nolatom
Contributor
Halloween is taken seriously in this town (only place I've seen it more so is Salem Mass, where I was born, though that's not the reason, I think it was that "Burn the Witches!!" stuff much earlier )
And the couple who invited us get their house in uptown New Orleans all gussied up in a ghoulish way, and wear great costumes too. So out of respect, we knew we had to dress for the occasion, and in this town everyone has costumes. Almost everyone. Meaning, not us.
What to do? Well, Duh, dress up in scuba gear? It's black, and being underwater is kind of spooky. It'll be fun!
The drawbacks dawned on me more slowly. Tank is too heavy out of the water. Forget the tank, then. Just bring your reg. Attached to what? Never mind, you'll think of something. Full suit? Cool! No, wait, not cool, Hot. Just my Harvey's hoodie vest then, shorts and booties? Perfect!
So that's what I wore, stuck the first stage in pocket of my shorts, put on mask and even dug out the old rigid snorkel for the full effect (don't flame me, or get into the "snorkel question" please).
And fins. very cool. Don't think about how you're going to get up the steps, just be stylin'..
Arrival on-scene:
The first wardrobe adjustment was with the reg--lacking a tank, you can exhale but not inhale. Who knew? So I bit down on it and sneered enough to be able to breathe in "outside" the reg. But this was strictly for the big entrance and greeting ("Bmoogle", just like Dave Barry), not the long haul.
Second thing was fins. It was dark, and our sidewalks are more un-level than anyone's, you could look it up. So fins went onto my wrist and then ended up leaning on the dining room wall (with my car keys in one so I couldn't forget the fins at the end).
Third thing to go was mask. Hot, foggy (forgot defog, it's not just for underwater any more) so mask ended up on my forehead once inside (forgive me for this, but nondivers won't understand the back-of-the-head look, and fortunately no Rescue divers there to grab me from behind since I was displaying true panic).
Last thing was reg again. Should have had a DIY necklace-- next time. So it sort of ended up under my arm (I hadn't worn a BC to clip it to, it seemed wrong to wear it sans tank).
So what I ended up with was a truly bastardized semi-scuba outfit, but the party crowd seemed to like it. I even put on fins to enter the dining room, but realized they're inconvenient in a crowd, and the table with the food has "legs", several of them, right where you wanted your fins to go. So my footwear was short-lived.
Overall, I'd have to say a success. And my lovely wife put on her long-unused horse dressage riding outfit, with the boots, britches, blazer, ascot, the whole nine yards. She looked great.
We didn't stay late. Wetsuit gear is designed to be fairly tight, and the booties are downright hot on shore, so we left fashionably early, but had a good time. I even got talking to a young lady who had just gotten her C-card (how'd she know to talk to me about that? ;-), and we together convinced her friend that taking up scuba would be fun, sharks are our friends, and they should go out to the Flower Gardens, yada yada. Good time.
So, is it a practical costume? Not really. Can you fake it for an hour, with half the gear? Seems so. Your stories welcome, if you were ever wiggy enough to try it.
And Happy All Saints Day, everyone (Saints! they've won a couple)
Tom
And the couple who invited us get their house in uptown New Orleans all gussied up in a ghoulish way, and wear great costumes too. So out of respect, we knew we had to dress for the occasion, and in this town everyone has costumes. Almost everyone. Meaning, not us.
What to do? Well, Duh, dress up in scuba gear? It's black, and being underwater is kind of spooky. It'll be fun!
The drawbacks dawned on me more slowly. Tank is too heavy out of the water. Forget the tank, then. Just bring your reg. Attached to what? Never mind, you'll think of something. Full suit? Cool! No, wait, not cool, Hot. Just my Harvey's hoodie vest then, shorts and booties? Perfect!
So that's what I wore, stuck the first stage in pocket of my shorts, put on mask and even dug out the old rigid snorkel for the full effect (don't flame me, or get into the "snorkel question" please).
And fins. very cool. Don't think about how you're going to get up the steps, just be stylin'..
Arrival on-scene:
The first wardrobe adjustment was with the reg--lacking a tank, you can exhale but not inhale. Who knew? So I bit down on it and sneered enough to be able to breathe in "outside" the reg. But this was strictly for the big entrance and greeting ("Bmoogle", just like Dave Barry), not the long haul.
Second thing was fins. It was dark, and our sidewalks are more un-level than anyone's, you could look it up. So fins went onto my wrist and then ended up leaning on the dining room wall (with my car keys in one so I couldn't forget the fins at the end).
Third thing to go was mask. Hot, foggy (forgot defog, it's not just for underwater any more) so mask ended up on my forehead once inside (forgive me for this, but nondivers won't understand the back-of-the-head look, and fortunately no Rescue divers there to grab me from behind since I was displaying true panic).
Last thing was reg again. Should have had a DIY necklace-- next time. So it sort of ended up under my arm (I hadn't worn a BC to clip it to, it seemed wrong to wear it sans tank).
So what I ended up with was a truly bastardized semi-scuba outfit, but the party crowd seemed to like it. I even put on fins to enter the dining room, but realized they're inconvenient in a crowd, and the table with the food has "legs", several of them, right where you wanted your fins to go. So my footwear was short-lived.
Overall, I'd have to say a success. And my lovely wife put on her long-unused horse dressage riding outfit, with the boots, britches, blazer, ascot, the whole nine yards. She looked great.
We didn't stay late. Wetsuit gear is designed to be fairly tight, and the booties are downright hot on shore, so we left fashionably early, but had a good time. I even got talking to a young lady who had just gotten her C-card (how'd she know to talk to me about that? ;-), and we together convinced her friend that taking up scuba would be fun, sharks are our friends, and they should go out to the Flower Gardens, yada yada. Good time.
So, is it a practical costume? Not really. Can you fake it for an hour, with half the gear? Seems so. Your stories welcome, if you were ever wiggy enough to try it.
And Happy All Saints Day, everyone (Saints! they've won a couple)
Tom
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