On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 21:00:19 -0500, John Nitrox <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

When senor Shumate speaks, it seldom errs.

Thus, it came as a major shock to da Feeesh, as if fish-bombed by the
Philippine fishermen, to find so many faux pas and piccadillos (sp?)
in one post as to require correctional comments.


>Anyway, if I were to get a chance to dive Easter Island, I'd do
>it no matter what.

Keeping in mind that our friend Strike still hasn't forgiven me for
passing up diving in Shelly Beach for reasons of frigidity, I have
to think about how to justify diving in the more frigid waters of
Easter Island.


>Frigid waters???, I think you've forgotten your years
>at the University of Chicago where even the nearby tepid(?) diving still
>involves a chain saw and endless lines - the kind attached to your bc, not
>the kind you give to strange women and drinking buddies.

Alas, it was several years AFTER I left the U. of Chicagah before I
even heard of the term "scuba". :-)


>As old and fat as I am, if I were you, I'd still drop my
>wrinkly lard ass into the pristine  waters of Easter Island

Aha!  Just because it's in the middle of nowhere doesn't necessarily
imply that the water is pristine, or even clear, as in high vis.  In
fact, the scuba coordinator Trixie has already said that current may
be treacherous and the visibility LOW, and probably even worse than
Shelly Beach (which is very hard for me to imagine)!  :-))


>(and at 2000 miles from the nearest land, they must be pristine)
>just for the joy of it.

Actually it's only a couple hundred miles from the nearest land --
as I learned today, because one of the passengers has to be AIR
evacuated tomorrow.  Not only that, but this little piece of land
in the middle of nowhere has an AIR STRIP for airplane to land!
Otherwise, helicopters will not be able to make the trip to the
cruiseship and back.


> If you don't dive Easter Island now, when will you.  Bon chance!

Don't be surprised that there will be an airplane landing strip in
Easter Island soon.  :-)   Besides, it would not be difficult for
anyone having been THERE to make up a Tall Tale about diving in
the devilish current of the Fakarava Pass type, seeing whales,
whale sharks, white and tiger sharks everywhere.

>DPTNST,
>
>
>John

I still have several days to explore the myths and reality of
Easter Island before arriving there on September 7.

Da Feeeesh.