Your Most Innocuous, Yet Memorable Dive

[GregP1976]

Mine was definitely the USS Mohawk reef in the Gulf of Mexico. Not only was it a great wreck, but it was covered with massive Goliath Groupers / Jewfish. I'll never forget them. For whatever reason they were more awe inspiring than any of the sharks or anything else that I've seen.

It was a long dive day, but well worth it. 2 hour drive to the dock. 2 hour boat ride to the site. 3 hours for 2 dives and a SI at the site, then 2 hour boat ride back and 2 hour drive home.

I love this wreck and go there often (I'm local so it's relatively easy). I've had more fun on this wreck in my own backyard than I have on any wreck in the Keys or overseas. It literally delivers almost every time I'm there. Glad you had a great experience on it as well!

 

[211ratsbud]

My most memorabe.. first time in doubles, on a recreational dive, on the Keystorm. I had plenty of dive time, no worries about gas supply cutting short my dive, and was so leisurely ..

 

[vjongene]

This was in 2004 on a liveaboard in Rongelap Atoll, Marshall Islands. We were doing a leisurely, shallow drift dive in the lagoon, when we spotted an area with a LOT of sharks (at least 100), many of them juveniles. We drifted past them, but wanted to come back for a closer look. So we dove the same site again, but this time dropped ourselves on the sandy bottom and just watched. There was a large group of juveniles with maybe a dozen adult reef sharks swimming in circles around them. It looked for the world like a shark nursery! We spent most of the dive kneeling down in maybe 40 fsw and just watching in wonder. The sharks were totally uninterested in us.

Absolutely nothing challenging from a diving POW, but boy what a show.

 

[kensuf]

It was 1998 or 1999, in Cozumel Mexico.

There's a dive shop in Atlanta that I used to regularly do check-out dives for, and they had a group doing their OW checkouts in Mexico. The arrangement I had with the shop for the Mexico trips were that I got all expenses paid, one free day of diving for myself (typically Devil's Throat or something like that), and unlimited shore dives.

One afternoon, a couple of hours after the check-out dives were done, I grabbed an AL80 and stationed myself by a coral head about 50' from shore behind Scuba Club Cozumel. I spent two hours in no deeper than 15' of water, playing with the damsels and sergeant majors.

 

[archer1960]

It was 1998 or 1999, in Cozumel Mexico.

There's a dive shop in Atlanta that I used to regularly do check-out dives for, and they had a group doing their OW checkouts in Mexico. The arrangement I had with the shop for the Mexico trips were that I got all expenses paid, one free day of diving for myself (typically Devil's Throat or something like that), and unlimited shore dives.

One afternoon, a couple of hours after the check-out dives were done, I grabbed an AL80 and stationed myself by a coral head about 50' from shore behind Scuba Club Cozumel. I spent two hours in no deeper than 15' of water, playing with the damsels and sergeant majors.

I love Scuba Club Cozumel. I don't know how their house reef compares to other resorts' house reefs, but it's nice for sure.

 

[AZNetEng]

Mine: The last dive of the first day in the ocean with my wife. I dont recall the spot (in Roatan) but when we turned the dive we ascended to about 30ft and swam over the reef headed back to the mooring spot. There were lots of large formations that we swam through and we held hands just leisurely finning along. The dive, while beautiful, full of fish and coral, wasnt the really memorable part. When we boarded the look in her eyes, the smile on her face, and the way she talked about all she had seen will forever be the best day of my life.

 

[woodcarver]

My brother, girlfriend, and I were diving Something Special in Bonaire in 2016. It had been unusually bland for an August afternoon. We had worked our way back up to about 30' deep and were making our way back when we encountered a pair of rather amorous octopus. We spent almost 30 minutes as octopi voyeurs filming these 2 as they explored each other. One of the great things about Bonaire, we were only in 30fsw and could walk out anywhere, so we were able to stretch the tanks and enjoy some of the most intriguing residents of the reef in the middle of the day.
Really enjoyed reading the posts. Thanks for sharing. Maybe this will get it going again.

 

[Jersey]

Couple come to mind. First real dive trip, I had maybe 15 open water dives. Saba, Diamond Rock site. Three of us on trip, thus I was buddied with Big Mike of Saba Deep. He dove in a BC that was so worn out it was basically a canvas vest holding a tank. I don't think the buckles worked. Watching him dive was like watching the ballet, so relaxed and comfortable. Maybe he could sense my nerves (dive was twice as deep as I had been), he held my hand much of the dive as we swam around and up the pinnacle. He waved to all the fish (something I adopted and occasionally do), pointed out the big and smalls. At one point I felt a tap - tap on my shoulder, turned my head expecting to see my friends and was face to face with a grouper. I totally relaxed, got great air and for the first time thought this is why I got certified!

Second was the first ocean dive with my brother and nephew. I don't have kids, come from a very tight knit family. Luckily my brother and sister in law let me be the cool aunt. 2013 my nephew wanted to get certified as his HS grad gift. My brother tagged along and they were certified at Dutch Springs. We got to do a couple quarry dives together, but not too exciting. We all headed to Bonaire the next year as I knew the diving would be super easy, accessible and the island irresistible. While the first dive was only about 40 feet (Something Special) we saw a couple octopi out romping as well as the usual suspects. Trip exceeded all expectations. Hearing them talk about the stuff they saw, excitement doing their first deep, wreck dive (Hilma Hooker), night dive was wonderful. My brother is a people person and made a lot of friends (other guests and locals) and the friendships continue on. We all look forward to our (extended) family dive trips.

 

[AdivingBel]

My first dive at Looe Key off Big Pine. Splashed to find 2 goliath groupers and their huge entourage under the boat. I spent the entire hour+ hanging out with them. I've since met them on many occasions. Sometimes the "party" is right under the boat.

 

[Jonn]

October '17 I joined a dive tour out of Sidney BC. By "joined" I mean I was the only one who showed up! The operator (plug: www.pjsislandandsubsearetreat.com), to his credit, took a loss and gave me a few solo boat dives in the area including Church, Mackenzie, and a few others. There's a pinnacle in Sannich Inlet at 80', and there's a bunch of huge cloud sponges over the side of it at 130' or so. Surface vis was zero, but it opened up to 100'+ below so it was a great 'night dive' in the daytime.

Spent 12 min there, alone with the darkness, the stillness, the narcosis, and these massive ancient sort-of-animals. A long meditative moment I'll take to the grave.

Had a 5 minutes of unplanned deco, but they went away on a leisurely assent with a some big jellies, and I surfaced with plenty of air. Noticing a solo trend in these stories and mine would have been a much different dive with one, no matter how polite and skilled. You ways have to be thinking about them, can't really focus on the moment and what you came there for.