Happy 2009!!!

Cameron's 93 year old Grandfather dressed up like Santa
All the boys at the dinner table

Warner Family

On top of Arthurs Seat New Years Day

We had an idea to go to the top of Arthurs Seat on NY day along with everyother tourist in Edinburgh... it was packed.

Another view from the top

Ferris Wheel on Princes Street New Years Day

Fireworks at midnight and Princes Street crammed with people

Kat, Leigh, Anna and I getting ready for midnight

Cam and I

All of us the night before in Peebles

Oh dear, Where to begin...

I am back at work now and have been since Jan 5th. Cam and I spent 2 weeks in Scotland for Christmas and New Years and had a great time although I am glad to be back to nicer weather! I think my blood has thinned out and can't handle cold weather like I used to. Our friends from Honduras came up from England for New Years and stayed for 3 days. We went to the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party along with 100,000 others and rang in the New Year with fireworks over the Castle. Shortly after we loaded our bags up with books, clothes and dvd's and headed back to Malta. Since then we have just been working, although I have only been diving once since we got back, it's pretty quiet on the island at the moment. We also are moving into a new flat at the beginning of March! I am annoying Cameron (more than normal) because Im counting down the days... I'm so excited because this flat is only 6 months old and the lady that has been living there has never even used the oven! It is a 2 bedroom with 2 balconies and has brand new everything!!! 41 days... ha

Hope everyone had an amazing Holiday Season!!! Missed you all xo

I'm Famous! haha

http://www.divenewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx?newsID=9967

Just for fun

I was rummaging through my photos and found this short video clip from one of my divers. It's from one of my favorite dives, the wreck of the Tugboat Rozi

more pictures

Salt Pans found all along the coast in Malta, some dating back to when the Romans were here. In the summer you can find layers of caked salt and

not surprisingly it tastes just like normal salt.

Underwater view of a Luzzu, traditional Maltese Boat

Cam and I went diving on our day off to the Um El Faroud a 110m oil tanker

Out with Friends... well, it looks like just 1 friend. Oh well.

News

Winter is here... well, its not real winter but I'm still cold. The high during the day is about 65F and low about 55F, I know that doesn't sound cold but its very windy! I think I wont make it 2 weeks in Scotland. Btw-we are going to Edinburgh for Christmas and New Year (Hogmanay). We are both excited for another break from our tiny island and it will be nice to see Cameron's family and a few friends while we are there. Kat and Anna, my girlfriends from Honduras, are coming up for Hogmanay, as well as a few of Cameron's friends, where we will ring in the New Year with 100,000 other people on the streets of Edinburgh! I can't wait to see the girls and I hope it will be another night like the NYE 2007 in Amsterdam!

A lot has happened since we came back from Vegas... I moved diving centers, same company different location. The center I am at now is at one of the nicest hotels in Malta as well as one of the very few beaches in Malta. It's been nice although there hasn't been much diving due to the wind. Last weekend we had gail force winds which obviously limits the diving. The only site that has been divable recently is a wreck called the X127 Lighter from WWII. Its in a bay and the visibility is really bad and the deeper you go the worse it gets. I'm always scared when I go there... kind of silly, I don't know what I'm scared of but I don't like not being able to see! Cam and I have been finding all kinds of cool stuff there like medicine bottles and shells from rifles and stuff... but we only take stuff that doesn't belong in the sea... I am currently working on a newsletter for the center to keep me busy.

Cameron has completed 2 courses since we came back from the states. He is now a PADI Staff Instructor, which means he can assist a Course Director ( the person that teaches Instructors) and he also completed a Technical Diving Instructor Course in Gozo. He had a great time over there and I think that I may be his first student! I will probably do a try dive with the equipment, you wear 2 tanks on your back, first to see if I want to continue. We are also planning on doing some diving on Sunday, if the wind co-operates, so Cameron can teach me my Wreck Specialty Course. We will practice using reels and tying off inside the wreck, etc... I haven't worked with reels very much and so it should be interesting, I'm sure Cam will get a few laughs out of it.

Let's see, what else is new,
Oh yeah- one cool thing about my job is that I have my own truck all winter! Which is really nice and means that on our days off we can go diving or go to Gozo or whatever we want!
We also got a new couch in our flat which is very exciting, we never sat on the old on because most likely you were going to fall through the slats onto the floor. Now we have a new/used couch that is much more comfortable.
Things in our neighborhood have really slowed down. Bugibba is real touristy town and now that summers over there is no one around. Even some of the shops and restaurants are closed.
Oh, I chopped off all my hair while Cam was in Gozo...

2 weeks till Scotland!!!

Now I'm going to get some lunch...
xxx

Maltese Cats

WATCH SHARKWATER!!!

I just had to write a quick post about this documentary called Sharkwater. Cam and I watched it last night causing me to feel sick to my stomach and loss of sleep. I honestly had no idea what people were doing out there to catch sharks, cut their fins off and then throw them back. A tail fin from a whale shark is worth $10,000!!! People in China think that sharks never get sick so they want to eat their fins, even though they don't taste like anything!!!

100 MILLION SHARKS ARE KILLED EACH YEAR

If you enjoy the oxygen you breath then do something...

Here is a brief list of things you can do to help sharks:

-Dive and snorkel with sharks. The more money that goes into shark tourism the more people will realize the value of living sharks.

-Refuse to eat shark fin soup and don't eat at restaurants that serve it.Encourage others to do the same.

-Seventeen countries have already banned shark finning. Find out if your country is one of them. If not, write your local government official asking them to ban shark finning.

-Demand that your country also stop the importation of shark fins.

-Start a letter writing campaign to the Secretary General of the UN requesting international
bans on shark finning and the importation of fins.

-Keep informed of the issue online at: www.seashepherd.org, www.wildaid.org, www.cocosisland.org, www.sharktrust.org, www.iemanyaoceanica.org, www.tortugamarina.org,

www.savingsharks.com and www.sharkwater.com.

Go Pro Video w/original music:)

Vegas Baby

Bobby Flay's resturant

The fountians at the Bellagio

Inside the Bellagio reception

Inside New York, New York Hotel

The entire inside of the hotel looked like the streets of New York City

Outside the Venetian

New York New York was so cool, it was a bunch of sky scrapers

bunched up together to make one building.

The MGM Grand on the right with the Lion

The Paris Hotel

Oh my

So much has been going on I dont even know where to start.
First of all one very very exciting thing has happened... We got internet at home!!!
I know that might not mean much to those of you fully immersed in the cyberworld but it means we can call home, send more emails and most importantly make our travel plans from home.

Let see... Cam and I just got back from Las Vegas!!! I know you are wondering why the heck we went to Vegas, so random, I know. To make long story short... PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors), the organization we work for, has this contest called the Go Pro Testimonial, which is open to every PADI member across the world (ex:padi europe, padi asia, etc..). Basically you have to have done a professional level course in 2008 and you could enter. All you had to do was make a video, in my case a picture slide show with music and writing, and tell them why I became a PADI Pro. Anywho, I made this video with much help from Cam and had to send it to Christopher to put on DVD and mail to Padi in California. The winner of this was to win $10,000. So, I had seen the videos from last year and felt I had a small chance to win but my video was not fancy in the slightest so about 2 weeks after the deadline we were out at Fat Harry's, the pub we frequent, and I got a random phone call from PADI and the first thing I thought was 'oh no, what did I do wrong'. But it was the Vice President of PADI on speaker phone with a bunch of others I found out later, and he said that they really liked my video and that I was a finalist. He wanted to know if I was planning on attending the DEMA Dive Show in Las Vegas in like 2 weeks. I said without thinking, um, Im a dive instructor I dont have the money to fly to Las Vegas!!! So they said I didnt have to be there to win, etc... So I got of the phone and so excited and of course we were all celebrating and then like a few hours later, which was almost midnight our time, I got another call from James and he said he could give me 10,000 reason why I should come to Vegas and I was like in the street freaking out and it was awesome... I still actually can't believe it and the money is in my bank account!!! So next thing you know Cam and I are flying to Las Vegas!!! My mom met us there which was great and I had to attend the PADI Members Social which is like the pre-get together before the diveshow. So they wanted to announce the winner there and show the video. We walked in and there are 1,000 PADI people, Course Directors and Dive School owners. I had been having a cow about having to say something but thankfully I didn't have to... Cam, my mom and I were introduced to the President and VP of Padi and all these other people who already knew who I was since they had already seen my video... It was crazy. We sat at the table with James and others and people were getting up to talk about what was new, what was coming up, etc... then James got on stage and said that the Go Pro Challenge winner was there and here was the video. They played it on 3 movie size screens and it was surreal. He called me up and he and the Drew, the PADI President awarded me a massive check for $10,000 and I got a standing ovation!!! It was nuts! Afterwards, I had so many people coming up to me saying how much they enjoyed it, dive school owners giving me their cards and I even had a few grown men come up with tears in their eyes! It was amazing. It was so crazy too because my friends in Malta didn't even know I had entered and they had been asking to see it and I was reluctant because it's kind of personal but I guess I hadnt thought I would be watching it on a big screen in front of all those people!!!
So I know the next question is where can you see this video? Well, PADI sort of bought the video from me for $10,000, so I don't actually own it anymore. They will be putting it up on the PADI website but they have to change the music unfortunately since the music I used was copyrighted... so it should be up within a week or so. I will post the link as soon as I know. They will also be an interview in The Undersea Journal, PADI's magazine and maybe pictures! Crazy. So, bottom line, Vegas was AMAZING and I am so glad we went. It was great to see my mom and we got to go to a cirque du soliel show, ate at Spagos and Bobby Flay's restaurant in Caesars Palace, Lost $30 in about 3 minutes at the roulette table, won $20 at the penny slots, Walked through Venice, Paris, New York and Cairo.
Vegas is such a cool city.
The day after we got back both Cam and I went back to work and have been diving everyday but we both have off tomorrow and I can't wait to sleep in! I dont know if I said but I have a kept my job over the winter and started working at another dive center (same company), the one I will be at all winter. Oh yeah! Also I'm not an Open Water Scuba Instructor anymore I'm now a MSDT! A Master Scuba Diver Trainer!!! All I needed was 25 certifications plus be able to teach 5 specialties and so that's exciting as well. I will post the link to the video when it's out to keep you updated... Best go, I have so many emails to catch up on. What did we do before internet? We were pretty much without internet for the week we were away and I felt so out of touch with the world! Well, Happy Halloween:)

Random Pictures

Last week the dive school owner took us all out to eat for an end of the season party. We went to this really nice restaurant called Tarragon and had a long and delicious meal with lots of wine:) It was a really good time and was really nice... although I was given hell by one of the ladies because I wore flip flops and of course everyone except me was European which meant I got given a hard time about things including the way I use my fork and knife... ahhh

Im so used to it by now though.

Here are a few pics from that and from other random days.

Chris and I work together
This is all of us...a little blurry. The guy all the way to the right is Steve the Dive School owner.
Cam and I
The air show... This Italian plane picked up water from the sea
and showed how it could dump it for forest fires
A few of the Red Arrows
They made a heart

This is across the bay from one of our divesites. Its called Popeye Village because all this was built for the Robin Williams movie Popeye and they kept it up and is now a tourist attraction.
Some sailboats across from another divesite in Valletta
We went to a BBQ a while back and this is the view across the bay
The Inland Sea

Home sweet home

Looks like we will be sticking around here for a while... Cam and I decided to stay in Malta for now. We are both trying to sort out jobs for the winter which seems to be coming quickly. For the past week or so it has been raining and chilly off and on and I dont know how Im going to survive this with flip flops and one pair of jeans...
Yesterday we had the day off and there was the Malta air show right down the street from our flat. We saw loads of different planes including the finale done by the Red Arrows, think they are Britain's version of the Blue Angels, anyways it was so cool, there were 9 of them. We just sat on the beach and they were so close to us! I dont remember the last time I saw and airshow but it was v. impressive.
Work has been good, Ive been spending more time at another one of our dive shops since they have been busy and have been diving everyday. I've done quite a few days in Gozo as well. There is one dive there called the Inland Sea, and its a huge cliff wall with a small crack that comes through and makes like a little lake inside the wall. You get in inside and swim through the crack which goes down to 25m and its mostly dark except this bright blue outline of where it opens up to the sea. Its really cool. Now that we are staying over winter, Cam and I want to try to make it out to all the historical wrecks you can only get to by boat... There is a submarine, 2 planes and loads more shipwrecks out there, I cant wait!
Best get back to 'work':)

Gozo

The wishing church

View of Comino and Malta in the background
Entrace to the pub with the view
A little town we had dinner
Sunset

So Cam and I went diving in Gozo on our day off this week. We had a really nice dive and then drove around the island, which you can do in like 20min, and had dinner on the water watching the sunset. We also stopped by Ta'Pinu which is the church in the picture. You go in and at the alter there are envelopes and you can put your prayers in them and leave them there. Then you go through these long corridors with tons of pictures and letters and old old leg braces and casts and crutches... loads of stuff. It was really interesting. Other than that all here is good... it's hot as hell right now although we may get rain! which will cool things down. I cant wait, I havent seen rain since May! Work is starting to slow down also and although I have been looking for work for months am now feeling the pressure. Prob still be here till mid-end of Oct.

That's pretty much it...

I realize my blog entries are getting more boring by the day and I will try to work on that:)

President Eddie

Well, I'm finally back to work after being home sick for 3 days... We have 3 dive centers and everyone except the manager of my shop has been sick, even the owner! So right now I'm in the shop and will attempt to dive tomorrow, that is if I can equalize.

So across from our regular pub, Fat Harry's, there are some apartments... All the flats and houses here have names and this one is called Magpie... very often in the evenings the owners of Magpie sit on their porch right on the walkway and play with their grandkids, drink beer or people watch. It just so happens that the owner of Magpie is also the President of Malta. Eddie, as all the Maltese call him. Across the pedestrian walkway there is a box, like an outhouse that says police and there is a police person there watching Magpie day and night. One of the guys usually there during happy hour has a striking resemblance to Sly Stallone and we have too much fun laughing at him re-arranging his package if you know what I mean... Seriously, I think his trousers shrunk in the wash. Cam wanted his picture with him so after some nerve we approach and he says yes! Cam goes to put him arm around him and he turned and said, 'dont touch me'. Maybe you had to be there...

Anyways that's what's going on in my life, exciting huh?

For Mom

Maltese Eggs Benedict

Have the day off today... Yipee, so thought I would take some time to update on all that has been going on here, if I can even remember. It's high season for diving and have been super busy, diving everyday and actually getting quite a few certifications. I have just finished an Open Water and Advanced Course for an Olympic Gold Medalist!!! He is from Hungary and won the gold metal in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics for water polo. He is here playing on our Polo Club's Team for the summer. We have gone to a few games and going tonight for the championship game. I had never seen it before and it's really fun to watch. There guys are like swimming machines and the first game we went to we were speechless watching them swim back and forth whilst wrestling with the other team members. The majority of my students are kids from the language school and have had a wide range of ages and nationalities including a 14 yr old Slovienian boy with a red mohawk and a 17 yr old Chezh kid who got in trouble for fighting at school... It's been fun and I think I've been lucky in that the majority seem very comfortable in the water. I have had the chance to explore other dive areas as well including the HMS Maori which is a shipwreck right outside of Valetta. It was one of the destroyers that helped to sink Hitler's ship the Bismark... so Im managing to get a bit of a history lesson as well. Oh, I have graduated my first Divemaster and I have another one! His name is Tobi and he's from Germany and we have been finishing his rescue course this week and will start his Dm soon. I think we will have a lot of fun together and he has become my driving assistant. I use him since I cant really see out of the back of the truck and he helps me park without crashing other cars. Im actually quite proud of myself since before coming to Malta I hadnt really parallel parked since my drivers test 14 years ago and now I can do it in one go with the truck! Im also starting to drive a bit like the Maltese... which isn't good. Basically there are no rules around here...
Tobi brought a Rubix cube with him and has proved to be a good source of entertainment. He can solve it in 1 min 30 sec. Cam has caught the buzz and bought himself one and after a week of studying the moves from the internet he can do it in like 8 min I think. I am going to borrow Cam's camera and video Tobi solving the cube at 30 meters at the Tug boat wreck the Rozi... maybe we will be in the Guinness book of world records!!!
The weather here has been deathly hot with no wind for the past week but thankfully the wind is going to pick up tonight, although it makes diving more complicated with divesites... Other than work, I have been reading alot and have just read the Kite Runner and 1000 Splendid Suns. Both books are amazing but spent half the time crying... so now Im onto Marian Keyes which is a british writer of nonsense girly novels till I can work up the nerve to read another serious book. We have been cooking quite a bit and is so nice to have proper stores to go to and I basically have my own car right now as well, even if though it does stick out like a sore thumb.
In debate over what is next for us... will let you know as soon as we figure it out:)
Can't believe it's August already!!! Enjoy the rest of the summer! xo