Object 100

Object 100 was a top secret military object during the Cold War and was constructed in 1956 or 1957. It used to be a military base with a radar and missiles, perhaps with a main purpose to monitor and destroy ships entering Black Sea. Its location is really unique and hard to reach. Located in the heart of Balaklava Mountains giving it complete view over the surrounding mountains, sea, woods, and the Balaklava valley.

Not very far from the town; It takes about 2 hours hike through the woods up the mountain to get there. The road looks like on the picture below for the most part, but almost half of the time it gets very steep and narrow, so that only one person can pass at a time.

Don’t get me wrong there is a normal road, a paved road where you can drive a car, but it is currently used by the local forestry, and it is locked for the most people. The paved road is also like 2-3 times longer if you walk from Balaklava…

It is now 2 am and I am sleepy, so I’ll hopefully finish tomorrow, I also have to finish editing the video, I wanted to make a documentary, but since it was a secret object I don’t really have much info on this, so video just shows the insides of the bunker and our conversation, for which by the way I should add subtitles later on...

Scuba diving with Olympus underwater camera

It's been a year since I blogged last time; I have a few of other stories I plan to post as soon as possible. I was going to post them, but I still did not have time to finish editing the video I made. Both videos are about abandoned Soviet military objects...

For the time being I wanted to write a review for Olympus 8010 underwater digital camera I bought last summer. I have to say I am disapointed with this camera. It has very bad sensor making it extremely sensitive to slightest light changes. It takes decent pictures if lighting is good, underwater videos are also of quite decent quality if no shiny objects are in the shot, since everything looks like 5 times shinier on this camera underwater :)
Here are shots of me underwater, most of the shots look like this, or worse.


This Olympus camera has more minuses than pluses. Other minuses include very slow shutter speed, if in the underwater mode it may take up to 4-5 seconds for a shot to be processed making the user of this camera mad; it also has very tiny buttons making it very hard to operate underwater if wearing gloves, that is one of the reasons why I had to pay additional $200 for the underwater housing for this camera. Underwater housing is perfect though, can't complain about anything, I wish the camera was also this good.
Here are couple of videos I shot on the same day.

Here is another one, both videos were shot on two of some of the biggest artificial reefs in the world. Huge old US navy ships were sank in order to create these reefs (Duane and Spiegel Grove), but it is a topic for another blogpost.

And here is a video on the boat on the way back, it was a sunny day, so it looks ok.

There have got to be good Olypus products, but this camera singlehandedly shattered my confidence in Olympus brand. I'll never buy another Olympus camera ever again. I am planning to buy a professional camera next year either Sony, Canon, or Panasonic.
My next blogpost may also have a video shot on Olympus 8010 camera.

Diving at Key Largo

Last week was a lot of fun, whether was alright, so I did 10 dives with FIU at Key Largo. Eight of them were at Amoray dive resort; two other dives were at Jule's underwater hotel, which were not that good, but it still was interesting to dive in a pretty different environment.
Pretty much the only thing that sucked at Jule's was that there were too many entry level students doing evaluations of their skills, and because the bottom of the lagoon is covered with mud, this mud was all over the place, at times there was literally zero feet visibility, we had to swim with our arms extended, so we would not hit anything :) Visibility was so bad, that I did two dives, and I did not even bather to look at the "underwater hotel", well that is what they call it. The bottom of the lagoon is actually more interesting than the "underwater hotel", there is stuff to see, actually enough of it, if you take into account the small size of the lagoon. The beauty of it is that there are never currents, or waves. The maximum depth is 25, or maybe 30 feet. The deepest I saw on the gauge was 25. It is perfect for beginners, I would say advanced divers should see it too at least once, it has to be the safest place to go for a relaxed dive, but at the same time, I think there is a slight chance you might encounter a crocodile; I saw a huge lizard there. Jule's is the kind of place from where you want to get out once you complete a dive, since resort is very poor and has a bunch of flies and mosquitoes. I thought it was hilarious when I was told that a couple of divers were staying there for their honeymoon :)
Diving with Amoray was quite good. This time I saw 8 different shallow reefs. Everything was fine except that somebody stole my mask and snorkel... I would say yesterday was one of the most successful dives. On the second dive we went to Washington City reef (shallow reef less than 30) and there was a shark feeding going on, it was my first time around sharks, not only around them, but see them eat chunks of meet as close as 2-3 feet away. The funniest thing about all this is that there were close to 50 divers seating and swimming in a tight circle around the feeding site, I also saw snorkelers skin diving all the way to the circle. Some of the basic students had no respect for sharks I saw a couple of them touching, and trying to hug them. It was fun to see, but it should be done only on weekdays, because on weekends too many people go diving, and they will approach the feeding site, many of them have no respect for sharks, and may get hurt pretty bad. Yesterday was a good day for diving, it was kind of rough in the sea, at first as bad as 6 feet waves, then it got better. I assume it was better than Saturday, since our night dive was canceled because of the whether conditions. I was supposed to be in the afternoon dive trip but I got lucky I switched to the morning, since on the way back to the resort we had a boat problem, and the afternoon trip was canceled. The boat Amoray has is not a big one but can fit like 30 divers and two tanks for each, plus a crew and a couple of passengers. Here is a picture I took on the way back (I am not on the picture):

Here is another one, that people from my group posted on Facebook:

Besides the boat, Amoray resort is also alright, there is a free WiFi, pool, a little beach, and kayaks. Their prices, however are not very reasonable. I know that a 3 day diving package that includes a room in the resort is about $300, which is not bad, however just a room for one night without a dive trip is $99 dollars. There is also Ramada inn 2 miles away that seems like a better place to spend a night, and it is like $95. In Ramada there is no beach, however. But $99 for just a room without a dive trip is kind of steep, on the other hand it's very hard to find a decent place for less than $90 on Key Largo.
I have not taken a single underwater picture. I am going to buy a HD camera for the next dive trip, I think. Here is a photo of me that somebody else took on a disposable film camera, surprisingly these film cameras are not that bad. You can't really tell that it is me, since I am the one on the right looking at the bottom:

Everglades Trails

Even though the Arctic Blast of this year is over, the cold wave is still in Florida. At night and early in the morning it is around 14-15 degrees Celsius all the time for the past few weeks. Even my snorkeling trip was canceled today because of the cold weather. It seems like temperature is at least 10 degrees lower now, than it is this time of the year. I was going to right about my trip to Everglades National Park, it has been over a month already…
On the way to Everglades I stopped by at the fruit farm “Robert is here” which is about 7 miles from the visitor’s center at Everglades National Park. I was nicely surprised to see good quality fruit over there at reasonable prices, there is even an attraction – their own Zoo with ostriches, ducks, chickens, goats, turtles, donkeys. Watch the video, it is shaky at the beginning, then it gets better.
I was recommended to stop by at this farm to get a fruit shake, but for some stupid reason I ended up buying a can of coconut juice, which was not that good, I actually threw away a can with some juice left in it.

In Everglades I did the usual - watched a short movie about its unique ecosystem, and then visited five trails.

All trails are quite different and have different ecosystem which is truly amazing, taking into account that all those trails are almost within a stone throw away from each other.
On Anhinga trail you can walk as close as a meter to an alligator; alligators seem to be sleepy all the time in this park, or most likely they got used to everyday visitors.

Gumbo Limbo Trail is right next to Anhinga but it feels like jungle, it is also few degrees cooler because of the constant shade from the trees. Some trees there are as old as hundreds of years old.

Shark River Slough trail is also an interesting to see. When you stand on the elevated trail you can see this river that is tens of miles wide and covers most of the Florida Gulf.

Two other trails I visited on this trip were Pine Rockland which reminded me of my native Pine woods in Crimea Mountains, well except that those Pine trees are not exactly the same as those in Crimea, they are generally taller.
I have not seen any exotic animals like Florida Panthers, Bob Cats, or black Bears, and maybe it’s for the best. I did have an unpleasant experience with an alligator a couple of weeks after this trip, on my way to Big Cypress National Preserve. Unfortunately I did not get to go inside the preserve because of some kind of road block on the way over there. There was a line of cars about a mile long and I waited in the line for about 40 minutes until I decided to go back, and come back there some other time. So on the way back I stopped my car on the road shoulder of Tamiami trail (a road that lead to this preserve from Miami) and decided to get closer to one of alligators along the road to take a picture. The second when I stepped over a low fence (the one that goes along the road and the canal to sort of separate them and is about 2 feet high), this alligator that was lying on the other side of the narrow canal, jumped in the water and started rapidly swimming towards me, I had to run for my life. I panicked and fell down twice on the road as I was crossing it to get to my car on the other side. I ended up with few bruises and scuffs on leg, arm, and body. The alligator was not that big, about 90 pounds (40kg) but with their teeth they can easily rip away a hand. Even a bad experience is an experience, now I won’t approach them anymore. Those alligators in Big Cypress don’t seem to be used to people as those in Everglades, and thus are more dangerous. I will still keep going to Big Cypress and other parks…

I should have followed this safty advise about alligators, but I never listen:

Arctic Blast 2010

Arctic blast of this year is likely to be remembered for quite some time especially in Florida. I heard last time it got this cold in Florida it was about 90 years ago. Well it did get cold also last year but it lasted just for a couple of days, but this year it was for two weeks. People in south Florida are not used to this kind of weather, so I assume a big number of them did not even have somewhat warm jackets because jackets were sold out in most apparel stores in Miami. As for me I gladly had everything I could need for a cold weather with an exception of a heater at home. It turned out that my air conditioner at home is not capable of heating. The heat function exists but it produces cold air. I bet most of south Florida had the same kind of problem. There were few nights that I had to sleep under 2-3 quilts, for temperature at home were like 14 degrees Celsius. I always thought I never would have to turn on a heater in my car as long as I live in south Florida; however I did for few days. In fact one evening in university I got to the class and everybody was talking how that morning they had frost on the windshields, and had to scratch it off. The other thing I saw that is kind of funny is the annual swimming competition in University pool that took place right during the arctic blast for two weeks. The funny thing is that these people came all the way from Canada and north states to the sunshine state and had to swim for two weeks in awful weather conditions outside in the pool. The pool is heated though, but still it sucked for them.

During the Arctic blast I was wondering if Floridian plants and wildlife can take the cold, since like ten homeless in Miami froze to death. Two weeks after the blast (two days ago) I went to Everglades National Park for the lab of my ecology class, and guess what there a tremendous number of dead fish floating in the river canals. And stench from it decomposition is very apparent. From what I saw only one type of fish died, I am not sure what it is cold. Watch this video you can see a bunch of black Cormorants (the big black birds) feed on dead fish. These white things floating in the water are all fish.

Horse racing in Hialeah Park

Due to the grand opening of Hialeah Park today there were a concert and horse racing, went to check it out. I did not even know there was a race track until this Thursday. I found out by accident when somebody told me. Apparently it's one of the oldest racing tracks in USA, and back at the time used to be one of the best ones. For some reason it was closed on May 2001. An article about the park grand opening is here. Just as it says in the article there were thousands of visitors, and it took me over an hour to get to the parking because of the traffic. The parking and admission were free, and it is got to be the reason why so many people showed up there today.

I was surprised to see such a crowd and so many betting windows in the clubhouse. I made one bet on third horse for the fifth race. A good thing I only made 5 dollars bet, since the horse did not win. Funny thing is that I betted on a horse number 3, and this horse got a third place. This is a picture of a fifth race, and a horse with a blue rider was my bet.

These horses also have really weird names, especially the one I picked (Special Royal Flirt):

I was seating on a second floor of the clubhouse, that's why everything looks so far away. Also the seats had to be reserved before the beginning of the first race but I sat anyways, and nobody told me a thing, however they did tell the people next to me to leave their seats. Here is a pic of a ticket with the bet I made:

I would say it still was a nice experience event though I did not win anything. I actually was not really hoping to win, for I have never been into gambling. I just went to see the park.

Indigenous to South Florida..?

The nature of South Florida is very distinct, and I have always wondered weather some plant species are actually indigenous to South Florida. I have seen many plants that produce some sort of fruit in Miami area alone. I don't think these fruits are edible, I do not dare to taste them, however they smell and look kind of delicious, well some of them, like this weird tree with grapes, it does look exactly like regular grapes:

I did see some sort of a wild not cultivated grapes in Ukraine that were not edible, but as far as I can remember I've never seen grapes grow on a tree.

Unfortunately I took pictures only of two trees at this point. I could have taken more of course, maybe next time. Here is another one, it looks like a green chestnut but smooth and bigger in size:

Another picture of what I think is some old, or even prehistoric marine life, it looks like a fossilised remains of some kind f seashell. (the ribbed greenish thing attached to the rock by the water):

There were several rocks with these weird fossils, I took picture of this one since it has also a gray growth, or what to me looks like another fossil. The one to the left of the first one. I wont be surprised if these things are prehistoric and are what I think they are, since there is a mangrove and manatee zone in that area. There also were crabs on the other side of this rock, but they came out blurry, once again all of it was taken on my old cellphone camera.

The last one is not relevant to any of this and it's not indigenous to South Florida, I am pretty sure these things can be fond in many other places as well. Since it is also in the University park I'll mention it. Yes, all three pictures above are from FIU North campus, I took them when I was taking a walk after my anthropology class. The one below is from FIU South campus.

Bunch of turtles and fish in the ponds of FIU north campus. It can't really be seen on this picture how big is the fish and turtles in comparison to everything else, since there is nothing else. I think this fish is at least 35 pounds; most of the turtles are not that big you can see the look small next to the fish, some of them are big though. I actually would like to know who takes care of wild life in these ponds, I bet they have to feed these things. I currently go 3 times a week to South FIU campus and pass by the pond every time, and yesterday I decided to finally take a picture of it.

Halloween Recreation

Originally there was supposed to be a recreational Halloween, for I and guys were supposed to go camping for the Halloween night. I already found out the prices and everything for the cabins but then, they said they weren't up for it and ended up watching movies on Halloween night.




There are 3 beds and one of them is double size, and air conditioner is also provided. As I said my old cellphone takes pretty good pictures in a daytime. Cabin is like $60 in Oleta River Park.
I also was going kayaking on the Halloween morning, but unfortunately I got a stomachache and decided to go back home, it's second time in a row that I don't get to kayak.





Kayaking is free every last Saturday of each month at FIU north campus.

Halloween masquerade

To be honest I never liked Halloween, I always thought it's kind of a stupid celebration. However last night turned out to be fun. I did hear on radio many times about the masquerade on Lincoln RD, but did not really pay much attention to it. Then someone I know told me it is actually very good, and I should go and check it out. So I left my place at 9:10 pm, and thought I'll be there by 10. The traffic was unbelievable, it seemed that everybody decided to go to South Beach at the same time. It normally takes me about half an hour to get to South Beach, but this time it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get there, and then I spent another 30 minutes looking for a parking. I was not able to find any parking in the vicinity of Lincoln RD, so I parked 11 blocks away on 6th street, and even that parking slot I got by accident, as I was driving by, somebody was leaving and I parked immediately on that spot. The parking meter still had 40 minutes on it, so I added 75 cents, since it's free after midnight. I spent about 12 more minutes walking and finally got to Lincoln RD, it already was past 11. There is always a quite large number of people on Lincoln RD even on regular day, but I did not think it will be this over crowded. It was literally over crowded, it was impossible to walk. As I walked I was sandwiched from all four sides. This is when I decided it's time to put on my mask. I bought this mask on EBay, for it looked really good on the picture in the description, but when I got it, I was disappointed. The quality is nowhere near the one on the picture in the description. the mask also is made out of rubber, so it gets very hot in it, and my face kept sweating the whole time. Anyways, I think it looks not that bad:

The other thing, I did not take a camera, all the photos were taken on my cellphone, which is over three years old; it takes pretty good pictures in a daytime though.
Some of the costumes there were actually really good from very simple ones to most exotic. Unfortunately I only have a couple more pictures of more or less acceptable quality.

There also was a costume contest, where any one with an exclusive costume could participate and win a price, as spectators decided who is number 1, 2 and 3. There were several contestants, but by the end only four were left. People had to choose first three winners. First got $500, second 250, and third $150. First price got two guys with a costume that looked as if they were seating strapped on a seat of a race car or a roller coaster, or some kind of seat I am not sure. Second price got a dude with a costume of what I think was a snow white Sasquatch with long horns or some kind of a fairy tale character. The last price got transformers, you can see them on a picture as well as the fourth place winner the green girl and her boyfriend.


I don't upload the other two contestants (first and second) because they look a way too blurry :(

Everglades Holiday park in the middle of a night

Today I sort of overslept and decided not to go to university, so I spent the whole day home chatting with friends and reading various stuff on the Internet. I usually don't chat; I do it once every couple of months. Every time I do it, it feels like I wasted the whole day, the same reason why I don't play video games. Anyways After staying home all day, at the evening I was getting ready to go to the park where I usually always go for a walk. It's just like five blocks away from my place. Once I started the car and was about to head there, something came over me, and instead I decided to go for a little road trip in the middle of a night. I did not have any plans where to go, I just started driving north on Okeechobee rd towards Orlando. I have to say Okeechobee rd is amazing at night; there are no other cars, so you can drive like 80 mpr all the time. The other thing is that there are no lights along the way, most of the road is dark all the time. I wanted to find out about air boat prices and where exactly they are located. Once on the way to Orlando last January I saw one place with air boats right on Okeechobee rd, I think it's been about 50 miles away from where I live. I also heard about this Everglades park, but I did not know exactly where it is located. As I was driving, at first I thought of going to that place that I saw once, but on the way I saw a road sign saying "Everglades Park - next left", so I decided to go and check it out. It was past ten pm when I got there. Park is sort of divided in two parts. One side of the park is for motor homes and the other one is a parking with water access and rental of motor and air boats. I went for a walk. The parking on the side of water access was empty. There was just one car not including mine. This car was a huge pickup track with a small motor boat and with a redneck driver. This dude had music playing pretty loudly. It was some old country music which made the park look even creepier, not to mention the souvenirs store, that was still open to my astonishment. I went to the store and outside there were two rednecks seating, and inside the store there was a cashier, a creepy old woman. She was like "hay boy how you doing?" To my surprise there also was one cute blond chick who was walking around the park, and I saw her walk in the store several times, and speak to the old woman. I think she was her grand daughter. The souvenirs store had a very quaint look itself plus the old spooky country music, empty wooden harbor, the air boats behind a fence, and everything else including the rednecks and the cute blond chick, made me feel like I was in some horror movie. In fact I think it's an ideal location for shooting a horror movie . However the other side of the park was stuffed with motor homes and trailers. I did not expect to see so many of them in this park. It was also pretty creepy there was no light, the only light was coming out of some of the trailers. Then I walked along the cost of the river, it was very dark out there I was not able to see almost anything, how ever I saw crocodile laying in the water by the shore, at first I thought it was a log, but as I got closer I could see it was a crocodile. I decided to go back immediately, since there could be a bunch of them in the darkness. I was walking back fast thinking to myself that they hunt at night and that puts me in a complete disadvantage. I went to my car sat there for few minutes listening to the radio and then went back. I did not find out the prices for motorboats, since the harbor was closed. I did not ask the old woman since I thought she probably does not know much about it. I intend to go there again maybe next month during daytime to ride a motor boat or an air boat.