the saipan blog
Latest posts related with the saipan blog
Goodbye Dives for Zandra
The ham you see in the picture above is Zandra, yup the same one who has only managed to get in 15 dives in the last year and a half of diving with me and the same one who very rarely ever updates her blog. Zandra has been on Saipan for 5 years now, but like many others has decided it's finally time to leave and move back to the states. I don't blame any of my friends for calling it quits out here and saying enough is enough, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't suck to watch all of your friends move away. [...]
The Reed Family
A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from Erin Reed, saying we had never met, but she had found my blog online and their family was planning a Saipan vacation, and that she was a diver. That was pretty much all I had to hear, I could already tell she was a perfect candidate to be the next victim of Axe Murderer Tours. Erin had fallen in love with diving and wanted to introduce her husband - Dan, and daughter - Grace to it as well. So I took Erin out by herself last Wednesday to make sure she knew what she was [...]
Tonight's The Night!
Ever since Mike Tripp and I had our little talk and drinks at Oleai a week ago, I've been hearing from all kinds of people about their ideas and thoughts on marketing the Marianas on the internet. At this point I believe I've talked to at least 30 people about it, all of whom plan on coming to our little meeting tonight, and those are just the ones I've personally talked to. I know that Mike and Angelo are also talking to people and stirring up interest in the meeting as well. It could be that there won't [...]
Special Thank You's
Now I know you've already seen a picture of the hat and plaque that Commander Mike Taylor of the USS Ford gave me for taking him diving, but it happens to fit in with my post today, so you're just going to have to look at it again. And plus I'm really, really, really proud of them! He certainly didn't have to go out of his way to have that plaque made and to find someone that could actually find the radio station to drop them off to me, but he did - that's just the kind of guy he is. I don't do what I [...]
September 8th
We had our Marianas Dive meeting last night at Oleai. Yup, we are still going strong, and we are actually adding on a few new interested people. I understand there are those who are skeptical and think we're just a flash in the pan, but as long as we still have an ocean, and as long as Mike and I are able, we'll still be diving and getting together over a frosty one to talk about it. And I believe we will have plenty of company. We had over 25 people show up last night, and I heard from several others who [...]
Diver Meet-Up #2
I have no idea what this thing is, but it was on the underside of some of the wreckage on the Chin Sen Muaru. At first I thought it was some kind of a clam or an oyster, but now that I see the pictures on the computer I don't think it is. I find so many cool and interesting things down there I'm just continually amazed. There are those people out there who think I eat, drink and breathe politics and discussing the weightier issues facing the Commonwealth. And yes, if you catch me out and about and want to [...]
Writing for Stars & Stripes
I got an e-mail yesterday that equally surprised and shocked me. Since I've started writing a blog, I've heard from a lot of different people. It put me back in touch with my step brother in law (I think that's the proper term) Bill, and I've literally heard from people all over the world. A guy named DJ was reading my blog in Japan and contacted me about finding someone to take him diving on Saipan. I just find it interesting the way things work and how things come together. Anyway, DJ wrote me [...]
First Diver Meet-Up
Well we had our first meeting of divers, bloggers, new bloggers, blogger wanna-be's and diver wanna-be's. When Mike and I first tossed out the idea of having this meeting, we didn't really know what it was going to be or if anyone would actually show up. But we figured if it was just the two of us, we'd enjoy our beverage of choice, watch the sunset, and tell dive stories. I never remember to get my camera out when I should be taking pictures, so I took the picture above after over half the people had [...]
marianasdive.com organized
Since this blog is about diving and divers I figured it was appropriate to start it off with a diving pic, and plus, I can't have Bev outdoing me for dive pics - even if they're not her pics (just teasing Bev). Just in case you're wondering what this beautiful flower looking thing is, it's a Spanish Dancer egg ribbon. A Spanish Dancer is a fairly big nudibranch, they are typically 8-10". Like all other nudibranchs, they lay these egg ribbons they attach to rocks usually, but I have also seen small egg [...]