On Saturday, September 30, 2000 12:57 PM, John Nitrox wrote:

>         If you're living on the east coast of the Western Hemisphere,
there's some
> under utilized, excellent diving close at hand.  Flamingo Divers and
Caicos
> Adventures both take the one hour trip from Provo to the uninhabited
> islands of West Caicos and French Cay for the excellent wall diving there.

>         Brooxie, my wife, spent a week discussing the nuances of passing
gas at
> sea level while I took advantage of the availability of nitrox  to extend
> my bottom times on these life filled walls.  For big stuff, we had CRSs

OK, Mate!  I've just got to 'fess up to ignorance and ask, what's a 'CRS'?
:-)

> eagle rays on almost every dive with a squadron of 13 eagle rays on our
day
> off French Cay (from where the cruel French pirate with the eclectic
> tastes, Francois L'Ollonois (L'Ollonais) would prey on Spanish shipping
and
> force his captives to eat rich sauces and decadent, buttery desserts until
> their gall bladders would be in agony and they would pay hefty ransoms).

Ah, they don't make pirates like they used to!  :-)

(snip of envy-making description of marine life.)  :-)

>Good viz., easy diving, a hang bar at 15' with a
> hookah, all in all I couldn't complain until the last day when I lost a
> spare mask and snorkel.

There just has to be an interesting and amusing tale as to how this
happened???

>         As a personal observation, I paid close attention to feelings of
> intoxication over several dives and subjectively noticed that a mix with a
> higher oxygen content seemed less narcotic than a mix with more nitrogen
at
> equal depths.

Nobody doubts that.  Do they?  :-)

(snip)
>Right now my brews of choice are
> Chicago's various Honkers on tap or the bicoastal bottles of San
> Francisco's Anchor Steam and, with apologies to our UK brethren, Boston's
> Sam Adams.  In fact, Sam Adams is sitting in front of me now clamoring for
> my attention.

I don't want this to ever be held against me - 'cause it's a question of
national pride - but some of the Pommie, (affectionate Oz slang for folks
from AndyLand <G>), beers really do rank as being among the very finest that
I've ever tasted.

(Having said that, I wouldn't have minded working alongside Ed Graves -
regardless of the permanent damage that it would have caused to my taste
buds!)  :-)

BTW!  You mentioned that you hadn't taken strobes or lights on the trip.
For natural light U/W photography - assuming good vis - what settings and
film speed do you use?  (I'm determined - after fifteen years of effort - to
master this bloody camera of mine.)  :-)

Strike