Bonaire vacation!

Ahhh, vacation! The beautiful island of Bonaire was our destination yet again. This was our third visit and we just can't get enough of this tiny speck of land in the Carribbean. If you're not familiar, Bonaire lies just north of Venezuela next to Curacao and Aruba. If you don't scuba dive or windsurf, you've probably never heard of it. Not much else to do there...

The diving is phenominal! No boats necessary as the reef is just off the beach, and the calm waters of the leeward side make it a breeze to enter the water. All you need is a truck, some extra tanks, a little snack and you have a great day of diving ahead of you. All the dive sites (and there are many!) are marked along the road with a yellow rock with the name of the site. If there are too many people at one, just drive on to the next. You can make your own schedule. Our condo was right above the dive shop, and one of the best reefs on the island was feet from our door. We encountered a host of sea creatures including turtles, eels, seahorse, tarpon, shrimp, octopus, flounder and a million tropical reef fish. All of these photos including the underwater shots were taken with our new Fuji F30 point & shoot and it's way cool u-w housing.

Click on the pics for a bigger preview.

Arrival, sunsets and the pier outside our condo. Pool's open!

The coolest little critter we saw all week!

A view down the beach from the condo and Beth making friends with the locals.

Mirror portrait and some cool sea life. (Beth does a great turtle impression!)

More fun on the reef. Flounder, tarpon, shrimp and a hungry
tropical who wanted to eat my fin!

Scorpion fish (Great disguise!), green moray eel, spotted moray

A few scenes above water. The Willemstoren lighthouse and old keepers quarters, a white slave hut near the salt works, pylon on the beach, Main St. in Kralendijk and another view of the shore near our condo.

Cool breeze in the palms, boats on the water, us underneath. When can we go back?!

Luke has arrived!

The latest addition to our extended family arrived last week... My godson, Luke Ryan Wiltse was born on Aug 24th.
His dad Eric, has been one of my best friends since we were both teenagers who relocated to Florida from "up north". I can't believe he's a dad now!
Beth and I are very close to he and his lovely wife Katie and we are so happy for them! Luke is a beautiful baby and we are looking forward to watching him grow. I guess he'll be splitting blog time with our "kids" Shelby, Tigger, Bailey and Indigo!

Underwater housing

We just got the underwater housing to go with our new Fuji F30 camera. It's a great accessory and I can't wait to take it diving in Bonaire next month!

Shelby helped me test it out...

Aren't they adorable?

Half dog, half otter!

"I'm ready for my close-up!"

Eric, Katie and Pam think we're all nuts!

2-Minutes and holding!

B.C. Open and Joel's

I just got back from covering the B.C. Open which was held near Syracuse, NY this year. The tournament is usually contested at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, NY. Due to massive flooding of the golf course, a new venue had to be found. Turning Stone resort had a great facility and the TOUR was not forced to cancel the event.
I spend a lot of time on the road, and as a result, spend a lot of time trying different restaurants around the country. Many times I find myself sitting in an Outback or other chain for the sake of convenience, proximity or just plain consistency of good food!
This time however, there were no chains nearby. The closest place to my hotel was this rustic looking place called "Joel's". Figured I'd give it a try. What a cool place!
The food was excellent and the staff really knew how to make you feel like a regular. The atmosphere was really warm and they had live music on the weekend. (Yes, I sat in with the band). I wish there were more places like Joel's, or at least one more... Here in Jax!

Big bull out front... Must serve chicken here!

Definitely not a chain.

There is an entire antique carousel in the middle of the building!

What a great stage. Wish we had more like that around here!

What The Duck

I had to post a couple of these... Finally photographers have our very own comic strip!

It's called "What The Duck", and is pretty true to life and really funny. The strip can be found at: www.sweetjelly.com/blog

Canon ad

Recently, Canon ran an ad in several major publications including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, ESPN Magazine, Golf World and Golf Week.

I was one of the photographers who had their PGA TOUR "credentials" used in the ad. Of course, I would be the most obscured one in the bunch! You can see half of me behind Stan on the bottom right.
Not a big deal, It's still cool to be associated with an ad campaign of this stature!

Dog Wood Park

This past Saturday we took Shelby for a "play day"at Dog Wood Park near JTB and I-95.
There was plenty of room to roam and lots of other dogs to play with. Once she found the lake it was all over. She spent the whole time swimming and retrieving tennis balls!

New friends.

Beth negotiates for the ball

I wish this was a duck!

Throw it again!

Shakin'

Getting a little tired.

Exhausted and happy!

The "new" Dial-9 at Lynch's

After a few lineup changes over the past year, It looks like we have a fairly stable group of guys (maybe that's not the right word to describe this bunch!) in my band Dial-9.

We played a one-night show at Lynch's and had a really good time. We didn't have a lot of time to practice together before the show, so there were a few rough moments but no real train wrecks.
Looking forward to more shows and adding some new songs to the list that fit this version of the band.

I love my wife, she is so supportive of my hobby!

Mike, channeling his "Inner Ozzy"!

Love the new drums!

Atlanta with the Souzas

We drove up to Atlanta last weekend to meet up with Beth's folks and her brothers family. It was a fun trip and we spent Saturday at the Georgia Aquarium. The building and various exhibits were nice, but the whole place was way too crowded. If you go, wait til school is back in and avoid weekends!

One of the two resident whale sharks

Deanna, Payden and Mark (AKA "Mongo")

Deanna, Beth and Payden pet the stingrays

The girls check out some tropicals

A hammerhead shark gets a closer look at the ladies

I'm not sure who got more entertainment from this portal, the penguins or the girls!

It was riot watching different people pop up and see the penguins check them out. I wonder what they're thinking...

Looking at the jellies

I don't know if aliens exist or not, but I'm still amazed by some of the creatures we have here on earth. These jellyfish were so beautiful to watch float around the tank.

Big grouper!

Lunch break with the kids

Little Mark loved the camera.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Chris with the young Souzas

Sunday, Beth and I stopped by the "Bodies" show at the Atlanta civic center. It was fascinating to see the human body preserved and displayed like that. A little creepy, but very educational!
I was bummed out that they didn't allow any type of photography. I guess I can understand since it's a sensitive topic to many people. You can see more about the show at the website: http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/

Bathing the reluctant Lab

Everyone know that labs love the water... In fact, they can't stay out of it. If there is a lake, pool or ocean nearby, count on having a wet, happy dog. Shelby will swim herself into exhaustion any time we let her.
So maybe someone can explain why our water-loving lab HATES getting a bath?! She acts like we are torturing her every time we break out the hose or put her in the tub.
We have to bathe her every couple of weeks to keep her from getting too stinky. I thought it would be fun to capture the look on her face while we torment her!

Why me?

You can stop any time now.

Stop taking pictures and help me escape!

I can't wait to roll in something really gross.

Finally over!

This part isn't too bad

OK, I forgive you.