One hundred...and...thirty six feet.

Hello All,

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because sometimes it takes that long for enough interesting things to happen to make it worth sitting down and telling you about it.

First of all, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  I for one have a laundry list of things that I am thankful for including my wife, Sarah, Chase, and _________ (insert your name here).

I have been diving a lot lately and, honestly, if I were not doing that, I am not sure how I would fill an entire day off.  I was out on Sunday, Nov 20th, and got a real surprise. 

I was meandering along at a relaxed pace down at 45' feet checking out the reef (below me and to my left) when I looked up and noticed a large dark mass.  I looked to my left and a giant whale shark was passing me going the opposite direction.  It was like we were on a two lane highway each going the opposite direction.  It was only about 8' way from me!! 

When I looked over, its head had passed by and I was about mid-body.  By the time I turned about to give chase, I was at its tail.  After about 10 seconds of robust kicking, I had caught up to its head and remained just out of its field of vision.  I swam with the whale shark for about 150' before I broke off.  It was REALLY cool.  The whale shark was about 20' long, graceful, and swimming almost with no effort. 

If I had not looked up, he would have passed right by me.  If I had not looked up and was swimming about 8' to the left, I think I would have swam right into its mouth!

Went out again Wed night before Thanksgiving on a night wreck dive.  That dive was just ok.  There was a lot of plankton in the water and visibility was not that good as a result.

So, what's the one hundred thirty six feet all about?  Well, it also equals 41.5 meters and it is the distance a car traveling 46 mph covers in 2 seconds.

With nothing going on for Thanksgiving and having the entire day off, I decided to go out on the dive boat again.  On the second dive of the day, a master dive instructor, a dive master in training and I descended to the depth of...136'.  If you are not familiar with SCUBA diving, this probably doesn't mean much, but it is actually a little beyond the depth a recreational diver would be permitted to dive to (at least if they are following PADI guidelines). 

At 136', the pressure on the body is 4x that on the surface.  Because of the extreme pressure, the rate at which nitrogen leaves the body slows dramatically.  Our wrist mounted dive computers (like a watch but it doesn't tell you what time it is) indicated that we could only spend 5 minutes at that depth before we would have to go through a rather complex decompression sequence.  After a few minutes, we started ascending in order to avoid all this. 

Most divers will never dive that deep so I am happy to say, "been there, done that". 

Again with not much going on this past Sunday, I decided to dive again.  The first dive was uneventful but the second dive was a bit of an exploration.  The same two listed above and I went into an area no one had dove in before just to see what was there.  We ended up finding a really neat reef had developed on a large boulder field.  Since we found it, we get to name it and it will be referenced on future dives to that location.  Again, very cool.

The last bit of news is that I moved out of my "shared dry CLU" (roommate, no bathroom, containerized living unit) to a "private wet CLU".  My new digs are a little older then my old room but what an upgrade.  The best part is not having a roommate and having my own "head" (naval shipboard term for bathroom).  The location is also a lot better being in the center of camp vs at the opposite end from my office. 

Well, that is really about it.  Next week I am off on an adventure to other dark continent, North America, where I will be studying the behavior of the indiginous population as well as sampling local foods and beverages.  I'll keep you posted on my observations/explorations.

Until then,
Michael

Another one crossed off the list

Hello All,

This past week I took a few days off for a 4 day/3 night SCUBA diving trip.  In a nutshell, it was great.  The Deli (pictured last week) was the perfect size to allow everyone to spread out and the crew did a wonderful job.  On board were (8) military and civilians from base and we were rounded out by a couple from Finland and a couple from Italy, both of whom traveled to Djibouti specfically for this live-aboard dive trip.

We sailed to an area that I had never dove before which was the Gulf of Tadjoura and the Bay of Ghoubbet both in the vicinity of Djibouti.  We did (3) dives on the first and last day with (4) dives on days two and three.  Let me tell you....(4) dives a day is a lot and has us underwater for three hours per day. 

You may recall from a previous post when I was in Germany that I had a list of things to do before I died.  In that particular post, it was "climb the world's tallest steeple" which I did in the town of Ulm, Germany. 

Well, I'm happy to tell you that I crossed another one off the list..."SCUBA dive between the earth's teutonic plates".  As you probably know, teutonic plates are what makes up the crust of the earth and earthquakes shift these plates. 

Thursday morning was the highlight of the trip as we desended over 100' of water and then into the crack.  The site we dove is literally the crack in the earth between the continents of Asia and Africa which is caused by the movements of the earth.  This crack marks the separation between the African, Middle Eastern and Indian Ocean tectonic plates. It’s an amazing feeling to sink between the rock walls below the crust of the earth.  I am told that Djibouti is the only place in the world recreational divers (read those who dive to 130' or less) can experience this. 

Night two was also very interesting.  After sunset, (3) whale sharks spent about 90 minutes feeding mere feet off of our starboard bow (right side as you are facing forward).  Whale sharks eat plankton (sorry to all the Sponge Bob fans out there) and very small fish (1"-4").  On this particular evening there was a school of tens of thousands of these little fish and I think those three whale sharks ate just about every one of them.  Of the three, the biggest was estimated to be 25' in length.  Let me tell you, a 25' fish is enormous! 

However, the largest one ever sighted was estimated to be 41' and checking in at 47,000 lbs.  Did I fail to mention that the whale shark is the world's largest fish?  The 25 footer seemed to have a mouth as wide as I am tall and could have easily fit a human in there. 

Well, check another one off the list..."swim with the whale sharks".  Two off the list in only one outing.  Not bad.  

The food was also top notch.  Simple...but very good.  On nights one and two, we ate whatever found its way onto a hook earlier in the day.  We ate very freshly caught king mackerel, grouper, and tuna.

We all had assigned cabins but that was just a place to shower and stow your stuff.  Most everyone found a comfortable spot on the deck to sleep at night.  The weather was beautiful with clear, full moon skies.  The temperature was just right for sleeping and all you needed was a thin blanket to keep the wind off of you.  Very restful after long days of diving.

Honestly, I was exhausted after we got back.  It was a fabulous trip and now back to the reality of life aboard Camp Lemmioner.  The good news is that I am off on another adventure in a couple of weeks as I travel to the land of milk and honey to a place called "Suffolk, VA".  I can only imagine what excitement that holds as I check my list of things to do before I die.

Oh, wait.  "Visit Suffolk, VA" is not on the list....

Until next time,
Michael

Its Sunday, again? Really?

Hello All,

Yes, Sunday again.  I find myself in the unusual position of trying to figure out how to entertain myself today.  For the past month and a half I have been SCUBA diving every Sunday.  That would leave me scrambling Saturday morning before work to get all my Sunday stuff done and return Sunday night to unpack and do some laundry.  Today, not so much the case.  I passed on diving today because my (4) day dive trip starts tomorrow.  Today is my prep day.

Well, now the challenge is how to fill blog space for this entry. 

I talk with Jodi every day via Yahoo IM and she is doing well.  Thanks to all of you who look in on her occasionally either through a phone call or an invitation for dinner.  Chase and Sarah are also doing well and in the throws of school.  Sarah visited Chase a couple of weeks ago and they both had the time of their lives.  Jodi, on the other hand, not so much.  Turns out that taking care of two kids really is about double the effort.  But, because of her, they both had a memorable time.  Thanks, Honey!

What else, what else? 

I have taken a liking to hot sauce over the last 6 mos or so.  I order online from Hotsauce World and they carry hundreds of kinds of hot sauce.  This is stuff you don't see in the stores, even the high end grocery stores.  I have reordered "Virginia Gentleman" hotsauce made with real bourbon and just cracked open a bottle of "Blair's Original Death" hot sauce.  I am slowly begining to appreciate hot sauces that most people would consider "really friggin' hot".  I am not ready to try some of the hottest sauces available which are made with Bhut Jolokia chili peppers or "ghost peppers".  These little babies are 400x hotter then Tabasco sauce. 

The current "world's hottest" is the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, officially tested at 1,463,700 SHU.  SHU or Scoville rating measure how hot peppers are.  By comparison, Frank's Original hot sauce checks in a 450 SHU and Tabasco is around 3000. 

You might ask yourself, why put something so hot on food?  A good hot sauce adds flavor, the heat is a by product.  Of course, the key is moderation.  Some of these sauces are applied by the drop. 

Jodi's Dad, Jerry, has a blog also.  It is not a "this is what I am up to" blog like mine.  His blog is a little more poignent then mine is and I admire his dedication to the research he does for his daily posts.  He has found a lot of interesting clips on the "Occupy Wall Street" bunch.  Some posts are funny but all of them are thought provoking.  The clips are entertaining and found at http://blogfromonhigh.blogspot.com/

I look forward to reporting back to you next week after my trip.  I hope to have a few pics worth posting.  It is also Veterans' Day this upcoming week.  Everyone knows someone who served.  It is because of them that we have the freedom to choose our religion, to speak out against our government, to vote, and to read this blog.  Please thank them for their contribution.

It is also the Marine Corps 236th birthday on 10 Nov.  If you know a current or former US Marine, tell them "happy birthday".  They will know exactly what you mean.

Until next week,
Michael

Well...I am back in Africa.

Hello All,

You would think that after a week in Germany I would have more to write about.

The trip went very well and the group got a lot accomplished in a relatively short period of time.  Flying in and out of Africa is a real pain with our return trip taking a total of over 14 hours.

It was great to get out of Djibouti for a bit.  I had forgotten what normal (at least to me) civilization looked like.  The town we stayed in (really a small city) had all the things you would expect to find.  By the time we got done with work during the day, nobody really felt like doing much besides going out and grabbing dinner. 

I managed to eat a few tasty meals and drink some of that delicious German beer.  The one thing I had forgotten about is how expensive everything is in Europe.  It is not that it is expensive in local terms, just expensive when you convert US dollars to Euros.  It takes $1.40 or so to buy one Euro.  So, a $20 Euro meal ends up costing you $28 USD.  Throw in a one Euro tip (15% is not customary as tip is built into price, but you usually round up and leave the server the change) and you are looking at $30 USD for a decent restaurant entree and a beer.  Seems like kind of a lot by American standards. 

The strong Euro is not necessarily a bad thing (unless you are traveling to Europe).  As you probably know, strong foreign currancy relative to the USD helps American companies who EXPORT goods to those places with strong currancies.  Companies like Catarpillar, Harley Davidson, Coca-Cola, and the few other companies in the US that actually export products make out pretty good as their products become cheaper as foreign currancy becomes stronger.  It is also beneficial to companies like Disney, various ski resorts, and other tourist destinations in the US because it is cheaper for tourists from other places to come here.

At any rate, it is always nice to be done travelling and I have quickly settled back into a normal routine. 

This upcoming week, I will be taking a few days off to go SCUBA diving.  A group of us from camp will be going out on that 75' twin mast schooner that I go diving off of on Sundays.  We will leave Monday morning and return Thurs afternoon.  Should get in 3-4 dives per day including night dives, wrecks, whale sharks, and a dive between the earth's teutonic plates (gap in the earth's surface/plates). 

I have almost completed my Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification which included underwater navigation, deep dive (went to 100' which is pretty deep by recreational diving standards), and still need a night dive. 

Time to put those skills to work!

At least when I get back, I will have something more interesting to write about.