Miracles & Dreams

I believe things happen for a reason and that some events that you experience lead you to another event that puts you exactly where you are meant to be. Marrying my husband was an experience like that... but thats a whole other story! Scuba diving was also like that for me. If I had not gotten married, I would not have learned to dive. I would have missed out on that amazing opportunity and all of the breathtaking experiences I have had. I can honestly say that diving has changed my life.... in more ways than one.

Diving has just opened up an incredible door for me. Because of my love for diving in Catalina, my husband and I have dreamt of moving there (easier said than done!). It was never going to happen- how could it? But a couple days ago, I was offered a HR job that made it possible for us to finally live our dream! We will be relocating to the island in a few short weeks. Its amazing how diving led me to this adventure! How the chain of events just totally changed my path in life and sent me on a new direction. The job itself is a dream come true- and being able to live there on the island is like the cherry on top!

Starting next month, I anticipate ALOT of diving pictures being posted on a regular basis! I am so excited to start this new adventure with my husband! I have no idea what to expect but I cant wait to find out what awaits us!

Catalina- April 17 & 18, 2010

That's my hot husband!!

Going Down!

The hubs and I went to the island for a romantic weekend... had beautiful weather and 5 great dives! On my first dive I saw a seal... my first seal! He whizzed right past me. Later that night we walked past the dive park and saw about 10 of them frolicking in the spot where I dive. They were just taunting me because they knew I didnt have my gear on. Of course the next morning when I dove, they were nowhere to be found. Every dive was great- which is rare. Saw alot of starfish, many schools of blue fish and a huge sheephead. Attempted to dive once without my hood but it was too cold. The water was in the upper 50's. Cant wait to go back! I heart Catalina Island!!!!

SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are the cages that we were inside

The sharks inspecting the cage

Okay, so I did not technically dive with them... but I did get in the water with them! That should count for something!

My hubby and I celebrated our 1st anniversary in Oahu this month and he had his heart set on diving with the sharks. Apparently they dont do that on this island so we had to settle for snorkeling! I had no intention of doing it- and I have no idea what came over me... but at the last minute I decided to go for it. We did it on the morning of our actual anniversary and I cant think of a better, more exciting way to celebrate it! And the surprising part was that I LOVED IT! We were 3 miles out from shore and we got in cages and there were 14 sharks- 12 feet each- swimming around me. They were beautiful! Who knew!?

Diving... here we come!

Sometime this month- there should be DIVING pics to post! Whoo hoo! And in October, for our 1-year wedding anniversary, we are going to Oahu and I cant wait to see what cool diving pictures we take there!

Out of Commish

So, there have been no dives lately- and um... ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR!!! Weather this weekend was about 90 degrees! We are officially out of commission- at LEAST for a few more weeks! The hubs broke his arm at the end of May and just had surgery.

I got my mom a snorkel set for her birthday in July- so I think we will do that later this month... then ALOT of diving in August hopefully! Fingers Crossed!!!

My First Scuba Show!

We had so much fun today! I got lots of new stuff and tons of travel brochures! Came home feeling torn between planning something between St. Croix, Florida Keyes or Maui. We were trying to pick something super low cost, or somewhere we can use the hubbs 350,000 Amex points.... We almost picked the Keyes for August but it looks like that's hurricane season. Plus August is already gonna be a busy month for us anyway. After doing more research, we decided on Honolulu for our one year anniversary in October. We can get the flights and hotel and still have some points to spare. Our plan is to go from October 14 to October 21st. EXCITING!

La Jolla Cove- May 17, 2009

See what I mean? You couldnt see anything!

A gloomy day! Not so good for diving :(

We came down to La Jolla last night- stayed at great hotel, had a great dinner and checked out the dive site. After I saw the site, I got really nervous! Granted it was in the evening, but the water looked so... black. And scary. The guys decided where we would be swimming to and diving to the next day, and it seemed like a long, far swim to me- another reason to make me nervous. But... there were tons of seals- and thats one of the things I have to do- dive with seals! So I worried all night- and the guys made fun of me for it, but I got up at 5:30am and geared up and got in the water!!! Did I mention it was an extremely gloomy morning? No sun at all. So it was dark. And the seals werent out. And once we got in the water, I realized the visability was actually really bad. Perhaps the worst I have seen so far. And then there was this sea grass, which I have never experienced. I didnt like it at all. It was so thick- you couldnt see through it so you had no clue what was hiding in it. Infact we came across a 4 foot bat ray right next to me. It was also low tide and very surgey. So the dive wasnt that great. And we also had an old camera with us (our good one is in the shop still from the last dive accident in catalina!) so the pictures didnt come out well. It was a fun mini vacation overall though! I would try it again under different circumstances!

March 28, 2009 - First time below 100 feet!

Catalina Island- March 2009- What a beautiful Day!

Yep, that's me and the hubby at 103 feet!

This post is a little late... I was disheartend because our camera broke while we were diving and so all the great pics I thought we got... we didnt!

We dove in Catalina and had a great time- the weather was absolutely perfect! I dove to 103 feet, which was the deepest I have ever been. THAT was pretty much the only underwater picture I got and considering it was a monumental moment, I guess I should be happy!

My thoughts on diving that deep? Well, I wasnt scared. It seems that no matter how deep I get, I never worry about how much water is above me. It all "feels" the same to me. What I didnt like though, was the visability. All of a sudden it got darker and merkier- and there really wasnt even much to see the deep. Infact becuase the kelp and fish werent down there, it was hard to deciper if the visability was good or not- there was nothing in the distance to judge it! I think I prefer to be right around 65 feet.

My 35th Birthday

Had a great birthday last night. Was supposed to follow it up with a boat ride to Catalina Island and some diving today. After much consideration we decided against going (insert sad face) - there were wind advisories and we didnt want to get all the way there for nothing. So instead we checked out some new dive sites in Palos Verdes... found a couple new possibilities for beach dives. (Wait, didnt I say I never wanted to do a beach dive again?) Ugh.. here we go again! Even though we were at the beach all day, I didnt see ANY wind- and the view of Catalina Island was spectacular- just a tease seeing it - since we couldnt be there :(

Anyway, since I havent been able to post many cool underwater shots lately- here is me and my bday cake and a shot of us at one of the dive sites we found today.

We're thinking of trying again next week- so stay tuned...

Dive Food

For most of my diving-life I have been on Atkins. This means I need to eat alot of meat. After you dive you are starving! So we made this "ritual" early on. We always stop at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ on the way home. You cook at your table. Its alot of fun and super YUMMY!!!

First's

Starfish

Shaw's Cove, Laguna Beach

Water Temp 57 Degrees

Today was my first beach dive (All my other dives were either off of a boat, or at the Dive Park where the entry is by stairs and there is no sand).... and it was also my first dive for 2009.

Unfortunately, I am not so sure I liked it. My mask and snorkel got knocked off by a big wave as I entered the water. I lost them. I really liked that mask too!!! Oh well. Surprisingly the water was not cold- at least with the wetsuit on. Going down - and staying down- presented the major challenge for this dive. I dont know if it was the new tank, the water, the weights or what- but neither of us could stay down and it was really difficult not to surface. The neat part of the dive was all the sand dollars! They were scattered every 12 inches... all over the ocean floor. They looked like cookies. I have never seen anything like it. And so many shells. Huge shells with little creatures living inside. And we saw a couple starfish... I was so scared as I swam over them that I would accidently kick them with my fin. Unfortunately because we had trouble staying down, we couldnt take alot of pictures.

Who dives 4 days before Christmas?!?!?

A Day at the Dive Park- December 21, 2008

8:00am - Water Temp 57 degrees

Me, feeding the fishey's!



Ok, now I think they are just attacking me

Ok you cant tell but this fish is at least 3 feet long. Its HUGE...

Who dives in the middle of winter? Apparently we do! And surprisingly a whole bunch of other people too! We had a crazy busy weekend- jam packed with all kinds of stuff. We ended it with some catalina diving. I was really worried it would be too cold but its wasnt horrible. The water visability was the worst I have seen at Catalina but there was alot more "stuff" down there compared to normal - lots of sea cucumbers and amazing shells. It was alot of fun and we had a great day!

I miss diving....

The winter sucks.

I really miss diving and my other half has been pestering me like crazy to go diving. I am worried about the weather. Its really cold lately- uncharacteristically cold, wet and windy. And I admit I am a little gun-shy after being stranded on Catalina for 2 days the last time we *tried* to dive. Its probably not going to get warmer for at least 4 months. Do I want to wait that long? That seems like an eternity! But I also dont want to get all the way there and freeze to death. The thought of diving in the water when its 50 degrees outside does not sound appealing. But then having him go dive without me, and coming home with great pictures and stories sounds even less appealing!! I dont know what to do...... stay tuned....

Happy Holidays!

November 8 (with update)

UPDATE: Above picture taken December 21. This is how the tide is supposed to be when you dive! Just wanted to show you the difference between 11/8 and 12/21 because I know the 11/8 pics by themselves didnt really look like un-divable water.

Above pic taken November 8. Too high and rough to dive :(

November 8

I decided to surprise my husband by suggesting a spontaneous overnight trip to Catalina Dive Park on Saturday night. I checked the weather- (sunny, warm), and was able to get hotel reservations (which has always been the hard part!). Everything was going so smooth! That is- except the water! Dun-dun-dun... We woke up bright and early Sunday morning- put on our wetsuits in the hotel room (which was right near the dive park!) This was a nice treat- to be able to get ready in a room instead of at the water or on a boat! I was beginning to feel spoiled! We walked over to the park- it was 8:15am. We had high expectations- 4 dives which included diving to some of the wrecks down there- which I had never done before. Imagine how cool those pictures would have been! But no one was in the water. The wind had kicked up over night and the usually calm park had huge swells and the water was crashing into the stairs where you enter. They were not allowing any divers into the water. BUMMER! Here we are, dressed and ready- with no where to go! We decided to catch the next boat home- only to find that they had cancelled ALL BOATS, ALL DAY. We were stranded!! Ok it doesnt sound horrible to be stranded on Catalina- but it was! We were freezing and did not pack appropriately for 2 nights- and I had to be at work the next morning- which clearly was not going to happen. But the worst part was that here we were in Catalina for 2 whole days- and we couldnt even dive! Oh the horror of it all!!! (Do you feel bad for us yet!??!) Anyway, here are some pictures... in the last one you can see the swell behind me- the water is usually flat- and on this day they were at least 5 feet. The top picture shows the water crashing up behind me over the stairs. It never even comes nearly that high... check out the stairs- they are completely submerged... Something tells me I wont be diving again for a while... :(

Honeymoon- Day 6..."The Finale"

Friday morning we went to a seahorse farm! We got to hold them! They were so cute! They have little personalities- come up to the surface and blow air at you to get your attention because they want food. Thats Len holding the seahorse!

Afterward we went to a spa I found somewhere hidden in the tropical area of the island. We had a couples massage, which started with time in the hot tub and then a shower in an outside waterfall. It was a really neat experience- all outside! The location was absolutely beautiful and not like anything you would experience in LA.

We ended our honeymoon back in LA on Saturday - just in time to celebrate a very special birthday! HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY LILY!

Honeymoon- Day 6 (Oct 23)

That's me with my scuba bride mask on. Everywhere we snorkeled or dove, everyone loved it! Thanks Mom!

Ok so last night I swore I would never dive again. But Len had booked us on a "luxury dive boat" and so of course I had to check it out! The boat was great! We all had our own seats (not like the benches you get on a typical dive boat) and tons of yummy gourmet food. Everything about this boat was designed for comfort- something I totally enjoy! Out of all three dive trips we did in hawaii, I think I liked this location the best. The coral was prettier- black sand and colorful coral- we saw a sea turtle and lots of eel's. Ok, after last night and my encounter with "Frank" I could have lived without that part. All in all, today was a great day and a perfect dive to end our honeymoon on! Tomorrow we fly home at 9pm... but first we are going to the seahorse farm and then to some tropical oasis to get hot stone massages! I wont be able to post pics from our last day here until Saturday. Oh did I mention we are flying First Class? Oh I am getting sooo spoiled! :)