National Geographic, Here I Come

I figured that working with sharks in Bimini for two months might - just might - give me a few opportunities to take some killer underwater pictures. But because I have zero clue in the area of underwater photography, I decided to take a PADI specialty course.

My friend Ben and I were originally going to do it up in Washington, but why learn to take underwater pictures in a quarry in Virginia when you could go down to Boca for a weekend and learn on a reef? That plan got kiboshed the first time we tried, thanks to Hurricane Dennis back in July. With the 6-8 foot seas less than ideal for diving, Ben wound up surfing instead. So we tried again this past weekend, and we coudln't have had better weather.

After reading the book, writing out the exercises, and meeting with the instructor, we finally dove in off of Pompano Beach. The ocean was like glass, the temperature was like bathwater, the vertical visibility was clear to the bottom, and there was virtually no current. We did two dives, one at Pompano Ledge and one at the wreck of the Coppenhagen. Nothing too spectacular, just a couple of shallow dives to practice taking pictures.

I'm using a Sea & Sea Motor Marine MX-10 underwater camera with detachable strobe. It's pretty beginner, but I can at least adjust a few settings, as opposed to the most basic point and shoots. The picture with this post is one that I took, but I confess that it was not from our dive off of Pompano a few days ago (none of those were good enough to post). The one above I took during my trip to the Great Barrier Reef in November 2004. So yeah, I'm cheating here. BUT...I am now officially certified in PADI Underwater Photography!

1,000 Miles

In hindsight, leaving DC to drive to Florida at 5pm on a Friday afternoon might not have been the best move. Three hours later, we rolled past Richmond, VA (any other time, it would have taken an hour and a half). But my friend Benzo and I were amped up on Wendy's burgers and 7-ll chips 'n salsa, so we trudged on. At 3am, we succumbed to fatigue and stopped at a hotel in Savannah, GA. Of course, we didn't actually go INTO the hotel. We're young and dumb and cheap, so we took a 3-hour nap in my car in the parking lot.

We hit the road again at 6:45am, when the sun rising made it too hot to be in the car anymore without the A/C running. (The picture with this post is sunrise in Savannah.) After a quality breakfast of french toast sticks from Burger King, we were on or way. The long drive between Jacksonville and Boca Raton is extremely boring. Therefore, when we stopped for gas in Daytona Beach and a man hopped out of an SUV in full green velvet Renaissance regalia (including matching green tights), we were chuckling for at least another 50 miles.

When we pulled up into my driveway in Boca, three basic needs were competing for our attention: food, sleep, and shower. Sleep won.