Dive Snapshots from President's Day Weekend

So I kicked off my 4 day weekend with an afternoon dive with Harry at the Grotto. Funny how it doesn't take much convincing for Harry to get wet. He got a new camera and has been dying to test it out.





The grotto is probably my most favorite dive spot in Saipan. Its just so unique and I feel like I'm in heaven going through the exit holes.






The visibility was unbelievable! Probably about 50 meters across the way. We spotted a huge Napolean Wrasse much like the one that was recently caught. He didn't wait too long for us to catch up with him because he just took off! Here's a picture of Harry below me taking pictures of this turtle. Check out his blog for beautiful close up pictures.







Here's a creature that I am definitely intrigued by but too scared to get too close. The Spotted Morey Eel has really sharp teeth and I just don't want get in its face.







I was actually really surprised to see this Parrotfish. It's either a Bumphead Parrotfish or a Steephead Parrotfish. If someone knows . . . let me know!







I'm so happy that I get to share my love for scuba diving with so many people in Saipan. There is always someone to go diving with on the weekends. This afternoon Sean, Mai, Jessica, Rikki, Mark and Tammy James, Dr. Hunt, Atsuko, and I rode the Aqua Jet out to two dive sites.


This was the SDA Teacher's first dive boat experience in Saipan and they did really well! Of course they had great instructor, Judy and Dennis. Here's a picture of Sean, Riki, and Jessica Crusin' into the deep blue.






I'm going to be dreaming of Pyramid Butterfly fish tonight! Plenty in the water. Mai is surrounded by them!















You know what we were all hoping to see-Eagle Rays! And we did! Five of them! We sat perched ontop of the Ice Cream Dive site and watched the Eagle Rays come swoop into the cleaning station. They were soo close to me! It was amazing! I think one of them winked at me!





















This Hawksbill Turtle dropped right in front of us and I didn't even notice him at first until Atsuko pointed him out. I was looking for Nudibranchs and realized he was dropping right in front of me!




I found Nemo! Here's a Duske Anemone Fish.











Here's a picture of an Orange Fin Anemone Fish

My New Camera

It's Sunday's What is it?! Inspired by Deece. I didn't plan to do this. Its only because Saipan's Sexiest Blogger and Moretti were "impressed" with my skills. Actually more like poking fun at my six pictures. Yes, I only took six pictures during our hour dive at the Grotto.



So I got my new camera and the majority of my pictures looked like this one. (sigh) So I stink at underwater photography. I'll have to keep practicing. I was alittle distracted underwater and even came down with a spell of vertigo. I was about to clear my mask but then my anxiety crept up on me because I just froze. I gave Moretti the sign to resurface. Saipan's Sexiest Blogger followed us up. I'm really not this much drama underwater guys! lol

Anyway, I took a quick break and we descended into the Grotto again. It ended up being a great dive after all. We saw two sharks, different species of Nudibranchs, and a ribbon of Nudibranch eggs. Check out Saipan's Sexiest Blogger and Moretti's blogs for better pics. Here's a couple of my "good" ones=) I love Nudibranchs.




After the dive we just snorkeled while waiting for Blalock to finish up. He can stay underwater for about 2 hours on one tank. Amazing. Here are some pics of some of the locals climbing on to the rocks and jumping. The water was so calm.






Blalock claims there are more "stories" to tell about our dive but there are no stories!! You really have to watch what you say and do around bloggers! ! Anywho, I had a blast diving with these two characters.

Weekend Island Tour

Its always exciting to see a new face on island. Roy Kim MD was doing some medical relief work at the Guam SDA Medical Clinic and decided to visit Saipan for a weekend. I think its safe to say that he loved Saipan more than Guam or Rota after this weekend.

Our weekend started off with a dive on late Friday afternoon at the Grotto. It's been really hot lately so I was dreading climbing up and down the 100 grotto stairs with my wet suit and dive gear on. So this time I opted to dive without a wet suit and I loved it! I just felt so light and unrestricted. Think I'm lazy about the 100 steps? You climb 'em!



Roy won't admit what number this dive was for him since he had just gotten his open water certification in Guam this past month. I'm thinking this was his third or fourth dive but he did really well for an advanced dive site! The sun was starting to set so we didn't get to see the light shine as vibrantly through the three exit holes like usually. Visability was poor but atleast we saw one white tip shark and an eel.


On Saturday, we went to church together. Any missionary who visits our church we ask to do something during church service on a last minute notice. Thats just the way it goes. Pastor asked Roy to tell the children's story and he so graciously accepted. He did a great job.



Ken took Crystal, Rosana, Roy and I on an island tour. We hit a bunch of hot spots that I had never been to like Tank Beach, Marine Beach, and the caves off the road going towards Lau Lau Beach. My favorite spot of the day was Forbidden Island lookout. We were planning to hike Forbidden on Saturday but it rained all day.




We would have went on another dive on Sunday but Roy was flying back to Guam already in transit to dive in Palau. Lucky guy. I want to go back to Palau!
Photo Credit: The Pierson's and Rosana.

Mountain Biking Action

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been really busy and by the time I get home I am too exhausted to post. I feel like I'm behind.

One of the highlights of this past weekend was mountain biking with Crystal and Ken on Sabbath afternoon. I can't believe I haven't done this sooner because I am really loving the mountain biking action. I accidentally grabbed Sean's old bike instead of Missy's and it weighed like thirty pounds. Let's just say I got a burning workout.

Saturday was clear and really hot so we waited till about four in the afternoon to head up to the north side of the island. We parked at the Mariana's Spa and Resort parking lot and then cycled our way towards the Grotto. I thought I was going to die on the hill to the Grotto.

What a view we had during our bike ride! I got distracted cycling under the brilliant red Flame trees, the bright blue sky, and the view of the Philippine Sea. I love it here!

We made a quick stop at the Grotto to check out the water below and saw that it was perfectly calm. This is one of the best times to snorkel and dive the grotto because its low tide.

After our short rest, Ken took us to a bike path that cuts from the grotto to cowtown and then to Bonzai. The moutain bikers on this island should know which trail I am talking about. This trail was really cool. We dodged lime stones on the path, over hung branches, and other debris on the path.

We even got a chance to stop and explore some caves that had existing bones and bullet shells. There is even an area where they have unexploded ordanances from WWII. I still have alot of exploring to do on this island.

Our one and half hour mountain biking adventure couldn't have ended any better. A night at the spa relaxing in the infinite pool. (sigh) Did I say I loved it here?! Photo credit: The Pierson's.

Shark Feeding At The Grotto

Yesterday I heard that some Japanase divemaster is taking his customers diving at the grotto and feeding the sharks while the customers watch probably for extra money. Grrrr, that makes me mad. Thats going to change the whole eco system down there and maybe make the sharks more aggressive as well as the Barracudas. I know that the sharks aren't that big down there but I think I'd be freaked out if it was coming for me if it thought I had food. Shouldn't they come up with laws to discourage that? I'm just concerned about diver safety.

Into The Deep Blue

At it again! We took a diveboat out and dove three dive sites this past Saturday: the Grotto, Ice Cream, and Shipwreck. Ken and Crystal's friends, the Ordelheide's and the Fly's were visiting from Guam so we had a full crew on board. Eleven to be exact. We rented a dive boat through AquaJet and Scott Eck was our captain.





I really enjoy diving with large groups of people. It just seems so much more fun to share moments like seeing Spotted Eagle Rays, turtles, and White Tip Reef sharks together. Before taking a dive boat out, our day started out by diving the Grotto at 6am. Well, we were suppose to be there at 6 am but we ended up diving around 7am instead. It was still really early.




Diving the Grotto is ALWAYS amazing! I don't think i'll ever get sick of the swimthroughs or exploring the caves. I'm feeling alot more comfortable underwater these days. When i first started diving I was always concerned about my breathing rate, buyouncy, drowning . . . I guess I was just overly cautious and I couldn't really enjoy the dive. But now its different. It feels incredible to be underwater and I am just really blown away by the underwater world. During the Grotto Dive we saw a couple of white tip reef sharks resting on the bottom, a barracuda, and schools of fish. We were hoping to see some turtles but no luck.







In the afternoon we took the dive boat out to the shipwreck site. The current was pretty strong that day. I was searching the wreckage for Nudibranchs. I found a couple and went to go get Ken. Whenever I would bring Ken back I would forget exactly where I found them=( They're so hard to locate sometimes because they are so cute and small.







After diving the shipwreck site we headed out to Eagle Ray City to see if there were any Spotted Eagle Rays. We voted Chad to jump in and snorkel above to see if there were any. He saw five large Spotted Eagle Rays but we decided to take a chance and go to Ice Cream to see more Eagle Rays. So off we went to Ice Cream.





Diving Ice Cream was amazing! When there is current, there are usually eagle rays swimming along the top of the seamount. The name Ice Cream comes from the formations similarity to a scoop of ice cream. At Ice Cream we saw ten Spotted Eagle Rays, Barracudas, Nudibranch's, a Morey Eel . . . It was our most eventful dive of the day and well worth the trip. Hope you enjoy the pics. The underpictures were taken by Ken Pierson, Chad Ordelheide, and Eric Fly. Btw, I finally got my underwater housing for my camara and I will be able to take my own underwater pics!=)

Ever seen the movie "The Guardian"??

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Hoo-Rah!!!!=) Just having fun as always.

President's Day Morning Dive

Ooooh I so love diving at the Grotto! Its been two weeks and I was definitely itchin' to get back in the water. Everything about that day was perfect: the weather, the water conditions, and the fact that I have such great diving buddies! Life is so sweet=)

I think my favorite part about the grotto is swimming through the exit holes towards the open ocean floor. Following the light and experiencing the color change all around you is amazing! Amazing I tell you!! It really does feel like heaven underwater. Can you tell how excited I get about diving?! God is so good! He really does fulfill his promise to show you things you NEVER EVER could imagine . . . if you would only just trust and follow Him.

When we first entered the grotto we came across two white tip reef sharks hiding in a dark corner. Crystal and Ken are always great about using their flashlight to point out interesting finds. As we swam through the first exit hole we saw a couple of barracudas swimming by. I've heard you rarely see barracudas at the Grotto. And to top it all off, we saw a turtle! This was probably the most eventful dive I've seen so far in Saipan. I can't wait to see what Palau has instore for me!

I think the deepest we descended was 110 feet. I think if you are not paying attention to your depth gauge its easy to drop below 100 ft if your not careful. I was actually happy that I didn't have any problems on this dive with clearing my mask or equalizing my ears like I usually do. I did however end up with a red hickey on my nose from my mask when I came up=( I have a tendancy to put on my mask too tight. I think I feel more confident to dive Palau. We had a lot of fun! Britini and I even danced the Macarena underwater. Yes, you can dance underwater because we are immature like that! Such a great dive! From Left to Right: Angelo, Me, Britni, Layla, Missy, Crystal. Pictures were courtesy of Ken Pierson.