Some of you may have heard of DEMA, or the DIVING EQUIPMENT and MARKETING ASSOCIATION. This is a huge convention that takes place every year in either Florida or Las Vegas. Well, there is also another convention, that is a little smaller, but still really cool, that takes place at the Meadowlands in NJ. This one is called Beneath the Sea. Here is a link so that you can look at what they have on their website. BENEATH THE SEA.

This the their description of the event. “Beneath The Sea’s annual exposition in March will feature seminars and workshops, lots of great door prizes, a film festival showcasing the work of world-renowned underwater videographers, great parties, and exhibits and demonstrations by hundreds of manufacturers, dive clubs, dive shops, resorts, and much more!”

To be honest, we have never been before, but we have had several of our divers mention this particular convention to us. As it is based in NJ, and only 10 minutes away from my Uncle Clay’s house and only about 1 hr from my mom and dad’s house, it is the perfect opportunity for us to go home, see some friends and family, and also get the word out about Octopus Diving to divers.

I haven’t done any fancy survey’s (yet… although I have lot’s of great intentions to do one in the future) but just from talking to our divers and getting to know them, I know that a huge percentage of you are from NY, NJ and Connecticut. (Wow, I don’t think I have ever written the name of that state out in full before, I totally spelled it wrong the first time and now that I look at it, it is not spelled at all how it sounds… CON – NECT – I – CUT. Anyway….) So, I thought that some of you might like to come out and see us while we are there. We of course, would love to see you.

I am really excited for this, and to be honest, a little nervous to. It is a big expense for us, so I want to make it worth it. I am in the process of designing fliers to take, as well as some flags and posters. Basically when you sign up for the convention you just get a space. Then it is up to you to use it the best way that you can. We haven’t had a booth at a convention before, and some of them are really amazing. I don’t have loads of money to spend on decorating the booth, so any suggestions are welcome.


So far, this is our plan. We are going to get 20 – 30 Octopus Diving mugs made. Then we are going to make coffee and offer it free to those that may pass by, and also home made brownies. Here is the catch though, they can’t take the coffee away with them. They have to drink it, and eat the brownie while they are at our booth. Then, while they are eating the brownie and drinking the coffee we will tell them about how great St. Martin is and also all about Octopus Diving… of course! What do you think? There are just so many possibilities that it is a little overwhelming. Try doing a search on line for “trade show booth displays” or “trade show booth ideas” and you will see what I mean!

The actual show is from March 25th – March 27th, so mark your calendars! We are going to bring some tee-shirts to sell, as well as some cool other stuff that I haven’t thought of yet. But if you do come, and you do happen to have an Octopus Diving tee, then please where it. If you do, and you come to see us, we will give you one of our custom made Octopus Diving coffee Mugs!!!

Oh, I also wanted to add that we have five free tickets to give out. Normally the tickets are about $100 for the weekend, but we have 5 that we can give away for free. All we have to do is send them a self addressed envelope and the ticket will be sent to the lucky diver. So we thought that we should do some kind of competition for them… perhaps we should tie it all together with the convention. We need ideas to interact with divers at the convention so that they will come to St. Martin and dive with us. Examples could be doing some kind of raffle, or giving away coupons or something like that. We especially would like to push the New Tec Diving aspect of Octopus Diving and Chris is going to bring his Poseidon Mk 6 rebreather as well.
What am I getting at?
Go to our Facebook Page and post an idea for Octopus Diving to do at the convention. It can be a way to decorate the booth, it could be some kind of display, or activity, anything goes. The cheaper the better. The best response will get 2 free tickets which I will have Beneath the Sea send you!
How does that sound?
Sorry, my brain is a little frazzled, we just got back from a really awesome dive at Turtle Reef, the water is a beautiful color today, and I have that after diving buzz going on in my head.
Anyway… go forth blog readers! Brainstorm for us and help us make the Octopus Diving booth the coolest booth ever!

Sally wrote this blog

Last year I blogged about our latest member of staff, Roger. Well, he isn’t the latest member of staff any more, but I thought that I would update everyone on how he is doing. As you will recall from my earlier posts and from the website staff pages Roger was a bit of a vagabond when he first walked into the dive shop. He was looking for work, but we weren’t hiring at the time (plus he was looking pretty shabby when he first came in). He didn’t have any diving skills, or boat handling experience, but he was eager to learn, extremely persistent, and as I mentioned before, pretty freaking cute! How could I say no? So, we took him on and he has made amazing progress.
Roger has been working really hard on his swimming abilities. When he first arrived he seemed to be a natural in the water, but still needed a lot of training. It took a lot of after work time in the water with him, coaxing him into deeper and deeper water, but he is now able to swim out to the boat and back with ease and we have worked on several rescue scenarios as well (you can see photos on his staff web page). He has been on the boat plenty of times, and seems to have his sea legs, but he hasn’t been promoted to captain yet. Maybe next year.
Roger has made his way into the hearts of many of the ladies (and some lads too) that have been diving and snorkeling with us. He is a real sucker for a kiss and a cuddle, and will do everything he can to get them, so if you come diving with us don’t feel bad if you succumb to his charm.
When he is a little older we will start to give him more responsibilities, but for now he just helps out around the dive shop, clearing the grounds, doing some gardening. He is a real help in the morning loading the boat, although you wouldn’t think it as those tanks are so heavy. However, I find that one of Roger’s best talents is calming down divers that are a little nervous before their first diving experience. He just goes right over to them, distracts them with his charm and smile, and puts them at ease.
If you would like to see some photos of Roger and his amazing Rescue abilities, then just click on this link.

Sally wrote this blog

I was out diving the other day with a very nice man named Jerry. Jerry is from Atlanta, Georgia and apart from being a great diver, he is an avid underwater photographer. He loves taking his time with diving, going where he wants to, and in consequence he doesn’t like to have to wait around for other divers, or have other divers wait for him. So, whenever he dives (which is his only real hobby, he tells me) he always gets a private charter. So, Chris and I had just finished diving with Jerry on his private charter when we came back for lunch.

Stuart was helping us with the equipment and he said to me, “You have to be at the dive shop at 12:30, it is very important.”
Yikes…! I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”
“You have to meet someone there.” he replies.
“Who?” I asked, Stuart. “I don’t know.” he says with a smirk.
Hmmmm, this wasn’t giving me a very good feeling.
“Stuart, you are just a bundle of information, aren’t you? If it is really important then you must know something!”
“No.” Again with that smile. “I am just the messenger, I don’t have any other information. Ask Mike.”

So, Mike arrived and I asked him the same question. “I’m not allowed to tell you.” He said. He wasn’t really smiling, I think he could see the worry in my face.
You see, I was thinking that maybe it was the gendarmes, or some kind of control (we get those from the French Government), well, there were lots of things going through my head, non of which were encouraging.

Michelle asked Mike a very helpful question, “Well, should Sally make herself look pretty?” I had just gotten off the boat, so I was looking a bit like a washed up mermaid. “Maybe, a little.” Mike said. This made me more nervous, the first line of attack if there is any kind of French Control is to make yourself look pretty, this is “Running a business in France 101.”

So, at 12:25 I marched to the shop, my hair up in a bun, looking a bit more presentable. Chris came with me. He was obviously in-the-know.

As we approached the dive shop I saw a bunch of people outside. They looked like tourists, with the canvas bags and the hats. They were all about retirement age, and as we got closer I started to recognize them. Images started to flash behind my eyes of desks, index cards, a large brick building, a cafeteria, someone standing in front of a chalk board.

No…. It couldn’t be…

There, in front of me was not one, not two, but three of my high school teachers! You can be sure that I did not wake up that morning thinking that I would see Madame TenEyck (9th – 12th grade French Teacher), Ms. Kennedy (9th grade Biology Teacher) and Mr. Lish (12th grade Physics).

Some of you may think that this is doubly strange because you read my blog from the other day when I mentioned that Madame TenEyck was the best French Teacher ever. I only wrote that blog about 10 days ago, and then all of a sudden Madame TenEyck is there at my doorstep.

Here we all are together with Ms. Kennedy on my right, Mr. Lish on my left and Madame TenEyck on my far left.

So, the story goes that Madame TenEyck was in our home town, just visiting for the night, and she received a Christmas Letter from my Uncle Clay. Uncle Clay was also one of Madame TenEyck’s students. My Uncle Clay is so great about keeping in contact with people! So, in his Christmas letter he wrote that he went to visit his niece in St. Martin, who has a scuba diving center there. Madame TenEyck just so happened to be going on a cruise, with Ms Kennedy and Mr Lish and also some other friends and family, and that cruise was stopping in St. Martin, so they thought that they would surprise me. Well, surprise me they did!

We went for a lovely lunch together. It was so lucky that I was free. So here, I should thank Jerry’s friends, who were also visiting on a cruise and the reason that Jerry only wanted to dive that morning and not that afternoon, leaving me the afternoon to catch up with my high school teachers.

It isn’t that easy, though, to catch up on 11.5 years in just a few hours. We did our best. I told the whole story about how I met Chris, all the places that we have been, how I got into scuba diving in the first place. We talked about the challenges of running a business here, the economy, etc. I filled them in with gossip about some of my other friends from High School, and I also got to hear about some of my other teachers. Apparently they all hang out together! That shows what a great bunch of people they were, and are.

It was such a great feeling to see them all again. To see them as an adult, not as a student. These were people who always believed in me, made me confident in myself and that I could achieve anything that I wanted in life. I was a bit of an over achiever in high school… captain of the track team, president of the student faculty congress, high school honor society etc. etc. Madame TenEyck and Mr. Lish wrote college references for me, and Ms. Kennedy inspired me to study science at university. They had such high expectations for me, and that was great. Having them see me now, seeing where I live and what I do, was a bit intimidating. What if they think that I haven’t lived up to their expectations? What if they think I am just a “dive bum” living in the Caribbean? But that wasn’t the case at all. They were still proud of me, for what we have achieved here. They kept saying how wonderful it was, and what a great way of life we have. This made me feel all mushy, and happy.

I mean, it’s not that I ever regret where I am, but I did grow up with pretty high expectations for me, and it worries me sometimes that perhaps I haven’t fulfilled those. Hearing these people, who I respected and admired so much in high school, tell me how wonderful they think it is that Chris and I are down here as owners of Octopus Diving really meant the world to me.

I was really blessed in high school with some amazing teachers, and I can’t thank them enough for visiting me and taking the time to spend a few hours catching up. I hope that this is only the beginning.

(Sally wrote this blog )

A truck, or something of the sort, must have driven in the little street next to the dive shop, and the telephone line (that was and always has been precariously low) was pulled and torn. Therefor, the phone is not working.

I then thought “I know, I will call the telephone company.” So, I went to my statement and saw that the help line is reached by simply calling 3901 from the telephone. However, if the phone isn’t working, then how can you call? Well, this sent me into a little searching on the internet. I found a great number to call France Telecom in English. I tried this number from my Dutch cell phone, and nice French gentleman told me, in pretty good English, that I had a business account and he couldn’t help me. I would have to call 3901 from my phone. When I explained that I couldn’t use my phone at all, he said he would transfer me. He did so, the phone beeped a couple of time, and then I was disconnected…. frustrating.

So, then I called back. The number wouldn’t work this time and a pre-recorded voice said in English “the number you are calling has now changed, you should now dial 0800 blah blah blah.” However, I can’t call an 0800 number from my Dutch cell phone. I don’t understand why I got through the first time, but there you go. Then I tried to find an actual number to call France Telecom on line. This isn’t so easy. They all tell me to dial 1015 or 3901 from my line. Ugggg!

At this point I found out that I can call 3901 from my French cell. I discovered this by calling Chris, who was out and about doing errands and asked him to try and call. He tried it, and then hung up on them and called me to say it worked, (he wouldn’t be able to talk to them in French). So, then I had to wait for Chris to come back to Grand Case, come to the shop with the cell phone, and I was finally able to speak to a woman (not as nice as the man who I spoke to first) and she asked me if I tried connecting another phone into the line. I explained that there was no line… it has been ripped off the side of the wall. Well, I tried to explain this, but in my frustration my French probably wasn’t at the best, so who knows what I actually said!

At any rate, fingers crossed, someone will come out to look at the line tomorrow. If not, it will be Monday. So, if you are trying to call me on my land line in the office and can’t get through, this is why. Try calling our cell +590 690 505 133 or calling my Dutch Cell +599 554 7623. Or just email me, luckily that is still working.

(A frustrated Sally wrote this blog )

I’m sitting here with Giedre (or Gago as we call her). Gago is from Lithuania and she loves to dive and she also loves St. Martin. She has only been here a couple of months, but is helping out in the shop when we are busy and she is all about learning everything to do with diving. Anyway… as I wrote the title to the Blog she said “What is the difference between Advanced Nitrox and Nitrox course?” So, I suppose you may also have the same question.
Advanced Nitrox is technical diving. It is a super cool way to dive, basically. It is stealth, it is with three tanks, and involves something called accelerated deco. Alright, alright, I’m sure that Chris would do a better explanation, so really, if you would like to know more about Advanced Nitrox, just click on the link above and there is a whole, beautiful, description,
So… Menno, (who we nicknamed “nemo”) was finishing up his Advanced Nitrox course with Chris and the rest of us, decided to tag along. The conditions were perfect, almost endless visibility, calm and peaceful. I took my camera in anticipation of some fun dives and great vis, and you can see all my photos below. Menno did a great job with his shutdown procedures and bouyancy, and simulated deco stops, and all in all just looked like a pro. Of course he had the best teacher ever… Chris, but I also believe that Menno had some natural ability as well!
You will also see pictures of Mike and Michelle (and Menno’s dad who works on the island, he is the one all in blue). Mike and Michelle are our divemaster interns, and they are really becoming true dive masters. But more on that in a later post! Michelle is the blond and Mike is the one messing around!
I won’t write too much right now, as I know you must all be on blog overload, what with 4 blogs in 4 days, but I wanted to show you the photos that I took before I forget.

Also, I would like to tell you that I have an awesome dive this morning, at Circus with some students from the American University of the Caribbean (located in St. Martin) and we saw a dolphin. You don’t have to get too jealous though, as it was only briefly and only one. It was still pretty freakin cool though!

I am actually running off to clean the car, which I haven’t done in a really long time, and it isn’t fair that Chris cleans the car all the time, so I will take the opportunity to clean it before the sun goes down. Then I may have a beer and watch the sunset after having a little swim with Lil’ Rog. It is a hard life, I know. Diving with dolphins and then swimming with lil’ Rog. You will have to come and visit to experience it!

(Sally wrote this blog )

[View with PicLens]

I’m on a roll, folks! I’m on a roll… 3 blogs in 3 days!

I know that my parents will be happy to be getting all these great updates from me. Actually, I haven’t spoken to my mom in a few days, so I probably should skype her. She did email me though, she said, and I quote “Hi, Your blog made nanna cry. I was of sterner stuff. Love Mummy” Well, that totally wasn’t my intention, but apparently it was more mushy than I thought. This blog is safe, I don’t think it will make anyone cry!

People always ask me where they should go to dinner in Grand Case. So, I thought I should blog about it a little bit. I have to say that we have not visited all of the restaurants in Grand Case, there are just too many, and if we did, we would have to be charging a lot more for scuba diving, because they can get pricey! However, over the last 3 years we have been to a few and these are my favorite.

Favorite #1 is for sure, PIAZZA PASCAL.This restaurant is fairly new, it is run by Donna and Pascal. Donna and Pascal lived in Michigan for years, Donna is American and Pascal is French. However, about a year and a half ago, they moved to St. Martin and started Piazza Pascal. The food is amazing! Really. We always get the calamari steak to start, and then Chris will get some kind of steak and I like to get the Spaghetti Salsiccia (I think I spelled that correctly). They also have really amazing specials. What I love, is the service is great. Donna is always there and she seems to float from table to table being the perfect hostess. Everything comes in a timely manner, but not rushed, the food is excellent and it is very reasonably priced. They take Euro for Dollar (even if you pay with a credit card). Check out their menu on the website. YUUUUMMMMMYYYY! We go there about twice a month and have never been disappointed. It is our new found gem in Grand Case. Also, in the dive shop we have 10% off coupons, so even if you aren’t diving with us, stop by to get one.

Last night we took our good friend Soc with us. Soc is the DJ for Island92. This is a local radio show, so if you are on island tune in to 91.9 FM in your rental car, or… if you are at home you can catch the online streaming at www.island92.com

We have advertised with Island92 for just over a year now, but I feel that it is only recently that we have started to become friends with Soc as well as doing business together. Soc, Jeffrey is his real first name and apparently he stole his on line name from his Dad who every one calls Soc. (Am I allowed to write that on the internet, Soc? It’s not a secret, right? Just don’t tell Soc I told you all, okay?) Anyway… Soc is from Connecticut but has been visiting St. Martin for years, and I mean a long time…. maybe before I was born… that long ago, cuz I’m not so young anymore… I saw some wrinkles on the New Years Eve photos! I did, I did. He fell in love with St. Martin, just like the rest of us, and decided to pack up his life in the states and move here permanently. His show is really funny, and although Soc can’t believe it, we all just tune in to hear him. He plays great music (Rock, Blues and Good Time Music on Island 92!) but I think the reason that I listen, is because listening to Soc on the radio feels like having a little bit of the States here in St. Martin. He sounds like the friends that you grew up with, he sounds like the postman that knows when you’re getting your college acceptance letters, he sounds like the conductor on the railway that says “Tickets, tickets, please.” I’m not describing it well enough. He sounds like a little piece of home but on a Caribbean island.

So, we are doing this new thing where he calls us up twice week to do a quick update on the weather and water conditions in Grand Case. We chat, live on air, for about 3 minutes at some time between 9 and 11 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are supposed to talk about the weather, but when I am talking to him on the phone (I’m not in the studio or anything) I forget I’m live on air. Chris says that I say “ummm” too much, but I say that when I’m talking to people as well! So, I forget and end up rambling on about something or other. Kind of like these blogs, rambling on and on and on and on. Luckily my mom and dad don’t mind, and they are my #1 blog fans! I think I write “so” too much. And I also start sentences with conjunctions, which I think is a big no no. Sometimes my dad emails me after the blog goes out noting all the grammatical errors that I had! So, saying umm too much isn’t that big a deal.

I am diving this afternoon, so I can’t really write any more. We are diving La Renee, Chris is finishing up an Advanced Nitrox Certification and he wants me to take some photos. The sea is calm, the wind is low, the viz is great, so I am excited. I have to get my camera ready, though, so I will cut this blog short.

(Sally wrote this blog. )

I am American. I grew up in New York, although I do have an English mother from Essex, London (and please spare me the Essex girl jokes for those of you that are thinking them….!) and I was born in Denmark (but that is another story altogether). I have spoken English my entire life, except for a couple of exceptions. The few exceptions would be when Chris and I were working in Indonesia in the Raja Ampat and we found ourselves in charge of about 20 staff, none of whom spoke English. They only spoke Bahasa. Bahasa Indonesia (the language of Indonesia) is not difficult at all. In fact, just by learning about 100 words, you can get by really easily. So that is what I did. So, one exception is when I was speaking Indonesian in the Raja Ampat with all the wonderful locals there. The respect that I gained from learning their language truly outweighed the time it took to learn the language, that is for sure. The second exception would be in high school in French Class with Madame TenEyck. I know it isn’t a very French name, but she was the best… THE BEST… French Teacher ever. I am so grateful to her for what I know today.

Now, as you can imagine, I speak French quite a lot. When we first arrived, I have to say I was a little rusty, to say the least. However, there were French people, and they wanted to dive. Chris doesn’t speak French. Well, he actually understands a lot more than he lets on. There came to a point though, one day, where we had a French gentleman and he wanted to do a discover scuba dive. He was French, and he didn’t speak any English. The diving was actually a present from his friends. They were all in St. Martin for the soon-to-be-diver’s wedding. So, it was sort of a bachelor party. In France, for the Bachelors party, it is more of a day affair. The friends come up with a list of terribly embarrassing, yet fun, things to do. So, my first ever French Discover Scuba Diver turned up at the dive shop in a pink tutu! It was super funny, and it took a bit of explaining to understand why he was in the tutu, but I eventually understood. His friends made it clear that he would have to dive in the pink tutu, no exceptions.

We went out to the dive site, and I gave him a briefing, all in French. There are some really super important things that we share with people in order to give them a fun, safe, diving experience. So, it is a little nerve racking to do this in a different language for the first time. Well, I did it. The pink tutu diver did great, and it was fantastic. This helped my confidence grow. I have had some briefings where my confidence diminished a bit. Like the time I was teaching a French family of 5. I was explaining in the briefing how if I wanted them to breathe out, I would show them my bubbles… I apparently said that I would show them something else… something that men have that women do not! After the father in the family told the children to stop laughing, I continued, with a bit of a red face. How is it even possible to make that mistake???

I am telling this quick story because this morning I went diving with 4 French people. 3 of them had never dived before, and the 4th was a certified diver. So, once again, I gave my briefing in French. My vocabulary is much stronger now, so I was able to gesticulate less and explain more. It is amazing what you can describe with your hands. Of course, under the water, we all speak the same language, but on the boat it is a different story. I was so proud of my divers today as well, they did great. The diving was fantastic, which really helps. We saw turtles, and rays and two huge barracudas, as well as tons of fish. They were controlling their bouyancy (or “flottability” in french) like professionals, and I put this down to my fantastic briefing (not any natural ability on their part… all right, maybe they were naturally gifted in diving, but my briefing helped).

So, I am glad that when we first arrived in St. Martin I swallowed my fear and started taking French people diving. You know what, they may speak a different language, but they are really nice people and today was super fun.

(Sally wrote this blog )

I just wanted to take a quick moment to blog about my Nanna coming to St. Martin in December. I meant to blog about it in December, but it just didn’t happen as so much was going on, but it really was such a highlight for me, that I wanted to share it with all of you.

My Nanna is from London, England and she was born in 1915. For those of you that need to do the math, that makes her 96 years old this year. Or “As old as her tongue and a little bit older than her teeth,” as she sometimes likes to say. She has lot’s of other great phrases. For example when I was little and I would fall and scrape my knee, she would just pick me up, brush me off and say “Well, a blind man would like to see that.” hee hee hee. When she checked in for her flight the airline attendant said that she was the oldest person she had ever checked on to a flight before. But you know, she is often searched at airports? Go figure. I guess the airport security thinks that she is so obviously not a terrorist that she would be the perfect terrorist, so she often gets the once over.

St. Martin was the furthest south that she has ever been! She regularly comes to visit my family in New York and also travels to Europe with my mom (last year she went to Germany and the year before she was in Norway) but she had never been to the Caribbean before. So my Christmas present from my mom and dad, and my Nanna’s Christmas present from my mom and dad was a visit from Vera (that is her name, although most of the world refers to her simply as “Nanna”).

Nanna and my mom were here for 3 nights and 4 days and we had loads of fun together. We did a little shopping in Philipsburg, we went for a walk on the beach together, I gave her a little tour of the island, but mostly we sat outside our house, watched the divers come in and out and drank lots of tea! She is from England you know.

The world just isn’t as big a place as it used to be. When my parents first got married they moved to Australia for 3 years. They didn’t see their parents once in that time, and communicated by writing letters or sending cassette tapes. The phone was too expensive and their was a long delay when talking. Now, my 95 year old Nanna can just hop on a flight to the Caribbean, and if I want to talk to my parents, I just skype them. And it is for free! Not that I am complaining, it’s wonderful. I am just stating the obvious, I guess. There are still places that this isn’t possible, but in St. Martin, it isn’t really that far from home.

I won’t bore you with any more ramblings about technology, I will just share some photos from Nanna’s trip to St. Martin. She really is an amazing woman and role model, and I am so lucky that she came to visit me! I hope that my mom brings her back soon. We didn’t take her diving, maybe next time!

This is Nanna taking in the beautiful view in Grand Case.

Here are Nanna and I at the shop in Grand Case.

Mom and Nanna in Grand Case.

Mom and I in Grand Case. Please note the beautiful cardigan that my Nanna knitted for me.

Nanna and I walking in Grand Case.

All three of us at Zenit having an afternoon coffee.

In Orient Bay after a late breakfast.

Well, there you have it. It was wonderful. Sorry I didn’t write more about diving, but I will tomorrow, how is that?

(Sally wrote this blog )

Well, I have written a longer post that is still in draft phase that I haven’t published yet, so this is just a short one that will not include our Season’ Festivities and will only address the recent publication of my photos in Ocean Magazine.

Two years ago I approached the magazine, which is a publication for the islands of St. Barts, Anguilla and St. Martin for tourists. I brought them a CD of some underwater photographs that they may like to use. The woman at the desk that I handed the photos to took them kindly enough, but the look in her eyes said “Sure, like you have underwater photographs that we will want to print.” Nevertheless, I received a call later that day from a very enthusiastic editor asking if I could come in.

He said, in French, that he really liked my photos and that they would very much like to use them in the magazine. Then he said… “In exchange pour zee photos, what would you like?” Well, I suppose I should have asked for cold hard cash, but I wasn’t really aware of the normal charges for underwater photographs, so instead I told him that I would simply like a free advertisement for my diving center, Octopus Diving, in the magazine. He said “Zis is a good exchange.”

So last year, they published quite a few of my photos and I even got the cover. Many of you will have seen it, as it is framed and up on the wall in the dive shop. So this year..

(I just realized something. I should be saying two years ago for the first encounter and last year for the second encounter as we are now in 2011. Wow, that feels weird.)
So, last year they called me again to ask if I had any other photographs for them. I certainly did, having spent another year in St. Martin snapping away. I sent them about 50. For those of you that are avid blog readers, you will remember that post and all the photos that I sent. For those of you that are new to this, you will just have to read all the blogs in 2010 to find the right one. Just kidding, here is the link to that particular blog

It is always difficult to know what photos they will like, as they don’t always choose the one’s that I would. Anyway… this year they chose 17 of my photos to be displayed over 20 pages. Pretty cool, right? I am pretty excited about this. Chris is always telling me that I should do more with my photos, send them in to contests or at least frame them and sell them in the shop. But I am a little shy about it. I love sharing them with all of you, but you are such a friendly, non critical audience (especially my # blog readers / fans…. my parents).

However, I didn’t get the cover. That is the annoying part, because out of all the photos that I sent, they use another photo that isn’t mine, and it isn’t even really that good. You can be the judge.


I just feel that it is a strange photo to choose for the cover, there is even a large amount of backscatter right in the middle of the photo!!

Oh well. It is their choice and not mine. I will post the rest of the pages that are inside. I also put the words “Not Sally’s Photo” on top of the photographs that are not mine. Although, I think that you could tell just by looking at them yourself. Chris thinks that maybe the owner of the magazine is friends with a photographer so is including their photos in the magazine.
So here is the first page. The text is really funny too.


Now the photo just above is really funny because it is our very own Greg who was diving with us last June. He is one of our favorite divers. I love the text because just to the left of Greg’s head it says “Calm or stormy, the sea fills his thoughts. Although the poet may speak of the smiling surface of the sea, beneath the waves a heart beats the rhythm of drama as well as serenity. Underwater life is infinite.” Hee hee, I can’t see Greg saying something like that. Maybe “let’s go diving, it’s fun!”





Now the pages above I just don’t get. I mean, my photo of the Butterfly fish is really cute, but then there is an overexposed photograph of some fire coral?

This isn’t my image above either, and I won’t say too much about it in case the photographer reads my blog. Or the editor…. yikes, what if they do?

Those are my photos above, of a shark at Le Pont and then some little critters at Nikki’s Wreck.

There you can see the ad that was zee exchange for my photos. I think that next year I will ask for a bigger spot!



Alright, that is all the pages from the magazine. I hope that you enjoy them.

OH… I should also say, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish all the best above and below the surface for everyone in 2011.

(sally wrote this blog )