William B. Tomanek

The DC-3 plane fuselage.

Visibilty better than the last 4 years made for a great picture opportunity of the DC-3 plane of the coast of Honduras. Well that is in the back yard of the CoCo View resort.  Just off the back side of the Prince Albert.

The dive begins at your assigned locker. The dive team members meet at the give time. After a quick equipment check is done, divers suite up and take the short path to the shore line. Yes this is the shore dive.

The water is calm and clear, temps are perfect and you could not be with better company. Even though 90% of the group has been labeled as CoCo Nuts. At the platform the second equipment check is done, bouyency is checked and you are paired up with your dive partner. And it always goes something like this. New diver with experienced diver. But we all look out for each other.

The begining of the dive is through the shallows. Through the seagrass area we follow the sandy path down to the safety stop marker. This is where the ocean opens up. Between you and the DC-3 airplane wreckage lays the ship “Prince Albert”. But that is another story.

This dive is much different than the other 100 plus dives I did here at CoCo View Resort. On this dive the visibility was awesome in the channel. I could actually see the Prince Albert. But was headed around the Prince Albert ship to the DC-3 wreckage. Upon my arrival I was amazed at how clear it was. So I pulled out the Cannon G-11 (Tim said it was a great camera.) and shot a few pictures. Here they are…

CoCo View Resort, SCUBA Diving 2012

My trip to Roatan, Honduras began in the early morning of Feb.18, 2012. The Charlottesville Virginia group met at CHO airport, checked in the bags and headed through security. And that was when I noticed something was missing.

These trips to CoCo View Resort have three goals I try to achieve. Some rest and relaxation. SCUBA diving with my friends. And last but not least, taking great underwater pictures. If not great underwater pictures, then I settle for good underwater pictures. Witch brings me back to what I noticed was missing after I passed through security. My camera!
At 5:15 in the morning I am having a hard time figuring out where I left the camera. I know it was packed in the travel bag. I am sure I took it down stairs to the kitchen. But I can not recall putting it in the car with the rest of my bags. So I called home to see if I left it there. My wife could not find it. I then called my son who dropped me off at the airport. He pull the vehicle over and started looking for the camera bag. And there it was on the floor in the back seat.

Now the stress begins. Can the camera get from Pantop to the CHO airport before I have to board the plane? If not, how am I going to take pictures while on vacation?

I walk over to security and the line is really backed up. How am I going to get the camera if it does arrive on time? I got the attention of one of the security officers and explained that I have a camera being delivered. And asked how I can get it through security? He said no problem, let him know when it gets here and he will bring it through. That was good news.

Buy now the plane has been boarded by all the passengers, all the bags are loaded and I am the only one in the lobby. I asked the attendant how much longer before the last call? She said we will announce it. Then she picks up the mike and says “This is the last call for the flight to Atlanta”. I got on the phone to see how close to the airport was my son with the camera. He said he was headed in the lobby now. I told the attendant I will be right back and quickly headed to security. Got the security guards attention, and he put the camera through the security screening for me.

Wow, what a morning that was. We arrived in Roatan that afternoon, had a quick lunch at the CoCo View Resort then headed out to sea. No time wasted when it comes to diving with our group. As they say at CoCo View “Dive-Eat-Dive” But in reality it goes more like this. Wake up… “Eat, dive, dive, eat, nap, dive, dive, eat, and sleep.” and on the last day being a Friday with a late flight out on Sat. the dive day is altered just a little bit. “Eat, dive, dive, eat, nap, dive, eat, and sleep.” Note that was altered by one dive. We do not want to get the bends on the flight home. That would surely ruin the great week of “Rest and Relaxation.”

CoCo View Resort

My pictures will be posted on UnderwaterPicturesForSale.com

Note cards are here. This past week I have put together a piece of the Tomanek Collection underwater pictures “Life Below Sea Level” and a few pictures from above sea level.

These underwater Note Cards are one of a kind. Showing what life really looks like below sea level. Unlike your everyday note cards these are unique underwater pictures of Fish, Corals, Sponges and boat wrecks.
NOTE CARD: is printed on A-2 glossy card (5.5W x 4.25H) when folded and comes with envelope. These cards are selling for $3 each. If you would like to purchase more than 5, please let me know.
The underwater note cards can be purchased by visiting www.TomanekCollection.com then look for the link to NOTE CARDS found near the bottom of the page. I hope you like the Tomanek Collection and please pass my link on to all your friends.
William B Tomanek

Currently trying to find a NEW look for www.tomanekcollection.com.

First look I am working with is made from Drupal. But I am having problems adding the add-ins. I was told this would be an easy task. But it is not as easy as wordpress.

The second plateform I am developing on is iWeb from Apple. This seems to be easy to use, but I have not figures out how to see and update the source code.

Http://www.Tomanek.us

Http://www.Tomanek.us/index.html

Please take a look and send me your comments.

Thanks, Will Tomanek

The purple spong

The underwater pictures for sale web site was launched a little over a month ago. It really seams to me, that no one is interested in “Life Below Sea Level”.  This assortment of pictures has several species of corals and sponges that do LIVE below sea level. I have just recently started to ad fish.

This collection was put together to share with others what I have personally see with my own two eyes. A life in the underwater animal kingdom. A life trying to grow and survive. A life that may be there today, but gone tomorrow. A life underwater that is disrupted by weather changes, just like on land.

You can see from these pictures how scattered life is below sea level.

Please visit www.UnderWaterPicturesForSale.com and take home a piece of life is is slowly dying away.

Went to the Blue Man Group last night at Universal Studios Florida. Unfortunately I was unable to take pictures during the show. The show itself was entertaining. Not just a musical show, but skits that interacted with the audience. The three man group did all the stage performances from playing on the drums, playing the pluming tubes to catching paint balls in their mouth then creating an awesome picture.

Will Tomanek, Tammy Tomanek and the Blue Man.

Today was “First Fridays” in down town Charlottesville, Virginia. The night was cool with cloudy skies, but the folks of Charlottesville were out looking. But not only was it First Night, it was the kick off of Buy Art Give Art. (Video) I was at Skylight Studios tonight and met with lots of friendly local shoppers. I wonder how many shoppers tonight actually bought a piece of art.

What I found to be the greatest thing about Charlottesville is the people of this small college community. It is nothing like the other towns I have lived in. The Charlottesville community is what I consider “Alive“. There is always something going on.

Having said that, I did my part today as a community member. I did “Buy Art Give Art” tonight!

Last night I attended a show hosted at the Sound Studios in Charlottesville Va. The event was put on by 106.1 The Corner and recorded live for the Corner Lounge. FREE Beer was provided by Starr Hill.

I will say this was another great private event put on by our own local radio station 106.1 The corner andtheir one and only Program Director Brad Savage. Another great group of Corner VIP folks from around town and some out of states folks that wanted to get in on this one time event with Kate Miller-Heidke.

The performance was outstanding with a great little interview conducted between Brad and Kate. All this topped of with a CD signing.

Great show Brad!

I will say that this was a pretty bad storm that brought a lot of businesses to their knees. I will be adding more information soon to include some pictures that I took. Yes I was caught in the middle of it. And what a mess did it create.