It has been a most excellent year for diving and training. As usual, we started the year off with friends at the quarry, working on skills, skills, skills. In the winter, our usual place to eat is Jean Burger. Ok, it’s not going to win any awards as far as the Healthiest Food On Earth, but that poutine sure is yummy after a cold, wintery dive.
This year also brought me the She-P. Thanks to Heleen and Sander, in the Netherlands, myself and hundreds of others were now able to dive with a bit more comfort. With a bit of trial and error, and an “accident” or two, this device made my life a lot easier. Heleen and Sander… you are the best! Thank you!!!
In March, Steve and I made the trip down to New Jersey, for Beneath The Sea, with Northern Tech Diver. We were able to put a lot of faces to names, and build wonderful friendships. I have to say that the display kicked butt, and even won an award.
The river opened up in the second week in April, and we were happy for the change in scenery. We do love the quarry, but it’s nice to be back in the River!
There was also Leigh’s surprise birthday party, in which we had to get him to the restaurant without him being on to us. I think he had a slight idea, as our routine changed a bit. That was another pretty fun day.
Leigh… after his birthday party…
I spent a lot of time this year, working on skills and preparing for the courses I was taking. I also sat in on a few DIR~F classes, to reabsorb information. It’s a bit different when you’re not actually sitting in the class, like a deer in headlights… What a valuable thing to be able to do. We scheduled Thursday night skills dives at the Quarry as well.
I went to my high school reunion in May, and met up with so many friends that I hadn’t seen in a lifetime. That weekend turned out to be one of the best weekends ever, as it was also packed with diving goodness, aside from the reunion festivities. I did the Tiller with Jay, Humber with David B. and Chris M., and the Sligo with the DIS crew.
Pic by Warren Lo…
At the end of May, I was blessed with PVC goodness. Steve and I picked up a 35ah PVC Gavin for me. I learned some scooter skills and practiced, and was finally able to join in on some of the river scooter dives.
Pic taken by R. Levstein…
We spent some time in Kingston, playing around with skills at the quarry, looking for wrecks, scootering one from shore, as well as charters with the gang.
Steve and I, taken by Tom R…
August brought so many friends from Zen Diving, for a weekend of diving and socializing fun. It was really amazing to meet so many absolutely wonderful people. Every single one of them. We’ve made some really great friendships, and look forward to seeing them again next August!
We also had our friend Harvey come for a visit. We had been waiting to dive with him for a couple of years, and the time had finally come for him to come and stay with us. Our friend Francois was also a regular visitor at our house!
The time had finally come to do Tech 1. I had dived my fool butt off, put a lot of time into skills, and it seemed to pay off. My buddies Jacob and Dmitri were amazing, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team.
This year also brought the Northeast Underwater Explorers, and my first Jodrey dive. We met even more amazing people, and look forward to many more dives and visits with them. They amazed us with that darn sunlight they brought with them.
Then there was October, when Steve and I were married, and we headed down to Mexico for Cave 1. The first few days were on our own, and our friends came down to join us later on, for the course. What an absolutely amazing experience. They say caves are addictive… that’s an understatement…
Picture taken by Oren… only one of me, and it’s my butt…
Pic by Carmen Cheung…
There were a couple more trips to the Jodrey, and we had fun everywhere we went.
Pic taken by Warren Lo…
Pics taken by me…
I think Steve took this one…
Then there was December… It seemed to come too quickly. The cold air was moving in, and our days in the river were getting fewer, until the spring. Our last river dive of the year was a scooter dive in Morrisburg…
Santa (read Steve) had also brought me a lens, so that I could start taking pictures with my “new to me” camera (thanks Tom and Vlada!!!) in the quarry.
What an absolutely fantastic year of diving with all of our regular dive buddies, and those that travelled so far to hang out with us. I really value the friendships that we were able to build throughout the year ~ New friends, and stronger relationships with friends we already had.
We even learned that bringing scooters up to a hotel room to charge was a pretty amusing ordeal as well, right Jay?
Thanks to all of our friends, for helping to make 2008 such a great year.
Cheers to 2009!! J
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