Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Drop In The Ocean

These days it doesn’t take much to make me happy. Besides the obvious bare essentials all I’m really interested in right now are warm sun and scuba life. Scuba diving in Saipan has become a weekly thing for me. Luckily I am fortunate to have so many dive buddies to share my passion and adventures with like the Piersons, Tammy and Mark James, Judy & Dennis, Missy, Atsuko Eck, Harry, Angelo, Mike T . . . the list goes on and on.

This past Sunday I set out on the Aqua jet boat with Moretti and Mayuki. Because it had been raining the whole day on Saturday I didn’t know what type of diving conditions we would have the next morning. It turned out to be an amazing day of diving after all. A blue sky was more than I could ask for.

The first dive spot we hit was Bonzai. Here’s a picture of what Bonzai looks like from below. I was just on top of Bonzai Cliff Saturday morning watching the sunrise. The current was really strong and the waves were pretty rough. I was excited to get in the water. Scuba diving has transformed me into a fearless explorer in every aspect of my life. Something that I was not before I came to Saipan.

To maximize our diving time Moretti, Mayuki, and I made it a point to be the first ones in the water and the lasts ones out. When we first entered the water we had to hang onto the rope and descend. The strong current made it really hard for me to descend at first.. Moretti and Mayuki made it down first and then I slowly followed. It was crazy but fun! Once we made it to the bottom of the anchor we grabbed on to what we could and tried to stay low. I was resisting being carried away with the current but the deeper we dropped the less we felt it. At one point the surge pushed me into some coral and I got stuck with a sea urchin on my finger tip =( It was actually pretty cool that my blood was green coming out!

Bonzai is a beautiful dive spot. There’s a big drop off and it sort of reminded me of the wall diving I did in Palau minus the sharks swimming around. There were plenty fish and coral to see. We saw two huge Napoleon Wrasses. We dropped down about 22 meters, I was searching for Nudibranchs all day. I’m a bit addicted to them.

During surface interval a lot of the other Japanese divers were sea sick and throwing up on the side of the boat. I think its really annoying when they don’t even consider that you are still in the water and the current is making their vomit flow towards you as you climb up the ladder. It’s disgusting! Anywho, I quickly got over that while snacking on my yummy Peanut Butter Hershey Kiss cookies (sorry Harry!) and I decided to go for a dive.


Our final dive was supposed to be Spotlight but the diving conditions were too rough. We ended up diving Wing Beach instead but I didn’t mind at all. Wing Beach is one of my favorite dive spots the other one is the Grotto. We had great visibility and there wasn’t really a current. We saw a lot of Nudibranchs, an eel, and a turtle! We followed the crack searching every little nook and cranny. The last time I was there on a boat dive we dove the arch. There’s so much more to explore. I want to go back!









So you see, I did take more underwater pictures this time around Harry! Thanks for naming me the Canon camera wrist model=) Thanks again to my dive master and friend, Mayuki for a great day of diving and the pictures of us diving. I still have to post my Naftan/Obyan dives.

And just for kicks . . . try flossing Moretti style.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic pictures Bev! I like your new profile photo (you in a hammock) the best. That's how life should be. :)

KPG said...

is this the reason why you are sick today? you went diving all day...I missed it. get well partner.

Harry Blalock said...

Well Bev, all I have to say is I'm glad I got my post up first before you proved you actually do use that camera for something other than jewelry. Great pictures by the way, I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more from you now!

Anonymous said...

I think it was one of your delicious cookies that was stuck between my teeth! Too bad Harry didn't get to try any.

Brit's Blog said...

Doesn't Greg get photo credits???
(he made me ask)

j/p Bev...I miss it...maybe next time I'm out I can dive Bonzai too :)

Unknown said...

Here you are a hygienist…there's Greg with a nasty looking self fashioned teeth cleaning implement…things that make you go, “Hmmm?”

Sean said...

Great photos, Bev! Gorgeous. I don't know if I'll do enough diving this year to be considered one of your "dive buddies" but I could probably go enough to be considered one of your "dive aquaintances"! :)

See you Friday night! (Is 7 good?)

Mai said...

Great pics, Bev! It looks like you had a great time!

Jourdanne said...

I love your pics Bev! They make the best background pics on my computer. Miss you & Love you! xoxoxoxo

Harry Blalock said...

So Bev, want to go diving with Bruce and I to the plane wreck in the lagoon this afternoon, he wants to get some pictures of it. Oh wait, I forgot you have to work...never mind. I'll take some pictures for you.

scubatripp said...

Awesome Bev! I really like the shot of divers descending the rope . It really is a great spot especially with a reef hook when the current is running like that!
Now I'm hungry and in search of a store bought, stale cookie!
Mike

Bev said...

Steve: I won't ever regret my one year out here in Saipan. Saipan misses you and Miwa.

EJ:Coach Mike is on vacation for 2 weeks. We'll have to do tank swim instead.

Harry: I'll find something that you've never seen before!!!!

Greg: You ate all my cookies!

Brit: Ok, i'll give photo credit to Greg for the pics of me diving into the water! Miss you. xoxo

John: When are you gonna go diving with us?

Sean: So happy that you are going to get recertified! We're going to have so much fun!

Mai: You're going to love scuba life! Hurry up and get certified.

Joy: Miss you too. You need to update your blog! Its already a new quarter!

Mike: Thanks for stopping by and for the talk about Pharmacy school!

Bev said...

Glen Hunter: Thanks for stopping by=)

Brit's Blog said...

Hey Bev...can you get me the info on Diving in palau??
Maybe a number or price or something like that...

I'm seriously thinking about it at Christmas if I can get all the info :)

Thanks Bev!

FoM said...

just got word from a friend that someone may have done one of those "this is from glen hunter" posts on this blog.

i have not posted here before. it is my biggest fan going around using my name.

glen hunter

Bev said...

G- I didn't publish that one comment from a "glen hunter" because it wasn't kosher.

FoM said...

thank you. it was not a comment that i posted. like i said it is not the first time. the same was done on this blog:

http://saipanmiddleroad.blogspot.com/2007/08/study-good-to-be-cut.html

i have an inclination as to who is doing it. by simply looking at the time of the post and comparing it with other posts around the same time on the same blog (minutes apart). i am sure the patern on your site will mirror the pattern on the middle road site.