Auld Lang Syne, well, 'kinda'

Call me sentimental; what can I say? I had a very special day last Saturday. Of course I have to wonder, given what I do, what days are not. I had scheduled a workshop and was working with one of my underwater photography students that day. My student, Ron, had planned a dive trip to Belize next month. Ron is a scuba instructor in Pennsylvania and is taking a group of his there. ( http://www.westshoredivers.com/) He had just purchased a housed dSLR camera system and had barely taken it out of its boxes. Ron thought it to be a good idea to come down to Key Largo and check these new 'toys' out in the 'sandbox' with me.

I was booking our dive charter for the day and was told that two long time friends of mine were also scheduled to be on the same boat and trip. John and Sasha, and are pictured above, and from your left to right, alongside me. This was a real special treat for me, as I go back a long ways and lots of dives with these two 'guyz'. Clear back to the mid '90s.

Sasha and I met back then and when we both were teaching scuba for other dive companies. He lived and worked up in South Beach (Miami) and I, here in Key Largo. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday he would trek down here with his scuba students, so they would get a chance to dive our coral reefs here, rather than doing all of their dives offshore in Miami. Over those years we became friends. Sasha went on to start his own dive center, South Beach Divers and has been in business for over 12 years.

Since opening his business, it has kept him very busy with the 'business' end of it all and that has trumped the frequency that he can get down to Key Largo and dive and see me. While we only live 60 miles from each other, I had not seen Sasha for over a year!

Similarly, John, also lives in SoBe and he is one of SoBe Divers' longest time instructors. I go back with John almost an equal amount of years and to the time he was working on his Advanced Open Water Diver rating. I staffed his IDC. As a consequence of his work, John does not get down here very often either. It had been at least a year since I last saw John.

To be fair, I do not get up to South Beach, very often. I enjoy it there when I do get up there, it is just that what I do keeps me in Key Largo.

In total, the consequence of this is , while we only live 60 miles from each other, we do not see each other often, or often enough. Saturday, last, was exceptional. We had great dives that afternoon. Ron and I got any and all of his new camera issues sorted out and the camera is optimized for his upcoming trip to Belize. Sasha and John and I had time on the boat to reminisce about old times. We encountered each other during our dives and photos were taken when that happened. We had good diving conditions and weather, and saw the 'usual' cool 'stuff'. Eels , Rays, Sharks, Turtles. At the end of the day, back on the dock, they had time to stay for a couple of beers.

Was a very good time, and a sentimental one for me. Visit Sasha and John if ever in South Beach, and look them up at http://www.southbeachdivers.com/ . Tell them Larry sent ya!


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Happy New Year Everyone!!

Several months ago, I received a call from a dive buddy who told me that Good Morning America was in Key Largo, and, going to broadcast their morning weather report here. I hurriedly packed up my camera and rushed over to the location. It was not seven o'clock yet, but, there were a couple hundred locals already on site. Including a band who brought their own Margarita blender.

It is made with a conventional blender vessel and a circa 1950s Johnson outboard motor. It is so typical 'Keys' ( as in 'only in the Keys...') that I just had to have a photograph of it, not knowing when or how I might ever use it or share it.

I think New Years is an appropriate time to share this photograph of a wonderfully handcrafted and working Florida Keys Margarita Blender!

Happy New Year and be careful how many margaritas you drink, however you make them!


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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

I wish the very best to any and all of you during the holidays and in the coming new year. I have much to be thankful for and much of it has to do with every one of you!

(about the photo: This photograph was taken by one of my longest time scuba students, photography student and great friend, Scott. And taken many years ago. I wanted such a photograph to use to make that year's Christmas cards with. We determined to scuba dive on a Coast Guard cutter, the USS Duane, which was sunk for diving in 1987. It rests a few miles off shore from Key Largo and in roughly 125 fsw. It is a beautiful wreck encrusted with orange cup and other corals and is home to schools of fish of many species. On a right day:good vis, calm seas, and no current; it is one of the best dives in Key Largo. Scott got a nice capture of a not so great subject, disguised as Santa. Kudos to Scott!)


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Welcome back to Key Largo, Rob!

Many, many years ago, and soon after I launched my website, one of my very first scuba students to come to me through my website was Rob and his wife, Tammy. They had completed the academics and confined water portions of their Open Water Diver course up in the frigid north (Iowa). They engaged me to help them complete their course by doing the four requisite open water training dives. We had a very successful outcome and an enjoyable time. While here, he, being a techie type and me not being one, helped me install my first ever photo editing application on my computer. At that point I considered him to be my new best friend!
Rob and Tammy went back home to Iowa. And I continued teaching my scuba and underwater photography and the years went by. A couple weeks ago, Rob contacted me and was headed back to Key Largo and wanted to do his Nitrox course and Dry Suit Diver course with me while here! We set this up and in the process, I learned that he had since gone on to do his Advanced course and his Rescue diver course. And he and Tammy had been continuing with and in their diving.
I have the credential to teach Nitrox. I do not have the credential to instruct dry suit diving. So, I hooked Rob up with Pam W. who is a friend and a PADI Course Director. Pam learned to dive in NC and they use dry suits up there, more than we do down here. I snapped the photograph above, while Pam was working with Rob in the pool and during his Dry Suit Diver course.
We had excellent diving conditions as he managed to catch one of the few window periods here, in 2008, where the winds had abated. Rob saw his first shark while we were diving at Snapper Ledge!

Rob successfully completed both courses and like many of you reading this blog, is a good student of scuba. He will be taking advantage of the new knowledge and skills he learned here as he dives in Lake Superior. He intends to return this summer bringing Tammy, as she is like me, and prefers to dive in warm waters and sans the need for a drysuit!

So after all these years, I was able to welcome Rob back to Key Largo and will see both he and Tammy again this summer!

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Hector logs his 1000th scuba dive!

One use I have found to make use of 'My Blog' is to recognize achievements and accomplishments of 'my guyz'. I met Hector a little over a year ago. He had recently been discharged from the military and was in Key Largo doing his Instructor Development Course. Shortly after his successful completion of his IDC, he participated in my underwater photography course. Hector did both these through Ocean Divers, http://www.oceandivers.com/, the dive charter company I engage. After leaving me and Key Largo, Hector packed his new instructor and photo credentials, scuba and underwater camera and moved to Hawaii. He is engaged as an instructor and photographer at this time and on the island of Oahu. Two of Hector's images, photographed there, are featured in my website's Contributors Gallery. A short while back Hector sent me the photograph above, which was taken on the day he did his 1000th scuba dive! That is a heck of a lot of diving Hector and kudos to You!

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Tee-shirt Contest Winner!!!

For the past ten years and around Thanksgiving, I send out a mass emailing to my students of scuba, of underwater photography, to my 'guyz' who regularly dive with me, associates, peers, photography clients and customers, 'mermaids', family and well; just_plain_ole_friends!
I do this after I have finished making my annual changes, additions and edits to my website. I accumulate ideas during the year and begin making the changes beginning after Labor Day, when diving in Key Largo slows down a bit.
The email serves many purposes from just being a way to better keep in touch with everyone to promotional. Like diving, the undercurrent is, it is also for fun. This year in the email, for fun, I conducted a 'contest' and the prize was one of my logoed tee-shirts. To win, the contestant needed to be the first person to email me and in their email identify three changes I made to my website. I mentioned, in this year's emailing, I would announce the winner of the contest here in 'My Blog'.
This was the first ever contest and this year, the contest winner is Mike and Kara. Kara has been diving with me for years and taken many scuba courses from me, including her Divemaster course. She is a great little scuba diver and now a mother and she is also a horsewoman. I feature her here in this blogpost competing in another contest that, I believe, she took third place in.
Congratulations, Kara (and Mike) for winning not one contest but two!
The changes 'they' noted to my website were: that I added two new images to my Gallery, 'Big Mouth' ( a Moray) and 'Natalie's Queen Angelfish' (self explanatory). Somewhat ironic that Kara would notice 'Big Mouth', as Morays have never been her favorite 'critter'! They also noted a new image on my Fun Top Side page: that of Mary M with her camera system. I made additions to the Contributors Gallery and they noticed those, and among those were: Jessica's 'Eye of the Octopus' and Melissa's 'Eyes of the Ray' (validating my premise that in UW photography, the 'eyes have it'). They also noticed links to a 'guyz' ability to order my way kewel logoed tee-shirt, and I believe that their seeing these compelled them to enter the contest. And, of course they noticed my addition of this- 'My Blog'.
Great fun to 'conduct' this contest and not sure what I will do next year! Me being unimaginative and not very creative, will likely do the same thing. So, if you missed out this year, there is always next year. Or, alternatively, you can just order a real kewel dive tee-shirt now!

Thank you Kara and Mike for noticing these changes to my site and I hope Mike enjoys wearing the tee-shirt. Congratulations to a winning couple!

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