The Good Banter Thread

[addy1]

If we don't hear from you again I suppose things did not go well

Ha Ha hope you have a great fun dive and see lots of cool interesting things

geez jw!

It is neat diving, need to find a good reef.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

We did a shore dive today at Lauderdale by the Sea. The reef started about 6 hundred feet from shore. I was a little scared by the swells at first. We made it to the edge of the reef and went down. I was responsible for the dive flag, and my wife had the camera. Visibility was real good for there. (about 50 to 60 feet) Water depth was about 20 feet and warm, and a moderate ocean current. There was a variety of coral and fish. The largest fish we have a few pics of. Basically, they were about 16 inches around and 2 inches thick. There ere also yellow and black fish, and a bunch of smaller species. No spectacular photos. Our $400 camera we have used twice, sprung a leak in the river dive last week. We have to send it away. We found a $39.85 digital good to 50 feet. It did not leak today. We both enjoyed this dive more than the river dive last week. Also, this was our first dive in the ocean without someone more experienced with us.
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The first pic is kinda scary, followed by a few random ones.
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[j.w]

Nice photo's and glad you had a good time. Yep if I was a fish and I saw that guy in the first picture staring at me I would skeedaddle fastlike

 

[Mike in Vermont]

lol Surprisingly, most fish aren't afraid of divers.
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Tomorrow, we are going to look at marinas. It looks like we will be shipping our 34' Carver down here. We looked at houses yesterday. Most land in communities where we wanted to stay, the houses are on leased land. After buying the house, you pay $300-$500 per month rent on land, $200-$300 per month maintenance fees and annual taxes. I figure for 5K per year we can be docked with cable, wi-fi, power. water and dry storage. Go for a cruise down millionaires row every day too. (gas is a lot extra)

 

[j.w]

Wow what a fun and exciting plan.
You will live on your boat and have the good life

 

[addy1]

lol Surprisingly, most fish aren't afraid of divers.
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Tomorrow, we are going to look at marinas. It looks like we will be shipping our 34' Carver down here. We looked at houses yesterday. Most land in communities where we wanted to stay, the houses are on leased land. After buying the house, you pay $300-$500 per month rent on land, $200-$300 per month maintenance fees and annual taxes. I figure for 5K per year we can be docked with cable, wi-fi, power. water and dry storage. Go for a cruise down millionaires row every day too. (gas is a lot extra)

Hey if you find something nice, let me know, we have looked off and on but have not made any decisions. We have a 30 foot sea ray sitting in the back yard. If we did a live aboard we would probably find a bigger one, used of course lol. We have a boston whaler sitting down there on a storage lot, but small cabin and right now a broken engine.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

I will let you know what we find,, addy.

 

[addy1]

I will let you know what we find,, addy.

Thanks, my dear honey likes to look and think of living on a boat. He loves Florida, but only in short doses. Max is around 2-3 months then he is ready to head home, Now if it is cold here he would rather stay down there.

 

[CountryEscape]

Mike, your third pic above looks like a French Angel, or perhaps a Queen Angel, which is my favorite reef fish! Sounds like you had a great time. If you ever want to go on a diving vacation, and do a TON of diving and nothing else, go to Bonaire! It has by far the best reefs around, you swim out 100 yards and you are at a reef. Dive down 15' to the top of the reef, and you can cruise the reef at that depth, or go down to 80-100' and see different stuff. The best part is that the diving is VERY easy on probably 80% of the dive sites. You get a truck with the hotel, drive to a site, get out, suit up, and walk into the water, swim a ways, dive down. And, you can night dive right from the hotel, just get in the water and go. I've been twice, and could easily go there twice a year and never get tired of the diving.

 

[addy1]

Bonaire does have beautiful diving. I have been there a few times. A while back we spent a week there. Wore myself out diving 3-4 times every day, but beautiful.

 

[CountryEscape]

It's one place I would love to take my daughter on a dive vacation. Now she is going to have her first baby in 6 weeks, so that will be put on the back burner. Not much to do in Bonaire except dive, so not like her husband can come with the baby, and have much to do while we dive. Someday ....

 

[Mike in Vermont]

Thanks, my dear honey likes to look and think of living on a boat. He loves Florida, but only in short doses. Max is around 2-3 months then he is ready to head home, Now if it is cold here he would rather stay down there.

We found a spot for storage on land in Indiantown. It's about 25 miles inland. Hurricane straps anchored in the ground. Also, access to both coasts. We haven't found a marina yet in a location where we want to be, which is on the inter coastal, between Stewart and Ft. Lauderdale. My wife and I have agreed on spending February 1st through April in the water, then storage the rest of the time. We will spend the rest of the time in Vermont working.
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We will probably have our boat trucked down to Indiantown early summer. We want a new refrigerator installed, among a few other things. There's supposedly mechanics there. This will give us time to find a marina. Many don't accept boaters who only wish to dock for part of the year. Unless of coarse, if you pay for the whole year. When we research this more, I will let you know our findings.

 

[addy1]

Neat, thanks for the update. That will be a lot of fun. Some beautiful areas down there.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

Bonaire sounds real nice CountryEscape I hope to be able to go there one day.

 

[addy1]

You would love it the diving is beautiful