Harriman Hike Feb. 26, 2011

Well this past Sunday's hike in Harriman was a pleasant experience. I had the pleasure of Sara's company, despite her not feeling too well, and we hiked up this one mountain to see the spectacular view it provides. There's something so peaceful about this spot, I absolutely love it. Someday I'd like to hike a little further on this particular trail, but probably not till the snow melts. Maybe I'll find another cave!

Florida in 2011 for the 2nd Time

Sitting on the balcony of my room down here in Sarasota. Such beautiful weather we're having down here. I'm not looking forward to going back to NJ's cold weather tomorrow. I just love the view I have right now... Sunset, palm trees, water, boats... It doesn't get any better than this. OK actually, it could with good company...
All this just reminds me how wonderful a gift life is and what a beautiful world we live in. I wish everyone would take a little more time to take it all a little less for granted. My new goal... Take none of this for granted anymore..
Good company... That's what I'm missing right now.

Windham & Creek

So I have to say this was a memorable day. It is currently the 14th of January 2011, but I'm referring to the 9th and 13th particularly.

On January 9th, I went to Windham, NY with some friends from BWD to hit the slopes. It was the first time I was on a snowboard since I broke my ankle over a year ago. I knew just about everyone who joined the trip, but I spent most of my time with Alex.

Alex and I felt it would be good to stay close to one another, I guess to keep an eye on one another, but also because I think we felt we were in the same place. We took a few runs down the bunny hill before hitting the real slopes. We

spent a good portion of time at the fire pit, but the final run of the day was shared with Lorraine, Bill, and Denise.... All good people...

That was all last Sunday... Last night, the evening of the 13th, Alex and I went up to Mountain Creek to have a little fun. The two of us did great in my opinion. We took four very successful and enjoyable runs down the mountain. We plan on going back next week and I honestly can't wait!

Saturday, Alex and I will be practicing our DM skills but I know we're both looking forward to our next snow adventure... At least for this season... She's a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing her again!

DUI Demo Day

Well it wasn't exactly yesterday, but I just wanted to post some pictures from this year's DUI Demo Day out at Dutch Springs back on May 23.

It was a good time. I went out with my friends Lorraine and Al. Lorraine worked at the tent, but Al and I got in some diving. Unfortunately my computer was acting up, and I had to surface early and skip the following dive. Al got another dive in though.

And just when we thought we were leaving, we met Ty Sawyer who is a photographer and writer for Sport Diver Magazine. It was a fun day and we all had a great time!

Bradley Mine

Even though this was a few weeks ago, I wanted to share a little about this iron ore mine up in Harriman State Park, New York.

My friend Al told me about this place near Tiorati Circle that you could hike to. You had to do a little searching, but between this two rising ledges of rock, you would find the ent

rance to a cave. This was very intriguing to me, of course, so I had to check it out. So one weekend, my friend Sara and I set out on a hike to find this cave. We searched and searched, almost giving up when I finally found the entrance! It was little ways up a hill, but the mouth of this cave was huge!

As we entered the cave, we could barely see any distance. It's a good thing I brought a couple of flashlights. There was one ventilation shaft in the roof of the cave, but it wasn't too far from the entrance, so it didn't help much wit

h the visibility.

There was also a body of water in the cave. Probably a collection of runoff that can't be naturally drained, so I'm guessing it just pools up. It looks like it's been that way for a long time though. To the right of the water when you enter the cave, there is some dry rock you can use to access the back of the cave, but it's quite narrow and steep. I plan to venture a bit further in the next time I visit this place.

So when I got home that day, I decided to do a little research to see what this cave was all about. Turns out, it was an operational iron ore mine that was open during the Civil War era. They would mine the iron ore in order to make weapons from what I understand.

It was a great place to explore and I can't wait to get back in there!

Bermuda

So I've been home from Bermuda for about 30 hours now. It feels much longer than that, but the trip itself ended just as fast as it came up! For as short as it was, I have to say it was one of the most fun and active trips I've been on with BWD!

We had a larger group than I'm used to traveling with. I roomed with Al to save a few bucks on the room, but my parents came along and a few familiar faces were around from previous trips I've been on. I also met a few new people that I liked. There's no shortage of new people I meet on a daily basis in this sport, I just love it.

So we did 7 dives in total, 5 of which were wreck dives! I want to say the wrecks were the highlights of the diving, but the reefs were just as much fun as the wrecks. Without going in to too much details, I know I have the bug for sure!

There's a dredger they sunk in the 1930s named the King George. She sits upright in about 65 ft of water (to the sand). We actually saw her on a night dive for the first time and dived

on her again the follow day. I saw so many anemones and arrow crabs, it was ridiculous. There was also a nice big lobster that came out to say hi during the night dive.

The other wrecks I dived were the Pelinaion, Cristobal Colon, and the Rita Zovetta. Each of these ships were actual wrecks that crashed into the barrier reef and sank in the 1930s and 1940s.

Al and I buddied up as usual and did our own thing on most of the dives. The guides were a racing through the reefs and wrecks a little too fast for our liking, so it just worked out better that we navigated on our own. We found plenty of swim throughs and marine life worthy of a picture. We posed and traded positions with the camera in many different places and just had a good time.

Aside from the diving, Bermuda has so much to offer! The Grotto Bay Resort was a great place to stay, though the service was just a little slow. We got mopeds of course, and we got our money's worth of riding!

St. George was a regular destination for us as well as some of the old forts that line the eastern shore of the island. We made it as far southwest as Horseshoe Bay, but it was so crowded. Never made it to Hamilton this trip, but I'm sure there will be plenty of time in the future for that. My parents couldn't help

but have their bike land on top of them on the last day. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt aside from some bruises and scrapes.

All in all it was a great trip, we had a great group, and I can't wait for the next one!