Random Update - Jan. 24th, 2010

Been so long since I've done this, I may have forgotten how. Obligatory plea for your business: Photos from the past SEVEN years are available in Our Store here. Show some love!

So yeah, air travel in this country is re-DONK-ulous. There wasn't much waiting to get ON the plane, other than they screened us entirely to early for boarding from St. Lucia back to Atlanta, and made us stand by the door for nearly an hour. No the kicker was getting security screened when we got BACK onto our home turf, after we got off the plane to get back to our car and drive home. Full screen, re-check the bags, shoes off, empty pockets, open carry-on bags, etc. It took us two hours from the time we landed in ATL to get to our car in the parking garage. Congrats terrorists, you won.

Otherwise it was a great trip! We were asked to recommend excursions, so I'll recommend the scuba dives first. They're freakin' free, all you need is the certification. ("Resort" =$80 - good for a year / PADI certification is lifetime but cost a couple hundred) They supply the gear, the boat, even the instructors. I'm always amazed that a resort filled with hundreds of people only has a handful of people interested in free diving. The ATV excursion is pretty cool, great location, but the bikes are $140 each, and kinda beat up 330cc 4x4s. Finally, we liked the zip line tour also...high flying action! Different strokes though, so your mileage may vary.

We got a bunch of videos, until I lost my GoPro HD during the night dive 2 days before we left. I'm not real clear on when it happened, but I'm pretty sure it was at the end when they had to practically back the boat over us to pick us up. We emerged from the dive kinda close to a rocky beach, and it was gusty with a bit of current, so the pickup was aggressive. They got close, turned the boat around and backed up fast then cut the motors. We all had to make a grab for it and I think I dropped it grasping for some kind of hold on the side of the boat as it slid by us. (there was none) I grabbed Lori and we swam for the rear platform, got onboard, and realized I had dropped it somewhere. Being slightly negatively buoyant, (it sinks) I knew it was a lost cause. Didn't bother me so much that the camera was gone, but I thought it would have been good footage of our night dive.

The footage that we did get before that though will be online shortly...for now, here are some highlights!