St Thomas preparations underway

It is only two days until we depart for our annual 2 weeks in St Thomas. I already have 10 boat SCUBA dives scheduled and will probably do a couple of shore dives at Coki Beach. Both Carol and I are looking forward to the relaxing time we have there.

We need the R&R as both of us are hurting some. Carol has been having problems with her back more than ever the last month or two. Right now she is at the doctor's for a routine checkup but he want to get some xrays of her back to see what might be causing her problem. Her back has been bad enough that she decided that bowling this year was out of the question.

I have been having problems with my right thumb joint which the doctor said is arthritis. At times it is so painful that I can't even hold a pencil. Then for extended periods there is no pain!!! About a month ago I pulled some muscles in my right arm while using a lopper to cut down a bush in our yard. The arm is still very sensitive and I have trouble reaching higher than my head. It is slowly getting better but bowling is out of the question for me also.

Saturday we will drive to Miami and park our car at a hotel near the airport (at a low cost) and then fly direct to St Thomas. We don't leave MIA until 430 PM and arrive in STT at 730 PM. We will be staying the first week at Bluebeard's Beach Club, right on the Caribbean, and the second week at Bluebeard's Castle, above the town. These are the same places we have been staying for most of our 20 plus years of going to St Thomas and we enjoy them.

When we get back I expect to have some pictures of our trip to post.

More later.

Beach Drummers

Every Wednesday and Saturday there is a group of drummers who play their drums at Nokomis Beach to celebrate sundown. Carol and go when we think the sundown will be a good one. We went last evening and here is a video of some of the dancers.

Yard Work

The shrubs in the front and side of the house were getting slightly out of control so we finally go around to trimming them. Since we had installed a lamp post in the yard several weeks ago I finally got around to re-installing our flag pole. It was not as much work as I expected and it does add to the front to the house. Here is a picture of the front of the house with the flag and lamp post.

Since we had our lamp post installed our neighbor across the street had one put in also. The our next door neighbor got one installed!! Friends several doors away returned from "up north" and we heard they are also planning to have one installed. We may have started a trend!!

I got an email from the SCUBA shop I deal with and they are having a shark's tooth dive this coming Saturday. It will be done from the beach and they will have a food and drinks available. I called my dive buddy, Val, and he and I are planning to do the dive. If the surf is up I will just sit on the beach and watch the others struggle with the surf!!

The group we camp with are making arrangements to camp at the Tampa RV show again this January. We have been doing this with them the last several years and they are lot of fun.

I also called and spoke to Hank my St Thomas dive buddy to firm up our plans for that trip. We will be there starting OCT 23 and returning NOV 6. We already have 10 dives scheduled and may get in a few more from the beach.

The weather here is finally getting a little cooler and more comfortable. Temperatures are finally in the mid 80's instead of 90's.

More later.