Living in the limelight, the universal dream

A bunch of us took a trip aiming to hit Spotlight Cave and Bonzai Cliff. The latter almost never works out because the conditions are usually too rough, as was the case yet again on Sunday. Spotlight is quite unique with that beam of light. It doesn't rivet me for a full 50 minutes of diving, but I still like this site. Here is my revised top twenty list for CNMI diving. Sport Diver chose two dives I rank last on the top 20 list as must do dives in the CNMI. It might be easier to see here. To each his own I guess. I'm big on caves and grottos and places with cool landscapes and contrasts of light and dark.

Here is a thought that might ruffle a feather or two, and this is from someone who loves diving and has done it alot: Sometimes the pictures are even more impressive than seeing these things in person. The macro in particular brings out the contrasts in the subject and intensifies the experience -- kind of like reducing a sauce. For instance, I've looked at the nudibranches Harry Blalock is so enamored with. They're reasonably cool, but to me, they look much cooler in Harry's photos. Now, there's more to diving than the visual landscape. It's also a mindset -- enhanced by the adventure and the feeling of escape from the humdrum nature of daily life. Some of the dives stick with you a long time. For me, the long, deep descent into the Blue Hole in Palau, left, really sticks out. You make this long, slow descent through this wide, deep hole with the sun shining in and along the wall are these rich sea fans and the normal bevy of fish Palau is noted for. Beyond that, you can do this on the same dive as the renowned Blue Corner.

These Spotlight Cave pictures here in Saipan come courtesy of Mark Robertson, who captures a diver deep in prayer in the lower pic. I'm merely ascending to heaven in the pic up top. I only got part of the way. Apparently, Hendrix isn't touring this summer.

On a completely unrelated note, there is a great story on blogging in the Sunday New York Times. Completely unrelated not number two: The burgers at Java Joes are shockingly good.

Gear up and get wet already, MV 8

Editor's Note: All underwater photos are courtesy of Harry Blalock, who has thousands of amazing underwater photographs available here. Marianas Variety column 8.

By Jeffrey C. Turbitt

You meet at the dock in the sleepy haze of morning feeling that slow, inexorable march of the tropical sun warming the Earth. Stepping onto the boat you hear the buzzing of plans solidified between buddies, tanks clanking, gear being loaded and motors roaring. You soon find yourself gliding over slightly bumpy, luminescent tropical waters of azure. The birds are hovering – out on the prowl for their fish breakfast. A school of dolphins might on occasion be your escort to the day’s chosen reef. Land becomes more distant over the horizon. You prepare yourself mentally to make that transformation from land dwelling mammal to sea exploring adventurer. The John Stockton like assist of modern underwater gear makes this act simple, reliable and above all else: possible. There is a tenor of anticipation for that first moment below water -- that contrasting explosion of color, light and water coupled with that indelible feeling of water eradicating summer's constant companion -- sweat. This is a morning that doesn't happen in Brooklyn, Beijing or Berlin, it is a morning unique to the tropics on a dive boat -- a unique joy of living here in Saipan that allows a brief escape from all life's stress above water. Scuba diving is a pleasure that far too many people exclude themselves from due to simple intimidation and misplaced fears.

Sea Fans are perhaps my favorite coral. They grow on walls, which are a common place to go diving.

The typical dive boat lures a crowd of people who approach life with a certain zest for living, a “je voie de vivre” as the French say. Divers are generally more compelling people who typically don't while away their days in some neon vestibule doing some mind numbing drudgery before capping off their day with whatever bad television is on tap. These are people who generally have been places, seen and done things and have something to say. Being around other divers, particularly in an exotic diving Mecca like Palau but certainly here in Saipan as well, is invigorating and life affirming. A day on the water brings a certain relaxation and peace of mind that is hard to find elsewhere. There are no cell phone calls underwater, no honking horns, no interruptions – just pure tranquility of mind and spirit.

It doesn't take too long for divers to break the chops of other divers, which I consider a good sign. Bo, who I met on the dive boat in Palau, gives me the horns the day I met him during a surface interval.

To the unitiated, diving probably looks complicated with all that dive gear. That apprehension is iced with an irrational fear of sharks inspired by one too many Jaws movies. Scuba diving is shockingly uncomplicated actually. A dive course can be completed in a week, and while that doesn't make you a crackerjack diver just yet, it gets you started. There are only a few inviolate rules to diving such as make a slow, controlled ascent from the deep, do not hold your breath underwater and keep a close watch on your air supply and depth, which is limited to 130 feet for the recreational diver. There are only three pieces of gear the diver needs over the snorkeler, a regulator that ensures the right air supply, a buoyancy control device that helps hold the tank in place and helps provide proper buoyancy, particularly useful at the surface, and a weight belt to help the diver sink upon entry, which is sometimes integrated with the BCD. Diving opens a lot more opportunity to explore the underwater world over snorkeling.
This coral is only seen at night. Night dives in particular open up a world unavailable or hiding during the day.

Saipan in particular has some especially good diving. I've traveled to many places throughout Asia largely with diving on my mind, and our very own Grotto is perhaps the most unique dive site I've ever explored -- including many in the rightfully exalted Palau . There is a sharp contrast between light and dark with that blue enclosed backdrop that blends together creating a staggering underwater seascape. That combination of light and dark works in a way far better together than it could alone -- much like McCartney and Lennon are better together than alone or crispy bacon is far better with a thin pancake drenched in Maple Syrup.

One of the holes at the Grotto. I love that contrast between light and dark. Few things above water look this cool.
Mike Tripp is a licensed pharmacist, an underwater videographer who released a DVD called the Underwater World of Saipan and president of the newly formed Marianas Dive Group. The underwater world is what lured Tripp to Saipan and away from a more lucrative day job.

“To me if you have to wait to go on a dive vacation for that feeling of peace that diving instantly brings, then you’re, or at least I am, in trouble. What's more soothing then being immersed in a big warm pool? Had a really stressful day? Go for a dive, there's one only 15 minutes tops away from anywhere on the island. Here we are lucky because if you miss the boat, you can still jump in and get wet.”

Crusing around on a dive boat in Palau is a heck of a lot of fun. There is some great scenery.

Tripp even goes to drastic measures to be underwater when back home in his native Canada. “I remember trips home to visit my family in Vancouver. One particular house my parents had came with a pool. Rather than gear up in a dry-suit and drive hours to the nearest doable site, I’d sit at the bottom of the pool just breathing. In the winter I'd even put on my dry-suit, that's how desperate I was. If a week goes by where I'm not in the water it starts to get ugly!”

As a scuba instructor Tripp deals with the anxieties of novices. “Dive gear can still feel a little heavy for some on land sometimes, but once you're in the water, you're weightless. That's right, it's like walking on the moon. Not that I've ever walked on the moon, but that’s what they, who have, say about SCUBA. So even if it looks a little complicated, which it really is not, it's a lot less complicated than jumping in the space shuttle.”

A turtle is always a welcome sight. This turtle, among others, appears at the Grotto from time to time.

Divers might also get more of that moon feeling here in Saipan because driving to the Obyan and Lau Lau dive sites is a lot like driving on the moon with all the craters in the road. But getting to those sites is indeed worth the trouble

The next major hang-up to entry to this sport tends to be fear of sharks; a fear that Tripp notes is not particular based in reality. “By and large the types of sharks we see in these waters are the reef sharks, white tip, black and gray reef sharks. They are unlikely to swim anywhere near you and if you are lucky enough to see them close up, you'll quickly see they are quite happy to look at you and then get the hell out of there if you look like you want to get too close. It's also important to note that when it comes to shark attacks, they get a lot of media attention, but in fact they are extremely rare and as I say, always involve someone on the surface. I cannot go on record to say that there has never been an attack on a scuba diver during a regular dive (i.e. not a shark feeding experience) but if there has been one, I have not heard about it. Either way, it is much more likely you will be hit by a car crossing beach road a hundred times than diving a lifetime in these waters. They are amazing to see and well worth overcoming a fear Hollywood has created!” These little reef sharks aren't all that scary. Most sharks really aren't. I've seen these sharks at the Grotto many times.

With some of the common fears allayed, there is one reaction I hope people now have, get trained, gear up and get wet already.

Jeffrey C. Turbitt is the language arts department chairman at Saipan Southern High School, as well as an avid scuba diver and traveler. He offers more thoughts in his blog Hypercritical Thought at: www.turbittj.blogspot.com/ He welcomes feedback, tips and story ideas at turbittj@yahoo.com. His column appears regularly on Wednesdays.

Life of late in pictures

I suck at bowling and I don't mean maybe. We did the bumper bowling and I barely beat Carl, yeah the older boy. When Alex threw the ball one time, it literally bounced off the pin and didn't fall, which was hilarious. He'd throw the ball and it would take so long to get to the pins, he'd lose interest. Needless to say, Mommy won.


I had lunch on the rock island where they filmed Survivor Palau. I saw a lizard that was bigger than a dog, but it moved too fast to get a picture. This isn't the lizard.

This was when I was waiting in the terminal in Guam. I knew I was heading for Palau when I saw this guy's Joy Dishwashing bottle full of lime. Betelnut is a full blown ritual over there. I saw about 10 Saipan folks I knew, the day after school ended, heading off somewhere from the dreaded Guam Airport.

Cynthia and I went out to the Hyatt just for general merriment and to celebrate things going well in general. It was quite the dinner.

Done diving

I finished my ninth and final Palau dive today, paid my considerable bill, and I've had a good time. Palau can never quite live up to the lofty expectations, but it is an amazing place. We saw a school of dolphins and what an impressive animal that is -- so graceful and amazing. I visited the Chandelier Cave yesterday, which was way cool. It is very close to Sam's Dive Shop, and you surface to breathable air in four different chambers. There are stalagmites all about as well as crystal. It is a unique dive. I dove the Ulong Channel twice, and this was one of the best dives I've been on here. The fish ball is something to see, lots of sharks, some cool currents and some amazing coral, including the largest selection of lettuce coral in the world.

This morning we hit Siaes Corner and this was a very pleasant wall dive as well. We dove the Blue Corner yesterday, and the tides just didn't work in our favor, and it pretty much sucked. This was a very disappointing turn of events. I have to spend a day tomorrow doing I'm not quite sure, maybe Kayaking, to get my 24 hours on the surface before I take the flight to hell back to Saipan at 2 am. I've eaten Mexican, Japanese, Indian and Thai since I've been here and all were damn good. Diving and the Palau sun takes so much out of you, that I don't think I've been up much past 9 any night. So tomorrow is my last day in the Coalition of the Willing.
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On the bad news front, I guess because I've been away and haven't posted as much, school is over, or what, but readership is drying up from the growth it was having, and I see that is impacting other bloggers as well. That blows.

Hanging in the Coalition of the Willing

I'm hanging in the Coalition of the Willing, and I'm having a pretty good time. My hotel is utterly incompetent, for reasons I'll detail later. The diving here in Palau has been quite good. Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit Chandelier Cave and Blue Corner. I dove a WWII wreck today, and the Blue Hole. I dove a channel that was pretty damn cool. Lots of sharks, lots of fish, lots of current and a huge fishball. My diving is significantly better. I attribute this to Marty Dalsaso, his buddy and my new friend Jerome Wong, and just having done it a lot for a six years now.

The restaurants here are fabulous, and since I'm traveling solo, I've talked to all kinds of people. I've heard a lot of the usual complaints from expats that you here about Saipan. I've heard some horror stories about the treatment of immigrant workers that is outright scary.

On that topic, these comments sicken me, as do the others bemoaning that immigrant workers might leave the CNMI if given entree to the United States: Memo to the government, businesses and others bemoaning the slight empowerment of Filipinos and Chinese: if you want to keep a worker, pay him or her a wage that makes them want to stay and they will. No one owns immigrant workers. God this stuff sickens me. Imagine if someone said this about some minority group in the states. I'm sure all of this below was said about women and African-Americans at different time periods. I'm sure there will be no backlash to this statement:

Former Covenant negotiator Vicente Santos is not too concerned about
qualified nonresidents getting permanent residency or “green cards” but he
is concerned about the U.S. government granting them voting rights.“The only
thing I'm opposed to is about voting rights granted to other people. Voting
rights must be reserved for local people. I hope Washington looks at it
closely,” said Santos in an interview yesterday.He said, though, that if the
local community decides to grant such right to aliens, then it should be
respected.“If the local people allow that, what can I do? But it should come
from the local people, not from the U.S. Congress. I personally don't want
to see nonresidents getting voting rights,” he said.

God forbid democracy be expanded, Vicente. It's not like these people have a huge stake in this island or anything. I just love this quote, let them go to the states, just don't let them have any say here. It's a vomitous statement appealing to the worst instincts of a small and powerful local sect. I can't wait until the new generation, with a far less racist mindset takes over. I talk to these kids so I know they don't think like this fossil above, thank god. And no, I'm not excusing him and being deferential because he's old.

Summer plans

Northwest finally announced their usual summer sale, so I'll be going away this summer thank God. I was starting to worry I'd be stuck here. I hate Saipan in the summer with the passion of a thousand white hot suns, which is what Saipan feels like in July. Actually, it isn't that bad, I just need a break from this little island in the Summer. I also used miles and will be going to Palau to dive and dive some more. I'm leaving for Palau the day after school ends. Teachers are every bit as fried by the end of the year as students, and I'm really looking forward to Palau and the States. I've been to Palau already, but I always wanted to go back. Last time I swam in that famous milky river with the rejuvenating mud, which I slathered all over my head. Alas, I'm still bald. Maybe a second treatment solves the problem.

There are many things I want to do. I'm going to see Rush in New Jersey. I saw them three years ago, and many other times. I snapped this photo of one of the world's great bass players, Geddy Lee, on that trip. Rush has a new album out that I'm still getting the feel for. On that note, Amazon is shipping through DHL, so stuff gets here from the states via Amazon like rapid fire now. I got the new Rush album two days after it was released. No, I won't just download it. This will be like my 12th time seeing Rush.
I'll see the Dave Matthews Band in Chicago, where I'll meet my newborn niece and hopefully make it to Wrigley Field as well. I'm going to be in Charlotte and Asheville, NC to meet up with one of my old college professors that I hang with for a weekend every year. I'll definitely hit up a few comedy clubs in New York City, as well as all the restaurants featuring cuisine I like but can't get here -- Portuguese and French especially. I'll probably make it to Yankee Stadium. I took a tour of the stadium last time, and it was way cool. I literally had chills walking on that field. I can't even slightly imagine what it must be like to play there. There was no one there, and it still felt like being in an immaculate place. It was more impressive in its own way than when I went to the Sistine Chapel, but I've been a baseball fan a long time. After the Yankees won the series in 1996, I jumped in my car, drove from central Jersey and just hung out and partied with everyone there at the Stadium. That was by far my favorite Yankee team and season. When Leyritz hit that home run off Mark Wohlers in Atlanta in Game Four of the World Series, wow. Well, memories are all I have right now considering this current Yankee team.

If luck holds out, I'll also get to meet up with Arin Greenwood, who departed Saipan only Saturday, but I already miss and hope to see in NYC. There is a newish band called the Secret Machines, I'd love to see, but nothing is scheduled for the moment. I'd love to catch Doug Stanhope as well, but he doesn't have any shows scheduled. I'm similarly hopeful of seeing Bill Maher, who rules the bleeping planet.