John on Caberet. Suzie is in the black shorts here. She will walk down the beach and recruit vacationers to come play with the cruisers...she organizes the teams...won't play on the same team as her husband, John, and rally's her team with animation when her team gets behind. You would think, that really I would know better than to play volleyball in the sand at my age. So far, I have hurt my toe and was on the injury...can't play list for a week; hurt my wrist and couldn't play for another week; hurt my foot and couldn't play for a couple of days; then hurt BOTH wrists and couldn't play for a couple of weeks! So why is it that I keep going back? "It is about your outlook towards life, you can either regret or rejoice.", Author unknown. Inspiration or Suzie? Don't have an answer to that one...but I do enjoy playing with, against, and harrassing all equally.So, keeping inspiration in mind...I'll be looking for the next person to come down to visit us, and whomever that may be, may have to go in that little submarine with me down to 2000 feet under the water or so? Just keep in mind... " The great oak was once a little nut that held it's ground", Author unknown. Inspiration enough?

Warm again...

Arrived noonish yesterday (Thursday)...to a wild cat...that is half dog... according to Capt Paul since he has now taught her to "come" when called...and a dirty boat. So only pictures of Mizzen...until I rest up...

Just me and Mizzen.

Sunday April 3rd 2011. Roatan. Joyce's nephew Spike died suddenly Saturday morning. She is flying back to Seattle today to support the family.As you can imagine the family is devastated. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Perry family. For those of you following our blog from the cruising world, Joyce's brother-in-law is the boat designer Bob Perry. That will leave Mizzen and I on the boat for 10 days....my hands will be full....she has almost doubled in size and is only 11 weeks old....wish I had her energy...My schedule is to walk the island daily and hit the pool for some exercise..walking is improving, but still have pain from the October surgery.....but then there is the happy hour every day....

Mary's Place

I don't really know who Mary is...but I guess she really enjoyed this particular place...two years ago Paul and I had taken this dive...the conditions were not the best and I was not a huge fan. However always ready to stand corrected...or maybe just to go diving...we, Stan, his son, daughter-in-law and I decided that since some thought Mary's Place was even better than Calvin's Crack...we just had to go find out. We took one of the "real" dive boats again (versus taking our respective dingys) and this time only had the four of us with two extras! It was a beautiful calm morning!We swam along a wall where the sponges ...and Banded Coral Shrimp were plentiful! We continued along the wall (don't you just love underwater communication?) until we came to an opening...a crack in the massive rocks! It was at around 80 feet or so and into that we followed the divemaster! The rock formation surrounding us was massive, impressive and LONG! As we came to the opening on the other side we made a left turn and continued into another passage of cave-like wall formation! Through that we came out into the most beautiful wall!One picture exhaling...one picture inhaling! Back through another crack in the underwater rock formations...Stan appears! And son and daughter-in-law enjoy the wall colors! Stan taking a Lionfish picture...then my picture of the same Lionfish! Back DOWN through another crack...and then into the original passage from whence we came...just at a different depth! At this depth there were these beautiful coral fans...and I will be the first to admit that pictures just do not do these formations justice! There was another group of divers off of another dive boat behind us going through the tunnel as we passed above it! We meandered to 30 (ish) feet and found all sorts of interesting photograph opportunities...Queen Angelfish...Squid...Spotfin Butterflyfish...and a tiny beautiful critter that I will have to wait until I get my books back from Stan to identify...very cute though...To our 3 minute safety stop. So, now, I guess I kind of know who Mary is/was...thank you Mary...it is a beautiful dive! And, Stan thank you for sharing your family...