Diving Weekend

I went diving at Portage Quarry in Bowling Green Friday evening and White Star Quarry in Gibsonburg on Saturday. It is always good to dive, but the water temperatures were cold. Someone said they were down ten degrees from last year.


Here is my dive buddy Matt


White Star Quarry is an old limestone quarry. Here is one of the structures at the bottom, called the Pit.


There is leftover mining equipment all around, which makes for interesting viewing


Perhaps, this was a treasure chest

Thank You for Your Prayers

I talked to my mother last night and she is recovering from her very serious surgery. She is walking more and starting to eat more. She will be going to the nursing home with my father when she is released from the hospital.

Positive Up-Dates on Mom and Dad

I received a great report about my mom. She :

-sat up for 3 hours
-walked
-had the suctioning tube removed
-ate jello and tea
-requested no pain pills
-understood what happened to her
-knows where dad is
-is giving me orders of request!!! I will visit her tomorrow

Dad:
-is adjusting
-receiving PT, OT
-happy mom is progressing
-being monitored by the nursing staff
-will celebrate his 85th birthday tomorrow

Mom's address:

Alle-Kiski Medical Center
1301 Carlisle Street
Natrona Heights, PA 15065

Dad's address:

Golden Living Center
350 Old Gilkeson Rd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15228

I hope you are well.

David, Hilary, and Richard

Please Pray for My Mother and Father

My mother took very ill this last week and had serious major surgery. She is still in the hospital in Natrona Heights, Pa. My father needs help and will be staying at a nursing home in Mt. Lebanon, Pa, near my brother. I spent the weekend visiting my mother and staying with my father. My mother is stable today, but it is one day at a time. My father misses her terribly. They have been married 56 years. I appreciate your prayers for my parents. Thank you.

Grand Cayman Dive Report


You will see me with the exotic reef life and the nurse shark


Grand Cayman East End Dive Report from Marshall Karp on Vimeo.

Click here for the HD video, which I highly recommend as it is so much sharper and clearer.

More Cayman Dive Photos

From my dive buddy, Mike.

Grand Cayman Island Vacation 2008 Video


Grand Cayman Island Vacation 2008 from Marshall Karp on Vimeo.

Click here for the HD Video

Sunday Dinner With the Newlyweds

Third Dive Trip to Grand Cayman

I love it here, the water is warm, the reefs are beautiful, and the visibility is out of this world

Reef Resort Beach

Here are a few pictures of the beach. There will be more about the Resort when I post the video

Sea Turtle

On the first dive of the trip, a big sea turtle swam gracefully past me. As always, click on the pictures for the full size photo

Georgetown Grand Cayman

Elaine and I drove across the island from the East End to Georgetown to look around. The trip took one hour. It is a big cruise ship tourist town and was really busy

Lighthouse Restaurant Grand Cayman

Here is the Lighthouse Restaurant on the East End. The food and service were wonderful and Elaine and I highly recommend it


Here is the view in back, right on the shore


It had a nautical feel, like eating on a cruise ship



Here is Bella, the talking pirate parrot, at the front entrance

Marshall in Grand Cayman

Doing What I Does Best

Marshall and the Sharks

Have lost track of the days as there is one perfect day after another here on Grand Cayman.

Yesterday, I rounded a coral reef and there on the sand below was a huge nurse shark. Immediately, I put the video camera on it. As everyone in the guided group sort of crowded around to see, the shark suddenly started off the bottom, moving up towards me! Don't know if you ever had a shark staring at you, but I was very unnerved. Unnerved, heck, I think the water turned yellow around me. I took off towards the Dive Master as I figured if he wasn't running, everything was okay. Fortunately, the shark did a 180 and took off in the other direction, around the coral and gone. I know everyone thought I was a big wuss back on the boat, one lady rubbed it in and said that she wanted to kiss it, but you know what, I don't care!

Today, we were on another reef, rounded a corner, and there was another big nurse shark on the bottom. This time no one crowded around and he/she stayed on the bottom. I put the video camera on him and moved from back of shark to front of shark, full 180 view. Then, he lifted up and moved off, not in my direction though. Frightening and exhilarating at the same time.

The hd video will be posted on my blog when I get back and have time to edit it down. The perfect diving conditions are indescribable as it seems like you are diving in a tropical fish aquarium.

Tomorrow, I found a dive buddy and we are going shore diving at Eden Rock near Georgetown. Saturday we fly home.

Have a happy 4th of July. God bless all of you and God bless the USA.

Another Day in Grand Cayman

What a life, dive, sleep under a palm tree, eat, drink, sleep, and do it all again the next day.

Anywho, made two dives this morning. The first dive was a wall dive to 100 feet Not alot of fish on the wall, and I kept looking down the abyss hoping to see something big come up. Not today.

The second dive was interesting on shallower reef. Quite a few big fish, tarpon. Also, there was a big fish under the overhang that I did not what it was, so I stayed a few seconds to video it. When I got back on board, everyone said that it was a reef shark they saw me videoing. Good thing I did not know what it was at the time.

Hope you have the opportunity to dive here someday. I feel blessed.