Diving with daddy...sort of

I grew up in a small town in Kentucky where the closest body of water was the Ohio River.  Lets face it, there aren't alot of reasons to get in the Ohio River so I was never that comfortable around water.  Don't get me wrong, I can swim in a pool but throw me in anything larger than that and I panic.  My husband on the other hand has always - his entire life lived within a mile or so of the ocean.  He seems to feel just as comfortable bobbing around in the ocean as I feel shopping the clearance rack at Target.  He loves fishing, spear fishing, diving, abalone diving - pretty much anything as long as its in the water.  Did I mention his dad Russell was a commercial fisherman?  Morgan went on many a fishing trips with his dad as a youngster.  Sometimes it seems like he is more comfortable and relaxed in the water than anywhere else.  Makes sense, he's been around it his whole life.

Coming in from free diving for abalone in Sea Ranch

If you want to get to the primo dive spots out here you have to be willing to climb some rocky hillsides



Three Abalone

 Then there's me, I pretty much hate water.  Pools are disgusting to me and rivers, lakes, oceans etc just seem like a good place to get nibbled on by some other species - maybe a smaller one, maybe a larger one. The thought of being in the water does absolutely nothing for me.  However, the thought of spending more alone time with my hubby does sound pretty good.  This is why I have decided to..drum roll please.....get a wet suit and start getting in the ocean with my hubby. If I want to spend more time with him then I better learn to like something that he likes to do. I figured I will try to find the right wetsuit for me and then the two of us are going to have to take a few trips to the beach to get me comfortable in the water. Maybe I should even take a swim lesson or two?  Who knows!  He's willing to teach me and I would like to see what its all about.

Steelhead fishing at the Chetco River in Oregon

Striper from the Sacramento River - Avrie thought it was pretty neat

In a few more years, probably sooner rather than later, the girls are going to want to see what this "diving" thing is all about and daddy will gladly and eagerly want to teach them what its all about. Who knows, in a few years we could be a family of ocean free divers.  Doubtful, but you never know. When I mentioned this to Morgan I made it clear that I would not interfere with his manly dive time.  All you girls out here know what I'm talking about, I also promised that I wouldn't try to convince all the other diver's wives out here to follow in my footsteps.  But hey, who's to say us girls couldn't have our own dive days without the boys, anythings possible. Cocktails and oysters afterwards....hmmm.... this is starting to sound good! I might be wasting my money on a wetsuit and never make it past my first lesson, but at least during that one lesson I got to spend a little alone time with the hubby and that's really what its all about.

Morgan not long after we met with a good sized abalone