The Grey NATO - 158 - Jason's Bonaire Field Report

Published on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 15:29:52 -0400

Synopsis

The podcast episode is a conversation between the two hosts, James and Jason, where Jason reports from his trip to Bonaire. They discuss various topics, including watches Jason brought for diving, the experience of traveling during COVID times, a typical day's activities in Bonaire focused on diving and relaxation, the diving experience and marine life in Bonaire, and potential future plans for a listener trip to Bonaire. Jason also shares some insights from interacting with a free diving expert and seeing other divers' watch collections during the trip.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 158. My name is James Stacy and I'm joined as ever by my illustrious co-host Jason Heaton, who's actually calling in from a tropical locale. How's things?
Jason Heaton Good, good. Yeah, I'm down here in Bonaire and we'll be lucky if we get this episode actually recorded. We've had some snafus on both ends here today. Yeah, I think we are.
James Stacey Yeah. So if I sound angry, it's my own fault. My mic has decided to not cooperate and the computer has been restarted and for a little while the power grid in Bonaire also decided to not cooperate. But that's the fun of a field report and it is pretty exciting because we haven't had a field report in a long time because of course travel has become quite complicated. Jason, we can save most of this for the main thing, but how is it to be out and about and back somewhere that you love?
Jason Heaton On one hand, it feels terrific. On the other hand, it feels a bit surreal. It's a very familiar place for me and for Ghoshani, and we came with a friend, Tim, who's been here before with us. So much familiar about it, but yet there are these weird differences. COVID checks at the airport and, and just kind of the scene here is a little bit different, but, uh, all in all it's, it's great to be back and, and, you know, upfront, I'll just apologize for any background noise. There's a fan going and then there's a waves crashing outside the patio here, um, which I'm guessing most people won't complain about, but it is a, it is some background noise.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. You know, I can be a stickler for these things, but I'll give you a pass on this one. I think that's pretty fun, uh, that we're able to do this at all and, uh, that I'm able to hear you and, So far, hey, what do you know? My mic is cooperating.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey On the last episode, I lamented, complained, espoused, you picked the term you prefer, about how I'd bought this Vostok dive watch that I'd forgotten about from Russia. And I think it must have been delivered like either while we were recording or like while the file was being uploaded. Because it was here, you know, speak of the devil. And so for those of you who are asking, it's a 420959. Which was like, I think it was 78 bucks. Wow. It's a steel dive watch with kind of a dome crystal. It has a matte black dial with like a diver decal on it. Yeah. Um, and then it doesn't have numbers on the bezel. It has more of a, these kind of broken segments with dots that are either red or black. Sure. Yeah. Um, I'm going to write a piece for it for Hodinkee at some point, I'm sure I'll put up a wrist shot at some point, but I haven't done either of those things yet. I've just been drowning in other work currently. But I did want to confirm that, you know, some people very kindly offered to send me theirs as a loan. So I would have one other people, you know, wrote just to just to say, Hey, this is rad. You know, you guys have mentioned Vostok before, but never like at a, I'm trying it. I bought it, that sort of level. Yeah. So all of that, it's pretty fun. And the watch is worse than I expected in many ways. It I mean, like it's keeping time and running. And at some point, once I've got photos, I'll probably also take it at least swimming. Yeah. Maybe snorkeling, that sort of thing. Yeah. But man, there are elements of it that feel real rickety. Like there's no tensioner in the bezel. There's no click. There's no anything. Yeah. It's just kind of a ring that sits on the outside of the watch. And then the crown, the crown really leaves everything to be desired. If every time you touch it, it feels like it's going to come off in your hands. It should make for a fun review, not an expensive watch. It is charming. I'll give it that. The loom is better than I was expecting. It's the right size. Um, you know, it's, I actually had to like try and find if I had any 18 millimeter NATO. So that's kind of the headspace I'm in.
Jason Heaton Yeah. When you brought it up on that last episode, I remembered that a friend of mine who used to travel to Russia occasionally, he had gotten one as a gift. This was back in the nineties and he wasn't into watches at all and he passed it on to me and mine's been sitting in the Vostok box in a drawer for many, many years. I never wear it, but it's, it truly is a very flimsy feeling watch. Um, and I don't remember what it came on, some fake leather vinyl or something. So I put it on a NATO and I think the weird thing is, and I think you've experienced this and many people talk about it, is that weird crown on it, which feels like it has like a cap on it or you, yeah, you pull it out and it's kind of like just, it's just floppy. Uh, I mean it's truly, Truly a flimsy feeling watch, but I think on the other hand, I think it's great that you're going to review one kind of officially because it's such a well-known piece. I mean, from Steve Zissou film to just kind of, you know, the watches that affordable watch guys kind of seek out and know about. So I'll be interested to hear your kind of more in-depth feelings on that one.
James Stacey Yeah. So that, that should be, at this point, I'm going to assume remote more like early September. Yeah. But the one I got, again, for those who had asked, it's the 420959. It came on like a Russian version of like a Seamaster bracelet.
Unknown Oh, OK.
James Stacey Wow. With, you know, it's a three link design, but it has those polished channels. Yeah. Yeah. And a fold over clasp with a bunch of micro extensions. It's yeah, it's a it's here. I've got it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, other than that, I've been playing around with a handful of other watches. And then I did get in something really cool. that I think is worth talking about just just for the pure charm of it. So I got in the Victorinox Swiss Army Champ XXL.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And this is that this is that it's the opposite of the Vostok in many ways. It's so beautifully made. But it's that like extreme Swiss Army knife that has 70 plus features. Oh wow. Super thick. And it's like it's probably three inches wide. Oh my gosh. So it's 73 functions to be fair. So we got everything from obviously your toothpick, a pressurized ballpoint pen, multiple screwdrivers. So like two different like head swapping screwdriver functions, a three millimeter and a six millimeter set, a universal wrench, a magnifying glass, an LED flashlight, a full bit torques and hex set. And why did you get this? I got connected with with Victorinox. It's a brand that I kind of feel like we should talk about way more on. Yeah, true. The Grenado. And they have some stuff coming up that that was kind of through a third party kind of hit my radar and I wanted to write about it. So thankfully, my good buddy, John, who's listening to this, John had a great connect with them with one of their reps out of the States. And I chatted with them and they said, well, we've got this thing. We can we can send it your way. John's a big fan of it. And so they sent this Champ, the Swiss Champ XXL. So cool. And to be fair, it's, it, it costs as much as a very good folding pocket knife. It's 315 bucks. Yeah. But it is, it's the last one that you would need. And you want to know the funny thing, and this is kind of the main reason I wanted to talk about it. I didn't pay 350 bucks for it. Keep that clear. It was sent to me by the great PR agency that covers for Victorinox. But when I first got it, it was a laugh. I literally laughed holding it in my hands. And now I've had a chance to use it a couple of times, and I think it's going to be my go-to desk knife. Oh, sure. It's got everything on it. Everything short of a couple of watchmaking tools. I just wish I had a spring bar tool. Make it 74 functions. Yeah. Super handy. I had it up at the cottage this weekend, and you have a little task, and instead of going to the toolbox, I could just pop this out. Arguably, I know where all my tools are in my toolbox, and I don't know where all of the 73 things are in this knife. I remember when I first saw this thing, because it is a really extreme looking thing, even if you like a Swiss army knife, and I'm a huge fan of Swiss army knives. I have two, maybe a dozen floating around my house. Some of them are Basel world ones where they used to give a different one every year with like a little bit of Basel's map on it. And, um, and then I've got the Hodinke branded ones. I really like, cause you don't commonly see them in black, the Swiss army classic. Right. And then the Spartans really nice and they make amazing gifts and that sort of thing. So I'm, I'm a big fan of the, of the product, but to have this and over a couple of days, I really started to think like, this is kind of weirdly useful.
Jason Heaton Cause there's enough in your pocket. I mean, is it too, just too big to be in a pocket and be better in like a drawer or something?
James Stacey I think you could get away with carrying it in like that photojournalist vest.
Unknown Oh, sure. Yeah.
James Stacey I don't think this is the thing that you put in your like shorts pocket to kick around the cottage. Like it's going to pull your pants down.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And I only joke it weighs 12.5 ounces. So, I mean, it's not light, but it's not that heavy. It's perfect for a desk. It makes a lot of sense in a bag. And all of the tools are so nicely made and everything's razor sharp if it's supposed to be sharp. And I was really impressed by it. And they have a watch coming out that I think a lot of people are going to be interested in in the next little while, which should be kind of cool. But yeah, so I had a chance to check out this This Swiss champ XXL, my kids think it's hilarious. Oh, that's awesome. Like I was, I was sitting at the table with them and just opening one tool at a time and trying to guess what it was like. Some of them are obvious. It's a knife, it's a saw, it's a ratchet set, it's a flashlight and other ones. I was kind of like, I think this is a spudger. I'm not really sure. I think this is, this is a reamer. If I remember my, my scout training correctly, I don't really know what this book is for. I think some of it's for, you know, bending wire, like, yeah, so there's a big list. I'll put it in the show notes. I think it's cool. And it definitely makes me chuckle every time I see it. And it feels really special because it's so extreme. But yeah, so that was between the Victorinox and that it's a, it's, you know, I'm experiencing a very inexpensive, um, mechanical watch and then a very expensive and really nicely made and obviously feature packed sort of a Swiss army knife. It was, it was kind of a high low, but in a direction I might not have guessed for my week. Oh, that's great. They're definitely not going to let this one go through the plane.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah, really. Sometimes the Swiss army classics, they would turn, they would, they would either not notice it in your bag or they wouldn't, they wouldn't make a stink about it. Cause you know, it's an inch long or whatever the knife, an inch and a half. Yeah. Uh, this is not going to be that. I mean, there's like nine or 10 knives in this thing. Like largely that that's been my week. It's been a busy week. You know, we're just starting, um, character watch week at, uh, at Hodinkee. So we're covering all sorts of character watches, which I'll admit is, um, is not a level. It's not anything I'm interested in or anything. I even have like a casual, like, like I could say, I'm not that, that interested in, in tour beyond.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But just from being in the watch game, you learn a bunch about tourbillons, like enough to tell a great one from a cheaper one, an effective one from one that's just there for display. Character watches mean like next to nothing for me. I think it's fun and the comments are good. And I love lighthearted watches. I like watches that bring more people in and remove some of the kind of heavier aspects of watch collecting. So I'm, I'm all for it and I'm learning something from every post, but it's just, it's just so not my depth. It's like, it's a whole different playing field or a different swimming pool entirely, if you will. Yeah. Um, so I I'm working on a fun one for, uh, a Pac-Man version of a, of a new vintage reissue from Casio. Okay. Uh, and, and I'm just editing the photos for that. So it's been kind of a wacky week. I've got this weird boss talk, this insane Swiss Army knife and a Pac-Man a look. one of the biggest games of all time. And it does look cool on the watch. I think people kind of get a kick out of it when they see the images.
Jason Heaton Well, I mean, I got to hand it to you. I mean, I think you're someone who embraces variety and kind of willing to try new things when it comes to watches and covering watches. And I've always been probably a little too rigid for my own good when it comes to watches and kind of stick to one very narrow niche. And I'm starting to think that long for longevity sake and just kind of keeping the interest going, it would be kind of nice to branch out a little bit, you know, and I think, uh, you know, just having a bit of an open mind, I think, you know, even something like the Vostok, it, you know, here's a watch that people have talked about for many years that I've always heard about. And I've always just ignored. And it's like, I've got one in a drawer. I should, I should wear it for a day or two and just kind of experience it, you know, just for the fun of it.
James Stacey I would love, I would love to read your thoughts on the whole concept in a sub stack. Like whether or not, whether or not you would find a line that wasn't to watch review, you know, you're not, necessarily going for these days, but I think there's a philosophical statement about this watch and its longevity and the brand even just the, there's so many different versions. Like nobody's, nobody's necessarily quoting reference numbers as crazy as they might forsake over Rolex or whatever. Right. But you know, there's a fandom that surrounds these watches, which I think is, is special. And, uh, and then in to your comment about variety, you know, it's just one of those things where like over time I learned that I was just wrong about a lot of things. Yeah. And that things I didn't understand have this merit. Yeah. You know, three, four years ago you would have gotten not a lot of positive positivity out of me about gold watches and I love them because they're fun. Right. Right. Right. Um, you know, the price is an issue, but that's, it's gold. I mean, it's supposed to be. Yeah. And to, to, to what you said, I mean, a lot of it is because I, I would like to have some longevity in this industry and it's, It's pretty easy to get bored of, of, of just like, like how I said recently, I'm kind of like done talking about the SPB 143 for a bit. Yeah. I love it, but I've said my piece and I'm going to move on to other stuff. I'm going to find a new Seiko to love or to try and yeah. And that sort of thing. So yeah, I think the variety is, uh, is as crucial, you know, is probably more crucial now with, uh, with the pandemic and how that's kind of going and how that's kind of changed the lines for seeing watches. You know, I've been doing trade show in a long time. Yeah. which means I kind of only see the things that I want to click on. The plus you used to get from a trade show is you'd get this big wave of press releases. Right. Right. And then somebody, you know, like a boss would say like, we'll go into this brand and see what's good. And you would go in and, and largely I think I would usually ignore such things. Right. And then the same thing happens when you'd go into a meeting, you, you wouldn't really know what to see. And if they put 10 watches on the table, you could pick the three that you were actually interested in. But to actually go through that process kind of keeps the, um, keeps the boundaries expanded as much as possible. And it's, it's weird to not have any of that now. Yeah, true. Even today, you know, Bvlgari, I don't know if you saw this because you're probably not spending a ton of time reading watch news when you could be scuba diving and enjoying the ocean. But you know, Bvlgari launched a GMT today in the aluminum collection. Oh, cool. Oh, wow. So the Bvlgari to Bvlgari. So it's this, it's aluminum case with a blue bezel. uh, red and blue, very, uh, sort of patriotic sort of colors in the same general color space, really though, as like a black Bay GMT. So it's a, it's a matte blue and red, and it uses a Salida. So it's, it doesn't give you local jumping, which is kind of a bummer, but also it means that the price point isn't wild. I mean, it's, it's Bulgari. So you're going to pay some money for it. Sure. But I think it's about 3,500 bucks. And that puts it into the same vein as something like the Bremont S302. And while at least at knee-jerk, I would absolutely rather have the S302, I really love that watch and can't stop thinking about it. Just to see Bulgari, just see another GMT is kind of fun. And as soon as I saw it, what I realized was I had this weird thing where I miss seeing stuff like that at a trade show where I didn't know it was coming. And it's kind of in my wheelhouse, but from a strange direction. I'm not like necessarily a Bulgari guy. Yeah. Uh, I understand the brand better than I did a few years ago, but like not usually in my price point to be fair. Yeah. I think it's a cool thing. I'll throw that in the show notes as well. I'm not, not necessarily sure why, why that came to mind aside from, yeah, seeing, seeing the, the press release or seeing the coverage, you know, for Tello and monochrome and such wrote posts today. And I saw them come up in my newsfeeds. It, I do. It's weird. Cause I think, I don't think, I mean, you can go back and listen to past episodes of The Great NATO where we've talked about maybe not always loving the trade show beat, right? Yeah. And now I kind of miss it. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Yet again, if you need more evidence that I get most things wrong, turns out trade shows are kind of cool. And, uh, and I didn't necessarily give them their due, especially when I just took them for granted.
Unknown So yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. There's, there's some privilege to highlight there. Yeah. Yeah. What do you say? Some risk check then? Yeah. What, what have you got on? Are you wearing the Vostok or something different? I'm not. No, I actually put it away because I was out of the house for a couple of days to go up to the cottage, and I haven't gone and retrieved my case. So I just have what I wore to the cottage, which is the Synchron Military. Oh, yeah. Perfect. I mean, we've talked about this watch a lot, so I don't have to go in depth. If you don't know the watch I'm talking about, it's in the show notes. I absolutely love this thing. I just adore it. Yeah. Yeah, it's 42 millimeters. It's it's my now like ideal chunky dive watch. Yeah. Yeah. I love the way it looks. I love the loom. I love the I like the countdown bezel, which I know is like a increasingly divisive thing when people see it on dive watches. Yeah, because you know, I don't dive that often. And if I did, maybe I wouldn't pick this watch. But for a lot of other things, The countdown is really handy. Like you want to remember to do something in 20 minutes. Right. I don't even have to remember that it's 20. I can just run the countdown.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. So I find it very useful. I've got it on a green Uta Naito, which I think is perfect with mine, of course, is the black coated version. So it has the kind of tuxedo-y dial and the orange hands. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, the Synchron Military, you know, my apologies for raving about yet another watch that is sold out. My guess is we'll see more stuff, certainly from the team behind this watch. And so far they've had a thousand. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Rick and those folks do a great job and you can go back and listen. I'll put that in the show notes as well to, uh, Rick's, uh, episode of a TGN. Uh, Jason, what, what have you got on? Cause you, I assume you took a couple of watches down for some diving. I did.
Jason Heaton And actually, uh, Gashani brought two watches of her own. Um, she brought for her a birthday recently. I got her the, I don't know, remember the reference number offhand, but it's, It's the smaller tuna. Um, I got from SEIA Japan, um, for her, it's, it's got a blue dial and then this sort of gold and, and black bezel. Um, and it's the smaller size, um, Seiko tuna automatic. So it's not the solar version. And, and so she brought that, but she also brought the, the Synchron military. Um, you have the black case one and I had gotten the steel one. It turns out she loves wearing it, even though it's a, it's a big watch, but, um, she's been wearing the, the Seiko for diving the past two or three days here. And she told me she's about to switch over to the other one, which should be fun to see underwater.
James Stacey Is that the STBQ003? It's about 600 bucks. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. This is cool. I saw it. I saw it in one of the images you posted because it's so easy to pick up that tuna case with Instagram's compression and the rest of it. Right. Right. So, yeah, I think what we're looking at is the STBQ003. This is a really good looking watch. Yeah. She likes the size. The solar movement makes a lot of sense. No, actually she got the automatic.
Jason Heaton So it's an automatic.
James Stacey And I'm not looking at the right one. Let's see. Oh, the SBDY073. Same colorway, but automatic. Yes. Yep.
Jason Heaton Yep. Yeah. I knew there was a Y in there.
James Stacey The solar one's pretty cool too, for anyone who's curious, but yeah, this is the one. Yeah.
Jason Heaton And this looks really good. Yeah. Yeah. And she wanted an automatic. She wanted a tuna.
James Stacey Yeah. Does it, is it kind of like, um, is it kind of like a, uh, like an SRP 777 where the 43 wears a bit smaller or does it feel like 43?
Jason Heaton It definitely wears like a small watch. I mean, I can pull it off certainly, but it's definitely a watch I would say really well tailored for someone with a smaller wrist because you know, there's no lugs to speak of. And so it's, it's like 43 or 44 lug to lug, which is quite small when you compare it to so many other watches and it looks great on her. Um, it's, you know, a lot of, Seiko tunas have a black case. This one's the steel, which I think kind of makes it pop and really shows off that shroud. And, uh, the, the, the blue dial isn't super blue, like bright blue. Um, in fact, it looks black and most light she's wearing it on like a Barton band. She likes to be able to swap it back and forth. So she's got a, like a blue canvas band from them. And then for diving, she put it on one of their rubbers. And, uh, so that's been great. And then, yeah, I brought. I brought three watches. I brought the, the Bremont Supermarine 2000, which is what I have on now. Um, and I kept it on the, on the bracelet, um, which I find just, you know, it's heavy. Like I mentioned the last episode, but it's, uh, it's so great for warm weather. I think steel bands are just amazing for tropical trips. They're, they don't get tacky and kind of, uh, sticky on the wrist. And of course they, you know, they don't hold any water like a NATO does. And, and there's just super comfy in the, in the heat. Um, so that's what I'm wearing now. And I dove with that for the first day. And then I also brought the Hodinkee version of the Blancpain bathyscaphe. Oh, nice. Okay. I dove with that yesterday. I put it on a, on a kind of a green tropic strap. And then I also brought, uh, the deep star Aqua star and I wore that, I guess I wore that yesterday afternoon for some diving. So it's, uh, it's, you know, it's fun. I mean, as I've said in the past, I mean, these trips, these dive trips used to be all about. going down and getting a lot of photos of watches that I'm reviewing. And this is kind of the first dive trip in many, many years that it's just been purely a vacation kind of getaway. Let's just do some relaxed diving and enjoy. And even though we've got a couple of cameras and we're, and we're certainly shooting and Gushani's taking some video, um, there's no specific project here. So I'm kind of free to bring some watches from my own collection that haven't been underwater in a long time or, or never. And so it's been, it's been really fun to, kind of see my own stuff on my wrist underwater for a change.
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. I'm speaking for everyone listening, I'm sure, but I'm excited to see whatever images and video come out of it, whatever you end up sharing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. And the other thing I've been wearing a lot is the Garmin Descent, a watch that we've talked about quite a bit. I've got the Mark II, and then I passed on my old Mark I to Ghoshani, and she's been wearing it. You know, we can, we can get into that as much as we want. Cause it's, it's just a spectacular dive computer.
James Stacey I can't recommend it enough, but, uh, that's been anything, anything field new, uh, in using it, you know, we did a whole episode with, um, with the gentleman that helped kind of design and make that product come to life. And we can put that in the show notes for sure. But, um, any, anything on these last couple dives, the last couple of days that, that stands out or just the usual.
Jason Heaton No, I mean, it's, it's, it's that same kind of feature set. I think the, the real uptick or the real upgrade, I guess, with the, the Mark two was, was the incorporation of the sonar, um, tank reading tank pressure sensor, which I haven't used. Um, I didn't spring for the, the, the tank sensors and I've always been kind of an old, old fashioned guy with just kind of a brass and glass gauge. But, uh, you know, I mean, this is, I was telling Ashani on the flight down here, uh, on Saturday that you know, if I wasn't a watch guy, um, you know, you could, you could wear that watch 24 seven, like get on the plane, retrieve your messages, pay for things with it, track your heart rate, do your workouts, et cetera, and then go diving with it. And you'd never have to take it off. And down here, I just kind of really wanted to test its full functionality. So I, I actually, uh, connected it up with, I've got one of those Garmin in reach minis, which is the kind of an SOS satellite message sending, uh, devices, kind of a safety device. Um, So I got the dive housing for that and have been able to kind of link that up with the descent. So for instance, uh, you know, in the, in the scenario that the unlikely and unfortunate scenario, if you're, uh, lost at sea, uh, drift somewhere, something happens and you come to the surface. You could, in theory or, or in practice, I guess you can link to it with the Garmin Descent right from your wrist without taking it out of the dive housing and connect to satellite and send an SOS or send a message from it right from your watch. which which is a pretty, pretty cool thing. I had sent you a test message a couple of days ago, kind of a fun one.
James Stacey Um, yeah, I'll, uh, I, I put it in, I put it in an Instagram, but I'll put it in the show notes for anyone who missed it. But yeah, it was, it was, I remember looking at it and my phone, I don't, you have an iPhone, so you must have seen this. Like if it thinks it knows the number, like I have your, your cell phone say, but for some reason it must have routed the number differently. So it says like, Oh yeah, maybe colon Jason Heaton. And I was like, well, I hope it is otherwise. This is a very strange message. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's funny. Yeah. Um, so, you know, that's one really amazing function of it. But then beyond that, I mean, I, I was just, just before we recorded here, I went out for a swim after lunch and, um, there's kind of a buoy several hundred yards offshore here. And I, I just swam out to it and I was using the Garmin with, with the open water swimming function, uh, you know, and you can customize the screen to track your heart rate and your distance, um, and the, you know, elapsed time and that sort of thing. And then downloaded the phone. I was doing some, sort of light, sort of free diving, sort of an apnea function. And it tracks, does a great job tracking, uh, you know, free diving. Um, and then of course all the dive functions. I mean, when you're underwater and it's tracking your heart rate from your wrist, um, you know, water temp time to surface, you know, knowing how, you know, the, the rate of ascent that you should have safely, it can track how long it'll take you to get to the surface from any, any given depth, you know, current depth, max depth, no DECO limits. Uh, all of that stuff. And then what's really nice is that when you get back to shore, you know, immediately when I come in and we're rinsing gear off here, I just take it off. Power up, uh, you know, the Garmin app on my phone and it immediately just pulls the data right off the watch and, and puts it in this very detailed dive log on my phone in the app with a, with a profile of the dive, my heart rate information, you know, average depth, max depth, water temp. There's a space that you can go in and edit all of your. The gear that you wore and the weight you used. Um, so it's a full, full fledged dive log. So it's, it's just such a robust tool. And then, you know, for that matter, I could take it downhill skiing in the winter and running at home or cycling or whatever. So it's, I can't recommend it enough. I mean, I, I know we talk about Garmin a lot on the show, but that's, uh, it's been, it's been just such an amazing tool. And, uh, you know, I was a diehard Sunto dive watch guy for, for many years and switching to this was just a game changer. So yeah, that's been a lot of fun.
James Stacey Oh, that's killer. Yeah. Good, good stuff. Glad to hear you're getting some use out of it. I, you know, I've splashed around at the cottage in mine and tried out the apnea features a little bit there. You know, the, I think the average depth of the Bay that my cottage is on is like about 15 feet. So it's not exactly a spot to get too deep into literally into a free diving, but yeah, definitely a ton of features and a useful thing. So we'll, we'll put all that stuff in the show notes and you can check it out.
Jason Heaton But, but speaking of free diving and, uh, and watches for that matter. I also caught up with, um, I wouldn't, yeah, I mean, I guess I could call him an old friend if I really want to. Um, and I took a lesson from him here a number of years ago, Carlos Costa, who some people might remember as an ambassador for Oros watches, uh, back in the day, kind of in the mid two thousands, he was a world champion free diver set a number of world records. He actually lives in Bonaire and runs a free diving school here. And I, I took a lesson from him a number of years ago and, we've kept in touch. And so I, it was a really rainy, miserable day here yesterday as miserable. It can be as it can be in the tropics, but it was one of those kind of deluge downpours when we didn't really feel like going out diving. So I drove over to his apartment and chatted with him for a bit. And, uh, he gave me kind of a, a quick and dirty lesson. We were talking about free diving and I said, Oh, I've been doing some kind of shallow stuff just off the apartment that we have here. And the one issue I run into is, you know, I get to a certain depth and I can't equalize my ears as well anymore because you kind of reach this limit where when you're free diving, you have to kind of equalize your head, your eardrums, um, using the only available air, which is what you brought down with you basically, cause you don't have a scuba tank on your back. And there's a technique called the Fresnel technique that, um, uses your tongue and kind of your glottis and your throat to kind of pump pressure, uh, behind your eardrums to kind of equalize the pressure. Yeah. So he was, he brought out a mirror and he was showing me how to, how to do this and how you should see your nose kind of puff out and your Adam's apple moving up and down in your neck and that sort of thing. So it's kind of fun to, you know, in a way I, after, after the fact, I was a bit in awe that I was kind of sitting on his couch getting this lesson in Fresnel techniques from Carlos Costa. And he's showed me a couple of his Aorus watches that he's actually trying to sell currently. So if you're, if you're interested, you can, Hit up Carlos, but he's got a couple of his, uh, his dive watches from the past that he's looking to move. Um, so that was fun. And, uh, yeah, so that was, uh, I, I, I still continue to kind of. See an increased interest in, in free diving. I mean, I just think there's such a freedom when you've been hauling all your gear around all day to just jump in the water and snorkel down a few feet and kind of check out something on the bottom or something. It's, it's good to know how to do that.
James Stacey Yeah. I think, I think especially it's, it's an interesting thing to, to have like an interesting skill to have, have somewhat developed before you go to these really beautiful places that have great visibility and like, sure, it's, it's awesome to do a dive or two a day, but also you get to the right lagoon and you don't need more than 10 or 15 feet of depth. Right. And you just want time down there and you can go down without all the gear and you're a little bit more free and the snorkeling is maybe a little bit more fun, but it all just takes practice. So I think it's a, I think that's fun. And, and I mean, Legit wild that you got to hang out with Carlos. Yeah. That's a, that's a, that's really cool. Super cool. Yeah. But yeah, let's, let's, I mean, we might as well, we've covered some of it at this point. Let's jump into the main topic, which is kind of watches and diving and, and hanging out in Bonaire. Why don't we start with, I'm trying to predict what people would might ask. You know, we, we actually get a fair number of Bonaire questions over email. We've had a few on the Q and A's as well. You've done this trip many times. This will gotta be what? 10 times you've been down eight times. Yeah. Something like that.
Jason Heaton I think it's probably double digits now. Yeah.
James Stacey What has COVID changed that somebody should be aware of?
Jason Heaton There were a few kind of bureaucratic hoops to jump through, of course. Um, and rightly so. I mean, Bonaire is an Island country. Um, it's still part of the Netherlands technically, but a small population in a, in an isolated place, they don't want a big outbreak here. So what they demand is that you be able to produce a, negative COVID test within 48 hours of landing on the island. So we had to arrange for a quick turnaround COVID test back in Minneapolis, um, with documentation to the effect that, that we tested negative to take along and present at the airport as well as a health declaration form that we filled out online and then printed and brought along. And then you present that when you get off the plane, you know, you're standing out on kind of the hot tarmac in a, in a line waiting to get through, uh, into the terminal. Um, And then there's just some desks set up with people that are checking these documentation. Um, all in all it was, it was very smooth, very easy. Um, we do have to get retested before we can reenter the U S so we've got an appointment for this Friday to do a similar thing, um, at a hotel nearby. Um, there, there are several locations on the Island that are, that are doing these tests, uh, and we'll need similar proof and another form that we have to fill out to get back into the U S when we fly home on Saturday. Um, But other than that, you know, once you're through, it is a bit of a comforting feeling to know that their COVID rates are extremely low and that everybody on the plane that we were on tested negative and, and most had been vaccinated. And, um, you know, you're wearing a mask on the plane, et cetera. So it's a very, you know, it, it seems daunting kind of the travel portion and it's certainly not comfortable to be flying in a mask for as many hours as we were, you know, with the transfers and all of this, but. Um, to get off the plane and feel like, okay, I feel like that was a pretty safe and controlled experience. And now we're, now we're here. And because of the lifestyle that we kind of choose to, to have here on the Island, um, we can feel very, very safe because it's just Tim and Gashani and me in an apartment. And then for the most part, we're on our own. We just, we don't dive off of boats with, you know, with a resort or with a group. So we're just, uh, we're just kind of in our own little mini pod of three of us who, who've taken the precautions. So other than that, I mean, once, once we were on the ground here, it feels very, very much like it's always been.
James Stacey Your methodology for the last while has been to essentially rent an apartment like a Airbnb or VRBO or something like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, and you know, certainly if anybody's interested in, in more details and many people have, you know, you can hit me up through thegraynadoatgmail.com or send me a DM or however you want to reach me, but Um, I've over the years, I've put together notes about boner and food options and housing options and diving options. And I'm always happy to share those with people. But what we do is, and we've never actually stayed in any of the hotels or resorts here. We've always, actually, we've always stayed in the same building. There's a, we're in an apartment complex that has about, let's see, two, four, six, maybe 10 units, uh, right. Perched right on the water with a small deck and then a ladder going right down into the sea. Each unit has its own little kind of balcony. And then we rent a pickup truck from the same people that manage the apartment building. And they meet us at the airport with the truck, hand over the keys. We throw all of our luggage in and drive to the apartment, drop our gear. And then we go to one of the dive shops. We go through a company called VIP diving, but there are several good dive businesses here that, that just do, I guess, for lack of a better term, all you can breathe air. So as you, you, you kind of pay for an air package for the full week, and then you just go through their shop, drive up in your truck and drop your empties off and pick up, uh, filled tanks and then off you go and you're kind of on your own. So what I like about this is for one thing, it's, it's a lot cheaper. I think it's $150 per person for the whole week. Uh, and, and you dive as much as you want. uh, just getting tanks on your own instead of, you know, if you, those of you that dive and you go to a resort on any Island, Cozumel or Hawaii or, or anywhere, you, you know, you're going to pay often upwards of a hundred dollars just for a two tank dive, you know, for sure. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a week, uh, easily on diving per person. And, and here, you know, you're spending just a tiny fraction of that. And I like the self-sufficiency of it. I think this place lends itself to that style of diving because with with a fairly cheap rental pickup truck at $45 a day. Um, and then this cheap tank package, we just drive up and down the coast and park the truck on, on the beach, uh, wherever there's a marked dive site, um, which is usually just indicated with a yellow painted rock at the side of the road. And you just sort of pull over, unload your tank, put it on your back and walk into the ocean. And then the reef, depending on where you are on the island is, is offshore any anywhere between you know, 50 yards and a couple of hundred yards and you just sort of swim out and, and descend and then, and then just do your, your fairly shallow dive. I mean, the dives here 40, 50, 60 feet deep, um, very nice, shallow, warm, well lit dive sites. And then when you're done, you come back and kind of do it all over again, go drop your empties, get full tanks and keep on. So, you know, I always encourage people and we've come here over the years with new divers that have either learned here or learned elsewhere and are just kind of trying to get their skills up because the diving is quite easy. There isn't much of a current. Um, the shore entries are, are sometimes, you know, you're walking over some jagged coral or something to get in, but a lot of them are very sandy beach entries and you don't have to contend with a crowded boat that's pitching around on waves with other divers waiting for you to get in or get out of the water. Um, there's, it kind of removes that level of stress and then the diving itself is pretty easy and you're with friends. And so, Uh, it's just a nice place to build skills and you, because you can dive. I mean, there was a time in the early days when we used to come and we'd dive up to five dives a day, which is quite exhausting. And now we're doing two or three dives a day. But, uh, you know, it's a great place to just really pad your logbook, so to speak, and just get a lot of dives under your belt.
James Stacey If you, if you're new at it and you just want to build your skills, man, five dives a day on air. Yeah. Like not even nitrous.
Jason Heaton Well, that's, that's, yeah, now we're doing nitrox, but yeah, in the early days it was air and it was. You're pretty beat, but then I was, you know, I was younger then and it was, we were ambitious and had lots of projects to do and all this sort of thing. So now I think we've, we've relaxed a bit, especially this trip where, you know, like I said, after lunch, I went for a swim and a little bit of free diving. And I think Kashani and Tim are taking a nap while I'm recording this and we'll go out again, probably four o'clock, five o'clock today and do one more dive.
James Stacey The tank that you, or the, the deal that you said for all you can breathe, that's for EAN? Yeah. Yeah. You can pick air or nitrox. Is it EAN 32? Is that what they, or do you get to decide?
Jason Heaton Um, the shops we go to are, yeah, 32. So, you know, you get them. That's a really good deal. Yeah. You get, uh, you get a max depth with, uh, with 32 nitrox, uh, of about 112, depending on your conservatism, you know, 110 to 120 feet. And there really are no dives here that are any deeper than that. So you're, you're perfectly safe. Um, and then of course you get long bottom times and a little clear head when you're diving for those that aren't familiar. Nitrox is, uh, uh, enriched air is, uh, it, it just has a higher concentration of oxygen than you normally get in, in air that we breathe, which is 21%. This is more like 32%. So it's, it eliminates or removes another 10. to 11% of the nitrogen that you're breathing. So you don't get that narcotic effect underwater. So it also gives you longer, uh, bottom times as well. So it's, uh, it's a nice thing to have available.
James Stacey Yeah. I remember when, when we did Cliverton, they were not pushy, but they were very solid on like, you should pay the extra money. It was not cheap. Oh yeah. To do EAN 32. And I went and got certified for it. Cause it wasn't part of my original training. Yeah. Um, and they, and I said like, what's the big deal? I can't go deeper and I don't want to go deep. I'm diving, you know, 800 miles from anything. I'm going to be diving like a complete chicken. Um, which is my mode, my general mode of diving. And they're like, well, but if you, let's say you do want to do four dives a day or five, this is going to keep you sharper through those. You're going to be less tired and kind of less worn out. And you know what, they're, they're dead right. Um, and I, I really enjoyed it. I think it's absolutely worth if you're, if you're going to be doing this sort of trips where you want to pack your diving in or simply where it's available, not that much more money stopped by your local shop and get the, um, get the, the Patty card for your EAN and go for it. I think it's, I think it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And it's super easy to adjust anything from a Garmin to a Sunto Zoop to whatever, to your, the, the mix, the enriched air.
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's very cool. It is great. Yeah. I wouldn't look back on that. Um, it was a good call.
James Stacey So in, in, in not wanting to, I like to say, I get to say this to you, which I don't normally get to say to you and not wanting to keep you for too long and being respectful of your time. Walk me through a, a, a, a, a normal great day in, in Bonaire. You know, I think a lot of us, and maybe I'm just asking this for myself and I'm, I'm fine being selfish or it is in some way my show as well. Um, Uh, what, what, what's a, what's a normal day when you're, your only goal is to enjoy a day in, in bone air. What's, what's the, what's the flow like?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, the first day, as I mentioned is, is we, we love to being able to sneak in a dive on the first day. I love, I love getting off the plane, dropping stuff at the apartment, getting our tanks and getting a dive in that evening. I feel very smug doing that, but I think the rest of the days we kind of settle into this rhythm of. always going to sleep early because you know, even diving nitrox, I mean, it's just, it's tiring. You're out in the heat with, you know, and diving is a fairly taxing sport, hauling the heavy gear around and it does chill your body and that sort of thing. So, um, we, you know, we're asleep by nine, nine 30 in the night, which means that I'm up at six or six 30 and you know, it's always cooler than, and I make a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal and I go sit out on the patio here, which is right above the waves and kind of You know, just sort of slowly wake up and catch the sunrise and have a good cup of, of Nescafe. And, uh, and then, um, typically we will have gotten tanks, uh, the day before, um, a couple of tanks so that we can be all set up in the morning to just go. And, and once we've all eaten, which is by about, you know, eight, eight 30, we set off and we just, we'll, we'll hop in the truck and head either South or North from the apartment here. The South is the dive sites to the South of us are. literally five minutes away is kind of a really good site that we dove actually this morning. We pull onto this kind of embankment just off the beach, kind of a rocky embankment, park the truck, uh, shoulder the tanks, go in, do the dive. And you know, and these dives are about an hour long and then we come back. And if we're going to dive in the afternoon, we typically don't strip down all of our gear and rinse everything since we're gonna be diving again in a couple of hours. But, uh, we'll come in and kind of switch out of wet Swimsuits and to dry swimsuits and maybe have a bite to eat and a second cup of coffee. You know, these days, since we're just kind of doing two or three dives a day, sometimes that means, you know, chilling out. Kashani did a work call the other day and Tim had to do some work stuff as well. So we have a little bit of, uh, padding in between. Sometimes we take a nap. Sometimes we sit outside and make sandwiches and sit out and chat or read a book. Um, and then it's dive again in the afternoon, uh, clean up our gear. We have a kind of a hose that's. right off the patio here. So we rinse all of our gear and hang stuff to dry. And then, um, you know, if we aren't cooking here at home, we'll, we'll go out at one of the, there's a few good restaurants here that have some nice outdoor seating and you can sit by the ocean and, uh, have some food. Last night we went to a Peruvian restaurant and I got ceviche and, uh, you know, I had a, I had a Pisco sour, which I had never had before. I don't know if, you know, I'm sure people out there have heard of them or had them even, but, uh, I had never had a Pisco sour. which is a drink that I'd heard of, but Pisco is a, is a Peruvian liquor. It's a, it's an alcoholic drink. And then, and then they mix it with, uh, kind of a foamy egg white, some lemon, uh, and simple syrup, like a sugar water. And it was tremendous. It was, it was refreshing. It was good. I had that with, with some ceviche and some rice and, uh, that was good. It was, it was a great day. We were home and I was in bed by 10 o'clock.
James Stacey So amazing. Yeah. Uh, so, uh, I was going to ask like, yeah, what, what your, what the meal is when you're, yeah, when you're not going to cook at home, when you're going out. And, but I mean, yeah, that, that meal you just described, man, I have such a soft spot for ceviche. It's so good. I've never had bad ceviche. Yeah. Yeah. There's some good seafood here.
Jason Heaton There's, there's, I think, you know, uh, obviously you're going to get good, good seafood here and fresh catch fish all around, but there's a good Cuban restaurant in town. There's, uh, just some kind of general, you know, seafood places. There's a brewery here. There's actually a good distillery that does a good rum. Um, uh, yeah, there's a place. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's definitely not as developed, uh, as like Aruba or Curacao, but there's enough, there's enough to do in the downtown is very compact. You can park and just kind of walk up and down. Uh, it's funny yesterday I was mentioning it just rained cats and dogs all day. I mean, which is very unusual for Bonaire, but it was just, pouring and sheets and we did two dives and it was fine. And once you're underwater, it doesn't make any difference. But at one point our neighbor, uh, we'll tell you about in a minute here, but he came over and he knocked on the door and said, do you know the windows in your truck are down? Cause we always just leave all the windows open. And this is a four door little pickup truck and no, no lie. I hope the owner of the truck isn't listening, but the entire inside of the truck was wet. I mean, even the inside of the windshield was wet. Um, the ceiling was wet. The floor was, it was vinyl seats, thankfully. But, uh,
James Stacey What sort of truck do you get for 45 bucks a day?
Jason Heaton It's a very aged four-door Toyota Hilux two-wheel drive with a stick shift.
James Stacey The water won't make any difference. Yeah, no, they're great. Do you remember the series on Top Gear where they had an old Hilux?
Jason Heaton Yes, in fact, Tim and I were just talking about that today. Yeah, they tried to kill it.
James Stacey Where they left it in the surf and then let the tide come in and then brought it in and emptied out the The, the engine and sparked it back. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I believe it. I mean, it's, I always do say that this is where old Japanese trucks come to die because the island is just covered with them, but the salt air really takes a toll on the, on the bodies. The tailgates of every single one are just rusted through to the point where they're all reinforced with some sort of diamond plate or something like that. But, uh, you know, they're great. And then what works really well is they put a regular wooden pallets in the back and they make absolutely perfect tank racks. So they lay crosswise in the back of the trick pickup bed. And then when we go, go to pick up tanks, the tanks just lie in each slot between each of the boards of the pallet. And that's how we transport our gear around. And, and it's fun, you know, when you go downtown to kind of, or go to the grocery store or go shopping or something, you, you just, everybody's truck has tanks and dive gear in the back. You know, that's just what you see around town. There's some wind surfing on the East coast. And I suppose some people come to kind of bake in the sun or snorkel, but Um, other than that, I think it's, it's really just tailor-made for, for diving here, which is, which is great.
James Stacey And so, so let's start, let's talk diving then. What, uh, what, what are you going to see diving there? What, what, what's, uh, what's your favorite?
Jason Heaton You know, there's a couple of sites. I mean, we've kind of gotten, we used to explore a lot further North. There's, there's some far Northern dive sites that are a little more exotic and steeper entries and the reef is really close to shore. Um, almost akin to kind of wall diving. But, uh, down South here, it's, it's pretty gentle sloping. And then you get to the reef and it sort of drops down to, I think today we were down to about 80 feet, but it was, um, really lush coral, hard and soft corals, you know, sea fans and barrel sponges and brain corals and everything in between. And then, and then it's just a lot of reef fish. It's really like diving in an aquarium. It's very, Uh, it's very friendly. There's nothing, you know, menacing here. Um, we, we did hear rumors that, uh, I don't know if it was a lack of tourists during COVID, but, um, the East coast sees a fairly regular shark population, but the West coast, we've literally never seen a shark in, you know, 10 trips here. And, um, they've been saying that. That they've been sighting a handful of gray reef sharks just South of here at a dive site called Margate Bay. And so we went there the past two mornings thinking we'd get lucky and just kind of lurk around the top of the reef. Um, but we, we haven't gotten lucky yet, but, uh, you know, we've seen, we've seen eagle rays here. People have seen the odd Manta strangely enough, a whale shark, uh, has been cited and we've never seen one. Um, but it's mostly, you know, you get, you get some big tarpon, you get some Barracuda, you get, you get rays, eagle rays and sting rays. Uh, and then just, you know, if you like, um, it's, it's kind of like, the underwater equivalent of birdwatching. You know, there's just a lot of colorful, uh, reef fish. You get blue tangs and parrotfish and angel fish and, and squirrel fish. And today we saw a, uh, I'm not sure which it was, if it was a stonefish or a scorpion fish, but, uh, it's in the sculpin family and it's, it's the kind that camouflages really well into rocks, like a rocky bottom. And they're very poisonous if you touch them. Um, and you know, Ghoshani had the camera and I was like pointing, Right at it. And she just couldn't see it. I mean, you can't see it, you know, if you're looking at it so well camouflaged, but she finally saw and took some video of it. So, Oh, fun. Yeah.
James Stacey So, uh, aren't those are amazing animals.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I mean the camouflage. Oh. And then today we saw a couple of, uh, like a kind of a couple of bigger, uh, squid, like reef squid, I think they're called. And they, I was thinking to myself as I was observing them because they, they watch you as you're watching them and they kind of hover and sort of change their, color and sort of iridescence as they're hovering in front of you, you know, just mere inches from your mask. And I was thinking, you know, if I were to write sci-fi or a movie and I'm sure it's been, you know, sure this has been inspiration, but I think a squid is, is about as close as you can get to an alien life form because they're, they're, they're reputed to be quite intelligent. They have these big eyes that you can tell are just studying you and trying to figure you out. And, uh, it's always just fun to, to watch them. So,
James Stacey Yeah, there's something kind of squid adjacent to the two kind of tree aliens in Arrival. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're right. With the tentacles and you can't see enough of them, but nothing beats a cephalopod in my world. Yeah, yeah. You know, there's nothing like being on a dive with an octopus. Yeah. It feels like there's a third diver, you know, it feels like there's another diver. They seem smart and kind of playful and Um, you know, my goal someday I'd love to do a dive where I could dive with, uh, even just a common cuttlefish. Right. Right. I just, they're just one of my most favorite animals. I think they're such special things, but they definitely don't feel like they're playing by the same rules of physics.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Other than that, I mean, we'll just, uh, the one thing we're contemplating doing is, uh, we like to do night dives here because we can go right off the, the apartment, which is really nice. Cause there's this, as I mentioned, there's a staircase that goes right into the sea. So we can literally suit up right out on the patio here and then just walk into the ocean. And, uh, so it makes night diving really easy because there's some floodlights down below the patio, right under the water. So it's easy to find your way back. There's a, something called, uh, there's a tiny creature. It's about the size of a, like a seed, like a little tomato seed or something called an ostracod. And as far as I know, they're, they're very, um, particular to the Caribbean. In fact, this, this part of the Caribbean is well known for them. And once a month within a few days of the full moon, which was, uh, two days ago, um, they, there's this sort of mating event, uh, or spawning event, uh, in which they, they're, they're bioluminescent creatures. So if you kind of do this night dive and you swim out and then turn your dive torches off and just kind of hover on the top of the reef, you'll see them kind of release up from the, from in the coral and they kind of swim all around and they're, they light up. And so we're, we're thinking if we can time it right, it's supposed to be within 45 minutes or an hour after sunset. We'll go in and do that. Uh, possibly probably Thursday night. That's the last full day that we can dive, uh, to kind of be within the 24 hours of no fly time before we get on the plane on Saturday. So I think it could work out really well. So we'll, we'll see how that goes, but, uh, I'd love to, I'd love to see that we've come here all these years and I don't think we've ever quite been here strangely enough, around the full moon or when the timing has been right.
James Stacey So we'll see. That's very cool. Yeah. Bioluminescence is such a, is such a treat. It's like magic. It's like seeing real magic.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. It's a, that'd be super cool. I mean, there's some of it back in, back in BC when I was out that way that you could, you could experience on night dives and that sort of thing and blowing surf and the rest of it. But that, that's awesome. I love it. Yeah. I see in the notes here that you're, you're, Getting some working with the Nikonos. How's that going?
Jason Heaton Yeah, so far so good. I had brought this camera with the actual roll of film in it to Florida when we were there back in July. And I don't know how it's going to turn out because I'm using the Cinestill 800 tungsten film in it. So this is a cinema film that was made to be shot in tungsten light. So I'm not sure how it's going to work underwater. Uh, I've, I've got a friend who I think he listens to the show, Andre, who, uh, I think he works for Sinistil if I'm not mistaken. And he said, hit him up for some processing tips. I'm going to try to use that, uh, that canister that, yeah, that at home developing kit that I bought a while ago that we talked about on the show and try to develop it myself and see what comes of it. So, uh, if anything does come of it, I'll certainly scan and post a few images. I'm hopeful, but, uh, it's fun to dive with a little film camera that doesn't need a big bulky housing. Um, cause the, the, the Nikon Z seven with the big video lights and the big dome on the front, just, it's a, it's a beast to, to haul around underwater. And, uh, this thing just kind of, I can tuck into my pocket and pull out and shoot. So we'll, we'll see how that's going.
James Stacey But, uh, yeah, very cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then there's been some, some watch goodness down here too. You know, in addition to meeting Carlos and his seeing his Oris watches, I, um, I chatted with, with a friend of mine, boss who, who actually owns VIP diving here that where we get our tanks and And Boss actually a few years ago, he, he helped Kashani and me with a project that I was doing for Hodinkee when I reviewed the, the Omega Seamaster, um, the latest version, I took it down here and took it diving and, and we went diving with Boss and he actually wore it on that dive. And, and, uh, and I got some of his feedback and I think I quoted him in my article, but we've kept in touch over the years and he's something of a watch collector. He's got an IWC Petit Prince, um, chronograph, like a limited edition. He's got, uh, He's got a GMT Master and most recently he got one of the new Seamaster chronographs with the silver dial and that blue ceramic bezel. Just a beautiful watch. So I saw that yesterday and then today when we went he has a Patek 5164A so that the travel time Aquanaut and I got to try that on and he's very proud of that and rightly so it's just a beautiful watch.
James Stacey Yeah, that's my, um, that's easily my like modern legit dream watch. Someday I'll have a collection that I could sell all of it and buy one of those. But I think the world, the world in which you could get one for list is gone sadly. But I, I adore that. And for those of you who don't know, the 5164A is the Aquanaut travel time. So it's kind of Nautilus adjacent. It's their like youthful, uh, sort of take on the Nautilus, but it has the, uh, the hideable second time zone that's actually, jump set by two pushers that actually form the sort of genta esque case shape. I absolutely adore this watch. You sent me a picture of it earlier today and I was just fawning. I think it's such an amazing, you know, mix of super high end watchmaking from this incredible brand that's also like on a rubber strap, not that thick, easy to wear with a kind of two wish function set. Yeah, that's a that's super fun. Really, really cool stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and Bas likes it. He was telling me because, you know, he travels a fair amount. He goes back to the Netherlands, which is where he's from and travels to dive shows and family vacations and things. And, you know, he said if he wears his GMT Master, which is very, very much a Rolex and looks like a Rolex, he doesn't feel quite as comfortable or safe traveling with it as he does the Patek because the Patek is it flies under the radar. It's a smaller watch. It's slim. It's on this rubber strap. And then he likes the travel functionality of it. And it's, uh, it looks great on his wrist and boy, it looked good on mine too. I, I, it's, it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing.
James Stacey Yeah. Well, we'll, uh, T for, we'll, we'll buy each other one for a TGN 1000.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think, uh, you know, to kind of close it out here. I mean, I think speaking of that, I mean, I think we, uh, you know, if we ever get around forever, get our act together and we do any sort of TGN travel stuff, I think this would be the place to bring, bring a, a few listeners and do a kind of a guided trip. I think, I think we could, we could do something fun down here with, uh, with a few interested listeners. So, you know, I totally agree.
James Stacey Never say never. Yeah. Stay tuned. Yeah. I mean, we've, we've talked to the last couple of years about me coming along on one of these trips and maybe under a different scenario, this would have been the one, uh, to, to have attached to, but, uh, maybe I'll make it for the next one. That's, uh, I'm, I'm thrilled that you and Ghoshani got down there, but it's definitely on my list. You guys speak so highly of it. Yeah. All right. So how about some final notes? You want to go first?
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. I can go first. Um, this is one actually I read a while back or actually, I don't, I don't know that I've read it fully. It's been a while, but, um, I, it was, uh, it was in the news quite a bit earlier this year. And then, uh, a friend of the show Asha who goes by wild land on, on Instagram, she sent it over and thought it would be kind of a good, just a good read in general. And this is, um, it's from the BBC and it's a story, a long form story called the lost tablet. and the secret documents. And you know, it's, it's straight out of a thriller or, or just, you know, front page kind of cold war kind of stuff. Um, the BBC had gotten access to, I don't know if it was an iPad, but it was some kind of an electronic tablet that was left behind on a battlefield in Libya by this kind of Russian mercenary group called Wagner. Um, that, you know, impossibly, it's almost like it was planted there because it was, it was, it just had so much, uh, valuable information about this, this group and how they were, you know, supporting, um, you know, kind of, uh, unsavory regimes and, and kind of doing nefarious things. And the BBC was able to kind of tap, you know, crack this thing open and look, and there were, you know, maps and laundry lists of weapon orders and, you know, battle plans and all this kind of stuff. And, and the BBC just did this incredibly in-depth look at, uh, at what was found on this tablet. And, you know, I'm scrolling through the article now and it's, it's one of these long form articles that has some kind of, I wouldn't call it interactivity, but you know, uh, images and animations and things. And there's a big text across the middle of the screen right now in front of me that says the tablet is now in a secure location, uh, which is probably a good thing, but, uh, it's, uh, you know, any, anybody that's kind of a fan of cold war or espionage or, or just kind of this sort of thing. I mean, it's, uh, you know, you don't certainly don't always have to, to read thrillers to, to get the stories. I mean, this is right, right front page kind of BBC stuff. So, um, yeah, check it out. And thanks Asha for reminding me of this. Cause I think it's, I think it's, uh, it's fascinating. There's diagrams of, of, you know, weapons and minds and, and photographs and, and all this kind of stuff, which, you know, I mean, let's face it, it's fun to talk about, but it's, it's, this is not pleasant stuff. I mean, this is, uh, Uh, this is war and killing and, and, uh, not very nice stuff, but it's, uh, it's still a very interesting read and very well done by the BBC. So check it out.
James Stacey Yeah. I scrolled through the page of the, the presentations. Excellent. I would agree. The topic, the tone of the topic is quite heavy as you'd expect, but the BBC does a lovely job as they always do. And it's a, it's great. My, my pick is a little bit less heavy, actually considerably less. Yeah. Uh, the Canadians that are listening, uh, will probably, you know, either be shaking their fists and like, obviously this is an obvious choice, but, uh, I I'm picking a, a CBC radio show turned podcast that I've become a huge fan of in the last few weeks, which is called under the influence. And it's, uh, hosted by a fellow named Terry O'Reilly, who's a former ad world kind of, uh, ad man ad executive. Yeah. And it's all about various stories from the world of advertising and marketing, but it's beautifully produced. It's super interesting. And the big one for me is I can play with my kids in the car. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, so we're driving to and from the cottage every weekend. It's two hours to two and a half hours. And I can't listen to most of my podcasts. They either have bad language or if they don't have bad language, they have kind of adult topics that are discussed. And I got, I got, I got kids that listen really carefully to all sorts of stuff and then have questions that I don't want to answer.
Unknown Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
James Stacey Right. And, uh, And so this is this is incredible. It's really nicely produced. I have to stress that like as someone who does some podcast production, you know, this show and then the previous hundred and fifty some odd. Yeah. It's really nicely produced. It's beautifully researched. It's scripted. So it's not a discussion as much as it is this really thoughtful presentation of storytelling and and, you know, topics from the ad world. I absolutely love it. Go into, you can either download the CBC Listen app, or you can just subscribe to it through your podcast and then scroll through and just pick a few of the titles that seemed interesting and give it a run. I think it's incredible. It's really, really strong storytelling, really funny at times, very interesting. And it has all these touch points with the rest of culture, whether it's movies or sports or the internet or other things. Like he had this incredible career. And then he's kind of aligning that with various topics throughout the show. And I'm really impressed by it.
Jason Heaton It's great. That does sound good. Yeah. That sounds great. I mean, the CBC does such a good job with, with most things. I mean, I think back to, uh, what's the, uh, the shepherd that we listened to every, every Christmas. And then, uh, I used to always listen to as it happens, uh, the late night, Oh, as it happens, it's great for sure.
James Stacey Yeah. So good pick. But yeah, so this is under the influence from Terry O'Reilly. I highly recommend it. It's in the show notes. Check it out. I'd be surprised if anyone couldn't find an episode or two that they are really surprised by. Like I listened to one on a recent drive that was all about fake brands in TV and movies and that sort of thing. So everything from Acme with Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner. to Morley cigarettes that have been in 30, 40, 50 huge name productions, everything from X-Files to everything else, and then Heisler beer. I consider myself kind of like a detail. When I watch things, I generally watch them for the detail. And it's embarrassing that I didn't realize that the same beer they're drinking on Brooklyn Nine-Nine is also being drank on like several other shows that I love from the exact same era. And I never just looked at the label closely enough to care. Huh. It's a fascinating show. It's super, super fun. So be sure to check that out. It'll be in the show notes, but yeah, that's, that's my pick for this week. And, uh, Jason, I think we can probably, probably let you get back to, uh, a beautiful afternoon in, uh, in Bonaire.
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. Well, uh, as always, thanks so much for listening and you can subscribe to the show notes via notes.thegrenado.com. Or check the feed for more details and links. You can follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Eaton. James is at J.E. Stacey and do follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com or just plop it into the comments at the end of the notes on notes.thegraynado.com and do keep sending those voice memos. We're going to be putting together a Q&A episode again for the month of August here shortly. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music Throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, who said, he who has a why to live can bear almost any how.