On Tue, 24 Dec 2002 22:59:25 -0500, Krazy Kiwi Viv <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Heading off soon for a orphans Christmas barbecue at Maryann's in an hour.

>warm wishes to those who are freezing their butts off on the other side of
>the globe :-)  Have a great day buddy-pals.

I DID!  On this day, I did the first dive at the Fakatahuna Pass of
Fakarava at 7:18!  Those NAMES are exciting enough to wake anyone at
a 7 am briefing (LATE start this day because of a 13 hr crossing <G>)
without the DM telling Tall Tales of a POSSIBLE 10-12 knot current!

2nd dive 9:45 at Devil's Corner;  3rd dive 13:03 at Big Corner Toau;
and the 4th 15:34 at Otugi Pass.

Night dives?  When the tiger sharks are feeding?   In fact, ALL dives
stop before 16:00 while there's daylight at the end of the dive in the
event of the need to search for lost divers blown away.  :-)

This is gonna be a mini-mini dive report of Xmas Eve Day and my first
post since my return this afternoon -- not having read anything on the
internet for a COLD-TURKEY (unrelated to Xmas) 12 days!  :-))

So, I figar the simplest way to catch up on Dive or Else is to skim
through the 39 threads in December and see which ones I wanna wade in
to make some noise.  Viv's post is the only post in Thread 1 -- so
that's where I plunged in.  Will probably spend the rest of the day
(on and off) goinging down the Thread list to see wots going on here.

My Tahiti Aggressor trip report (which I've decided to do only a short
while ago when I READ one on a webpage, with ready-made PICTURES and
very detailed descriptions) will be my COMMENTS on some portion of
that ready-made report.  :-))  That should require very little thinking
or organization on my part, and yet readers will get my version of
agreements and disagreements on an already-well-written and detailed
report about diving in Rangiroa, Fakarava, and Apataki motu (island).

The maine lifes that showed my on 12/24 are pretty much the same ones
(YAWN) that were seen everyday -- sharks, manta, spotted-eagle,
Napoleon Wrasses, turtles, and tons of Dave Barry's "medium fish",
which include the ever-present Titan Triggerfish!  Too bad Strike
wasn't there.

I was the only passenger who chose to wimp out on the Christmas Eve
dinner, not sure how rough the 8-hr crossing was going to be, not
taking ANY chance of having anything to 'feedfish'!  I am both happy
and sorry to say that except for a couple of hours of medium-bumpy
ride, I was awaken by the SMOOTHNESS of the ride the rest of the time.

For the first time in at least 5-6 years, I did EVERY ONE of the
22 dives on this liveaboard (I now skip ALL night dives, and had
started skipping night dives that many years ago <G>) -- the EASY
current rides <actually never faster than 4 or so knots) and the
84-85 F water temp for dives between 7:00 and 17:00 were just too
much to resist going in for 'another one' hoping to catch a 10
knot current which never came!  :-)  But clawing AGAINST a 4-knot
current (which blows water into the reg if you turn your head the
wrong way) was actually ... FUN.  :-))

Later.

-- Bob.