This is my first dive report. I know Kim already posted her dive report.
I wanted to post mine up as well as it gives a newbie perspective on
diving there.
Saturday Morning -
We ended up making the trek about noon out to the water. There were a
good 25 divers in our group. So many, we ended up split into two groups.
The walk out to the beach wasn't so bad, maybe a hundred yards or so. My
first reaction being underwater was that it was soooooooo clear. It was
probably close to 40' of viz. The sediment on the bottom seemed to
settle fairly quickly so kicking up silt was not so much of an issue.
The buddy I was teamed up with only had an AL80 to my Steel 108(turned
out it was a 108 and not a 95..lol). As a result, he ran out of air
before I did. I also learned not to rent Steel tanks for shore
dives...lol As a result of my buddy running out of air, we were forced
to surface and start to head in. Him and I were following one of the
more experienced divers, Cliff, who had double tanks. I think he called
it side-mounting. The tanks were not on his back like normal divers. I
guess cave divers put their smaller profile tanks on their two sides for
ease of unclipping them and putting them in front for small openings.
So I surfaced to encounter HUGE waves..even way out from the shore like
we were. I immediate started getting sea sick so I told my buddy and
Cliff that I'd stay below the water and follow them in to avoid from
getting sick. I managed to make it all the way to shore, but alas when I
surfaced on the shore of the beach the sea sickness got the best of me.
I really should have just stopped and sat on the beach for a minute at
that point but it was so hot and I was tired from swimming back in(never
realized how long it takes to swim back in to shore..geesh)..so I just
started walking. It felt like I must have walked 10 miles in that
gear..although in reality it was only a little bit of a longer walk than
when trekking out to begin the dive. I learned new meaning of
dehydration & exhaustion that day. I think I fell asleep for a couple
minutes at the picnic table when I laid my head down.. heh
After the dive Saturday, we went back to a phat condo(thanks Kim and
Cliff for organizing this!), ate dinner and just hung out.
Sunday - erojacks
This was the main site why I wanted to make the trip out there. For
those who don't know, erojacks is an artificial reef created using large
cement "jacks"(like the kids game), all dropped in a big long row from
shore outward. These jacks create a haven for fish to hide in. The
downside of this location is you must trek about 1/4mi(10min walk) in
full gear up the beach to get to the point where the jacks are. I
decided to do this dive with no suit(and less weight for the beach
walk!), and found it much nicer this way. I was truly surprised how much
life there was around the jacks. I saw all kinds of stuff.. blue/purple
coral(only saw ONCE piece of it though!), all kinds of really bright
fish, blue, green, red, yellow, some were half yellow half blue. I saw a
parrotfish bigger than my head, a lobster about 2' long, two nurse
sharks(maybe the same one twice?), and whole schools of fish big enough
to bring home and eat sleeping in the reef. I even saw an octopus hiding
in its hole in the ground. On the way back a really large snook(about
2.5 feet long) was curious and came close to us for a look. That
actually startled me moreso than the shark as it was swimming right
towards us.
All the fish I saw were easily colorful enough to have
found in someone's aquarium at home.
I had a pre-conception what to expect going out to my first reef. I was
not let down in any way, and saw so many amazing things. Diving this
reef was everything I had hoped it would be and then some. If I wasn't
hooked on diving before, I am now!
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In addition, I'll have to echo Michelle's comments. Big thanks to Cliff and Kim who took care of everyone.
I'll remember this trip for the rest of my life.
Kim, I hope all this negative side-effect of this doesn't keep you from organizing events moving forward. I can't wait to come hang out and go diving again.
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