Florida Diving Trip(2012) -- Day 1

I have been sick for a couple of days leading into this trip. It's a sinus cold, which is not conducive to diving. A ruptured aorta while in shark infested waters is about equivalent ;)

Monday -- 4am

Wendy was kind enough to help me fumble my way to the airport. Being sick, short on sleep, short on coffee, and panicked about forgetting something vital (like boots when mountain climbing for instance), Wendy seemed torn between kissing me goodbye and reporting me as a terrorist to airport security.

Here is a breakdown of my first 10 minutes at the airport: Pass through security. Forget 1.5 day old iPhone5 in an airport security bin. Purchase coffee. Wandered upstairs to wait at departure gate. Walk back down for coffee that I forgot on the condiment counter. Return to my gate. Answer cell call from wife.

Karma-Free Sunrise
Wendy: Are you awake yet?
Me: I left my new phone in a bin. A kind security agent found me as I was buying coffee and returned it to me.
Wendy: That's a "no," then?
Me: I'm waiting upstairs.
Wendy: I thought you would be downstairs.
Me: There aren't any gates downstairs.
Wendy: Um...
Me: I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about--
Wendy: <click>

At this point, I check the departures board for the 3rd time and promptly, sheepishly, slink downstairs to the correct gate. I'm going to almost totally omit the part where I try to board the plane without a boarding pass. They don't get as mad as you'd expect :)

Did I mention that I was sick AND tired? Anyway, blogging is better than an apology because it's permanent and more people can hear it. <crickets...>

Fortunately, the plane did not crash (no thanks to me) and I was treated to a beautiful sunrise over the wing. Other than plugged ears and a good ebook, the rest of the flight was unremarkable.

2:30pm--Miami Time

Brad met me in the Miami airport and we began our drive down to Key Largo. Using my new phone, and a hacked together sun-visor mount, I have made you this very short stop motion video, of a surprisingly boring stretch of Miami. Enjoy and please shop Best Buy!

Our Room in Key Largo
#mikflorida2012



Comments

Kyla said…
HAHA! You made me laugh out loud! I love that Wendy hung up on you. I am encouraged by your airport bumblings. I am sorry to hear about your headcold. I tried to access your short stop motion video but it told me the page could not be found. This, of course, could simply be my computer that I am convinced has been hacked. Jeff just rolls his eyes...but I swear to god.
I hope your ears unplug and that the sharks have infested other waters. I am totally impressed you are there, but would think you would have saved this trip for winter months.
Why are we to shop Best Buy? I ask with curiousity as I have their page open as I look for a stove to replace the 42 year old one in our rental...
Break a leg! Just kidding, that is probably not the best thing to say. How about, have a blast! (of canned oxygen)
2:08 pm
Wendy James said…
For the record, I did not hang up. I do admit I may have something like "Well, bye then." Luckily, you really were quite sick and worried so all is forgiven. How was the the first day today?
8:48 pm
captainorange said…
Kyla, thanks for following me on this adventure. I guess I'm travelling now because I didn't go this winter. There didn't seem to be any time. Equally important was that the flight was $472 return! I paid $1282 when I went to honduras (it would have cost $1500 to fly there right now).

As for the Best Buy... We stopped there to buy a screen protector for my phone. Their sign was featured in the last frame in the video you couldn't watch (works for me). If anyone else mentions a problem, I will try to upload it to a different source.
9:46 pm
captainorange said…
Don't go spoiling a perfectly charming story with something so trivial as the truth :o

My day was fine... but I'm not saying anything here. I have a blog structure to maintain. As you can tell, I'm all about the integrity.
9:48 pm
rainswept said…
I also got a "Sorry, that page was not found.". Instant uploads are only visible to you unless you share them, so maybe you can't drop a link in your post?
10:21 pm
Kyla said…
Haahaha aaah. Online wifelies husbandlies. thanks guys! (phoenetically: wifelees, husbandlees--one always runs the risk of mispronunciations when making up words.)
hope you can dive soon!
and the pics are great. I love seeing water, although preferably with my own eyes.
5:18 pm
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