It's been an eventful week! Tom and I spent most of it in Tavernier, Florida, one of the towns on the Florida Keys that's closest to the mainland. Despite the threat of Tropical Storm Ana, some health challenges early on, and seasickness throughout on my part mostly, we really did have an amazing time diving. If you didn't already know this, we actually got married five years ago on August 11th in Jamaica with a hurricane bearing down on us to the point that the resort staff literally drug us off our dive boat in the morning and told us we had less than half an hour to shower and get fully ready for the wedding because by the afternoon (which is when our wedding had been scheduled) we'd already be locked away in our rooms for safety! We found the threat of tropical severe weather quite appropriate, given the beginnings of our relationship, but we're thrilled it didn't materialize and that we were able to have an adventurous and truly relaxing time on this trip.
I have lots of pictures, some of which turned out astoundingly good given the budget-conscious point-and-shoot camera plus underwater housing we bought only a week earlier. I have to give iPhoto (the image processing software that came with my new Mac) lots of credit for postprocessing the photos and removing a layer of hazy blue (which is inevitable in many underwater photo scenarios). Once that layer had been removed, we were left with some really breathtaking scenes. I'm working on finding a good online spot to permanently house our photo albums; it looks like we might make the move from picasaweb to flickr at some point soon. For now, here are a few for you to enjoy. I'll link the full albums when I'm able.
This one is on our last day of diving, at a beautiful protected area called Molasses Reef. It was all a shallow dive (less than 20 feet!) but the fish and corals were abundant and breathtaking. Shortly after leaving the dive boat, we were surrounded by schools of fish. See the dive boat in the background? We really like this shot.
Our second day of diving was by far the most harrowing. There were heavy seas, strong currents, and the wreck was deeper than we would have been allowed to go without an instructor accompanying us. We didn't even plan to do this dive, but the second dive boat from our dive shop needed repairs so they merged the dives and the majority of divers wanted the deep wreck instead of a shallow reef. We could have opted to rebook with a different dive shop, but the allure of the wreck was strong so we went. I didn't know the currents would be equally strong, and the waves higher than either of us is tall. I did a lot of throwing up, a lot of holding on *really* tightly to the ascent/descent line, and a lot of finning as hard as possible to avoid being swept off the wreck and into the open ocean. Yowzers! Nonetheless, it was a huge and breathtaking wreck already full of life after only 20 years underwater. I hope to go back in more favorable conditions. Surprisingly, Tom loved it and would do it again even in those challenging seas! Maybe once the cut on my leg heals (which I got from the current shoving me into a metal outcropping on the ship at about 100 feet underwater), maybe I'll feel differently too...but somehow I doubt it.
Here's an example of the kind of picture I absolutely didn't think I'd be able to get with our new Canon 960IS and its underwater housing. But in such shallow water with bright sunlight to illuminate everything, the photo captures so much of what was going on: colorful coral, bubbles in the distance from other scuba divers in the group, and juvenile fish who use the reef as a nursery until they're big enough to venture out a little farther. This photo is just one of many that illustrate the kind of splendor that means I'll never let a little seasickness keep me away from this sport.
Well, it's getting late and given that I was at the ER at 4:30am today to get my perforated eardrum checked (yes, from diving, and yes, it'll be all better soon but it hurts like the dickens) we're going to get some rest. We're in a hotel room in South Carolina; we left Gram and Papa's house around lunchtime and took a break halfway. Tomorrow it's home again. Sorry for the lapse in pictures of the day. I"ll catch you up on all Rowan's activities soon via some new pictures of the day! Until then, rest well and dream of beautiful fishies. (At least, that's what I plan to do.) :-)