We Be Diving

After two years, we finally 'got wet' again. Scuba diving, that is. We met several of our friends from Kayuba down at the Ft Lauderdale beach. There's a dive spot just due east of the NE 14th Street area that we lovingly refer to as "Kayuba Reef". It's an easy put-in for our kayaks and a short paddle out to the second reef.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for remembering how to put all my scuba gear together and in the kayak. That was until I saw the weights still sitting in the trunk of the car! Dang. We have integrated BCs (Buoyancy Control Device) with weight pockets that are hard to access once the tank is on...let alone, when everything is already on the kayak and strapped down. But, it would make it awfully difficult to dive without those weights, so I fussed around with my equipment and thought I got the weights in the pockets and secured.

After getting our gear together, the group of us paddled out, across our clear, flat ocean. Our friend Chris has a funny saying: she refers to it as "my ocean" when the chop is less than 1-2...INCHES. Yeah, we're spoiled down here! I almost forgot how beautiful it is out on our reef. As soon as we jumped in, there were schools of fish, big corals and sponges, several large angelfish, pufferfish, eels, and so much more to rediscover. And, of course, we did see our usual share of tires from the artificial reef debacle of the 1970's. Perhaps someday, and hopefully sooner than 14 years from now, we'll be able to dive without seeing these tires strewn about.

About half way thru the dive, I found myself listing to one side. I kept fidgeting with my gear until I had a "duh" moment. I checked for my weights, and yep, one fell out. Andy and I backtracked some, but decided to forget about the weight and just enjoy the rest of our dive. Since we're planning on hanging around Ft Lauderdale this summer, we should be able to get some more dives in without waiting another two years!

UPDATE: Chris posted some pictures of our kayak dive on her webalbums. I didn't take my camera that day since I figured I had enough to try and remember! Just click on the link and arrow to the right for more photos...

The Month of Nick

We're having one busy, busy month. It's all exciting news...and it's all about our nephew Nick. Andy's Mom came into town, too, to share all of these magical moments.

First, Nick graduated from University of Miami...then the next day he received his commissioning into the Air Force. Here he is in uniform with his fiance (at that moment), Amy...
A week later, Nick and Amy got married. The wedding was in Orlando and was a wonderful time. The whole Thomas clan was there for the weekend. We had such a good time at the reception that even Andy got up and danced (the last time that happened was at the luau on OUR honeymoon!)...so, thanks Amy and Nick for such a wonderful time!
Andy and his Mom...
And, surprisingly, the Thomas clan did not get kicked out of the hotel - even with all of our shenanigans in the pool area. Here are (from bottom to top): Jimmy, Billy, Summer, and Christopher showing off...
The morning after the wedding, Amy and Nick took off for their Caribbean honeymoon. Good thing they chose the tropics, because they will be moving to Alaska at the end of the month! They'll be there with the Air Force for three years. We're already talking about a visit...but with or without the RV?? Hhhhmmmmm...that will only be determined by our trading successes.
Congratulations to Amy and Nick on all of their current successes...and we're wishing you a joyous, love-filled, and adventurous life together!

Dive, Dive, Dive

Isn't this the neatest thing?? We saw this submarine at our storage facility and thought, "Now, this will be cool." Much better than a glass-bottom boat. Well, that's if the owners are planning to use it as an underwater sight-seeing opportunity. We don't know anything about it (yet). But wouldn't this be a neat way for non-divers to see our reefs?

Sleeping with Lions

Last weekend we took an excursion in the RV. It was our first weekend getaway in a long time. Usually we're packing and traveling for months at a time. The primary reason was to wash the RV (after 6 months in storage, she needed it!). The secondary reason was because we needed to inject some fun into our routine lives. We decided on a local trip - Lion Country Safari. Only about 60 miles away in West Palm Beach area, but it still felt worlds away. We camped at the KOA which borders the Safari. We were pleasantly surprised by the KOA. Normally we haven't had much luck with them when we've been on the road - they're usually overpriced for being 10' off a highway or railroad tracks. But this was nice, with pine trees, and big spaces. And the only noise we heard throughout the day & night were the sounds of lions roaring and the monkeys calling. That was really fascinating.

Saturday we did the drive-through Safari (twice). They have different types of animals based on the various regions of Africa, which are all separated by Jurassic Park-like fences. Sometimes the animals were this close....

And we had to laugh when the Tour CD said NOT to stop your cars near the rhinos...this is where the biggest traffic jams were! We did get nervous after sitting for a few minutes in front of one rhino - he started to get a look in his eye, and we started to imagine the kind of damage the car could sustain. Try explaining that to your insurance company! So Andy maneuvered the car out of the jam...

Unlike a zoo, most of the animals were with herds and had quite a bit of space to move around within their "region". You could sit and observe their behaviors or continue to drive through. We got lucky near the elephants since we were able to watch the one drink from the lake and then take a dust shower.

The safari had so many different types of animals and the CD provided some interesting facts about each of them.

Lion Country also had a walk-through section of the park that had amusement rides and some opportunities to feed animals. We fed the fish and the turtles. We fed the loud-squawking Lorikeets....

But our favorite was the opportunity to feed the giraffes. I've just fallen in love with these long eye-lashed beauties since my experience at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX.


On Sunday, we washed the RV. A neighbor child asked why it took us so long to wash our RV, but doesn't it take everyone all day?! We washed, scrubbed the black streaks off, waxed, cleaned windows, wiped compartment doors, sprayed & oiled areas, and so on and so on. And here, I thought we were an efficient team! Now I'm trying to convince Andy that we should take these weekend getaways every other month or at least once a quarter. "It'll make washing the RV easier and faster", I say.

Pocket Parks

Along the New River around town, you can find these pocket parks. Usually just a small strip of land at the end of the road, but there's native landscaping and park benches. They offer a nice spot for everyone to enjoy the water views.

The Jungle Queen, one of the several tourist boats on the river, has to make a tight turn (almost a u-turn) on one of the bends of the river. The property that it is circumnavigating is reportedly in the shape of Florida.

And just another shot of one of our many green squawking parrots. These guys add to the 'tropical paradise' feel of South Florida.