A trip with unexpected results.

I have had this idea in my head for a while that I would cruise around town and take a few pictures. After all, the North Coast has a lot to see, you justhave to gt off your carcass and get out of the house to see it. So today, with Delia working, I thought it was the right time to take on this venture.

Its a little cold, and rainy, so as I was driving down the street I saw the first subject of my photo essay. Admittedly, this is not what I had in mind when I was thinking of all the photo opportunities the day might present me with. So, having that task done, it was time to move on.

I got in the Toyota and turned on the engine, lets the things continue to warm up a little, and sipped on my favorite, over priced beverage. Now, I figured with the warming affect of Starbacks coffee there would be no stopping me. I was on the way to a photographic masterpiece.

Here is where I found myself: Th Pro Sports Center. Now, this has even less to do with the scenery of the North Coast than Starbucks. But it is also the closest thing I have to a Dive Shop in town. So, as I do every now and then, I stopped in and decided to do a little browsing.

I can thank Iver for myfacination with the underwater world, and for introducing me to the idea of Diving in the first place. The Pro Sports Center (from now on referred to as TPSC in order to save myself valuable time while typing) has a decent selection of gear. But because they are an "all around" kind of store, its nothing compared to stores that are devoted specificaly to the sport. When I got to the top of the stairs to check teh dive section I found they are selling their rentals for a very reasonable price. So I put one on hold, and plan to go back tomorrow and do a little more investigating.

There is a certain amount of excitement I feel when I think about the upcoming summer and the prospect of SCUBA diving. Its hard to explain, but everything is differen underwater, and the world takes on a new meaning. I don't mean this in some sort of prolific or thought provoking way, I simply mean there are things under the water, even at just 20 feet of depth, that would ake the average person simply stare in amazement. Allow me to show a few examples from my trip to Jamaica.

Allow me to introduce Catherine. Ths Catherine is a 50 foot Canadian Mine Sweeper that was sunk on the nortern coast of Jamaica in order to create an artificial reef. This, sadly, is the only dive of about 8 that I did where there is supporting photo documentation. These striped little reef fish were very photogenic, and were quite teh camera hogs. They did their best to get into just about every picture I took around Catherine.

Catherine sits in about 50 feet of water. At depth, things always look bigger than they are, this is actually caused by wearing a diving mask (there aresome sort of physics involved here, but I couln't begin to explain them to you). Here I am, happily breathing compressed air in about 30 feet of water, sitting on the bow of the ship. You might aso notice I am representing the Bass Pro Shops,

wearing their shirt as about the only piece of exposure protection

(something we CAN NOT do on the north coast due to water temperatures.

After leaving Catherine behind, which I was reluctant to do, we swam through a series of valleys, back to the waiting dive boat. These were quite beautiful, and I had to say I was impressed with the dive master's knowledge of these canyons as he led us through them with no hesitency and straight back to the boat. This particular canyon caught my eye. But, admittedly, what turned out to be a fairly nice shot was a total accident (the camera I was using was pretty cheap).

Near the end of the dive I found the next shot. This one was no accident, I'm just grateful it trnedout as good as it did.

Often referred to as "God Rays," light from the sun coming through shallow water is beautiful in every aspect. Here it was shing on a rock covered in every sort of sponge and coral the area had to offer. I surfaced here, and boarded the boat for the 20 minute trip back to shore. On the way back, all I could think was I couldn't wait until the next day to do it again.

Is it any wonder I get so excited thinking about diving again? I don't think so.