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Today John Melino braved the new boat scenario like a true friend and helped us sort out our lines and dive method for the local sites in Maunaloa Bay. His career doing the shark cages leaves him wanting for the good ol days over here!
Anyway, he did not deserve what happened to him. JB thinks it was a pink tail lone Trigger fish....they do not school. I don't think I remember seeing Trigger fish on the fighter plane. Anyway, it was a viscious attack, by all accounts. I insisted on staying at the throttle, despite the irresponsible peer pressure to do otherwise. Funny, it feels different without Captain Joe at the wheel because he has so many saves under his belt. I sat on the boat all alone feeling a bit paranoid and watching squalls move across the water. Occasionally the boat would sit in the trough and I would worry just a little. I really wanted to go below and roll up in the fetal position, but I took my stakeout seriously and stayed on watch. I waited and watched a pretty long 30 minutes for a 117 ft dive....JB must be improving on his air consumption.
poor John...
happier times at the dock, pre-dive
kinda wish the GPS had the arrow instead of the "highway" towards the site....
My mind took a field trip, my only hope, a lone plane overhead
So, then on to site number two. I informed JB that he had to stay on the boat and be the designated driver, just in case. John said he wanted to navigate all three craters and I decided to let him go off and do it and I would stay nearby and practice....some skills (I just had no idea which ones yet. Yes, about ten minutes into my dive, I experienced the worst thing that can happen short of a Tiger attack. We won't mention what it was, but it does involve an acronym. 30 years of SCUBA, and this has never happened. It feels like "oh *#*#!, did I turn my air ON?".....anyway, we won't talk about that, lets say I was not in stride with my usual routine....." So, suffice it to say that I was quite fatigued at the surface and wishing that I had replaced my errant Halcyon inflator button, because the fact that it was stainless steel was not helping me much. I made JB jump overboard and rescue me, just for drama. By the time John returned we had conspired to act "normal".
I got out of boat clean-up as I had to race off for car pool duties. Overall, I thought it all went pretty well.
Anyway, he did not deserve what happened to him. JB thinks it was a pink tail lone Trigger fish....they do not school. I don't think I remember seeing Trigger fish on the fighter plane. Anyway, it was a viscious attack, by all accounts. I insisted on staying at the throttle, despite the irresponsible peer pressure to do otherwise. Funny, it feels different without Captain Joe at the wheel because he has so many saves under his belt. I sat on the boat all alone feeling a bit paranoid and watching squalls move across the water. Occasionally the boat would sit in the trough and I would worry just a little. I really wanted to go below and roll up in the fetal position, but I took my stakeout seriously and stayed on watch. I waited and watched a pretty long 30 minutes for a 117 ft dive....JB must be improving on his air consumption.
poor John...
happier times at the dock, pre-dive
kinda wish the GPS had the arrow instead of the "highway" towards the site....
My mind took a field trip, my only hope, a lone plane overhead
So, then on to site number two. I informed JB that he had to stay on the boat and be the designated driver, just in case. John said he wanted to navigate all three craters and I decided to let him go off and do it and I would stay nearby and practice....some skills (I just had no idea which ones yet. Yes, about ten minutes into my dive, I experienced the worst thing that can happen short of a Tiger attack. We won't mention what it was, but it does involve an acronym. 30 years of SCUBA, and this has never happened. It feels like "oh *#*#!, did I turn my air ON?".....anyway, we won't talk about that, lets say I was not in stride with my usual routine....." So, suffice it to say that I was quite fatigued at the surface and wishing that I had replaced my errant Halcyon inflator button, because the fact that it was stainless steel was not helping me much. I made JB jump overboard and rescue me, just for drama. By the time John returned we had conspired to act "normal".
I got out of boat clean-up as I had to race off for car pool duties. Overall, I thought it all went pretty well.
