Caribbean Note II

It's 7:30 Sunday morning at the end of our second week and I've been up for awhile. The concrete mixer is going round and the workmen (who have been here everyday) are stacking blocks and stripping formwork from the columns on the new wall. The trucks will be here soon to dump loads of dirt, rock and white stone gravel to complete the work in the driveway area where yesterday the trucks hauled away three loads of mosquito infested swampland. There is still plenty of chaos, but the project is starting to come together. As a fabrication foreman it has been hard to watch these guys "work."

Our latest purple heart goes to Berit for yet another cactus spine injury. She was carrying a scuba tank up our garden stairway which was cluttered with cords, hoses and a wheelbarrow ramp, and "brushed" against our cactus fence and jammed a cactus spine through (I kid you not) her middle finger at the knuckle from one side to the other! You could see the spine where it entered and on the other side beneath the skin you could see it trying to poke through the skin from inside her finger!!

After a trip to the clinic, then across town to doctor #1, then to the hospital and doctor #2 (where we were given a special after hours appointment for surgery), through her evening surgery itself; after all that, the spine was still in place. The doctor cut a "window" through which mother nature would push the spine such that it could be extracted in four days time on Monday. So, we have an appointment for tomorrow morning to return for surgery #2 and get this thing out. She has been on antibiotics and is not in too much pain except when she bumps it, which seems to be quite often.

Stay tuned for next weeks note to hear how it all turns out!!

The latest Lionfish hunt (prior to Berit's injury) took place at a site called Fish Hut South, which is one of the few spots we had never dived. This turns out to be a very nice site for mass quantities of coral and after swimming out over the shallow sand flats we reached the edge where the reef drops off to the depths and right there Berit found our first Lionfish. After a valiant effort to nab it, she managed to chase it so deep into the coralhead we could no longer see it.

Soon after we found fish #2 and shortly after fish #3. Working together we managed to net and bag both of them and later drop them off at the lab for whatever the latest Dr. Mengele type of tests and dissections are being carried out these days. It looks like the LIonfish are winning the battle for the reef.

We are busy but happy with our situation here and hope the same is true with all of you!