Update: [Photos from London] [Photos from Plymouth]

England has been fun so far. I’m here in Plymouth with Kristene, Marta, and Alan, all of whom I spent a month with at the SharkLab last summer. In what was ended up being a harbinger of further misfortune, the weather dropped ten degrees centigrade and the heavens unleashed a torrent of rain as soon as I tried to get to Plymouth. Steve said, “Oh, I usually leave an hour before the train is scheduled to depart. That will give you time in case of train delays.” Well, as soon as I stepped onto the train, it stopped, and the conductor mumbled something over the intercom which was utterly unintelligible. An hour and a half later, I arrived at Baker Street and transferred onto the circle line to Paddington Station, having missed my train — and the two next trains. So I sat there and ate crappy Chinese fast-food, whose contents have somehow escaped the “no fast food” rule that I adopted after reading Fast Food Nation. Eventually, I arrived at Plymouth, and much enjoyment was had at being reunited with souls with whom I had endured the constant onslaught of biting bugs in Bimini.

The woods near Steve’s house

Hello! I’m here in London, hanging out with Steve Kessel, who has been a fantastic host so far. We spent yesterday hanging out at his place in Northwood Hills, and went out at night to see “Kill Bill,” which, despite its gratuitous gore, was a fun movie to watch. We’re going to have dinner tonight with Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch, and later on I hope to meet up with Mandy’s sister, who is temporarily living here for work. I have to go now. My time here at the internet cafe is limited. :)

Oh, before I forget, here are some photos from the past weeks.

Check out this bizarre animal. It’s called a “red-lipped batfish,” and although it exists in such exotic places like the Galapagos, it can also be found under a bridge in West Palm Beach! (although the one I saw there looked different than the one I saw here — probably a different species)

Go check out Steve’s Digicams and scroll down until you see the news for 10/12/2003. Rock on. :)

I’m here at my good friends Jim and Anna’s place (they run some of the best diving in Palm Beach and the Bahamas), and when I opened the drawer here in the guest room, I found it full of my clothing.

I was wondering where those articles had gone… ;)

I’m here in Miami, and it’s 5:14am. I’m babysitting an upload of a preliminary trip report for wetpixel.com:

http://wetpixel.com/features/dema2003/

It’s a pretty thorough report, and I am proud of it. But now, I should go to bed. I originally thought that we were checking out on Sunday, but it looks like I have to check out in six hours. That is going to be tough.

Miss you guys! (my friends and stuff) :)

I have seen few things as beautiful as a 6:30am lift-off from San Francisco International Airport in the autumn. From above, the rippled fog layer laps against the shores of the foothills like a voluminous cotton ocean. The clarity of the sky is incredible; a darkly saturated crimson horizon blends slowly upward along the colors of the rainbow, a midnight blue expanse directly overhead, sprinkled with bright starlight sparkles.

Fifteen minutes later, the sun breaks the horizon, its piercing light still golden, an intense orange flare.

And now, at 7am, only a hint remains of what was before, a rainbow horizon washed out, fading quickly.

Darren Rice, of Liquid Image Productions, has completed the promo video he was working on while on the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer with me in August. (photos of that trip are here) If you want to see what the schools of hammerheads and whale sharks are like underwater, check it out. It’s a great video. :) Go to the Sky Dancer site and click on the Galapagos video link at the top of the page!

Aside from an unannounced cable service disruption last night at 1am (a technician was working in the vicinity), RCN has been the best ISP I’ve ever worked with. I love them.

2003-10-02 12:30:35 EST: 3712 / 494
Your download speed : 3712231 bps, or 3712 kbps.
A 453.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 494926 bps, or 494 kbps.

You’re jealous. You know you are.

I’ve been getting behind in posting photos, mostly because I have very little free time. But what’s great about my current arrangement is that I’m now “forced” to hang out with my friends all the time because I have to sleep on their couches and extra beds. So work and play have been juxtaposed again, as they were during college and graduate school.

I’m off to San Diego this weekend, but I don’t think I’ll have any free time to see any of you down there. :( I will be at a big underwater party thingie on Saturday, and will spend Sunday and Monday helping a friend out with his computer and boat.

Photos: [see some photos]

I’ve also updated the Austin entry with some photographs.