Dark Water

This year has seen me accomplish a lot of goals. We moved to Florida. I've made 250 dives. And I published my first book on Amazon.
After a year of staring at Word on the computer its so awesome to see the book in print.

It's availabel on Amazon on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback! Go out and buy a copy and leave me a review!

What's it about? Glad you asked!

Pirates are stealing sailboats in the Gulf of Mexico...
A Cartel is plotting war with the United States...
ISIS is detonating suicide bombs across the desert Southwest...
In the wake of a deadly suicide bomb, Ryan Weller is asked to work as a Homeland Security liaison. His practical knowlege of sailing and skills as a former Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician make him the ideal candidate to track down the pirates. While Weller searches for the string that ties everything together, he comes into the crosshairs of assassins and his own sailboat is shot out from under him. Can he survive the elements and defeat the mad man bent on reclaiming Atzlan?

Follow along as Ryan Weller finds more adventures. Available only on Amazon!

Whew! Its been a while!

So much has happened since my last update in November. It was a stange holiday for us because Becky went to Ohio to help take care of her father who was admitted to hospice and passed away in January. Patrick and I drove up to Ohio for the funeral and while we were there we packed a U-Haul with lots of our goodies because we bought a house in Hollywood, Florida. You can barely see it in the photo, but ini the back is a covered carport just big enough for us to squeeze the camper under.

 The flamingos are what sold Becky on the house. We looked at it before she went to Ohio and Idid all the paperwork and signing with her out of town.

We all froze in the Artic weather the north seemed perpertually stuck in this year. The sunrise was beautiful though.

 
We were all thankful to get back to Florida and get started on the renovations for us to move in. We spent most of February and March in the camper while we worked. The forty minute round trips got pretty old after awhile. The biggest project was making the master bath accessible. Before and after photos.

When we started the demo, I thought the tile was actually glossy wall board. Turns out the investors had just painted the original baby blue tile white.

I thought the demo would be pretty easy. Turns out it was super tough with the old 1950s construction.

We hired this old Cuban to lay tile. He was the master. Its beautiful.

Still need to put in the folding shower bench and the grab bars.

The finished product turned out show room quality. Just as I planned (rubs hands together!)

We also did some work in the living room, creating a walk way and ramp over the sunken area. New ceilinig fans and lights were installed throughout.

 Safety for everyone!

 Becky's main job was painting. Everything inside and out of the house was painted the same ungly shade of tan. She added vibrant colors to some of the rooms and grey to the rest of the house. She had to paint the back patio as well. Next year she says the exterior gets a paint job. 

I try to dive at least once a week! That's why we moved to be in the diving meca of the US!  Just a few shots from the USS Spiegel Grove, one of my favorite wrecks. And some of French reef.

 See that area under the bow, you can swim through it!

 Jardan (yeah he's Australian) slips through under the bow.

 My dive buddy Jardan.

Scuba Diving

Man its great to be back in Florida! The weather has been spectacular and we have been busy with lots of fun stuff (updating the blog isn't always fun, sorry).
Last year as we were leaving Florida, I bought an Intova X2 underwater camera, but didn't get the opportunity to dive it. In Ohio, I made a mount for it on my helmet and I started filming and taking pictures so all my peeps can see some of what I get to see on a routine basis.

I mounted the camera so I could see what I was taking a picture of and it was convenient for me to operate.  

 A new box of goodies showed up at my doorstep. Apex sidemount regulators! Me love.

 Ah, back to the fish pictures! First four are from a dive near Ft. Lauderdale.

 My good friend Kary McNeal.

The Spiegel Grove and the Benwood.

Snoopy was the mascot for the Spiegel Grove. Also called the Spiegel Beagle

My dive buddy Pete holds out the flag

Big Barracuda 4 to 5 feet long

The Benwood

Parrot fish

In the center of this pic is a fish. That is a five foot long Goliath grouper. Right above him is a turtle. My camera battery died right after I took this shot so I couldn't get any more.

Heading for Florida again

October 16 We got a late start after running a few errands in the morning. We ran down Route 33 through Ohio to 77 in West Virginia and motored to Charleston. Steak was on the menu for supper and we bedded down in Beckley, WV at a Walmart. This year we convoyed with Becky and Patrick taking turns driving the blue Impala. P just got his permit and logged quite a few hours.

That's us in there. The semi on the right came in and idled his diesel all night. He was noisy.

 Sights down 77 through WV and Virginia

 Patrick takes the wheel. Scary as _______!!!!

 You may remember a few years ago we went out to Washington and spent a month living at the Law's house. Richie retired from the Navy and moved his family to North Carolina. Our lives are busy and we had time to have dinner with Richie and the girls. Tara wasn't feeling well. Hope you get better sweetie!

Spent the night at the defacto RV park, Walmart.

 Had a small stretch of highway on the way down but most were back roads and nice driving. The arrival times were comparable.

 What that old Alabama song: "Cotton on the roadside, Cotton on the ditch, We all picked cotton and we never got rich."

 Walmart over night south of Ocala after a supper of barbecue.

 We arrived! Back at CB Smith Park for the winter and maybe longer.

 Of course we had to go to the beach! It was really windy. We took our part-time kid with us. He was sure glad we were back!

Even Florida was glad to have us back!