Easter Holidays

We are currently in the midst of our Easter Holidays. Quite fortunate in that while we are enjoying the sunshine here in Costa del Sol, it is rather cold and snowing back in the UK, where we live. We flew from Manchester Airport to Malaga last Saturday. It is hard to believe that the flight only took 2.5 hours, and it is a completely different world here. Booked our holidays entire thru the internet and am pleasantly surprised to find our self-catering apartment here to be a really nice place. The resort that we are staying in is called Sol Andalusi Resort and Spa. It is situated just outside Alhaurin de la Torre, which is just about 15 minutes drive from Malaga International Airport. The resort is not the typical beachy type. In fact, it is in the midst of a few mountains.

So far, we have visited Torremolinos, Benalmandena, Nerja and Marbella. Two places of note is the Cuevo de Nerja, which is a large cave system about a hour north of Malaga; and also the Crocodile Park at Torremolinos. The park boast of the largest crocodile in the whole of European zoos. It was caught in the Zambezi River about 7 years ago and has a harem of 5 female crocs to satisfy its appetite!! We have been meaning to visit Granada as well. However, it is about 1.5 hours drive from where we are and we have been getting up too late each day to make the journey. What is surprising too, is that fact that I am feeling very relaxed when driving on the opposite side of the road to that which I am familiar with. Perhaps, it is to do with the automatic gear stick. It has not been as cheap a trip this time round, as the £Sterling is only worth Euro 1.36

So far, I have managed to do a day's of diving in Gibraltar. I have been doing some reading about underwater photography and am a little bit pleased with some improvement in my technique so far. Hopefully, it will show some significant improvement soon.

Early Diver Training

When we were down at the London Dive Show, I managed to buy a mask and snorkel which just fitted Elly's face nicely. Thot I am going to start training her to be a diver from now....hehe, she is only 4 1/2 years old.

So, yesterday, I put the snorkel in her mouth and pinched her nostrils shut and ask her to practice breathing through her mouth. She did well, and so after a couple of minutes, I fitted the snorkel to the mask and put the whole thing on. Again, after about 5 minutes of practice, I'd reckon that she was ready for the pool. So, off we went to our club pool. There was initial reluctance to put her face in the water, but after a few minutes of coaching, she was off on her own snorkelling away. To enhance the experience, I taught her some scuba diving hand signals e,g . ok, problems and up and down signs. I would then swim underwater and signal to her at the surface.

Ok, I have to say it. I am so proud of her, and yeah..........definitely a budding diver in the making!

A Father's Heart

The above video was sent to me by madkdr. I do not recognise the YouTube username. However, it is such a beautiful video that I feel that I have to share it here.

Growing up in the Christian faith, the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God in obedience to Him is a very familiar one. However, I now realise that as often as I heard this story, my understanding and response to it had always been an intellectual one. Lately, I have been pondering that if God were to take my own daughter Elly away or that if He had asked me to give her up for His own purpose; would I have been able to accept it? Is it within me to have an Abrahamic response? At this point in time, I am not sure that I could. I believe that this video has finally given me an emotional connection with Abraham, from a father's point of view. Amazing! All these ages apart, and I have finally captured a glimpse of his anguish. Words cannot describe it appropriately. Perhaps, those of you who are parents would know how I feel.

I hope you enjoy the video and song as much I did. Thank you madkdr. Whoever you are!

London International Dive Show

Decided at the last minute to take a trip down to London for the dive show. Last went to one in NEC, Birmingham about 5 years ago. How time flies! Anyway, I wanted to look at some underwater photographic equipments. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity as all the top trade names would be there. My wife , daughter. and myself caught the 7am train down to Kings Cross. Journey was pleasant enough and it only took us 2.5 hours to get there.

At Kings Cross underground station, we queued for quite a long time to buy our tube tickets for the day. Was quite surprised as usually, it was no effort at all. Anyhow the plan was to take the Southbound Northern Line to London Bridge, and then change to Jubilee Line. This will take us to Canning Town, where we would change to the Dockland Light Rail for a quick 2 stop hop to ExCel London for the show. This was not to be as there was engineering work on Jubilee Line. We had to get off at Canary Wharf tube staion and then had to walk to the DLR station which was about 5 minutes away. From there, we had to take the train to Westferry, where we had to change to another train to get to ExCel. A bit convoluted, but we got there in the end.

The show was not as big as I had anticipated. In fact, judging from the discussions by the divers on Yorkshire Divers forum, it was a disappointment. Anyhow, I got to do what I went down for. Spoke at length to a lady at the Cameras Underwater stand about my requirements. Got it sorted out, but...............its going to cost me!!! The camera housing and accessories will cost me about £2k and for the type of photography that I wanted to do, I have to shell out another £1k more or less to buy a couple of lens. Uuurrgh! I am broke again.....

The journey back............well that's another story!