# 50 was on Dec. 6, 2012: Shallow Wrecks at Butler Bay St. Croix, VI. The famous and fantastic Frederiksted Pier was #51.
Nothing special stood out regarding the dive but the trip will forever be etched upon my mind. We were spending 15 days (my aunt-in-law lives on the west coast) and my wife and I were excited to be in St. Croix. On our 1st day, the no-see-ums were pretty bad and feasted on me, which seemed a daily occurrence. Dec. 1 were our first dives, and although my wife had problems equalizing on the 2nd dive, we enjoyed 2 long dives (1' and 1' 15".) Afterwards my wife's ears never cleared and she didn't dive anymore on the trip. Of course I continued to dive, with N2theBlue, and had a blast. There were never more than 5 divers and the conditions were great.
A few days before we were to leave, one of my wife's ears still felt clogged so we went to an ENT, who wound up draining blood that had pooled in her ear. She had immediate relief but would have experienced big problems had we flown home without that remedy.
On the day we were to fly home, Dec. 13, I woke up feeling sicker than I ever felt in my life. I had never experienced nausea before but it was constant. I decided to fight through it so we could get home. Although very uncomfortable (I had to use a barf bag for the first time ever on a plane), we made it home and I went to the doctor the next day and got nausea meds. They helped some but I still had no energy and was starting to ache in some joints. Ate a little soup and drank Gatorade and was in bed for a week before I felt I could sit upright in a chair. On Christmas day, I went outside for the first time since the doctor visit as we went to a movie. It was another 2 weeks before I started to feel like I could go out again and get back on a regular routine. In hindsight, I wish I would have had the doctor test me for Dengue Fever as that is what I think I had.
Not on dive 100, but on 101, both in a cenote in Mexico, I had an ear barotrauma. I think I need to skip trips or dives that are around the "every 50 dives mark."