After several years of being left behind as Deja set off on dive vacations I decided this year would be different. This year I was going whether Deja approved or not. I almost missed this one however, Deja is getting better at concealing his vacation get away attempts and he totally surprised me this time. On Friday Deja stuffed me in that cage and threw me in the truck for that horrible ride to the dog's house. I acted cool, or as cool as I could under those horrific circumstances until he was gone. Then I made my escape, I was out the door and running like crazy before the dog could alert it's owner. Now I'm a pretty darn smart cat but I'm no Lassie and trying to figure out where home was took a while. But once I got wind of the truck smell I followed it for what seemed like days. I got home at 3:00 AM just in the nick of time, Deja was loading the truck to make his get away. I darted into the house and found his computer still on. I posted on D2D so someone would know what my plans were in case I get busted by the TSA and sent to the Pound, I heard from the dog that is not a good place. Anyway, I snuck into Deja's dive bag and I was off on vacation with him. I was hoping it was someplace nice and warm. I think I heard something about St. Vincent wherever that is. I knew Deja would be thrilled I decided to come along. Joining Deja on this trip were his usual dive buddies Jamie, Robby, Kelly and Todd.

        All went well, other than being tossed around a lot inside that suitcase, man those baggage handlers are rough. I had a bit of a scare when the drug dog started sniffing around, thought sure I was busted. Drug dog my butt, he can't even smell a cat, get real. Plus I damn near froze to death in the luggage compartment, gotta think this through next time. It was a long flight to Jamaica with 4 hour layover before we set off for Barbados. Barbados is where it got ugly. For some unknown reason the luggage handlers decided not to put Deja's or any of his friend's luggage on the plane to St. Vincent!!! "Hello, cat in here!" This was starting to become a problem. If you have never spent over 44 hours in a suitcase you can only imagine how horrible that is!! This trip was not starting out well at all. Charlie the taxi driver met the group at the airport as planned, but the two hours spent in futile attempts to retrieve their luggage left the group a bit stressed even before they arrived at the rental house. The house was nice, large and clean. But the lack of air conditioning in the living room, the barking dogs, the rock hard beds and those never ending screaming frogs left a lot to be desired. Sleep wasn't easy with all the unanswered questions about their luggage and if and when they would be able to dive.

        Sunday morning was met with a new attitude thinking Caribbean Star would have their luggage on the first flight and all would be good. Personally I was getting a little tired of being cooped up in this bag. It was hot, I was hungry and lord knows I could use a litter box about now. The next problem for Deja's group was food. Carnival was taking place that week so all the restaurants were closed until Wednesday as well as the tiny place they referred to at the grocery store. The group did manage to get to the grocery before it closed at 11:00 AM on Sunday and buy a minimal amount of food and tooth brushes to get by for a couple days. Since they had no dive gear they decided to spend Sunday doing the tourist thing checking out the botanical gardens and the old fort. Pretty cool but I think they would have rather been diving. There were also several trips to and from the airport in attempts to salvage their luggage. One bag on one trip and two on another before it all finally showed up on the 9:00 PM flight. Of course Caribbean Star told them it would be delivered to the house....NOT!!!! Finally at midnight on Sunday Deja opened up his dive bag and I was free. Of course I didn't want him to see me so I just sort of snuck out and hid for the whole trip. From what I could hear there had been a lot of words exchanged at the airport with Caribbean Star Airlines about the lack of customer service.

        So they had their luggage, more important I was free, and the real vacation could start. I was still avoiding detection thinking Deja was upset enough without thinking about me being there, after all he had said on the custom card he was not bringing in any animals. They were to be at the dive shop at 9:15 for the first day of diving. It was raining when everyone got up Monday morning, figures. Jamie told everyone to relax, that she was still the weather goddess and would take care of the conditions, she did not lie. Deja was the first to wake up, I was almost busted while I slept in the living room. I had quite a night with the damn frogs screaming and those incessant dogs barking at everything that moved. Coffee and breakfast bars would have to pass for breakfast since there was limited food. Soon they left for the day, everything from here on is second source since I didn't go on the boat. But from what I could gather they had a good first day of diving, even if they almost died from hunger! Personally I spent the day hunting frogs and trying to stay away from the three dogs that lived there. Not a bad day but I was getting tried of eating lizards, frogs and dog food, should have packed some IAMS.

        Charlie came by at 9:00 to take them to the dive shop for the first dives. They loaded all their gear on the boat and got their tanks set up. This took a while this first day since they were diving steel 72 cf tanks and everyone had to adjust their BCs to accommodate the smaller diameter tanks. The boat was nice, around 35 feet, center console with padded seats all around that Bill protected like a mother Grisly Bear. There was storage for 24 tanks, way more than enough on the aft-deck. You got your tank out of the rack, put it on rubber mats that were positioned to protect the side gunnels, got into your gear and back-rolled off the boat. Getting back on that a simple matter of climbing up the two fin ladders located on both sides of the stern corners, stepping onto the platform, swinging you legs over the stern gunnel being very careful not to touch those padded seats and removing your gear. All in all a nice setup. While everyone was gone I spent the day exploring the neighborhood trying to avoid the 300 dogs per square mile in St. Vincent!!!

Dive #1: New Guinea
Depth = 66fsw     Time = 61 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

On this first dive Bill, the owner of Dive St. Vincent, told everyone to be back at the boat with around 400 psi, sort of a test of their skills I guess. He never asked or checked anyone's tank however and after this dive there were no rules except to return to the boat. One thing that was different about this trip was the boat was left unattended while everyone including Bill went diving. Thankfully there were no problems with this and nobody stole the boat, LOL. The highlight of the dive was the amount of juvenile fish including some very cool Trunk Fish and a small Black Spotted Moray. Deja wore a PolarTech and a 3mm shorty and was very comfortable in the 82º water.

        Since the grocery was very limited on food there were no snacks to take on the boat and Bill provided nothing but water, which wasn't cold, and some hard candy, not exactly shrew food. Since the diving didn't really start until close to 10:30 everyone was very hungry even before the second dive on Critter Corner started.

Dive #2: Critter Corner
Depth = 28fsw     Time = 86 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Critter Corner is one of the signature dives of St. Vincent. It is located just across the harbor from the dive shop dock on the other side of a huge rock island. It is very shallow and is full of ...............critters! One thing the group never complained about on this trip was bottom time. They were diving steel 72 cf tanks and had no time limits. Deja said he still had air, or at least he was still breathing off the tank when he surfaced after 86 minutes. Of the critters found, and there were many, the Long Arm Octopus was probably the coolest. Deja missed the big show of this little guy extending its arms out to check out Robby, but it was still a cool little guy poking his head out of the sand. Other things found were Flying Gurnards, a Snake Eel, several Sharptail Eels, lots of shrimp and crabs, and more of those cute juvenile Trunk Fish.

        By now hunger had become a major priority. Deja was damn near dead, shrew thing ya know, and everyone was in desperate need of calories. Bill told them of a restaurant that was actually opened, YAHOO!!!! Even with another rip-off taxi ride to the restaurant the hamburgers were a welcome relief, "this is the best hamburger I have ever had". The best part of this restaurant was the two parrots. They talked, sang, whistled and imitated the group's laughter. But they did do this one thing I was shocked to hear. They meowed like a cat!!! Now wait just a minute, I am totally offened by that. Kelly bonded with these guys and taught one of them to whistle Happy Birthday, too funny. When she left they said "bye-bye" and started flapping their wings and screeching at her. The waitress said they get upset when people leave, too cool. With only 10 boat dives in the trip package they decided to try a shore dive to see if it was going to be a worthwhile effort. Bill tried to talk them out of it saying it was a harbor and there was a lot of boat traffic. But he also said it was 62 feet deep with most of the area at 15 - 40 fsw. They failed to see the worry, having dived around boats quite a bit. It was never and issue on any of the shore dives they did all week.

Dive #3: DSV Shore Dive
Depth = 26fsw     Time = 44 min.     Vis = 50     Temp = 82º

The tide was going out so there was some current to deal with, not much, but it was there. And with it went some of the vis. But once they got below 15 fsw it cleared to around 50 feet. They had been a little rushed since the shop was closing at 6:00 and Todd and Deja forgot to de-fog their masks, what a mess, like diving blind. Deja finally gave up, surfaced, spit in his mask to fix the problem. But the dive was great, they found a school of squid, many shrimp, crabs, some Lettuce Leaf Slugs, and what must have been 150,000 Bristle Worms some of them huge. Deja said he had never seen so many of these cool worms in one spot, you had to be careful where you put a finger to steady yourself for a video shot.

        After a hurried exit and gear removal at the dive shop they caught another taxi ride home, these things are getting expensive, maybe they should have rented a car. Five people attempting hot showers in one house isn't easy. Plenty of bathrooms but water pressure was not plentiful, but they made due and then attempted to cook food. Jamie and Robby were able to concoct and rather inventive dinner out of hamburger and macaroni and cheese. Along with a salad it was really rather tasty. I managed to sneak in undetected and grab a few morsels for myself, a nice addition to my lizard and frog diet. Deja stated he wished they had picked up some beer when they had the chance. A problem addressed by the landlord who volunteered to pick up a case of beer for them the next day. Now that is service, but what about some cat food?????

        These people seemed obsessed about the pictures and video they had taken during their dives and spent an inordinate amount of time looking at them. "Oh I screwed that up, I burned that up, ah man I churched that whole damn dive, you'd think one of these would have turned out, I had the wrong lens on again, you saw what, your stuff is so much better than mine, is my strobe working" MY GOD it went on all week!!!! Like I said the living room wasn't air conditioned so after the incessant photo/video review everyone went to their bedrooms and retired for the evening leaving me to hunt for food. Man, I missed the life and a kept animal, this is vacation? I don't think so!!!

        Tuesday morning was beautiful. The sun was out everyone was up and ready for a full day of diving. Same old routine, eat breakfast, get the gear ready, get the water bottles filled and out the door at 9:00 AM, they are so predictable it is ridiculous.

Dive #4: Pinnacle Rock
Depth = 90fsw     Time = 59 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Pinnacle Rock was just that a pinnacle that was actually sort of three sided. The fourth side led out to a sandy/grassy plain. We started around the wall but soon made our way onto the plain. Bill found the first Seahorse here. There were also many Pipe Fish and Neck Crabs to be seen here and believe it or not they were paid a visit by an Eagle Ray. Bill said he rarely sees them in St. Vincent so it was quite a surprise.

Dive #5: The Wall
Depth = 45fsw     Time = 80 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

One of the reason for the trip to St. Vincent was the possibility of seeing Frog Fish. Not that this group hasn't seen them before but they are an interesting critter and since they don't move too much they make a good photo subject. Deja was fortunate enough to video one on this dive Frogfish displaying its ability to open its mouth twice as large as its body, quite a sight.

Dive #6: Critter Corner Jr.
Depth = 32fsw     Time = 83 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Its amazing how two dive sites so close together could be so different. While Critter Corner was mostly a grassy field Critter Corner Jr. was mostly sandy rubble. But life here was amazing. The group was entertained for 83 minutes by lots of Eels including a very cool Snake Eel, Scorpion Fish, Banded Jawfish and Bluebar Jawfish.

        The long dives and lots of sun seemed to wipe out the group. Nobody seemed to keen on fixing dinner so the refrigerator was raided for leftovers from Monday's dinner. There was plenty to go around and nobody went hungry. However Deja's reputation as a constant eating Shrew was in jeopardy, but he seemed satisfied. Bedtime came early again. As for me, I was getting pretty bored by all this and sort of wished I'd stayed home. The thoughts of sleeping in air conditioning, not having to hunt for food, and having my litter box handy seemed at this point the better of the two options.

        Its Wednesday already, time was flying by. Some old deal, everyone left to go diving at 9:00 AM. Last night there was some sort of incident involving one of the house dogs. Appalantley it was attacked by something or someone resulting in a major eye injury. The vet was called and the dog was patched up. It isn't going to lose the eye but it looked rather nasty. I want to go on record saying I had nothing to do with this. I kind of liked the dog, of the three this was the only one that was really friendly.

Dive #7: Orca
Depth = 59fsw     Time = 82 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Check it out!!! They must have known I was on the island, they have named a dive site after me, how cool is that!!! And what a site. Pipe fish of several varieties, lots of different Anemones with resident Anemone Shrimp, Invisible Shrimp, Squat Shrimp and Sun Anemone Crabs were everywhere. More of those cool Bluebar Jawfish were seen in schools, and a field of Garden Eels that were absolutely huge made Orca a dive worth doing twice. And there was a bit of a feeding frenzy involving several varieties of fish all chowing down on a dead Sea Urchin. No clue what killed the Urchin, but I don't think it was any of these guys.

Dive #8: Orca
Depth = 42fsw     Time = 79 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

The second dive on this site reveled lots of juveniles. Juvenile Drums, Angels, Trunk Fish and File Fish were everywhere. More Shrimps hiding in Anemones were also targets for the cameras. At the end of the dive Deja spotted something totally unusual. It was yellow and sort of furry. Not knowing what it was he of course video taped it. Back on the boat he was informed it was a mango seed!! How disappointing, he thought he had found something bazaar.

        Even though Bill didn't seem to understand Deja's need for food the plan this day was to eat lunch at a restaurant close to the dive site and then do a third dive. As usual something went wrong, the dive shop people made reservations at the wrong restaurant! All they had to eat was fish and most of this group won't eat sea critters. If they had made reservations there would have been a special meal prepared at a much lower cost too. So near starvation they returned to the dive shop. Bill took them to a different restaurant close to the dive shop. But after lunch they decided rather than go back out on the boat they would just do another shore dive.

Dive #9: DSV Shore Dive
Depth = 38fsw     Time = 80 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

The vis was much better on this dive and there wasn't any current. There was much more to see on this dive as well. Todd and Kelly found a very cool Chain Eel, Deja found some Lettuce Leaf Slugs in the shallows, several Black Spotted Morays were seen, Todd found a tiny Reef Scorpion Fish inside a sponge, and the Bristle Worms were again everywhere including a rather huge one that was over an inch wide and around 8 inches long. Of course Deja's battery on the video camera had died before they found the monster Bristle Worm.

        The evening ritual continued, scrape together something to eat, look at the photos and video shot during the dive, complain about how hot the living room was and wonder who installed that useless ceiling fan, drink a few beers and retire early. Maybe they're just getting too old for all this.

Dive #10: Hans Reef
Depth = 34fsw     Time = 80 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Hans Reef was loaded with life. Everywhere they looked there was another cool critter. It started right under the boat with several juvenile Damsel. By the way the Damsels were everywhere in St. Vincent and were rather vicious even by Damsel standards. All the divers were attacked many times by these protective critters. There were a couple of adult and juvenile Drums, another Seahorse that kept himself very well hidden, Todd spotted two Eagle Rays feeding in the sand, big Sand Divers held their ground while getting their pictures taken and a school of Squid came along to check out the group.

Dive #11: Pinnacle
Depth = 65fsw     Time = 62 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

        One thing about the diving here is there is no "dead time". All the divers said there was always some to keep their interest, this is now true of a lot of dive locations. Pinnacle served up adult and juvenile Drums, Lots of Corkscrew Anemones with their Peterson Cleaner Shrimps. Another Puffer played his game of "no, no please not in the face game". A juvenile French Angel was seen. They hadn't seen many Angel Fish making them wonder if the locals weren't eating them. There weren't many large fish here at all. A grouping of three Fingerprint Cyphoma made a great photo/video opportunity, and one more Seahorse was discovered.

Dive #12: 2 1/2
Depth = 34fsw     Time = 82 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Deja totally messed up this dive. At some point the filter on his camera got switched off and for some reason he didn't figure out what was wrong. He did notice everything was over exposed but never associated it with the filter. A lack of food perhaps? So what he didn't video was the Magnificent Sea Urchins, and they are magnificent. The juveniles are pure white, the adolescents are sort of brown with some amazing blue dots and the adults appear to be jet black until you look straight down on them and the seem to emit and red glow. And they move, and move rather quickly for an urchin. If they set up for a shot these thing would eventually crash into them, or at least get very close. Robby missed judged one and paid the price with several puncture wounds. To tell the truth he was not the only one to suffer Urchin revenge that week. Also seen on this dive was an absolutely huge Arrowhead Crab, and some Pipe Fish. Bill managed to get a Juvenile Cardinal Fish living in a bottle out for them to see and then was able to show this little guy back into the bottle. Harassing? Possibly.

Dive #13: DSV Shore Dive
Depth = 37fsw     Time = 75 min.     Vis = Night     Temp = 82º

This was a great night dive. Decorator Crabs were out in their finest attire. They saw one that look like he was wearing a pink high hat. It was actually a hat shaped sponge that made him look like a cartoon character when he ran, too funny. One of the mooring anchors, a huge block of concrete, was hosting a Banded Cleaner Shrimp convention, there must have been 50 of these things all over it. Several Anemones were in full feeding mode with their resident shrimp and crabs waiting for dinner. But the highlight was a huge Octopus found toward the end of the dive. This guy was not intimidated by us at all, he just sat there while his picture was taken and HID light were blasting him. As Todd and Deja got close to the dock suddenly a Puffer about two feet long appeared. I think he was blinded by the lights even though they tried not to shine them directly on him. Deja's camera had run out of tape by then, of course and Todd was setup for macro so they have no proof of this sighting. The last thing seen before exiting was a Tube Worm around eight inches in diameter and standing over a foot high, a pretty awesome sight.

        The DM at the dive shop said to be back at the shop around 8:30. Bill had indicated closer to 9:00, Bill was right. It seemed like a long wait before the boat returned and they could store their gear inside. Not a big deal but they still had to catch a taxi home. They decided they were not going to get ripped-off again so they passed on a few offers until they saw a dollar taxi. It was already crowded with locals but they picked up Deja, Robby and Todd along with their cameras. Ok, Charlie drove slow and that was aggravating but this guy must have been practicing to the St. Vincent Gran Prix! As Robby put it "We were taking corners on the rain gutters of that van"!!!! But they survived the short ride to the house and did not get ripped off. The night diving crew had eaten at the restaurant next to the dive shop and weren't really hungry after the dive. I think a week of little food had taken its toll. A few snacks and the last of the beer were even enough for Deja before retiring for the night. Their last day of diving would be two dives in the morning with a side trip to Trinity Falls touted to be the most beautiful waterfall in St. Vincent. They were to have a different crew for the last day because Bill "has better things to do".

Dive #14: Orca II
Depth = 55fsw     Time = 65 min.     Vis = 100 ft.     Temp = 82º

Orca II is just around the corner from Orca, gee I love saying that. But you'd think they were miles apart. The vis on Orca II was endless, as was the coral reef. It was a sloping wall dropping to about 75 fsw. Deja rarely takes video of reef but he did on this dive. The reason for choosing this site was the rumor of Frog Fish. Two had been spotted by this crew the day before, they said they thought they could find them again....they did. A little gray one and a little orange one. These weren't as impressive as that big yellow one spotted earlier in the week, but they were cool anyway.

        The group's return flight left at 8:15 AM and they wanted 18 hours of surface time before the flight which meant they needed to be out of the water by 2:15 PM. They thought they were going to do both dive before going to the waterfall. Appalantley this was not told to the DMs. By the time this was brought up they were way past the dive site. Oh well there was still a window of opportunity if they didn't spend too much time at the falls. The ride up to the falls was peaceful with a few bumps in the ocean to get their attention. There is a dock at the falls to get off the boat and sort of a path up to the falls. It does involve skating around the local Rasta selling....herbs...wading through one pool of very cold water and climbing over some rather slippery rocks but not difficult at all. The waterfall was gorgeous as was the surrounding area. Then it was off to their last dive of the week.

Dive #15: Coral Castle
Depth = 71fsw     Time = 73 min.     Vis = 100 ft.     Temp = 82º

Once again the DM came though with his promise. He said he would find us a Seahorse and he did. This guy couldn't have been in a better spot for photos and video. Sitting on the edge of the wall in a piece of beautiful coral posing like a movie star. This was a fitting end to a great week of diving. But Deja had blown what should have been an awesome piece of video. Todd had pointed out a Flamingo Tongue walking along in the sand. Deja put himself in a very awkward position to line up a truly incredible macro shot of this guy. Thinking he had captured the whole thing perfectly he was very disappointed to discover he had churched this entire dive. That means as he was thinking he was taping the camera was actually in pause. Deja was not a happy videographer, oh well just another reason to dive again.

        After this last dive they stopped at the sight of the movie set of Pirate of The Caribbean, pretty cool. They drank a few beers in the restaurant and checked out the fake building fronts built for the movie. Back at the dock they packed up all their gear, settled up the bill at the dive shop and returned to the house to clean and dry gear and pack up for the trip home.

        The thought of spending another two days locked in a suitcase didn't thrill me too much but being caught by Deja wasn't something I wanted either. I needed a better plan. I know Deja has a carry on backpack that never leaves his side. This looked like a better option for me. But when I tried getting in I realized two things. 1: Deja carries too much stuff on board and 2: I need to lose some weight!!! So it was back into the dive bag and offer up some prayers for no delays. Ok what's up with the smell of this dive gear? What have you done in these suits? And couldn't you at least make sure this stuff is dry first. Man, it will take me hours to get rid of the smell!!!!

        The flight home left at 8:15 AM, we had to be at the airport at 7:15 AM. Charlie picked us up at 7:00 AM as promised and deposited us at the now all too well known airport. I was checked in and all seemed to go well. I was put on the plane and removed again in some place called Grenada within minutes. What?? A 4 hour layover?? Who booked these flights, sheeez!!!! Make that a 5 hour layover, grrrrrrr this was getting very old. Finally we took off and arrived in Jamaica an hour and a half late, I felt impending doom. I was rushed though the airport with people screaming "hurry, hurry the plane is leaving". I was thrown on the plane and no sooner than a minute the doors were closed and we took off again, hopefully to home. I met the drug sniffing dog in Atlanta again, the boy still has no clue, do they pay this guy? But at long last I was home, Deja opened the suitcase but I felt no reason to hide anymore. You can only imagine the look on Deja's face to see my wet smelly face greet him when he opened the dive bag, priceless. He is still confused, he was walking around the house talking to himself for days, I fell sort of bad..................naw.

        From my point of view I just don't get it. They go though all this hassle for what, a few pictures and video. Come on, sleeping 18 hours a day in air conditioned comfort with a litter box handy and a constantly full food bowl has it all over this vacation thing. But from the excitement Deja and his friends seem to have every time they came home from a day of diving there must be something to it, humans, go figure. Frog Fish Smog Fish, maybe it would taste good but they never bring any of this stuff home, what's the point? I think I will pass on the next trip. Oh sure I'll still give Deja hell for leaving and do my best to prevent it, but hey its all about me after all.

        Oh yeah, Deja wanted me to thank Todd and Jamie for putting this trip all together and Bill for showing them a good time. He would also like to thank Charles for getting up at 2:00 AM to take us to the airport, what a guy. Another successful Atlanta D2D trip, even with the setbacks this was a great time. Would Deja go back to St. Vincent, he doubts it. The diving was good and he saw a lot of new stuff, but all in all there is better diving for the money. But its the people that make the trip and we have a great group.