Stanley's dive vacation

As I've been working very hard and non-stop since leaving my homeland Vietnam, Debra and Dan finally relented and allowed me to go on vacation. It just so happened that Dan was headed on a scuba vacation (surprise!) with my friend Mogens. It was a live aboard trip which means that you board a boat from land and then spend the entire trip on the boat where your only priorities are eating, sleeping, diving, and occasionally having one drink (after finishing diving for the day, of course).

My adventure continued on this trip. I did go on several dives and Dan snapped a few pictures of me meeting some new friends. First, Mogens wanted to have (another) picture taken with me (who doesn't really?).

I got to meet a great looking barracuda who didn't look very friendly, but also didn't seem the least bit interested in me (which is unusual--most other beings are very interested in me).


There was one part of the trip that made me a little uncomfortable, but no one else seemed to mind much. That was when my new friend Anne made her 300th dive somewhere in the middle of the trip. To celebrate, my friends took their scuba gear and me on a "special" dive. They didn't take anything else ifyouknowwhatImean. It was all good fun and I served as a witness and also as a rash guard for Mogens on this "special" dive. Luckily, the water was warm, so I didn't get cold and my friends enjoyed "hanging out" too.It was very strange, but other than Dan and Mogens, most of the people on the boat didn't really have much interest in meeting me or having photos taken with me. I guess sometimes it's nice not to be a celebrity and enjoy just blending in with the rest of the crowd.

Of course, in their endless pursuit to cause me some pain on every trip, there was an incident where I took a little good-natured abuse. See for yourself.


I didn't go on every dive, but if I did, I would have been glad not to have any pants since I would have peed them when Dan caught this video.

I'm very excited about my trip to OOW09 coming up in about a month. I recently spent a few days in a very small space and traveled all the way back to my friend Debra in Belfast, so I'll have to share some of that experience soon.