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Extreme Kellie San Diego - Day 2 - The Ride of a Lifetime
The alarm clock on the bedside table of my hotel reads 5:45 am. For those who have ever had one to many drinks, sometimes the most difficult conflict is that which rages between your body craving more sleep and your brain knowing it has somewhere to be. At 5:45 my brain was telling me that a film crew had to be in Mexico in 4 hours and I was the one responsible for getting them there. My body, however was begging to go back to sleep.
Cue Vitalyte to the rescue. After downing a couple bottles of Vitalyte, a cup of coffee and a croissant from the hotel bakery, I was ready to begin our trek south of the border. The scheduled departure time was 8:00am and about 8:15 I realized that I wasn’t the only one struggling with the decision to get out of bed and begin the day. After 20 minutes or so, the whole entourage arrives and we begin our trek to Ensenadas, Mexico. But first, people need caffeine and grease.
This is the part of the blog that I recommend you pay attention to as it contains some very valuable lessons about driving to Mexico.
Lesson #1 - Not all McDonald’s are created equally. 2 miles from the Mexican border we pulled into a McDonalds for a much needed coffee and food break. Needless to say my egg McMuffin had the consistency of a racquetball and my coffee could melt steel. Not the best thing for a sour stomach. Luckily I had more Vitalyte.
Lesson #2 - It occured to me as I was crossing the border that I never informed my rental car company of my destination, so in an attempt to be proactive, I called the rental car company as I was crossing the border. There response was simple: You can’t take that car to Mexico. Oh well. Better to beg forgiveness then ask permission I recall someone once saying.
Lesson #3 The 900 plus signs you see in the last 5 miles before you reach the border that say “Get Your Mexican Insurance Here” actually have a purpose. Apparently if an American vehicle gets in a wreck in Mexico, standard insurance doesn’t cover the accident. Without the Mexican insurance, the driver gets a one way ticket to jail. So here I am driving in an uninsured rental vehicle in a country where the vehicle wasn’t suppose to be in the first place. Sometimes things just get interesting. (By the way, I upgraded to a car with built in GPS so I wouldn’t get lost in Mexico. This, of course stops working about 400 yards past the border.) Oh well.
So now we are running late, we have no insurance, are in a car that isn’t suppose to be in Mexico and the GPS isn’t working. All of this on the heels of one of one of the deadliest border shootouts in recent memory. Border patrol, which apparently is usually fairly tame, now consisted of M-16’s, tanks with really big guns mounted to the tops and a lot of soldiers. Not a good day to be hungover.
Luckily the directions to our destination were on my laptop and only 2 hours late, we finally arrive at the Horsepower Ranch to begin our Baja tour with Wide Open Baja.
There have been few moments in my life where I have been truly excited and surprised and this was one of them. After driving through some rougher areas of Ensenadas (more because I was lost) I was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. But then we found our exit, thanks to James who led us off the main road to one of the most beautiful ranches I have ever seen. Tucked back in the mountains and hills of Mexico is Horsepower Ranch, the hub of Wide Open Baja. And parked in front of the ranch were 4 of the coolest machines ever made. This is the reason we are here. Extreme Kellie runs the Baja.
Now this is where you the reader would do well to tune into the live broadcast (or watch online) of the show, for I lack the words to describe the collection of cars they had out for us or how the next 30 minutes went. I will do my best and say that within those short 30 minutes, we were introduced to the amazing staff at the ranch, given a introductory walk through of the cars, fitted with helmets and led off to begin the adventure.
“I can’t believe they are letting us drive these things,” was the collective spoken idea said amongst us we took off. With little or no training, James put us behind the wheel of these machines and led us out on the off road adventure of a lifetime.
With Kellie and Noah in the lead car behind James, and Brian and me following, we set out to conquer terrain that was, needless to say, quite intimidating. At first I think we are all a little skiddish but once you get behind the wheel of one of these cars, understand what they can do, we were all having the time of our lives. Hitting jumps at 80 miles an hour, taking 90 degree turns almost as fast, watching the beautiful hills of Mexico blaze by as these cars handled the most aggressive terrain like it was simply a long stretch of highway is an experience I’ll never forget. After a couple hours of driving and shooting, James takes us to a beautiful meadow where the crew at Wide Open prepared the mos amazing meal.
After fueling up, taking some pictures for future blogging, we were ready to get at again.
For the next couple hours we all took turns driving, slowly but surely get more comfortable with these incredible vehicles. Eventually the sun began to set and the night air let us know it was time to head back. We pulled into the ranch and even before we were all fully out of the cars, one of the ranch guys was there with a beer. After a quick shower we were all once again treated to an amazing meal and after, we sat around with drinks in hand reliving the events of the day. From Kellie’s mud facial (you have to see the show to catch this, one of the funniest things I have ever seen) to the high flying jumps and everything in between, it was truly a day to be relived over drinks in front of a fire, and certainly a day that I will not soon forget.
From weekend warriors to the nitro charged metal heads, this a vacation I would recommend everyone take at least once in a lifetime. Go to www.wideopenbaja.com for more info, and thanks to the entire staff at Wide Open for putting this together and showing us an amazing time.
A Weekend of Awesome with Extreme Kellie - Day 1
Last summer Lesley Betts introduced me to the 30 Days of Awesome Challenge. The challenge was simple. Do something awesome for 30 days and blog about it. If only I had met Kellie MacMullan before the summer.
For those who live outside of Colorado, Kellie MacMullan is a name you probably have not heard outside of the Vitalyte website, but it’s a name I’m confident you’ll be hearing in the future across the globe. Kellie is a news anchor on the CW’s Denver station and was introduced to Vitalyte through he segment “Extreme Kellie.” Check out all of the previous segments at www.vitalyte.com or www.2thedeuce.comunder the video section. You’ll notice that they are filmed in Colorado so as part of the partnership between Vitalyte and Extreme Kellie, we invited her out to the corporate office in San Diego to take advantage of some of the Extreme possibilities that Southern California has to offer.
Day 1
Kellie and her camera guy Noah get into San Diego at around 7. Was it mean for me to book them on a flight that left Denver at 6:00 am? I don’t think so. It gave me an opportunity to take them out to the beach for a cup of coffee.
Kellie MacMullan and Evan DeMarco overlooking the ocean
After the coastal tour of San Diego it was off to our first shoot of the day at SeaWorld for the Dolphin Experience. This was an amazing thing to watch as Kellie got in the dolphin tank to test her dolphin training skills.
The dolphin experience, which is open to anyone, allows you to get up close and personal with these amazing animals. From initial introductions like the one above, to getting the dolphins to perform their amazing aerial feets, the dolphin tank is fantastic experience.
This is how the dolphin responded to Kellie's pirate joke.
For those who live outside of Colorado, Vitalyte will have the video of these “Extreme Kellie” segments available on our website.
Check back over the next couple weeks to learn about the rest of the trip. The Extreme level goes into maximum overdrive as we get to run the Baja in the most amazing machines I have ever seen, fly World War II fighter planes and surf some monster waves(Ok, they wern’t that big but you have to start somewhere right). In addition I’ll explain why you should never eat McDonalds in a border town, take a rental car to Mexico or drive a Baja car with a hangover.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 15
Lake Powell - Day 2
Someone once told me that solitude is a precious thing. Standing on a giant rock overlooking the lake with a cup of coffee in hand while watching the sun splash its first rays down on the desert made me understand that statement. Moments like that are fleeting and so rare that you wish you could stop time and stay in that moment for a lot longer. Unfortunately that isn’t a possibility so you do the next best thing… Go Scuba Diving.
We want to send a shout out to our friends at A1 Scuba in Denver, who provided some awesome gear for us to try while diving Lake Powell. In addition they are also the sponsors of the Aquarium Shark Dive in Denver. Check out their link on our website for more info about this company. There seems to be this conflict amongst divers as to the diving quality of the lake, and although I have been there many times in the past, I have never dove the waters of Lake Powell. Now that I have, I can say that was an awesome experience.
The visibility changes depending on your location but my first dive took place along the main channel wall where the bottom depth was registering at 380 feet. The algae growing along the wall captured sunlight and reflected it back into the lake making visibility roughly 30 to 40 feet. My first dive was with Kenneth, an experienced diver so we decided to drop down to 35 feet to check conditions and take a couple of pictures.
Kenneth suited upa nd ready to go, minus a mask.
The two of us 35 feet
I'm the guy behind all the bubbles
The rock wall we diving along opened up in many places to reveal an entire network of caves. Not having the proper equipment, we decided to stay away, although I must say the allure of the unknown was pretty tempting. Our total bottom time for the first dive was about 25 minutes with a max depth of 45 feet. After that, visibility got pretty bad and all you could see was the abysmal drop off that ran another 340 feet to the lake bottom. Ocean diving is different in the sense that you can usually see down to the floor or at least a reef that you may be diving. Looking down into the lake, you see nothing but slow change from lighted water to the infinite black of the murky depths. It can be a little freaky sometimes, especially when you let your imagination run wild and think of all that could be lurking down there.
Needless to say we had a great first dive and were both ready to enjoy some above lake activities. Today was wakesurfing day, something I have yet to experience on decent water. Wake surfing is an attempt to surf on a lake instead of the ocean by using the ballast system of a boat to create a large enough way to surf on.
I think I did alright.
The great thing about a place like lake Powell is that there is always something to do, so when wake surfing gets old, you can move right into rock climbing and cliff diving.
The girls pausing for a photo op before jumping
That's me all the way up top. OK, it wasn't that high but it felt like it looking down.
Geronimoooooo
Cliff Diving led into more wake boarding and the day progressed as well as any day could, with plenty of sun, fun and beer. I even got in a decent run or two on the board whihc Tami captured so well.
Day 2 finished out a lot stronger than day 1 as it was my friends birthday. The celebration got going with a huge fire by the lake where I was able to introduce “V”, the new Vitalyte mascot to the group.
V
Turns out that V is quite the ladies man.
Watch for the continuing adventures of V as he travels the world in search of fun and excitement. This guy is a prototype but we will soon have V for sale on the website for all Vitalyte fans to enjoy in their adventures. I’m guessing that we will also be offering up some great prizes in the future for the best “V” pics and stories.
The party kept going until the wee hours of the morning, when by sheer exhaustion people slowly migrated back to whatever part of the houseboat they could call a bed for a few hours before the next day.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 14
After driving 7 and 1/2 hours through the dead of night I arrived at Bullfrog Marina just as the sun was coming up. This was an awesome start to an awesome vacation at Lake Powell. Sure I was a little tired from the long drive but seeing the majestic beauty of Lake Powell with its red cliffs and clear water first thing in the morning can have a motivating effect on a person.
5 Days of scuba diving, wake boarding, cliff diving, hiking, and anything else I could think of, all in the company of great friends is my idea of pretty good vacation.
Day 1
8:00 - We had the houseboat fully loaded with all the food, beer and gear necessary to stay alive for 5 days away from civilization.
This place is beautiful first thing in the morning.
8:05 - With the houseboat instruction tour complete, I backed the houseboat out of her slip and headed off into the main channel between Bullfrog Marina and Halls Crossing to meet up with the wake board boat. Our 53 foot houseboat lacked speed but on a vacation like this, who really needs it.
9:10 - We met up with the wake board boat and proceeded South towards the Arizona side of the lake. With three woman showing up later that day our goal was stay close to the marinas.
9:30am - 8:30 pm This part of the day would represent the montage scene of a movie. Set to the backdrop of some hip hop song, the montage would show our little group wake boarding, drinking beer, cliff diving.
Brian and Kenneth rock climbing
Casey really likes me.
8:45 pm - I am now water logged, sun baked and have had nothing to eat but rice krispies treats for the better part of a day. My carnivorous side is craving protein in the form of a bacon wrapped fillet. Just because we are in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean we have to live like savages.
11:30 pm - Two days of not sleeping, compounded with all the fun in the sun are catching up to me. It is time to call it a night. Or so I thought?
2:30 am - The phone rings and the woman we were suppose to be meeting took a major detour and ended up on the wrong side of the lake 3 hours late. They finally get back to the house boat and the party starts again. Oh well, sleeping is overrated.
To post or not to post, that is the question. I thought I would try and condense the whole trip into one long post but as long winded as I can be, that might turn into a mini novel instead of a blog, so check back for tomorrows post where Vitalyte introduces its new mascot V to the trip, I scuba dive in the 350 foot murky depths of Lake Powell, and the fun continues.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 13
The anticipation that comes from three weeks worth of prep, training and trash talk culminated this weekend for the Vitalyte Teams at the 2009 Muddy Buddy in Boulder, Colorado.
Most of the Team’s 1 & 2 spent the night in Boulder to avoid a long early morning drive to the race, with the exception of my partner who had the Denver Puttin Pub Crawl on Saturday and didn’t make it up to Boulder until 6am on race day.
Luckily the rest of Team Vitalyte got to spend the day in Boulder at the pre-race festivities hosted by REI - A Vitalyte Partner - and Baker Street Pub who was kind enough to offer drink and food specials for the racers.
Saturday was great day to hang out with friends, enjoy some good food and relax for the battle to come. In bed by midnight and up at 5, I was ready to get dirty.
Sarah, the better half of Team Vitalyte, met me at the hotel at 6am for our short ride to Boulder reservoir where the event was held. After the costume contest and a little pre-race brief it was time to begin. The strategic decision was to let Sarah run the first leg while I biked. Bikers began 2 minutes before the runners to give them extra time to catch up after the 1st transition which required you to military crawl under a cargo net before beginning the second leg.
Evan getting ready for the race.
Pre race at the lake
Brian and Evan Pre-Race
One of the costume contest entries.
Team Vitalyte Too had Tami riding first and Brain running first. At the transition Tami and I were neck and neck heading into the run. At some point I found myself ahead of her and about halfway through the first mile of the run I saw Brain pass me. Since Brian and Sarah started the run together I figured it would only be a mater of time before Sarah passed me on her way to transition two. By the time I reached transition two, Sarah still hadn’t passed me and i watched as Tami passed me by, not before she could pat me on the butt as if to say” We’re going to win.”
Transition two required me to climb a rock wall and drop down a cargo net before taking off biking on the third leg. This is where our race went to you know where in a hand basket. Sarah had never rode our bike before and was unfamiliar with the gears. I sent her into battle with an untested weapon and it came back to bite us. The Specialized Mountain Bike we had for this race had a unique gear shift system which I forgot to mention to her before starting. As such she had to run the 2nd leg all in the highest gear.
By the time she got to the second transition I had been there for roughly 7 minutes. This threw off the rest of the race as we had to wait for each other at transitions instead of leap frogging.
We pushed it fo rthe next 4 miles and did a great job of making up time but the first transition and the subsequent waiting that came as a result put us about 10 minutes behind the other Vitalyte Team.
However, in true Vitalyte fashion, we met at the end, crawled through another cargo net and splashed face down in the mud for our 100 yard crawl to the finish line where we were met by the victorious Vitalyte Team.
After a cowboy type shower in the lake, we all got together for some group shots and talk of next years race where, hopefully, Sarah and I will take back the coveted Muddy Buddy crown.
Tami and Brian in the mud
Sarah and Evan's plunge into the mud pit
More mud crawling
All in all, an awesome weekend.
Check out the events section of the website for more pics and coverage of the event.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 12
Housekeeping Items - The response to the 30 Days Campaign has been overwhelming and once again we want thank you all for taking the time to read, comment and write your own blogs.
We are still giving away Free Vitalyte to the best blog of the day so keep em coming.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out Kellie MacMullan’s blog from the KWGN News Channel, I highly encourage you to do so. Lots of great of stuff in there. It’s available in an RSS Feed from Vitalyte’s website.
Vitalyte is also running our “Weekend Warrior” campaign. With lifestyles being as hectic as they are, sometimes the weekends are really the only opportunity to get in some fun. We at Vitalyte would love to hear about it. Whether you are a top rated triathlete competing, an adrenalin junkie like me looking for something crazy to do, or a family spending an afternoon at the [ark, we want to hear about. The goal of Vitalyte is to inspire everyone to take advantage of all the opportunities that lie away from the T.V. Remember, great prizes in store for the best stories.
Some days the weather just doesn’t corporate, but that doesn’t mean awesome has to take place outside. Of course, as I get nearer to leaving for Lake Powell for a good friends 30th b-day, I wish the weather would be a little bit more cooperative as I try to get in as many lake days as possible perfecting some of this summer’s tricks. Soon it will be time to hang up the wake board and tune the snow skis. Of course that brings a whole different kind of awesome.
Speaking of, I want to congratulate Tami for passing her open water dive test last night. Hopefully she will soon be exploring the majesty of the great blue with me soon.
Anyway, in lieu of the ability to go to the lake and with the days training session in prep for the Muddy Buddy completed, I figured it was time to bring awesome to the kitchen.
Growing up in the kitchen of my families Italian Restaurant, I got to watch my grandmother do things with food that I’m sure no will ever be able to do ever. The woman was a magician in the kitchen, taking the most simple of recipes and turning them into the things of legend. I learned a lot from her and although I will never be able to match her skill in the kitchen, every now and then I come up with something worth bragging about. Last night it was Pizza.
My grandmother was famous for her pizza and would she have been with me last night, I’m sure I would have got that subtle but approving smile from the master for my work in the kitchen. Of course, had she have been there, I wouldn’t have been stuck doing the dishes alone. Oh well, small price to pay. The pizza was awesome and I was able to get some shots of the weird storm system moving along the front range.
As the night wore on the system moved through the sky turned all sorts of funky colors. It was really a cool thing to watch as I enjoyed my pizza and a glass of Shiraz.
I don’t issue challenges or advice very often but I will today. If your parents or grandparents are around, pick up the phone just to say hi. It gets easy to forget about the people in your life amidst the hustle and bustle, but simply taking the time to pick up the phone and spend a couple of minutes with someone is such a valuable gift.
Have a great day.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 11
Muddy Buddy Prep - Still looking for some feedback from Vitalyte Fans out there on a prize for the winning Vitalyte Team in the upcoming Muddy Buddy.
Sunday Funday - Back in high school I had read the Book Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. The book is a perfect one for teaching kids all about symbolism and character development, and according to one of my high school English teachers, the ridiculousness of war. I enjoyed the novel, not because of its symbolism and character development, but because it was a good story. I especially liked the character Orr who was constantly taking apart small mechanical things like carburetors from trucks and planes, and putting them back together. This character appealed to me because he had the patience to do things like that for no apparent reason. Of course, if you have read the book you know that there was reason for it later on, but that’s not important. I have never been like Orr in the book. Perhaps I suffer from Adult ADD or perhaps I lack a certain spacial awareness necessary to do things overtly mechanical. Whatever the reason, the idea of taking apart a carburetor and putting it back together is on the same level as getting a root canal without Novocaine.
So you can imagine my excitement when it came time to put together a new gas grill on Sunday. I hate to bring up something like the unshakable power of the human spirit but I know that without that undefinable urge to trudge onward in the face of such incredible adversity, I most likely would have stopped after pulling the darn thing out of the box. Seriously, is it really necessary to break these things down into as many pieces as humanly possible to get them into a smaller box. I understand the logistics and the decreased cost of shipping something like this when the boxes are smaller but for love of all things holy, it is certainly not necessary to break a grill down to the point that I couldn’t tell if I was putting together a bar-b-q or a jet engine. And don’t get me started on the instructions for this thing, which were clearly written by someone whose grasp of the English language was minimal at best.
Ok, enough complaining. Bottom line is I did it. Two hours and forty-five minutes later I screwed the last screw in and marveled at my mastery of such a complex task like putting together a grill, which in Colorado will get another two months of use before the weather turns on us. Back to the whole human spirit thing. Hokey, yes it is but sometimes these little tasks are exactly what I need to remind me how sometimes there is a storm before the calm, or in this case, a lot of work before a porterhouse. Besides, you never know when your plane will go down in the Atlantic, you will have to paddle to Switzerland in a life boat, and the patience derived from such a mundane task will be the difference between making it or not. (Catch 22 reference in case you’re wondering)
That wasn’t the end of Sunday though. After such a daunting task like putting together a grill, I felt I needed to reqrd myself with a movie. Growing up like so many kids across the country there was only one logical choice for the afternoon entertainment. G.I. Joe.
Evan’s Movie Corner - Sometimes we go to movies because we see a story that offers insights into ourselves, movies like Schindler’s List or The Notebook for those hopeless romantics out there. Sometimes we go to a movie because we need to laugh ourselves silly for 2 hours, movies like Old School or The Hangover. Sometimes, not all the times, but sometimes we go to just get lost in the scenery of a movie for two hours. If you have any other preconceived notion about G.I. Joe, I’m sorry to say you will be grossly disappointed. If however, you want to see a supermodel cast in skin tight costumes set amongst the backdrop of amazing special effects, then this movie is for you.
This movie is never going to be an Oscar Worthy flick, but then again blockbusters seldom are. If you are looking to kill two hours of your day by seeing a beautiful cast of people beat each other up, the you are in luck.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 10
Muddy Buddy Training
The Muddy Buddy is a 6-7 mile race for a team of two where each person runs 3 miles and bikes 3 miles in a leap frog fashion. One team member rids while the other runs and at each interval change there is some kind of obstacle. The end of the race requires the teams to crawl through the giant mud pit before crossing the finish line.
With a messed up ankle I was a little concerned about my ability to handle this course but since there is a yet unnamed prize awaiting the victorious Vitalyte Team, I am 100 percent committed to winning.
For those of you that live in the Denver area, come on out and cheer on all the Vitalyte Teams, especially mine. There is a huge party afterwards where you can meet the Vitalyte Teams and assuming the training regiment goes well this week, you can shake hands with the victorious Sarah and Evan.
Saturday was another great day at the lake, at least for the first couple hours before the crowds arrived. My buddy’s 30th b-day in lake Powell is coming up in less than 3 weeks and so each run on the lake is a chance to try a new trick or perfect an existing one before the big summer blow out in a real body of water.
Saturday was my opportunity to put a new board in the water and try it out. the Hyperlite Imperial is a 3 stage rocker with a wider middle section is designed to give more pop of the wake and a smoother landing. Unfortunately it was difficult to really get a feel for the board in the ocean like chop of Chatfield. Basically all I succeeded in doing was getting some great wipe out shots.
The approach
The Jump
Still Jumping
The Splash
Samuel Clemens once said “always leave em laughing.” In the absence of decent water on a day where far to many boats were on the lake, I find it best to just to follow Sam’s words. At the least the people on the boat get a show.
I guess its bag to Muddy Buddy Training.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 9
Ladies and Gentlemen. We are now midway through our second week of the 30 Days of Awesome and campaign and I wanted to thank all of you for following me on my journey this summer and I also want to thank those of you who have submitted to the Vitalyte Blog. I have had a chance to read some great stories this summer and even award a couple of Vitalyte Prizes.
Check out the website and our Facebook page to read some of the other entries, especially Kellie MacMullan’s blog. Kellie is an anchorwoman for WB News here in Denver and has a segment of her show called Extreme Kellie. This woman is awesome!
Keep the entries coming.
The Weekend Begins
When I was younger and caught up in the world of corporate travel, usually spending 4 days a week on the road, I had to reserve my weekends for the all the things I couldn’t do during the week, such as laundry, paying bills, watering the plants, (this one became less and less of a problem as I realized I can’t keep a plant alive). As I get older and paradoxically less mature, I have found that the weekends are a great opportunity to really kick back and have some fun.
Some times that fun begins at a local watering hole for Happy Hour, or an early flight out for a long weekend away from home. Somtimes a relaxed weekend is all you need to recharge and a quiet dinner party is the thing to start it off. That’s what I was thinking when I invited a couple friends over for some drinks and dinner Friday night. Of course, in typical high school fashion, the couple swiftly multiplied and the next thing I knew there were 16 people in my loft.
What started out as an attempt at a quiet evening quickly turned into a great party with lots of friends. Who am I kidding, I never really liked the quiet evenings anyway.
Sandy, Jen and Tim
The party was a great time and more importantly and opportunity to begin the trash talk between the three Vitalyte Teams competing in next weekends Muddy Buddy Challenge.
The Teams are:
Brian and Tami
Sarah and Evan
Brooke and Joe
We as a group are having a hard time deciding what the victorious team should get as a prize so I would like to open this up to suggestions (keep them clean people, this is a family site). Post suggestions to the blog or our Facebook and Twitter page.
Check back this week or updates on the brewing rivalry.
30 Days of Awesome - Day 8
In mid November I will be traveling to Australia to complete negotiations for the new Vitalyte Australia. From a business standpoint, this is an amazing opportunity for us to grow as a company and capture a foothold in the global marketplace. From a personal standpoint, this will give me the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream, two actually.
The first will be to dive the Great Barrier Reef, something I have wanted to do since I put on my first BCD and fins. A series of reefs that stretch over 1600 miles, the Great Barrier Reef is a must for any diver. With the human impact becoming more apparent, I want to make sure I see it before it is to late.
The second dream of mine is to cage dive with the great whites of Neptune Isalnd.
Take a look at this picture below and tell me that doesn’t look like the most amazing thing in the world.
So in preparation for the dream come true trip, I decided to work the rust out of my land locked scuba gear by doing the shark dive at the Denver Aquarium.
Couple issues if you are a diver that make this less than a perfect dive. First it’s a negative bouyancy dive. You are overweighted so you sink like a stone. The second problem, which is only a problem if you feel like being an appetizer for a shark, is that you kneel in trenches along the perimeter of the aquarium. Apparently diving in the middle of the sharks swimming and eating patterns is like signing up to be someone else’s lunch.
All in all though, a truly awesome experience. The shark aquarium has a number of brown sharks, zebra sharks, some barracudas, but the most ferocious looking is the sand tiger shark. The sea turtles are also amazing. They are not in the least bit shy and on a number of occasions swam right up and nudged me.
sand tiger shark
here fishy, fishy fishy
You’ll notice that my pictures for this dive are absolutely horrible. It has been a long time since I have used a real 35mm camera with film and I forgot to wind the darn thing back up when I was finished so most of the pics are double exposed. Seriously, what did we all do before digital?
The lasted about 45 minutes and was an awesome experience. More importantly it made me even more excited for my trip to Australia. The chance to see a great white up close and personal is something that I have been wanting to do for as long as I can remember and now that I have the opportunity, well lets just say November wont get here soon enough.