Russell "rustymich" from PA hooks up with Maurice "Mostest Ganpa" in MD and head to FL where they meet Rudy "65300" and his son Joe, crash for one night with Derrick (not a diver yet, but coming), accept an offer from Rudy to crash with him from a few days (remember, we all JUST met), no boarding fees (rent), take a ride over to Destin where we meet up with Dave "Flaski" who, despite engine troubles is determined too and in fact take us out into the Gulf for some good diving!!! Again this is the first meeting for us all....... It`s a little tough to not be long winded about this trip but I`ll keep it short as possible. Snapperhead and Luv2Dive were trying to pull off a meet and greet in FL, late Jan to Feb... for several reasons, lack of participation, interest etc... the event was cancel however by this time I had decided I was going regardless! I posted my intent on the buddyboard and let it be known I had room for anyone who is interested...in comes Russell "rustymich", up for the trip and we`re on the same thought pattern..."keep it at lost cost"! During our planning stages he had some dialogue with Dave "Flaski" who offered to take us on some boat dives in the Gulf and I had talked with a very good fiend who said we could crash at his home in Tampa, (not yet a diver but he`s coming). Russ meets me at my home in Baltimore and off we go!!! 14hours later we`re setting up camp at Ginnie Springs! While setting up camp we meet Rudy "65300" (that`s because he`s 6`5" 300lbs), and his son Joe who we hit it off with immediately. We all do a couple of dives, get in a night dive and wind up sitting around the camp fire talking guy talk! (That`s not a gender slang, we were really talking guy talk). The next day while packing up camp to move on 65300 invited us to crash with him for a few days, ending his invitation in this fashion, "I`ll be offended if you don`t show!" We got in a couple more dives in and shot down to Tampa where we arrived just a little after kick-off...yeah! Watched the Giants beat them drawerrrsss, got our eat on and just enjoyed fellowshiping with wonderful people, and you would not believe this house, screened in pool and all the works... just nice! After a wonderful night of peaceful sleep Russ and I were off once again...got in a couple more dives and headed to Rudy in Panama City Beach!!! The next three days were just great but I had to asked the question... "Rudy why?" This was Rudy`s response, "A black guy and a white guy diving together in the south, you all gotta be cool!" Nuff said. We were blown out Thursday but met up with Flaski Friday where again the hospitality was second to none despite his and rustymich`s mechanical skills, fighting that dang engine to get us where we wanted to go. Got in some great Gulf dives, dived on the "Janet", saw some great sea life, it was just great. Our trip was cut short a day because my wife was involved in a auto accident (she`s doing just fine) but what a great trip. Greg did a great job setting up the structure of this community (hope we`re all supporting him), but the thing that really makes it great are the people... You can`t help but feel (I can`t anyway) that there are no strangers here, we just haven`t met face to face! rustymich and I had a passion and we need to scrath that itch and prepared for the best and worst of circumstances ie...extras of everthing, food, clothing, camping supplies, etc... The one thing we could not prepare for were the hearts we encountered on our trip...it was friendly people becoming friends! If you want to know what DIVEBUDDY is all about start in the heart and chase the passion and I can gaurantee you`ll meet a "rustymich" a "Flaski" a "65300" @ son a Derrick and a Mostest Ganpa along the way...! Dive Well Maurice P.S. Greg, you might want to think about some small flyers or tracts or something of that nature... we hoop and hollered divebuddy everywhere we went and there were a lot of people who have heard! Something we can order in bundles and leave in dive shops and such areas... Now I`m taking a page from 65300 "SHUT UP AND DIVE!"