That is yours truly in the chilly waters of Maine at "Two Lights" on Cape Elizabeth.

Yes friends, that is how I spent my day off today.  After a week of hot and sweaty weather, Ruth an I jumped in the truck and headed for Cape Elizabeth for some scuba diving.  This is certainly the way to beat the heat, with the water temperature dropping as low as 55˚F at our deepest depth of 32 feet.  It is a little chilly at first, then you get used to it, and then later on you start to feel cold, but it sure was better than being out in the hot and muggy weather!

We had a very successful dive day today.  We visited a different dive shop than where we went last week and they were much nicer and friendlier.  We will probably visit them again for our future diving needs while we are here in Maine.  The whole experience in their shop was better and I think that it set a much better tone for the rest of the day.

When we got to the dive site we saw another pair of divers who were just coming back in.  One of them was dragging what appeared to be a pretty old boat anchor crusted in barnacles and such.  It was actually pretty impressive that this guy had lugged it all the way back from wherever he found it.  It could not have been easy since it looked pretty heavy!  They told us the conditions were pretty good and we gave them a hand getting back up the beach to their car before we suited up to dive.

Everything about our dive day went really smoothly.  We got in and acclimated to the water, swam out and really had no issues getting down, equalized and on our way.  We saw a whole bunch of crabs of various varieties, a couple fish including what we thing was a flounder, but we didn’t see any lobster.  We saw lobster traps, but no lobster.  I suppose that leaves us something to look forward to on our next dive.

After returning the gear and returning to camp we pretty much did an about-face and headed off to dinner.  This was the first time this season that I went to the 302 for dinner and it was good.  We met up with some of the other staff there and then went to see Livingston Taylor in concert.  That was a lot of fun, he is a great performer.  I actually sang with him back in high-school at some concert in Newton.  It was fun to see him again years later!

So, a pretty good day off, very fun and very successful!

What is it about fish that truly fascinates people?  We have a fish tank that is now home to two African Dwarf Frogs, two Neon Tetras and four other tetras of a variety that I can’t remember.  When you think about it, the fish really don’t do much other than swim around the tank, and yet, we are still completely fascinated by them.  I have found myself standing around watching the fish for pretty good chunks of time every now and then.

It was only this weekend that we added the four tetras and the new frog.  The tank had just been feeling a little bit empty so we headed down to the fish store “Fish-4-U” to see what they had.  Fish-4-U is a great local fish store that is totally run by hippies.  We like going there rather than to one of the big chains as not only do they really know their stuff, but it is nice to support local businesses.  I think that I could spend a lot of time just hanging out at the store watching the fish.

Then of course you have to choose what fish you want.  We knew that we wanted another frog.  They are really kinda cool and add a different dimension to the tank community.  That is another thing that you have to think about when adding animals to the tank, how they play with others.  Since we have a community tank all of our animals have to play well with others so that they all survive.  Then we also have to think about how some fish like to school and you have to have enough of them so that they can school.

All things considered, taking care of a fish tank can actually require some serious attention especially if you have a big tank, which we don’t.  Sure, you can’t play with your fish like you can with a puppy or a cat, but they can certainly be entertaining.  Our tank provides some nice color to our living room and a little bit of excitement every now and then.

Then of course there are people like Ruth and I who SCUBA dive.  Sure seeing fish is not the only thing to do while diving, but seeing the sea life is one of the primary things people dive for.  And there is also fishing.  Personally I have never really seen the appeal, but some people just love to go fishing.  I have been fishing before, and sure it is fun to hang out with other people, but you can do that over anything.  I certainly can’t remember the last time that I caught anything.  I have always felt like going fishing was just a setup for being disappointed.  My grandfather on the other hand has caught many a fish that were pretty darn tasty.

So what is it that causes so much interest in water and the creatures that inhabit it?