Nikole Ordway http://www.nikoleordway.com A Diver's Journal Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:44:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Galapagos for my Birthday! http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/368 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/368#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:44:41 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=368 After a year long of planning…I got to take my trip of a lifetime!!! I did a live-aboard dive vacation in the Galapagos Islands. Some of my friends from Hawaii and I went on the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer boat for a week of diving and land excursions. I had some amazing experiences…walked with huge tortoises, hung out with iquanas, snorkeled with sea lions and penguins, went diving with 5 species of sharks (white-tip reef sharks, silky sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Hammerheads, and a Whale Shark….and the best part of my trip are my wild dolphin encounters. The water temp there was 85 degrees so I went in my swimsuit and rash guard…it was awesome! I got photos of the juvenile female whale shark, I named her Isabella, and sent them to www.whaleshark.org for research! I was truly blessed to meet wild dolphins upclose and personal…Rosita the female with her baby Pepe and the male dolphin Edwin all let me be apart of their day! I have some amazing video of my adventures so stay tune for my video release…but until then enjoy my photos!

I enjoyed my 29th Birthday on vacation…and this really was the best bday present EVER!!! If you are a diver you MUST go on this trip!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/368/feed 0 Mr Ordway in Florida http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/364 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/364#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:20:44 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=364 My Dad came into town as well in 2010…he got a house down in Marathon which is above Key West. Matt and I went down to join in the fishing and diving activities that were planned…BUT no diving. The conditions were too windy, not to mention cold! But we did get to visit with my Eastern Ordway clan. Got to take them to Mallory Square at sunset to see all the street performers and grab some dinner. Next day we went out fishing and caught yellow tail snappers…Matt dared Garrett to eat the eye ball but he chickened-out. Mr. Ordway bent the anchor so back at the dock the heavy guys tried fixing it by standing on it…nice try fellas! Overall, it was a pretty funny trip…it was fun to hang out with goofy kids. Garrett started dipping cheetos into the ocean water with this toes and eating them!!! Crazy kid!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/364/feed 0 The sister and the momma come for a visit… http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/359 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/359#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:55:12 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=359 So it was a weekend of Ordway women!!!! Danielle and James came out to visit first…while in town James got certifed to dive, they went to the Bahamas on a cruise, and got to meet my Florida family the Steidleys. When the weekend hit Tina came to town and my cousin Lauren came up to go diving with all the Ordway women! It was awesome! While in Florida we went diving on the RSB-1 and we went to the Sawgrass Recrational Park for an airboat ride and soe gator wrestling. After Dani and James left I took my mom up too Disney World for Valentine’s Day…it was nice…Magic Kingdom at night and Epcot the next morning. My buddy Chad took us behind the scenes at the Living Seas Aquarium, and took us around the “world” well  Epcot’s World. What fun it was to be a kid again!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/359/feed 0 Lemon Sharks in Florida http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/352 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/352#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:09:08 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=352 So every year around the month of February in Jupiter, Florida divers from all round go diving to see the lemon sharks. During this period the lemon sharks come in to mate and check out divers. The lemon sharks can reach lengths 7 to 10 feet and weighing in at 400 lbs or more. On Feb 4th, Matt, Brendal, Alex, and I had to go see this for ourselves. We called up Jupiter Dive Center and away we went on the quest to see lemon sharks. To our surprise not just Lemon Sharks but Nurse Sharks and Goliath Groupers as well!!! Its amazing to see all these large animals because it seems like because of fishing pressures the larger apex predators are slowly being wiped out.

What is so great about divers is they want to see these creatures underwater…ALIVE. So a lot of people in South Florida have rallied together to push a Ban on the fishing for Lemon Sharks. The main point is….sharks are worth more alive than dead. Tons of people from all over will come to Florida to do the dives with the lemon sharks. One lemon shark alive can bring in thousands of tourist dollars where as when one is killed thats it one profit of a few hundred  dollars. Also don’t forget that this creature is an apex predator which is vital to our world’s ocean food chain…one break in the link means distruction of other creatures…and YES Man included!

So on Feb 18, 2010 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the ban of fishing both commerical and recreational of the Lemon Sharks!!! The ban goes into affect March 23, 2010. But this not the end…lets rally together to get Hammerhead Sharks on this same path!!!!

Here are some ways to help…

1. Attend FWC workshops and commission meetings

2. Provide Scientific Research, check out what R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program is up too!

3. Stay informed and get involved…join Shark Safe Network and Shark Savers!

4. If you fish for sharks please support the 100% catch and release campaign…don’t support the take of sharks for shark fishing tournaments…make your local marina a 100% catch and release marina…check out Oceanic Defense for the information!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/352/feed 0 Christmas in Florida 2009 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/348 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/348#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:21 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/348 Well it was my first Christmas away from my family…but I was adopted by Matt’s family so it was nice. Hunter had a good time opening gifts as did Matt. Matt played Santa Cause and handed out the gifts…Rosemarie thought it was a good idea to put water guns in everyone stockings…so of course there was a water fight in the house! While the Heath family was in town they played golf and Matt wore his new golfing shorts! Lindsey and Tom came out to snorkel on the Pro Diver 2. Wedge played with his new scuba gear he got for Christmas and I played with a freediving monofin! What fun…then Wedge wanted to try it and he looked like a meriman! While snorkeling I gave the camera to Lindsey…and as you can see she took some crazy pictures. The boys on the boat got bored so they started a game of ‘who can catch a fish with their hand’. Overall, it was a fun holiday season with lots of laughs and Matt posing like a crazy guy in every picture!

PS I went diving with Santa Claus!!!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/348/feed 0 Nikole’s Update of 2010 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/346 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/346#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:12:35 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=346 So I kinda forgot all about my blog, and I am sorry to you all that enjoyed the stories and the post about ocean conservation. A lot has been going on so far in 2010! I moved in with Matt, went to Vegas for Kelli’s Bacholerette party,  Lemon Shark fishing is banned in Florida, and I went to the Galapagos Islands for a dive live-aboard trip. It’s all been AMAZING!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/346/feed 0 Thanksgiving in Ft Lauderdale http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/344 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/344#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:10:44 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=344 It turned out to be a sunny day for Thanksgiving so that we could all sit outside and enjoy the amazing food that Matt’s mom and dad prepared. It was nice to have all my florida friends and family over…Wedge even dressed up for me!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/344/feed 0 Tortola in the BVIs http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/342 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/342#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:07:51 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=342 This November, I got an amazing opportunity to go sailing in the BVIs (British Virgin Islands) and diving too! I packed up my dive gear and Matt and away we went. We were traveling with my friends Eamon, Judi, Katie and Mark (the dingy captain).  It was great to learn about sailing…since all my boating experience is under motor. We were on a 47 ft catamaran with 4 staterooms, kitchen, and large area to lounge. I got my tan on and got lots of Nikole and Matt time :)

As for the diving…we did some exciting dives. We dove all over…some sites we dove were full of beautiful coral, but other sites, because of the bleaching event that occured about 6 yrs ago, were trying to re-build its coral life.I think I saw enough yellow-headed jawfish and Flamingo tongue snails while diving…so if I didn’t get a good photo well I guess I never will of those two creatures!

My most interesting dive on this trip was the wreck of the Rhone. She sunk in 1867 off of Salt Island…what is interesting about Salt Island is generations of this one family lived on Salt Island and were salt collectors…there is a part of the island that pools the ocean water and will dry up collecting the sea salt. The family was able to live on the island as long as they sent a pound of sea salt to the Queen of England each year…sadly the last man to live on the island died in 2004.

Lets get back to this famous wreck…the Rhone is a Royal Mail Ship about 310 ft long. She got caught in a hurricane while she was anchored and broke free to hit the island and break into 2 pieces. The one piece lies in about 90 ft of water and the other is much shallower (40 ft)…so this wreck site is popular because you can get two great wreck dives on it. It is also popular because the Rhone stars in the 1977 movie “The Deep”. So in the movie, the actress Jacqueline Bissett goes diving in a white t-shirt and bikini bottoms only so I decided I should try this too…and re-create the movie…so stay tune for Nikole’s version of “The Deep”.

For more information about the Rhone check out this site http://www.saildivebvi.com/rhone.php

Right now I only have photos of the trip but soon I will create the dive videos…when I find some time!

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/342/feed 1 DEMA at Orlando http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/338 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/338#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:40:52 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=338 This year DEMA was in Orlando…DEMA is a scuba show by the way. And I had a great experience …and got to learn about the new PADI products and standards. I went to DEMA to represent Pro Dive USA…and our booth was looking good with blondes in it. Sorry Kelly, bald guys aren’t that easy on the eyes. I was able to re-connect with people in the scuba industry, so that was good. And we got to get inspired at the Padi Believe seminiar…”bunny bunny bunny”. Also don’t forget the random animal statues we got to see on our walk everyday to the convention center.

]]> http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/338/feed 0 Matt in San Diego, CA http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/328 http://www.nikoleordway.com/archives/328#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:05:19 +0000 Nikole http://www.nikoleordway.com/?p=328 So I got to take Matt home with me to San Diego for a couple of days to meet my family and friends and show him around. We went fishing for tuna and Mahi one day (we saw a hug hammerhead shark from the boat!) and surfing the next…bonus, my family proves of him so I guess he’s stuck with me :)

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