NorthPortDiver
Registered
Well I finally gave in to the bug I didn't care if the viz was lousy or not I was getting wet today.
950am arrived at Florida West to pick up a tank.
1015am arrived at Alhambra.
11am I dropped down to the bottom and headed WNW
1220pm I surfaced and headed to the beach.
Found a some small teeth. I was having a bit of trouble with my buoyancy I kept floating up even with no air in my BCD. I didn't bring any extra weights with me today and apparently 22lbs wasn't enough. I'll definitely be taking more weight with me tomorrow on the boat. The guy at Florida West said I may have a small leak in my BCD hose letting air leak into the BCD at a very slow rate which would explain my problem.Although I think it's more likely I did not release all the air on my drop and my heavy breathing from being excited about being in the water. That coupled with the fact that I miscalculated the amount of weight I needed. I've changed out my weights for my BCD upping it from 22lbs to 24lbs and I'll bring my belt tomorrow in case I need more.
Are grouper always so inquisitive? I ask this because for about 30 minutes or so I had this small grouper in my face. It would just sit there watching me I'd shoo it away and it would come right back. I'd pick up a shell or a rock, look at it and then drop it back down and the grouper would swim up to investigate it then get right back in my face. Like it was trying to ask me "Hey what are you and why do you keep moving the shells?" When I found a tooth and put it in my bag it would swim over to the bag then back in my face again as if to say "Umm why did you put it in there?" I can't think of any other dive that I've run across a more curious fish.
The most exciting part of the dive was the swim back into shore. I decided to follow the bottom in as I was down to about 1000 PSI I had been under for about an hour. My mouth was dry so it was time to call it a day. Of course the closer I got to shore the worse the viz was but that was ok because I was watching my compass and the bottom looking for an odd tooth or anything else I could find. I didn't need to see far ahead of me. Well I was in about 9 or 10ft of water I look up from the bottom and there is a dark shape in front of me. I figured it was another diver heading out to the blocks. I turned to the left to avoid running into him well he turned the opposite way away from me at the same time. We passed about a foot apart only it wasn't another diver. I didn't know what it was at first my brain sort of quit working for a second. Here I was in 9ft of water still too far from shore to make a run for it and this big something no more than a foot away from me. The murky water sent my imagination into overdrive and of course SHARK is the first thought that runs through my head. After saying "OH hell no" I take a deep breath which of course sends me floating to the surface. As I break the surface I start chastising myself for panicking like that because in those few seconds my brain decides to override my imagination and I realize that I just let a manatee scare the crap out of me.
The viz today was no where near the best I have seen. However it was much better than I had expected. Being my first dive in a long time I am glad I talked myself into going today. I am even more excited about going out on the Aristakat tomorrow. I only wish I had rented 2 tanks for today. An hour and twenty minutes was nice but it only wet my appetite for more. Another reason I am glad I went today is because had I not then tomorrow would have really sucked due to the buoyancy problems.
Herb
950am arrived at Florida West to pick up a tank.
1015am arrived at Alhambra.
11am I dropped down to the bottom and headed WNW
1220pm I surfaced and headed to the beach.
Found a some small teeth. I was having a bit of trouble with my buoyancy I kept floating up even with no air in my BCD. I didn't bring any extra weights with me today and apparently 22lbs wasn't enough. I'll definitely be taking more weight with me tomorrow on the boat. The guy at Florida West said I may have a small leak in my BCD hose letting air leak into the BCD at a very slow rate which would explain my problem.Although I think it's more likely I did not release all the air on my drop and my heavy breathing from being excited about being in the water. That coupled with the fact that I miscalculated the amount of weight I needed. I've changed out my weights for my BCD upping it from 22lbs to 24lbs and I'll bring my belt tomorrow in case I need more.
Are grouper always so inquisitive? I ask this because for about 30 minutes or so I had this small grouper in my face. It would just sit there watching me I'd shoo it away and it would come right back. I'd pick up a shell or a rock, look at it and then drop it back down and the grouper would swim up to investigate it then get right back in my face. Like it was trying to ask me "Hey what are you and why do you keep moving the shells?" When I found a tooth and put it in my bag it would swim over to the bag then back in my face again as if to say "Umm why did you put it in there?" I can't think of any other dive that I've run across a more curious fish.
The most exciting part of the dive was the swim back into shore. I decided to follow the bottom in as I was down to about 1000 PSI I had been under for about an hour. My mouth was dry so it was time to call it a day. Of course the closer I got to shore the worse the viz was but that was ok because I was watching my compass and the bottom looking for an odd tooth or anything else I could find. I didn't need to see far ahead of me. Well I was in about 9 or 10ft of water I look up from the bottom and there is a dark shape in front of me. I figured it was another diver heading out to the blocks. I turned to the left to avoid running into him well he turned the opposite way away from me at the same time. We passed about a foot apart only it wasn't another diver. I didn't know what it was at first my brain sort of quit working for a second. Here I was in 9ft of water still too far from shore to make a run for it and this big something no more than a foot away from me. The murky water sent my imagination into overdrive and of course SHARK is the first thought that runs through my head. After saying "OH hell no" I take a deep breath which of course sends me floating to the surface. As I break the surface I start chastising myself for panicking like that because in those few seconds my brain decides to override my imagination and I realize that I just let a manatee scare the crap out of me.
The viz today was no where near the best I have seen. However it was much better than I had expected. Being my first dive in a long time I am glad I talked myself into going today. I am even more excited about going out on the Aristakat tomorrow. I only wish I had rented 2 tanks for today. An hour and twenty minutes was nice but it only wet my appetite for more. Another reason I am glad I went today is because had I not then tomorrow would have really sucked due to the buoyancy problems.
Herb
Sounds like you had a good day!
