Funny how it works - I'm a techie, but we're moving to where there is significantly less tech than here...
So, I'm taking some of it with me... I figure we won't have HBO or Showtime, so, we're loading up our laptops (yes, we both have one), and an external drive I just bought (1tb) with plenty of stuff to keep us occupied - movies, tv shows, etc... I also got some webcams so that we can see and converse with our parents from afar... I figure it only takes internet access to get connectivity, which is definitely cheaper than making a call, and we also get to see one another...
There is cell phone service on Utila, but without doing the research, I'm sure it's not very cheap to call the US... Anyways, we've got Skype installed on the parents computers, and it's already on our laptops as well, so it'll be easy for the parents (both sides) to use, hopefully ;) This way, they'll get some practice before we go...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
100% Committed
It's now October. In San Antonio, we've done a lot. We got our Advanced Open Water and Nitrox certs this spring, followed immediately by Emergency First Response, and right after that we did Rescue. We got our Rescue certification in July, and immediately started on Divemaster. Here, we had great experiences with two dive shops. All of our training, we are doing with an instructor at Dive World on Thousand Oaks - Josh Nowitz. He's a younger college student, but is a great guy and a great instructor as well. We got our Nitrox cert through Duggan Diving. Both shops are great, friendly, and have been extremely helpful.
Thankfully, Diamonds parents have been awesome for us - we've been able to save and pay all our old bills and such, while preparing for the move. I have been in touch with Andy from Utila Dive Center a lot since we moved, and just yesterday, I paid our deposit of $200 per person for our IDC which is the Assistant Instructor and Open Water Scuba Instructor courses combined. We reserved our spot for the March 10th class, with the Instructor Exam following right behind it. Once we're done with that we'll do our Master Scuba Diver Trainer internship for more experience and more certification.
There are a couple things you have to have by this time, or close to it. We already have our passports, though her name needs changed on hers, but that is getting mailed out today. Our divemaster certification is just a few weeks away, so that is a certainty as well. Deposit is paid to reserve our spot in that months class (it appears the classes sometimes fill early, especially for the early months). We have our DAN diving insurance already, and we've got a little money saved up. I just bought our plane tickets (one way) to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. San Pedro Sula is still a little ways from Utila, so, we'll take a small plane to Utila. I have not made those reservations just yet, though I have found our schedule for all of this so far.
Keep in mind, this is not as commercial as the United States is, so dealing with things not being 100% is going to be a reality.
So far, we have plane tickets on Spirit Air (remember, trying to keep prices down). We fly at 3:30 PM from San Antonio to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From there, we fly at 11:30 PM to San Pedro Sula, and arrive at 12:55 AM Honduras time. Honduras time is -6 UTC/GMT, and they do not observe daylight saving time (thank goodness). What that means is that during the summer months, Honduras is on the same clock as Mountain time, and during the winter, it matches up with Central time, US. We were able to get tickets for roughly $200 per person, including all the baggage fees and such.
Currently, we have all of our gear, and we've been happy with it all, so we are pretty much set there... It's a good idea to have your own gear and be familar with it's operation. I have also learned to service our own regs just in case there is ever a problem. We plan on taking some backup gear as well, we'll have one or two additional 1st and 2nd stages. Everything else is pretty reliable, and we have a backup depth timer in case a dive computer fails.
As of right now, this is current - I'll post more as I get info... Or if you have any questions, simply post a comment and I'll try to answer them in the next posting...
Thankfully, Diamonds parents have been awesome for us - we've been able to save and pay all our old bills and such, while preparing for the move. I have been in touch with Andy from Utila Dive Center a lot since we moved, and just yesterday, I paid our deposit of $200 per person for our IDC which is the Assistant Instructor and Open Water Scuba Instructor courses combined. We reserved our spot for the March 10th class, with the Instructor Exam following right behind it. Once we're done with that we'll do our Master Scuba Diver Trainer internship for more experience and more certification.
There are a couple things you have to have by this time, or close to it. We already have our passports, though her name needs changed on hers, but that is getting mailed out today. Our divemaster certification is just a few weeks away, so that is a certainty as well. Deposit is paid to reserve our spot in that months class (it appears the classes sometimes fill early, especially for the early months). We have our DAN diving insurance already, and we've got a little money saved up. I just bought our plane tickets (one way) to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. San Pedro Sula is still a little ways from Utila, so, we'll take a small plane to Utila. I have not made those reservations just yet, though I have found our schedule for all of this so far.
Keep in mind, this is not as commercial as the United States is, so dealing with things not being 100% is going to be a reality.
So far, we have plane tickets on Spirit Air (remember, trying to keep prices down). We fly at 3:30 PM from San Antonio to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From there, we fly at 11:30 PM to San Pedro Sula, and arrive at 12:55 AM Honduras time. Honduras time is -6 UTC/GMT, and they do not observe daylight saving time (thank goodness). What that means is that during the summer months, Honduras is on the same clock as Mountain time, and during the winter, it matches up with Central time, US. We were able to get tickets for roughly $200 per person, including all the baggage fees and such.
Currently, we have all of our gear, and we've been happy with it all, so we are pretty much set there... It's a good idea to have your own gear and be familar with it's operation. I have also learned to service our own regs just in case there is ever a problem. We plan on taking some backup gear as well, we'll have one or two additional 1st and 2nd stages. Everything else is pretty reliable, and we have a backup depth timer in case a dive computer fails.
As of right now, this is current - I'll post more as I get info... Or if you have any questions, simply post a comment and I'll try to answer them in the next posting...
Our Vegas Experience...
So, now we are in Las Vegas, Sin City! I've gotten a pretty good job as Sales Manager at the cities largest independent vehicle repair shop, and life is well. We have a nice house with a pool and we're doing pretty well for ourselves. After a few months of living together, we were married April 15th, 2007 on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas, while in Port Galveston, TX.
Early 2007, I was given an ultimatum, Diamond told me that she would be SCUBA diving with her father on our cruise/honeymoon, and if I didn't get certified, I'd spend that time instead with her grandparents (who also went on the cruise with us). SCUBA was something I was always interested in, but never really got around to doing. So, I did some research and found a great little dive shop in Las Vegas called ScubaViews. The owners Bill and Marilyn Duckro were just awesome. They really did everything they could to get me certified on my hectic schedule. After some pool work and a couple trips to Lake Mead (in the middle of winter, 56 degree water temps), I was HOOKED! Shortly thereafter, I started doing more and more research on diving, became a member of the Scubatoys and Scubaforums forum lists. I learned everything I could, and even went on a trip to California to dive the coast prior to our cruise - every experience I could get I was going to do...
So, we got married, and shortly thereafter (think 2 hours later) we were on our way to Jamaica. A couple dives there and I was really really hooked on diving. Two shore dives in the Caymans the next day, then two drift dives in Cozumel the last stop of the cruise and I just wanted more. Diamond had told me about her experience a few years back when she stayed at the Iberostar on Cozumel for a week. Obviously, she got a lot of diving in that week, and became quick friends with one of the divemasters. He told her how he was going from place to place and getting to tour around diving everywhere. She had quickly looked into doing something like that, but never did.
Back in Las Vegas after the honeymoon, I looked for every opportunity to dive, but didn't really know a whole lot of divers and Lake Mead was the only place real close to dive - most of its good spots are accessible only by boat, which can be pricey. We did do a couple dives there though and it was fun, though she is not a fan of lake diving. One day, I got an e-mail from some place that wanted a ton of money for diving instruction abroad. I looked into it, and it sparked my curiousity a little. I looked into other places, options and actually got serious about it. I found a place in Honduras called Utila Dive Center. After some correspondence with Andy Philips, Instructor, I got Diamond in the loop, and asked her what she thought. At first, she was a little shocked that I would go for something like that, but quickly agreed. This was fall of 2007. We signed up for Advanced Open Water through Scubaviews. In the mean time, we just planned on saving as much money as possible, then when we had enough, going to Utila, Honduras to finish our plans.
Diamonds parents thought it was a cool idea and offered to give us room and board if we moved back to San Antonio. Plans changed at this time. Given scheduling, we decided that late December we would move back to San Antonio. We sold all of our big things - furniture and a bunch of other junk we had. Everything we owned now fit into our cars and a few boxes we shipped ourselves. We didn't get a chance to finish our Advanced Open Water course in Vegas either. We made a few good friends in Vegas and we miss them dearly, but right now we are happy in San Antonio.
Early 2007, I was given an ultimatum, Diamond told me that she would be SCUBA diving with her father on our cruise/honeymoon, and if I didn't get certified, I'd spend that time instead with her grandparents (who also went on the cruise with us). SCUBA was something I was always interested in, but never really got around to doing. So, I did some research and found a great little dive shop in Las Vegas called ScubaViews. The owners Bill and Marilyn Duckro were just awesome. They really did everything they could to get me certified on my hectic schedule. After some pool work and a couple trips to Lake Mead (in the middle of winter, 56 degree water temps), I was HOOKED! Shortly thereafter, I started doing more and more research on diving, became a member of the Scubatoys and Scubaforums forum lists. I learned everything I could, and even went on a trip to California to dive the coast prior to our cruise - every experience I could get I was going to do...
So, we got married, and shortly thereafter (think 2 hours later) we were on our way to Jamaica. A couple dives there and I was really really hooked on diving. Two shore dives in the Caymans the next day, then two drift dives in Cozumel the last stop of the cruise and I just wanted more. Diamond had told me about her experience a few years back when she stayed at the Iberostar on Cozumel for a week. Obviously, she got a lot of diving in that week, and became quick friends with one of the divemasters. He told her how he was going from place to place and getting to tour around diving everywhere. She had quickly looked into doing something like that, but never did.
Back in Las Vegas after the honeymoon, I looked for every opportunity to dive, but didn't really know a whole lot of divers and Lake Mead was the only place real close to dive - most of its good spots are accessible only by boat, which can be pricey. We did do a couple dives there though and it was fun, though she is not a fan of lake diving. One day, I got an e-mail from some place that wanted a ton of money for diving instruction abroad. I looked into it, and it sparked my curiousity a little. I looked into other places, options and actually got serious about it. I found a place in Honduras called Utila Dive Center. After some correspondence with Andy Philips, Instructor, I got Diamond in the loop, and asked her what she thought. At first, she was a little shocked that I would go for something like that, but quickly agreed. This was fall of 2007. We signed up for Advanced Open Water through Scubaviews. In the mean time, we just planned on saving as much money as possible, then when we had enough, going to Utila, Honduras to finish our plans.
Diamonds parents thought it was a cool idea and offered to give us room and board if we moved back to San Antonio. Plans changed at this time. Given scheduling, we decided that late December we would move back to San Antonio. We sold all of our big things - furniture and a bunch of other junk we had. Everything we owned now fit into our cars and a few boxes we shipped ourselves. We didn't get a chance to finish our Advanced Open Water course in Vegas either. We made a few good friends in Vegas and we miss them dearly, but right now we are happy in San Antonio.
In the beginning...
I won't bore you with the details, but some will find how Diamond and I met in the beginning... It was summer of 2002, and I was working as a relatively new assistant manager at Discount Tire Company. I had moved to San Antonio, TX from South Padre Island, TX earlier that same year. The guys and myself had a store barbecue at one of the other assistant managers house. I showed up with my girlfriend at the time, and Diamond showed up as the girlfriend of one of my employees. We chatted a bit about cars and various things, but we were both committed in our own lives.
Fast forward to summer of 2003. My girlfriend and I broke up that prior spring. Diamond came into my work needing some help with her car. I helped her of course, and we got to talking - turns out her and her boyfriend that did not work for me any longer had broken up as well. We exchanged phone numbers and ended up dating from there... At the time, neither of us were in for a serious, committed relationship - we were both still fairly young. We dated each other, other people, etc. and she ended up moving to a little town a few hours from San Antonio. We kept in touch the whole time and there was always the attraction, even though we lived separate lives.
Fast forward some more to winter/spring 2006. Diamond has moved back to San Antonio, and we start seeing each other again, this time, more seriously. We really had a connection and both of us were ready to calm down a little. June 2006, on a trip to visit Las Vegas (brother lived there at the time), I asked Diamond to marry me and move to Vegas with me. Long story short, she said yes, and in September, I moved to Vegas, with her following right behind in October.
Fast forward to summer of 2003. My girlfriend and I broke up that prior spring. Diamond came into my work needing some help with her car. I helped her of course, and we got to talking - turns out her and her boyfriend that did not work for me any longer had broken up as well. We exchanged phone numbers and ended up dating from there... At the time, neither of us were in for a serious, committed relationship - we were both still fairly young. We dated each other, other people, etc. and she ended up moving to a little town a few hours from San Antonio. We kept in touch the whole time and there was always the attraction, even though we lived separate lives.
Fast forward some more to winter/spring 2006. Diamond has moved back to San Antonio, and we start seeing each other again, this time, more seriously. We really had a connection and both of us were ready to calm down a little. June 2006, on a trip to visit Las Vegas (brother lived there at the time), I asked Diamond to marry me and move to Vegas with me. Long story short, she said yes, and in September, I moved to Vegas, with her following right behind in October.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)