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.