First Day of Diving

Wow! This was really a full day. We left to dive at 8:30 in the morning. Beautiful day with the sun shining and not behind clouds. Little wind, so the sea was smooth. Our first dive was the Columbia Reef, which would take us to 90 feet deep off a wall. Beautiful location. Walt did not have enough weight so it was hard for him to get down, comsuming quite a bit of air. So he decided to stay at 70 feet and conserve his air. But he had a hard time communicating that to Karen who was fixed on the dive master and did not comprehend what she was being signaled. So Walt had to explain to her the importance of paying attention to one's buddy. Anyway it ended well. The wall was beautiful with thick coral growth, but not a whole lot of fish.

Our second dive went a lot better. It was a Yucab reef and was only 55 feet deep. So we got a long time under water. Saw a lot of nice fish, some very big compared to similar species seen elsewhere. We did see a nice size nurse shark taking a nap under a rock ledge and a huge green morey eel. The coral here was beautiful along with other animal life. It was a really fun dive.

We were going to take a dive in the afternoon out front of the resort, but went shopping instead. Visited a SCUBA shop and Walt bought a suvenior wind breaker to wear on the boat as does get cold in the wind (cold, but not like Iowa is today). Then we signed up our day off from diving on Sunday to do a tour of the island and hear a sales pitch for a resort near the area where the cruise ships come in. Today we had six huge ships from Carnival and Royal Caribbean, plus two other lines we did not recognize. Carnival had three ships tied up here today.

Then we went to a Mega Mart, much like a super Walmart. Got some cheese and Coke Light (not nearly as good as plain diet Coke or Coke Zero). Then we hit a couple of jewelry stores for Karen to look at. While waiting for Karen to shop without buying, Walt got the chance to witness to a Jehovah Witness. The guy just started jumping on Roman Catholics and said they had false teachings. When asked which ones, he started in on the Trinity. Walt got a good chance to try and explain the greatest mystery in the universe. The guy invited Walt to come speak at his church while in town, but decided not to go because (1) he would be outnumbered, and (2) he is on vacation. Just did not think it would be a good time or place, especially since Walt's Spanish is limited to items of food and bathrooms.

After a nice dinner of beef we are relaxing on our balcony with a slight breeze and wonderful peaceful waves on the shore. God is so good. Sorry all you Iowa folk are getting hit with the blizzard. Until Wednesday have a blessed sleep and a great day in God's world.

Safe in Cozumel

Greetings from warm and beautiful Cozumel. We are sitting on the balcony of our second story room at 7:30 p.m. There is a nice wind blowing in from the ocean. The waves lap against the shore in soothing rhythm, almost singing a lulluby that is about putting us to sleep. It may also be that we are very tired from our trip, having to arise at 3:45 a.m. to get to the airport by six o'clock. We arrived early enough that we caught an earlier flight to Dallas, which gave us nearly two hours to rest in the Dallas airport. We arrived in Cozumel about 1:00 and arrived at the restort around 2:00. The system for customs in Mexico is really smooth and we all got through quickly.
We arrived to find our dive group out in a boat because of two events. One is that the group must do one afternoon dive to help accomodate all the divers at this resort. The second is that there was a big storm from the north that passed through here on Sunday night. Because of the prevailing winds, the channel here was closed to boat traffic until 11:00 a.m. So almost all morning dives ended up being noon or later dives. Our group did not return until nearly five oclock, which gave Karen and I a lot of time to get settled in, pay all of our dive fees, sign all the documents. We also just sat on the shore and watched the water.
The restaurant here is nice, serving good and filling meals. Tonight Karen had chicken and I had seafood kabobs. All very tasty. But we did not get any diving in today. So our first dive will be tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. all things being in order.
We really want to thank you for praying for us today and thank God for answering those prayers because this trip down was just nearly perfect. Even security went smoothly for me as I just seem to get upset facing all that undressing and unloading the computers, etc. But we got through it without a hitch. They did search Karen's carryon bag because her gear looked like a toy helocopter. Well that is enough. More tomorrow evening.

Cozumel Here We Come

On Monday we will be leaving out of Springfield for a week of SCUBA diving in Cozumel, Mexico. We will get in six days of diving with two boat dives every day. Watch my blogspot every evening for updates as to our experiences and maybe a picture or two. We are joining a group of divers from Aquasports who will be going down on Saturday. Karen and I had to wait until Monday to go because of the church's annual meeting on Sunday. We will stay until Monday, Jan 31, which means that we will be diving after the rest of the group leaves. Hopefully we will feel confident enough to go with strangers after the group leaves. Cozumel is drift diving, which means we jump off the boat into the ocean, submerge to appropriate depth, float along in the current until we reach our air limit, surface, and (God willing) the boat is there to pick us up. They say it is a very relaxing experience and you get more time underwater because you are not sucking up air swimming. We will see. You can see a webcam at the resort web site and see us leaving on the boat at about 9:00 am and returning about 1:00 pm. The website is www.scubaclubcozumel.com. Otherwise, just read this blog and keep up with my reports.

Shame on Iowa

The joke was told by my Iowa friends that when I move to Missouri from Iowa that I would raise the IQ of both states. Seems more like that when I moved here that the moral standards of Iowa declined. The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that the ban against gay marriage is unconstitutional. Starting on April 24 gay couples will be allowed to become legally married. We are talking about Iowa, which was once a solid religious state that had most residents being a part of an organized church. But with the growth of major cities like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux Falls, Iowa City, the state has grown constantly more liberal. Last year an attempt was made in the state legislature to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. But there was no heart for it as legislators feared that they would commit political suicide to take a stand for such an amendment. Now it will take nearly three years for such an amendment to be passed and put in force. Most likely it will never happen. Iowa will become the third state to sanction gay marriage. Since they have no residence requirement, it will be possible for gay couples from the surrounding states, including Missouri, to go to Iowa and get married and then ask for their marriage to be accepted in their home states. I am not up to date on Missouri law, so I do not know if our legislature has taken any action to refuse to accept marriages of gay couples conducted in another state. We see just another sign of the moral decline of our nation and of the world in whole. We must pray that God will send revival upon his church that his people can once again become an influential force in our nation.

Lent Looms Before Us

I am preparing for this Sunday and facing the reality that on Wednesday we have our Ash Wednesday service at the church along with a pot-luck sandwich supper. It is hard to believe that we have moved from Christmas into the preparation for Resurrection and Spring. This winter has not been bad enough to create in us a longing for spring, but we will look forward to the greening of the lawns, the budding of flowers, the foliage on the trees, and warmer weather. Lent is a time of preparation for the greatest event in history: the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time to remember how much God hates our sin and was prepared to sacrifice his only Son to justify us and impute to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ so that we will be saved from the punishment of sin and be guaranteed a place in heaven. I hope that if you do not know the wonderful peace that God gives to his children that you will stop and consider the deep, deep love of God, the wonderful work of Jesus Christ, and be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. If you will bow the knee in humble acceptance of God's judgment on your sin, repent of your sinful life, and accept the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, God will give you the joy of becoming his child and the assurance of eternal life in God's presence.

Final Day of Diving

Today we went on two boat dives. The first at 8:30 am took us to a site called Rappel because before they had boats to take the divers out, you had to rappel down a small cliff or be daring and jump in. This area did not suffer a lot of damage from the hurricane and was absolutely the most beautiful spot that we visited this week. The fan coral was full with no broken corners. Karen and I went on our own taking an easier dive around the 40 foot mark. We really enjoyed it seeing some new species of fish and many of the familiar.
The second dive was on Kein Bonaire at Captain Don. This was a deep wall, but Karen and I kept it at the shallow level. This was the most exciting of all the dives for we got to see Spotted Eagle Rays. These are like sting rays, about 4-6 feet across and they glide through the water like an eagle flying in the sky. They were magnificant. This was the highlight of the trip for me.
After lunch and the old-folks-nap we did our final dive on Bonaire. We just went off the dock here for a shallow dive. We wanted to see some squid, which we did right away. The bonus was we also some some Peacock Flounders, which can really camoflage themselves in the sand. We saw a spotted eel on the way back to shore. It was a very exciting way to end our underwater time in paradise.
Tomorrow is no-diving so that we can off our nitrogen that we build up during our dives and thus be safe when we fly to home on Saturday. We have to leave the resort on Saturday morning at 4:30 am to get to the airport and through customs and security. Friday will be spent in shopping in the downtown area and relaxing at the resort. Hopefully I will get the sermon all finished that day.
Saturday ends our time on this island paradise. Isn't it wonderful to know that the paradise that Jesus has promised us will be a million-zillion times better and will never end. Six days of diving is enough. We are tired and ready to head back home. We look forward to seeing many of you on this weekend or when God arranges for our next time together.

Fifth Day in Paradise

Karen and I are sitting on the patio of the restaurant/bar where we eat and looking out at a cresent moon shining with a smile over the waters of the Caribbean. We had a wonderful day of diving on our own. We are now getting more relaxed and able to look around much more. The first dive was just a casual and slow swim just off our resort. We saw lots of beautiful fish and glorious coral. We saw a Queen Parrot fish which is just as beautiful as any parrot in the air. We saw tiny little angel fish. And then there was the Great Barracuda.

After lunch and a nap we did dive two for this day. We went on the site La Machaca, which is the name of a small wreck in rather shallow water (35 feet) and then we kept on swimming past it. As we started out, we found an octopus hiding under an old oil barrel. We could just see his one tenticul and head with two eyes starring at us. Our planned third dive was aborted when I noticed that Karen's connection with the tank and her regulator was leaking. Turned out she had a bad O-ring on the tank. We decided that God wanted us to quit for the day and this was his way to get our attention. We seldom check our connections once we are in the water. So this was surely a "God Sighting" even though it was not real dangerous. Karen would have used up her air more quickly, but since Walt "sucks" air much faster, she still would have had air left after he ran out.

Tomorrow is our last day for diving. We will go on two boat dives tomorrow and then have free diving in the afternoon. Walt might try a night dive if anyone is interested in going with him. The two pictures are obvious, Karen and I fully outfitted to begin our dive this morning. Please don't laugh too hard. All that gear weighs over 70 pounds each and is quite the struggle to get on each dive. Now a word from Karen...

Hi. It sure is beautiful here. When I first drafted this part, we were sitting on our porch with two couples in our group journaling and logging in their dive logs, all talking "fish talk".

I feel like I have three guardian angels with me on this trip. One is the real one assigned to me as a believer. The second one is our dive leader who miraculously appears on our boat dives always when I need him to get me down and started in the right direction. Then he passes me off to my third guardian angel...Walt.

With each dive Walt and I are improving in our skills and keeping together better as "dive buddies".

Two scriptures have taken on increased meaning for me. Psalm 139:9 "If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me." I feel so peaceful and secure "down there" (as long as God's three guardian angels are near.)

The second scripture describes the fifth dayof creation...Genesis 1:20, 22. "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures...And God blessed them saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas.'"

As a six day creationist, God created each kind of these glorious fish all in one day, just with the sound of His voice. I know God is awesome, but seeing His underwater world He made makes Him even more so!