"Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya..."

OK, so other than it's a little warmer and more humid than I prefer, Jamaica is pretty darn fun! After two grueling days of travel, Cara, Rachel and I got here Sunday night (OK, Sunday was spent shopping in Miami, so it wasn't totally grueling, but it sure was long). As soon as we got here, Cara and Rachel were skinny dipping in the ocean (at midnight). I, as expected, was in bed.

In Miami Airport

Monday was spent playing on the beach and getting used to the area. Yes, they even got me in the water willingly. And yes, I had fun.

Rachel and Dan on a water trike

Tuesday morning, Cara and Rachel took Scuba lessons. I had to wait on my physical verification before I could go, so I relaxed (in my room). However, Tuesday afternoon, Rachel and I went on a tour of the jungle canopy, via zip line. Oh yeah, way cool. We were rained on, the humidity was probably 100%, and we were sweating, so I couldn't tell what had made me wetter.

Cue the "Indiana Jones" theme music

Rachel and Dan

Today, I was able to take my scuba lesson, then Cara, Rachel and I went on our first dive. Totally awesome. For those of you who are experienced scuba divers, you know what I mean. Cara tried to freak out when she first went in, but the instructor told her what she was doing wrong, and made her go right back under. She did fine. I did fine until I got back on the boat and ralphed all over. I'm blaming it on motion sickness, but I was fine in the water.

This afternoon, we went shopping, then went to Rick's Cafe in Negril, where Rachel went cliff diving off a 35 foot cliff. Then one of the locals climbed to the top of a tree and made that dive from 60 feet. Freaky.

To see Rachel's dive, click here 

The other guy's dive

Tomorrow, we do our second dive, then Friday we head back to reality.

Kotzebue & Metlakatla

Well, my family decided that since I won't update the web page any more, that maybe I would keep up on a blog. I'll give it a try.

For those of you who don't know all the details, the family is moving from Kotzebue. Cara decided that she needed to be closer to her mother, especially after her hip replacement. She and the kids are moving to Boise ID (back to civilization?). I had planned on staying in Kotzebue, and in fact, had turned in my retention letter. However, I was finally convinced to go to Metlakatla (SE Alaska, by Ketchikan) for an interview for the Dental Director position. I had no intention of taking the job, but once I got there and looked around, I felt the same way that I felt five years ago, when I came to Kotz for the site visit. I just felt that it was the right thing to do. I took the job on the spot. My last day with Maniilaq is 12 December, and I start my new job 5 January. The family leaves for Boise on 1 November. I'll be going down for Thanksgiving, and to help Daniel bless my new grandson. WAY EXCITED ABOUT THAT!

I do feel a little bad about leaving Maniilaq with only one dentist - I was in that position for 1 1/2 years - but if it's the right thing to do, I'm not going to fight it. As to the benefits, since the family will be in Boise, Ketchikan is only 1 1/2 hours from Seattle, which sure beats the 1 1/2 hours from Kotz to Anchorage, then 3 more hours from Anchorage to Seattle. Cara will still be working with the airlines. She'll be with Horizon Air, Alaska Air's sister company. She loses her one year of seniority with Alaska Air, but keeps her flying benefits, so it should be easy for me to visit them.

Metlakatla is similar to Kotzebue, yet significantly different. The population is about 1500, or half of Kotzebue. Kotzebue is Arctc desert with tundra everywhere, while Metlakatla is a temperate rainforest with trees and green everywhere. The town really reminds me of a sleepy little town in the Lower 48 with cute little houses with lawns, and cute little stores. Kotzebue serves 11 surrounding villages with a combined population of 8,000, while Metlakatla is alone with no outlying villages. Kotzebue's dental clinic has 8 chairs for the 8,000 while Metlakatla has 6 chairs for its 1500. It's clinic is two years old, and made me drool when I saw it!


Here is a picture of part of the staff of Maniilaq Dental Services. The women are all the Assistants and Receptionist. As a plug, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As things progress, I will update here, so keep watching and see how things go. Plus, since I leave for Jamaica in less than two days, I might have to post some photos from there.