Top Ten List of Dry-Dock Activities: New for 2013!

Our beautiful and trusty boat just spent a week in dry-dock, where she got all shined up with a few improvements. But what did our beautiful and trusty staff get up to while we were pining for boat diving? A New-For-2013 List:

#10) Vacation. Exotic vacation in beautiful Bali, with gorgeous photos of underwater exploits (presumably from a boat... fickle harlots on someone else's boat! The shame!). We place this as number 10 because we are super jealous. And bitter. Jealousy is also why we just called them fickle harlots. Sorry about that. (Not.)

#9) Dry dock. Yes, Captains Stephen, Bob and Greg inhaled fiberglass while scraping, sanding, painting and toiling away in the hot, dry sun of Kona to make the Kohala Diver beautiful. (This is not ninth most awesome. We just placed it here so that the Bali-bound staff members above ~fickle harlots!~ will feel really really guilty and bring Captains Stephen, Bob and Greg fetching sarongs or something.)

#8) Tattoos. Always a dry-dock activity. You will never guess who and you will never guess where and you can probably guess what!

#7) Tent sale! Our first (annual?) dry-dock tent sale took up some parking lot space and featured an actual tent! Along with wonderful deals on new and used gear. Check in the shop because we still have some of these items for sale prices.

#6) Planned a wedding! Did you know Captain Stephen and Captain Laura can officiate at your wedding? Wicked Awesome!

#5) PADI classes in the pool! This week we had plenty of classes using our gorgeous and distracting pool: Discover Scuba Diving, Open Water, Scuba Review, and Emergency First Response Instructor Training! (Okay, that last one wasn't in the pool.) We think all academic work from now forward should take place in the hot tub. Would you find quiz-taking distracting in a hot tub?

#4) Other hobbies. Wait? We have other hobbies besides diving?!?! Who knew? This week saw some dry photography (the best way to get to know your camera for quick underwater changes), roller derby, gourmet cooking, reading, motorcycling, tv watching, origami, and knitting. Yeah, we were bored.

#3) Gear repair. We did tank visual inspections! Hydros! Inspected and replaced o-rings! Added Atomic swivels to our personal regulator 2nd stages! Patched wetsuit holes! Cleaned all the masks! And of course, dutifully made sure our dive logs were up to date! (Maybe that last one was just me...)

#2) Testing new gear! Dry dock is the perfect time to try out new fins, spring straps, booties, thinner suits, and compasses. After all, these are the perfect shore diving tools. (Change your buckle-back fin straps to the assorted spring straps we have in the shop. There is no going back to buckle-backs!)

Which brings us to the Number One Kohala Diver Crew Dry-Dock Activity of 2013- You guessed it:
#1) Shore diving. You didn't think we would let ourselves dry out, did you? This week we covered miles of shoreline and hit some Kohala Coast spots we never get to by boat. We were accompanied by our enthusiastic, hard-core, and often very brave divers who were willing to get sand in their booties and endure long surface swims. We were rewarded by turtles, dolphins, rays, lionfish, and nudibranches galore. But the best rewards were the friendships gained from shared experience. Take THAT you Bali-vacationing defectors!

But with all that, we are so happy our glorious boat is back. We are spoiled rotten and lucky we live in Hawai'i. Please welcome her back with a dive?