Rich and Carrie in New York
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Florida
This was our long awaited first proper vacation since finishing our PhDs. So the plan was to meet up with Ben and Jo (diving friend from London), hire a big car and sample as many of the different dive areas as possible.
We all flew into Orlando and after a little trouble at the car hire desk, we were eventually on our way to Ginnie Springs. The north of Florida is covered in hundreds of underground freshwater spring and cave systems, and with the constant stream flowing through them they allow for some of the worlds clearest diving. Ginnie Springs has three main dive sites and is accessible to the non-cave diver certified - Brilliant.
The next day we headed south west to Crystal River in search of their famous manatees. Unfortunately there had been a rather big storm a few days before so the water visibility was a bit like pea soup. But after some persistence by Captain Bob we found a manatee and her calf. Although there are really strict rules against manatee molestation we were allowed to get really close and spent almost an hour with them.
The next day we hit the road again and headed to the east coast to do three days diving in West Palm Beach. The diving included some of the fasted drifts we'd ever experienced and tonnes and tonnes of giant turtles. There were also rumours that a few sharks were spotted, but as usual Rich and I failed to see them.
After WPB we headed south for the Florida Keys. The diving her is tropical and very like the Caribbean. It also houses some of the best wrecks in north America. While we were there we got to do one of the local favourites the Spiegel Grove, a huge wreck which was lying on it side until it was righted by a hurricane a few years ago. The sea life down south was much more plentiful and colourful, a point proved when even Rich managed to see two sharks on the very last dive.
Whilst in the Keys we also drove the 100 miles down to Americas most southern 'city' Key west. Although it was a bit list Western Super Mere in the height of the school holidays we still had fun driving down the 7 mile bridge, visiting Ernest Hemmingway's house and 6 toed cats, and taking in the Keys famous sunset.
After a nice relaxing time in the keys we drove back to Orlando (via WPB where we had managed to leave our wetsuits on the dive boat). We rounded up our week long trip with a great visit to Gatorland.
¶ 1:54 PM 0 comments
We all flew into Orlando and after a little trouble at the car hire desk, we were eventually on our way to Ginnie Springs. The north of Florida is covered in hundreds of underground freshwater spring and cave systems, and with the constant stream flowing through them they allow for some of the worlds clearest diving. Ginnie Springs has three main dive sites and is accessible to the non-cave diver certified - Brilliant.
The next day we headed south west to Crystal River in search of their famous manatees. Unfortunately there had been a rather big storm a few days before so the water visibility was a bit like pea soup. But after some persistence by Captain Bob we found a manatee and her calf. Although there are really strict rules against manatee molestation we were allowed to get really close and spent almost an hour with them.
The next day we hit the road again and headed to the east coast to do three days diving in West Palm Beach. The diving included some of the fasted drifts we'd ever experienced and tonnes and tonnes of giant turtles. There were also rumours that a few sharks were spotted, but as usual Rich and I failed to see them.
After WPB we headed south for the Florida Keys. The diving her is tropical and very like the Caribbean. It also houses some of the best wrecks in north America. While we were there we got to do one of the local favourites the Spiegel Grove, a huge wreck which was lying on it side until it was righted by a hurricane a few years ago. The sea life down south was much more plentiful and colourful, a point proved when even Rich managed to see two sharks on the very last dive.
Whilst in the Keys we also drove the 100 miles down to Americas most southern 'city' Key west. Although it was a bit list Western Super Mere in the height of the school holidays we still had fun driving down the 7 mile bridge, visiting Ernest Hemmingway's house and 6 toed cats, and taking in the Keys famous sunset.
After a nice relaxing time in the keys we drove back to Orlando (via WPB where we had managed to leave our wetsuits on the dive boat). We rounded up our week long trip with a great visit to Gatorland.
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Monday, July 03, 2006
Kandy and Aaron at large in New York!
Karen and Andy (diving buddies) came over to visit at the beginning of June. This gave us another oportunity to do loads of cheesy touristy stuff. This included a ride around central park in a horse drawn carriage, a chance to sample lots of fine American cuisine and a trip to watch the Yankees play. The game was great fun, even if none of us knew what was going on - we didn't even realise that it had finished (and that they'd won) until the standium started to empty out! We also took a 'cruise' around New York at sunset which gave us some good pictures. The highlight of their visit though was a day trip to Coney Island, which is a very tacky sea side fun fair park built back in the 1920s. It is also home to the invention of the hot dog and one of the worlds oldest roller coasters and highest big wheel. Although Karen, being 6 months pregnant, could go on many of the rides she came in very handy holding the bags for the rest of us. We did as many rides as our nerves could take (the most frightning part being the age of the rides rather than the speed or height) and then visited the near by aquarium.
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Miami in May
The Day after returning from San Diego, Carrie was off to Miami for a work-related conference. This wasn't quite a dull as it first sounds as the conference was held in a five star hotel right on south beach with its own private beach and pool - best of all every this was free.
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Memorial Weekend in San Diego
With a long weekend ahead we decided to take another trip to see the Hughes' in San Diego. This time Henry had just celebrated his first birthday and we had an action packed time. It was also Sarah's birthday that weekend so we celebrated with lunch at a fancy restaurant over looking the harbour (which included free champagne) followed by a BBQ and pool party at a friend's house. We also managed to squeeze in some wine tasting and a trip to the beach.
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Busy, Busy, Busy.....
We've not Blogged for a while as its been a busy few months. So here is a breif summary of what we've been up to. More of our photos can be found here.
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