I am heading off to the airport for my long planned diving trip to Poland.

The problem is, I was contacted by the guy in Poland who was to take me on the four hour drive North, to Gdansk and Hel 12 hours before my flight.

“My girlfriend is sick and I must stay with her; I will still help you, but we must change plans. Call me when you arrive in Warsaw,” he wrote.

Well, this trip hasn’t even begun and already there seems to be complications.

And the pisser is, if I can’t get to dive, all my preparation has been for nothing, and yes I did actually have to prepare…

Preparing For A Dive Trip To Poland

I’m signing off for now; the next post should be from Poland.

I’ve been delaying this post for several days, hoping that the source was somehow mistaken.

Last Tuesday, November 20th, Dan from the Divevets posted this message, on the message board:

“Saw this on Facebook: Barbara Soto – ‘Today I lost a wonderful niece. Shanon Wesserling. She could not take her living conditions anymore or her pain. Though she had many problems, she was a wonderful person. Giving, caring, always there to lend a helping hand to those who needed it. I will miss her terribly. God Bless you Shanon and now you are truly at peace. Love Aunt Barbie.’

“Shanon started diving with us 8 or 9 years ago. She had many problems, some we witnessed and many we did not. Goodbye Shanon, I hope you are in a better place.”

Shanon was a regular member of the Divevets and Pacific Wilderness Diving Club; I remember her from the early days of when I started diving.

The last few years were very hard for her; I guess harder than anyone could have imagined.

She will be missed, and I prefer to remember the happier Shanon from several years back.

These photos are from 2007.

R.I.P Shanon, a.k.a “Bite Me,” “Diving Smurf”