OP
I agree, with Dennis. It was a good day for diving, and good friends to dive with. Yes, the swim out to the drop off was long, however it was far from boring as the bottom structure changed every couple hundred feet or so.
We met up at Datura, meeting Manny from Edivers (new to SB maybe?), Joe, Dennis, Marvel and I. Then ventured off to Mulligans for a leisurly breakfast waiting for others to possibly show. A very short lesson in fish ID was part of the converstation, along with talk about the upcoming Reef ID class. Then it was off to Datura to gear up. Lisa another from edivers (trying to get her screen name issues worked out here) had called while we were at breakfast and told us go on without her, but by the time we hit the water, she was doing a great job of catch up and was able to join after all! So, we swam out past the pier, dropped down and headed east. Saw a small nurse shark, and all the regular critters, and even a flamingo tongue. Despite the calm seas, there was a nice little current coming from the south, so when we got to the drop off we headed south. All the usual suspects were there, spotfin butterfly fish, saddled blennies, french grunts, porkfish, a "teenanger" french angel (not a juv., not an adult), a couple harliquen bass, and even a small barred hamlet were found.
We turned the dive, and headed back in. Manny and I ended up hanging back and coming in a bit later., both of us getting a bit low on air and a surface swim was in order. After talking to Marvel, we agreed that she beat me on air consumption by a couple hundred pounds. Good job Marvel!
Marvel and I both had flags which were destined to stay together no matter how much we tried to keep them seperate, even seperating them 3 times!
Dennis had lent me his wings set up, and without any adjustments, I tried it out. I think I would like it better if I had adjusted it and made sure it fit more snug. The tank seemed to roll a bit, and I had trouble dumping air. (Later Dennis told me the butt dump works better than the shoulder dump.) I did like the freedom of it in the front and all the D rings to attach stuff. Would I run out and buy one? Probably not, but definately worth considering.
We met up at Datura, meeting Manny from Edivers (new to SB maybe?), Joe, Dennis, Marvel and I. Then ventured off to Mulligans for a leisurly breakfast waiting for others to possibly show. A very short lesson in fish ID was part of the converstation, along with talk about the upcoming Reef ID class. Then it was off to Datura to gear up. Lisa another from edivers (trying to get her screen name issues worked out here) had called while we were at breakfast and told us go on without her, but by the time we hit the water, she was doing a great job of catch up and was able to join after all! So, we swam out past the pier, dropped down and headed east. Saw a small nurse shark, and all the regular critters, and even a flamingo tongue. Despite the calm seas, there was a nice little current coming from the south, so when we got to the drop off we headed south. All the usual suspects were there, spotfin butterfly fish, saddled blennies, french grunts, porkfish, a "teenanger" french angel (not a juv., not an adult), a couple harliquen bass, and even a small barred hamlet were found.
We turned the dive, and headed back in. Manny and I ended up hanging back and coming in a bit later., both of us getting a bit low on air and a surface swim was in order. After talking to Marvel, we agreed that she beat me on air consumption by a couple hundred pounds. Good job Marvel!
Marvel and I both had flags which were destined to stay together no matter how much we tried to keep them seperate, even seperating them 3 times!
Dennis had lent me his wings set up, and without any adjustments, I tried it out. I think I would like it better if I had adjusted it and made sure it fit more snug. The tank seemed to roll a bit, and I had trouble dumping air. (Later Dennis told me the butt dump works better than the shoulder dump.) I did like the freedom of it in the front and all the D rings to attach stuff. Would I run out and buy one? Probably not, but definately worth considering.
