Tell us about your 50th Dive

[bowlofpetunias]

Mine was at on a bomie, at a site called the Temple of Doom on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It was not particularly deep--55 feet max. The bommie was a spire of coral, with happy little reef fish swarming all over it. It was called the Temple of Doom because as the happy little reef fish swarmed about it, they were being watched by the sharks, travally, and barracuda swimming circles around the spire, watching intently for any happy reef fish that might become a meal. It was watching all those predators swimming side by side that I had a revelation--the old scuba joke was true!

The joke is this--why has no lawyer ever been attacked by a shark? The answer: professional courtesy! It is true! Predators do not attack predators! Predators attack prey! That is why we can swim with them as well--we are taken to be fellow predators.

Sounds like a lovely dive bj. I hate to burst your bubble here but.... Jon Craig as Fishrock Dive Centre South West Rocks showed me a picture he took of a large Wobbegong shark with a somewhat smaller Wobbegong shark in it's mouth. It looked like a shark with two tails. I think the Wobbie took on more than he could chew tho. The head and a bit past the pectoral fins of the smaller shark were inside the bigger one. Not sure how the bigger one was going to get the rest in!

 

[boulderjohn]

I wonder if that section is still divable or if coral bleaching has taken over. (Not a hijack, just curious.)

Well, glad you asked. I was actually going to go into that, but I had to leave.

That was many years ago. I went back to the GBR two years ago. I did not go to that particular site, but I went to many others in the same region. The difference was heartbreaking. There was no comparison. The Director fo Diving on the liveaboard said that in his opinion, there would be no point in diving the GBR in 20 years. It would all be pretty much completely dead.

 

[EricTheDood]

Was getting into wreck diving and decided to try the RMS Titanic. Unfortunately I wasn't certified to 12,000 ft at the time so I went to Maui instead.

 

[Russjstewart]

If you count qualifying dives (5) then Portsea Hole in Port Phillip, had trouble clearing my right ear ( still gives me grief) crap vis and a truckload of divers on the site.
If you don't count qualifying dives then a sinkhole called Gouldons Hole in Mount Gambier, South Australia in 1982, managed to lose my backup torch, the first of many. 5-10 meter visibility

 

[fish149]

My 50th was July 26,2009 at whitestar quarry with my newly certified daughter. We were getting some practice in before going to St Andrews SP in PCB, Fl for her first salt water dives. She was super excited about diving and we had a blast!

 

[jmb122mp]

July 9th, 2015 : shore/wall night dive at Captain Don's Habitat, Bonaire. This was my 6th night dive and on previous night dives I had yet to see an octopus. I really really wanted to see one. Well, at the end of the dive I still hadn't seen one but had 1200 psi in my tank. I explored the shallows and finally found one! So, it was not only my 50th dive but my first time seeing an octopus. And since this was the last dive of the day, I bought the 1st round at the bar.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[islanddream]

My 50th dive was July 11, 2012, in Ambergris Caye on Dos Cocos reef. Saw my favorite sealife....a larger squadron of Eagle Rays!

 

[sunfishh]

My 50th dive was in the Keys. I did a boat dive through Lost Reef Adventures and we ended up at Sand Key. The high light was seeing a really big Rock Beauty Angel.

 

[Russoft]

30 JULY 2017
Spiegel Grove - Buoy #4: Port Crane
Key Largo, FL, USA

It took me 18.5 years to reach my 50th dive. I certified at age 12 and lacked the money, time, and opportunity to dive as often as I wanted.

Wife and I did a double dip on the Spiegel Grove (dive 50 and 51 for me). Having spent a couple years diving local lakes and building up confidence in our ability to plan and conduct our own dives without relying on the ability of a DM, and having just completed AOW and Nitrox earlier in the week, we chose to lead our own dive and not use a guide. Max depth was 97 ft and dive time was 30 minutes. There was a very mild current during our descent and ascent which was blocked by the wreck once we got to the bottom. Spotted dozens of barracuda, very large parrotfish and angelfish, and hundreds of Horse-eye Jack and French Grunts which swam over the wreck is large schools. Water was a relatively warm 83F / 28C though moments of colder water made me wish I was in a 3 mm wetsuit instead of my shorts and t-shirt. Visibility was 30 ft. My wife and I had a very enjoyable dive on the wreck and hope to do it again in the future.

Dive 50 marks the first time I am confident on deeper (80-100 ft) dives in less than ideal conditions. I had a few unpleasant experiences which prompted me to be better equipped and better trained for "advanced" diving.

Plans for the near future include taking Rescue Diver (2018 or 2019) and a dry suit course so we can enjoy our local diving more.

 

[Charred]

My 50th was just a few weeks ago in Bonaire.

The dive was a shore dive called "The Lake." The reef here is a double reef with a sand bottom between 2 reefs. We descended on the first reef and then headed out over the sand to the second reef. We stayed on top/shore side of the second reef and headed south (left) until we saw the big shadow to our left.

The shadow is the wreck of the Hilma Hooker. We crossed the sand heading towards the stern. The massive tarpon where there near the bays. IMO the Hilma Hooker looks so much cooler approached from the deep side simply because when you approach from shore she is right on top of that reef wall so you only see her from the top.

We swam up to the rudder/prop and then headed back North along the wall to the Lake point we entered at.

My wife and I did this together with just us. The whole dive went according to our plan and required good air consumption, navigation etc. We had dove the Hooker before but not from the Lake/deep path. We werent sure we would have the air to pull this often planning to turn early if we needed to. Ultimately we did a ~55 min dive with 1000 psi remaining. We were very proud of ourselves that our skills and air consumption had progressed to the point where we could pull off a dive like this especially since it was just the two of us.