Packing For Fiji Trip!

Julie and I are currently trying to pack for our Fiji dive trip which is coming up in less than one week! The whole concept of just throwing some shorts, tee shirts and stuff like that into a bag just doesn’t work for us. With both of us being underwater photographers, we have to dedicate one ‘checked bag’ each to just our underwater photography equipment. That only leaves each of us one more bag for our scuba equipment, cloths, etc.

This one case is ‘just’ underwater photography equipment!

In the past, I’ve never really been too concerned with the weight of my checked luggage. If one bag was a little heavy I would just shift things around or at worst case pay the excessive weight charge on the heavy bag. But lately I’ve read several online articles about how touchy the airlines have become with regard to weight restrictions, and this has caused me to rethink the way I pack for a dive trip. As soon as we get to Fiji we will be boarding a dive boat for a week at sea. This means that any luggage that doesn’t make our flight with us (due to an over weight aircraft) won’t be getting on the boat with us. Being on a dive boat for a week in Fiji with no underwater camera equipment would suck… Big Time!!!!
(View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)

Bermuda Family Vacation – Hamilton Parish

Tuckers Point Club – Hamilton Parish, Bermuda

Out of all the places I like to travel to on vacation, Bermuda has to be one of my favorites! We just returned home from a week in Bermuda with Julie’s family and even though the weather was a little on the uncooperative side, the week as a whole was fantastic! We knew before the flight over that we would have to pass on some of the diving to spend time with Julie’s parents and the rest of the family. What we didn’t count on was the low pressure system that decided to stall just to the North of the island for the entire week… yes, that means lots of rain!

We did get one day of diving in before the weather took a turn for the worse and I also managed to find some breaks in the clouds for some land photography. There was also one morning that turned out to be perfect for some nice sunrise shots too! You’ll be able to see all the trip photos in my travel section soon! I’ll also be working on the Trip Journal along with the image galleries in the next couple of weeks (as time permits), but for now I have thrown together a slideshow to hold you over… I hope you enjoy!

UPDATED: Check out the trip photo slideshow here»

UPDATED: See Our Bermuda 2007 Trip Journal and Image Galleries»

Wedding Preparations/Food Tasting Trip

This weekend Julie and I made the trip up to St. Michaels Maryland to finalize our wedding plans. The trip consisted of food and wine tasting at The Oaks Waterfront Inn, flower and wedding color selections, a trip to the court house for our marriage licence and don’t forget the best part… the cake tasting!!

We would like to thank Julie’s parents and her sister Susan for being there and helping out with the selection process and other events… it really means a lot to us!!

Check out the photo gallery here»

Annual Oyster Festival – St. Michaels

This is a event that Julie and I are going to make a habit! Not only do we get to pig out on some of the finest oysters that the Chesapeake Bay has to offer, but we also get a chance to visit with her parents who spend their winters in the St. Michaels, Maryland area. Thanks again for having the two of us up for the weekend…we had a really great time!

A Long Beach Weekend – Rehoboth, DE

I have known Julie now for just over a year and there is one thing that I can say for sure…she is a beach person! Every summer Julie and several of her girlfriends get together and rent out a Bed & Breakfast in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for a couple of long weekends to escape the busy city life of Washington DC.

This use to be a ‘girls only’ weekend event, but I guess I have become enough of a permanent fixture in Julies life that I am now welcomed on these excursions… or maybe her girlfriends have finally decided that I am worthy of Julie and have come to approve of me! :-)

What ever the case it is a nice break from our other wise hectic and busy life style. Thanks for a nice weekend get away Sweetie!!

PS… I forgot to pack my camera this year (a short notice thing) so I don’t have any pictures to share with you from this trip, but I will make sure I take it next year when Julie and I go again!!

The Bermuda Dive Trip 2006

The Royal Navy Dockyard & Maritime Museum – Bermuda

Julie and I have been looking forward to this trip for months and during the planning phase we decided to knock off a day or two of diving so that we might get to do some sight seeing on the island. Bermuda is very well known for it’s wreck diving, after all the movie “The Deep” was filmed here back in the late seventies, but it also has a host of land attractions including military forts dating back to the early 1600’s.

I’ve posted a collection of our trip photos along with a nice travel journal write up in the ‘Dive Trip’ section of my Web site. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Julie and I will be making another trip to Bermuda some time in 2007, so stay tuned for more pictures…!!

UPDATE: I’ve just added a new image gallery feathering some of my nicest photographs from Bermuda… enjoy!!

New York City 5 Boro Bike Tour

The Bike New York / 5 Boro Bicycle Tour – 2006

My little brother is quite a bicycle racer and when he talked me and Julie into going to New York for a bicycle race I thought I was going to be in for a wild ride. It is designed to be a fun family type of event…not a race but a tour. It is a 43 mile event that starts in lower Manhattan and ends on Staten Island. The route takes you through Central Park, The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and then finally across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to the finish at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. The event is put on by Bike New York and sponsored by Commerce Bank.

I am happy to report that everyone in our group had a great time and no one got hurt! As a matter of fact, we finished in a very respectable time for beginners at 4:36:00 (that’s with four mandatory event rest stops).

I think we are going to try and set it up again for next year, but we would really like to try and get more people to sign up with us. It is a really nice way to see New York and the city can be very photogenic if you let it!!

Check out the Bicycle Tour Photos here»

Easter Weekend w/ Julie’s Family – West Palm, FL

Doug & Julie at the Country Club’s Easter Childrens Fair

Julie’s parents have invited us to come visit them in Florida for the Easter Holiday weekend. From what Julie has told me, they live on the back nine of a country club golf coarse and have a pool in the back yard. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?… yea, one minute your taking a dip in the pool and the next your getting shelled by bad golfers!! ;-) Well it wasn’t quite like that… the pool was screened in to keep the bugs and the balls away!

Although I had met Julie’s parents several times before, this would be my first chance to meet her sister Susan who I had heard so much about from Julie. It’s funny, I always though that Julie talked more about her sisters two children than she did about Susan… I was right! Susan and her husband Jason were very nice and I enjoyed spending time with the whole family, but Julie was right… her niece and nephew were simply adorable!!!

And yes, once again I left my good camera rig at home so the pictures are few and far between. Maybe next trip I’ll have more of a chance to take some better photos… until then, stay tuned!!

Thanks again for having the two of us down to Florida for the weekend…we had a fantastic time!