A $200 Pizza – Worth Every Bite……

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Topside View Jules Undersea Lodge Key Largo

Topside View Jules Undersea Lodge Key Largo

In general, I wouldn’t recommend paying $195 for a pizza or a sub sandwich, although Tower Pizza in Key Largo does have good food. In this case, however, thanks to a friend who bid on “Lunch at Jules” at a charity auction, I finally experienced the three-hour session offered at Jules Undersea Lodge. (http://www.jul.com).  The single drawback to the wonderful diving we have in Key Largo is there is essentially no shore diving because the water is too shallow. (Yes, I know there are a few spots, but not like in places such as Hawaii and St Croix.) This makes it especially difficult for training when the weather keeps boats from going out. On those days, everyone who can’t wait for the weather to clear heads to the lagoon at Jules.

The lagoon is not large, but it has the distinction of being home to the underwater habitat (two actually) that was moved from the original location in the Caribbean. The two-bedroom habitat with a kitchen/dining/living room was of course designed for research to prove the viability of living underwater for extended periods of time. And while researchers do still use the habitat, it’s available for recreational options from three hours to overnight. It’s something I wanted to try, but since Hubby has to spend lots of training time with students in Jules, he wasn’t especially keen on the idea. Having now done it once, I’m not saying I would go again just to go, but it’s definitely the sort of thing I would do in the same manner that I take visitors to South Beach.

Okay, enough intro – I’ll describe the way it works. First, the staff is terrific in making sure you are comfortable and taken care of. (If you have your own equipment, you can subtract the rental fee. In this situation, my friend didn’t have equipment and I didn’t want to mess with hauling and cleaning my own gear.) You either have to be a certified diver or you can sign up for the one-day Discover Scuba – type class and that is a separate fee. Since both of us were certified, we arrived to what was a very quiet day and filled out the initial paperwork, to include our choice for lunch. There is a hot shower on the grounds and a hot shower in the habitat and they provide towels, shampoo, conditioner. I treated it like I would being on a dive boat and wasn’t going to bother with that part, but it is available. I did have a pair of shorts and t-shirt along just in case. You leave your shoes at the dock and anything else you take gets very carefully wrapped and placed into a watertight box. They are especially careful with your phones and any other electronic item you’re carrying.

There are steps that lead down into the water, so you simply sit on the step to gear up then launch into the water. Your Operation Specialist for the day will either enter the water with you, take you over to the habitat to orient you or you can do as we did and go for a dive of X-minutes (in our case about 30), then meet the staff member at the habitat. The lagoon is chockfull of items like old cannon, a second, smaller habitat, and is only about 25 feet deep.  The visibility is not particularly good due to several factors, however, there were plenty of fish and a nice crab. Nurse sharks will occasionally cruise through, too.

When we finished the dive, we made our way back to the habitat, swam underneath and came up into the “moon pool” as our guy was patiently waiting to remove our gear and give the orientation. This is like the foyer. The two bedrooms are to the right, the shower and marine head are straight ahead and the public area is to the left. Yes, there are portholes in the bedrooms and public area. Benches wrap around and there are two tables. The small fridge is packed with water and sodas, a little basket hold packs of snacks, there is a sink, microwave, TV with DVD player, some books, decks of cards, and a couple of board games. My friend opted to take a quick shower and then we settled in to pass the time until our same guy returned around noon with our piping hot lunch brought to us in a watertight container. When the staff called a while later to give us our “ten minute warning”, it hardly seemed like three hours had passed. We repacked our belongings and our guy secured them before we slipped back into our gear for the short swim to the dock to end our adventure.

Moon Pool Entrance Jules Undersea Lodge

Moon Pool Entrance Jules Undersea Lodge

Another Great Burger and More…..

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Gator Grill on the Way to the Everglades National Park

Gator Grill on the Way to the Everglades National Park

The restaurant business is brutal. Trying to keep costs competitive, trying to keep good help and a thousand other things (only a slight exaggeration) owners/managers have to deal with. I have nothing against chains and dine in them, but we try to patronize independent places as much as possible.  And when we see an independent making moves that are apparently good ones to improve their business, we give a little “Hooray”. So it would seem is the case with Gator Grill. It’s always been of interest that with the millions of people who visit the Everglades each year, there was literally nowhere to eat close by. The small Gator Grill that opened several years ago in what seems to have been a little store previously had excellent food, but like four picnic tables beneath the trees. Not that it wasn’t good, but unless you knew about it, the inclination was not to stop. Things have changed. The “Grill” isn’t any larger, but they’ve added a nice-size Tiki Hut with 9 or 10 picnic tables and a fan to circulate the air. With the trees still mostly in place, it’s still warm of course, but definitely an improvement. They’ve also had the exterior done with eye-catching murals.

They are positioned not far from Robert is Here as you drive toward the Everglades and with the new murals, it raises your curiosity as you approach. The single drawback, if you think of it as such, is they do make to order and they don’t hurry. If you are really hungry when you first order and there are several people already seated or in line, it’s best to grab a little packaged snack to tide you over. They are also one of the places that cook to order and if you like your burger rare, etc., – go for it.

(I posted several months ago about the Redlander Restaurant at Schnebly’s which is a more up-scale dining option not too far from Robert is Here, so there are two choices in fair proximity to the Everglades now.)

The Senior Benefits…..

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At this stage, I can still subscribe to the point of not being distressed about aging. As much as I would like to have back the less hefty body, our health in general is quite good and there aren’t many things we’ve had to give up yet in the way of activities. We aren’t at Medicare age and we’re able to let our Social Security continue to build for at least another year, but tomorrow I do plan to take advantage of one of those lesser known benefits. (Yes, I usually take senior discounts in places where applicable.) The National Parks Senior Pass is $10-30 depending on which method you use to get it and it is a lifetime pass. That’s correct. It’s good in every single National Park and there are a lot more of them than many people realize. Not all of them have entry fees (our Biscayne Park doesn’t), but many do and even though it isn’t usually very expensive, still, it is a charge. Now, at the moment, we won’t be visiting a lot of National Parks because our focus continues to be dive trips when we aren’t on family-related or business travel. The simple truth is most of the parks are not in dive-friendly places, so they have to take a later priority. Hubby has been to the Grand Canyon and we have of course done Shenandoah and Blue Ridge.

The intent will be to incorporate multiple parks into road trips as many people do. The parks were my daddy’s destinations for plenty trips and he didn’t miss many of them when they were still able to travel. I think they were 84 or 85 when they made the last excursion. Despite his short-term memory loss issues, long term is still pretty good and there are the photos. And speaking of photos, with Hubby being such an excellent photographer now, I can only imagine what our collection will be like once we start on this particular path.

Those Pesky Necessities….

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This is one of those days when I am “chained” to the house in a five-hour window for a delivery. Five hours, in this day and age? At any rate, since it appears we may go all the way to the max time on that window, I was out most of yesterday and planned my inside to-do list accordingly. Last week when I attended the annual Chamber Conference, I was inadvertently inspired to tackle one of those things I do procrastinate about. The subject of this particular presentation was actually geared toward a different aspect of business, yet in the process of the discussion, I thought about how disorganized my office had become. I’ve never been a completely “clean desk” person nor do I own a label maker. On the other hand, I do like to have space on my table to write and enough order to my files to have a general idea of where they are. The “I’ll get to that soon” stack had grown, as had the “I need to file that” stack, and those plus the active project stacks had begun to spill into each other. This, of course, is not a task I recommend doing all in one day, so I divided it into chunks. Day One was separate and throw away the known trash. Day Two was file the writing related/personal and today is properly sort and divide the major volunteer work I am involved with and finish a couple of other things. Don’t get me wrong – there are still plenty of old files to go through, but the pieces I’m tackling allow me to return to a comfortable degree of order.

Oh, speaking of tasks one puts off – that reminds of something that has always made me chuckle. In my first novel, Orchids in the Snow, the main character was very conscientious about domestic matters. At one point in the story I had her cleaning the gasket of her refrigerator as she was trying to occupy her time. I was later amazed by how many women asked me, “You don’t really clean your refrigerator gasket, do you?” My answer was, “No, but I did have a friend who made that part of her spring cleaning.” It’s these interesting tidbits you store away because you never know when you might need them as a writer.

An Interesting Discussion….

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This post has to do in part with how different views can be about the exact same thing and then segues into what was a heart-warming story to hear. August 30th is the local primary, plus election of judges, and one amendment. Like many places, early voting has been added to absentee voting as an option. And like many veterans, I have used absentee in those situations when it was necessary. I really like early voting because you rarely have more than one to three people ahead of you and that’s for check-in. I’m in, out, (I always say thank you to the poll workers), and I put my “I voted today” sticker on. It so happened the day I voted was Wednesday and at the mostly routine Happy Hour I attend, one of the individuals said she was a firm believer in the traditional go on election day, stand in line, and share in the spirit. Another individual said she almost always did absentee ballot dating back to one time when she was recovering from a surgery and couldn’t make it to the polls. Once she was in the system for absentee ballot, it was easier for her to continue to do that.

During the course of the discussion, the bartender told of her grandmother (I think it was, although it could have been another relative or friend), who had immigrated and received her citizenship at an older age. The first opportunity she had to vote came around when she was 92 and she was very clear about wanting to go to the polling station to be a part of the process. She had a red hat, and they decorated her wheelchair in red, white, and blue for the event. I can only imagine what kinds of smiles that must have brought forth to the poll workers and other voters. What a wonderful affirmation of something far too many people take for granted.

The Hard Choice With Pets….

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Poignant content alert. It’s been a long time since we had a pet in the house other than taking temporary custody of my friend’s cat after she passed away. I travel so often and we have such erratic schedules, we probably won’t be getting one any time soon. A friend is struggling with the decision about his dog and will probably make the difficult choice next week. It’s the usual dilemma of how long do you wait when there is truly no hope of any kind of recovery, limited eyesight, and virtually no mobility.

Several years ago, my former mother-in-law was faced with the situation and she had finally braced herself. She had called the vet to tell her she would bring the dog in on her way to work. She had petted him, kissed him and gone in to get dressed. Oddly enough, she came out, went to pick him up and realized he was no longer breathing. As she sat and wrapped the afghan around him to take him to the vet (teary-eyed of course), she suddenly realized how grateful she was not to have to take that final step. Interestingly, not long ago another friend discovered one of the vets in town actually provides an in-home service. Yes, it does cost extra, but in the same way as hospice for people, it allows the final moments to be in a familiar setting filled with love. It isn’t something I would ever have thought about, but it does make sense.

Silver Sort of Sparkles….

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Okay, silver doesn’t tend to have the actual glow of gold or sparkle like diamonds, but in this case, it definitely has a special sheen. The particular silver won’t ever hang around my neck or that of most people because it belongs to an Olympic silver medal. Several years ago, someone contacted the South Dade News Leader, the community paper I wrote regularly for and still contribute to occasionally. They told the editor there was a kid who went to their church who was a great gymnast and could possibly make it to the Olympics, but even more so, the family had a wonderful story. I was sent to see what the deal was and it was one of those heartwarming situations that makes you want to cheer. At the time, Danell Leyva Gonzalez and his parents, Maria Gonzalez and Yin Alvarez, didn’t know how far Danell could go as he was working through the competitions for an eventual shot at the Olympic team. I was so impressed with them, I did a post for the blog after I wrote the article for the paper. This is a family that left Cuba with nothing when Danell was a toddler. Both Maria and Yin were national gymnasts, but for them, life away from Communism was more important than their own glory. They were finally able to open a gym in South Miami where a huge Olympic banner hung. Their point was it does take a certain level of talent, but determination and the willingness to work hard with the proper coaching were more important than belonging to a prestigious program. As Danell grew and honed his skills, he did indeed make the 2012 Olympic team and brought home a bronze medal.

Fast forward to this year when my husband looked up from the paper and said, “Hey, your guy just missed making the Olympic team, but one of the other guys was injured so he’s back on.” I knew immediately which “guy” he was talking about. Perhaps it was Fate stepping in, perhaps not, yet Danell has won two silvers this time and I’m not certain what other events are on the schedule. For him, his family, and his country, these are proud moments. You can Google him and watch the video clips if you want to see his terrific performance.

About Me and Photographs…..

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A Type of Butterfly Fish From Fiji

A Type of Butterfly Fish From Fiji

I am terrible with and about photographs. I’m certainly not going to call this an aversion – it’s much more a disinclination. I have no idea why, but I am simply not a person who takes photos. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many stacks of photo albums that fall into the, “What on earth are we going to do with all these?” category. On the other hand, I like looking at really old photos, appreciate the history of them and enjoy photographs as an art medium.

Which brings me to the shift in our household when it comes to photography. Most of my readers are already aware that Hubby has gotten deeply into photography. It started, of course, with underwater shots. Several people he works or dives with began to exchange ideas, techniques, etc. The fairly modest camera was upgraded, although for underwater, the housing is what really gets upgraded. That’s what protects the camera. Then there are accessories for mostly lighting. Then, a couple of years ago, a few local individuals who are amazing photographers (as their “hobby”) got together and established the South Florida National Parks Camera Club (SFNPCC). Yes, it’s kind of a long name, but since we are one of the few places in the country that has two National Parks virtually in our “backyard”, the landscape and wildlife opportunities are abundant. By aligning with the National Parks Association, that comes with access to places within the parks that aren’t always open to the public, periodic offers for exhibition, and the parks can use selected photographs for promotion – a win-win kind of arrangement. The time he has spent with the camera club has definitely taken him to a level I don’t think he ever really expected it to. It has been fun to see even though I don’t have much idea of what he’s talking about half the time and it has sort of complicated gift-giving. Before, it was – do you want a new tool or a piece of new dive gear? Now he has to work through three choices. In truth, the workshop is in pretty good shape, so I suspect tools will be the third priority for a while.

Playing with Lights Photo

Playing with Lights Photo

Our Local Sharks…..

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The answer to the question, “Aren’t you afraid of sharks when you dive?”, is “That depends.” Was I a little nervous the first time? Yes. On the other hand, it doesn’t take long to learn the reality about this aspect of diving. There are a lot of varieties of sharks and that’s one factor I’ll get to. Because of the gear a diver wears, we simply don’t look like prey and especially not if we have regular scuba where you exhale a constant stream of bubbles. Sharks don’t expend unnecessary energy and they don’t eat if they aren’t hungry. If a person is on something like a surfboard or a boogie board, then from below, that resembles a seal or turtle shape, both of which are favored by sharks. The reason people who are attacked aren’t usually “consumed” is because as soon as the shark realizes this isn’t a food they like, they move on. The problem, of course, is they may have inflicted lethal damage in their exploratory “bite”. Anyway back to the diving part.

The predominant shark on the reefs here are nurse sharks and they are quite docile. If someone gets bitten by a nurse shark, the odds are 99% the individual was doing something inappropriate. There has been an increase in the number of Caribbean reef sharks around (saw one the other day), but they tend to run 5-8 feet and they’re not aggressive. There’s plenty of their preferred food to keep them happy. An exception can be divers who spear fish. Here’s the thing. If a shark wants to take a fish you just speared – you really should give it up. We do get the larger bull sharks (not a type I want to be around) on the deeper wrecks as well as in the backcountry which is too shallow for diving. Then there are the occasional sightings of hammerheads that breeze through – always a thrill, but also not generally aggressive. The presence of a great white does cause a stir. The water here is too warm, but they swing in sometimes and can hang around for a short while. That’s not one I have any desire to be in the water with, but again, attacks on divers haven’t been an issue.

What about shark feedings? That is a whole different subject and I think I’ll save it for a future post.

Heartwarming and A Little Spooky…..

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Hmm, “spooky” might not be the correct term – I’ll let you decide. The White Lion Café in Homestead is a regular lunch spot for me. A friend suggested we go there on Friday which was fine. One of the things about “The Lion” is LoryAnn Swank, Chef/Owner and her family are well known within the animal lover/rescue community. Dog owners are welcome to bring their pets to the outdoor area and there are multiple “Fundraising” events each year for different rescue groups. The “house cats” will stroll over to see what you’re up to when you’re dining outside and every so often when you’re inside, LoryAnn will stroll around with an animal who needs a new home. On Friday, there were three women sitting at a table next to us. Sure enough, LoryAnn came in with a Chihuahua. “She was just rescued this morning and needs a new home.” She went on to explain a friend of hers had been at the vet’s and realized a woman had literally dropped the dog in the parking lot and run her off before driving away. (I won’t even get into how I feel about that, but at least it wasn’t in the middle of Redland). The friend scooped the dog up, took her into the vet’s and called LoryAnn.

I was on the verge of saying, “So cute, but….”, when one of the women at the other table said something like, “I am looking for a new dog.” She had lost her Pomeranian (I think it was) a few years ago and had said to her husband she thought she was finally ready and they should go to the shelter to take in a rescue. The moment she embraced the abandoned pet, it was apparent the dog sensed her own safety. As the women prepared to leave, LoryAnn gave her a card in case she decided it was an inappropriate impulse. Later, as I remarked on the coincidence and said I was going to do a post about it, LoryAnn passed on the woman’s parting remarks. She said she had just had a feeling the White Lion was the right place to go that day because she felt as if something special was going to happen. Who knows? Maybe it was after all, no more than a couple of coincidences merging in the universe.