Went to the dentist, and he gave a clean bill of health. No dental problems, and recommended to continue diving with Alieve as needed.

Went diving in the morning. We ended up making two dives, near to each other. The first dive was the longer of the two, and also the most scenic. Swam around a gorgeous reef, saw a number of tropical fish, most I couldn't name. Some of the notables were two spiny lobster, black sea urchin, puffer fish with gold sparkly eyes, spider crabs, all sorts of coral structures, sea creatures that quickly pulled into themselves when they felt motion in the water, and bright vibrant colors everywhere. I only wish I had brought more than one camera under with me. :( 27 pictures were not enough. We were out for a good 5 hours, and I have a nice tan as a result. I also started reading Runelords by David Farland on the ride back to shore. So far so good.

Back home after two dives, cooked up some steaks and bratwurst on the grill. Two dives is rather tiring, although I can't think of a better way to get exercise than 10 feet under water.

Posted some pictures of Mikes first birthday party, and from his actual birthday July 19. It was a great party, and as I get more time today, I'll write about it.

Also, I've put together a new front page for Mikes site, even though it's not updated very frequently these days. Two pictures from his birthday party make up the collage.

Update :
Bob came over today, flew in around 5:30am into Miami. Dad was up at 3:00am to drive the 2 hours to Miami to pick him up, then home around 8:00. So excited were we to all be together that we went for an early morning dive out at Coffin Cove, a coral reef a few miles off shore. Bob suggested that I take some Aleive to reduce the swelling in the area, then go diving. And lo and behold, it worked. I spent a good half hour under water looking at coral and reef and fish. It was a great clear day, and the water was bright with 50 feet of visibility. The underwater camera took some pictures, and it was a great dive all around. We'll do it again tomorrow.

Then dad pulled out all the stops and took Randy and I to the local airport. Available for air tours was a Waco biplane, bright blue in color. This salty island guy was flying people for tours in the two seater plane, taking them up for 20 minutes for a spin around the island, and the opportunity to fly the plane for short stints. It was scary and exhilariting at the same time. The open air plane, I poked my head out at 80 miles an hour at 500 feet to look straight down on the boats over the water. The pilot knew his sticht, was great in the plane, gave a great tour of the island.

I got some great pictures of the plane and the flight.

Oh yes, I did some work on the photos and Mikes web page as well.

Flying out of TPA on a Gulfstream Beech 1900 airplane, 19 seater. 2 propellers, 3 pilots, 1 hour. Pictures. Some pictures. Denise would not have liked this flight, even though it was short and uneventful. There was a bit of bumps as we tried to beat the storm. I was rather amazed. They have a rule that nobody is allowed on the tarmac for four minutes if a lightning strike hits in a certain distance. We were so keen to beat the coming rain that we walked out under the cover, counted the seconds, then shrugged and were hurried onto the plane. I guess that the bolt hit 1.01 miles away rather than 0.99 miles, at least so the pilot thinks. It was a race to get to the runway before we were grounded, and almost made it but for some inbound air traffic. We ended up sitting on the taxiway for 10 minutes, next in line, until we got the green light to go. The plane was really a nice flight. It became predictable when we would hit the bumps too. Enter a cloud, bumpy, exit the cloud, smooth. The pilot left the curtain open so we could see them work, and see out the front window. We made a spectacular 270° turn on approach to EYW airport, at only 1000 feet above the ground, which really made the turn seem fast, watching the ground roll by. These pilots were flying pretty loose for commercial pilots, and it was fun.

Was the guest of a TSA special. I really have to question the effectiveness of the security policies of this most misguided administration. I wouldn't be so opposed if they screened everybody in this manner, but as it is, we simply harass roughly 1 in 20 people. Another option would be to screen people using a real discriminatory policy, such as screening people with one way tickets, no luggage, or people to or from known hotbeds of political dissent, such as Massachussetts. The current scheme just seems like such a waste.

Dad and Randy were waiting to pick me up, and our first stop was a Circle K store. I had forgotten that roosters were very common in the keys, but was quickly reminded by the sight of 8 roaming around the storefront. Noisy little buggers too.

We wrapped up this part of the journey with some food shopping at Publix. Marathon is a nice little community, and a well commercialized place halfway between Key West and Miami. All the modern conveniences are available. The place we are actually staying is a beautiful 2 family home on the channel, for easy access to dads boat. We'll each get a room, and a fishing pole.

I touched down today in Key West, and brought with me access to the internet. :) So far, Dad and Randy have caught a pair of baby barracuda, did some diving in clear water, then picked me up from the airport. We tried diving today, and it started out great. I suited up, put the gear on, hopped in the water, and all was great. Put my head under water and saw schools of fish swimming all over. It was cloudy water, but still 10 feet visible. Then I tried to go lower, but I discovered that my upper right molar tooth does not like pressure beyond 10 feet. Intense pain like a cavity. I felt like my tooth was going to explode, like I was having wisdom tooth pain again and would need an extraction. I surfaced quick and bobbed there for a bit while the pain subsided. It took 10 minutes of bobbing, but I tried to go down again. I made it slowly, oh so slowly to about 15 feet, and the tooth still hurt. I gave up and climbed back in the boat. This time it took about 30 minutes for the pain to subside enough to stop worrying about it, although 3 hours later I still feel residual pressure from the pain.

This is really depressing for me. The one thing I was looking forward to doing I find I am not able to do. What's left, fishing, boating, snorkling? Maybe a nice round of golf with the Atlantic as a backdrop...

We're asking around some local dentists to see if there is an easy fix.

Mikes birthday party is today. 40 friends and family crowded into our little house, admiring Mike and the new lawn.

I've got mulch in tow, and a front yard waiting for some home improvement. Everything comes together tomorrow.