154 this year . . . the lowest number since I got certified. But some of them were a whole lot longer -- most of my cave dives were between 90 and 140 minutes this year, as opposed to 30 to 60 the last couple of years. That's what Full Cave will do for you!
Deepest dive this year was 160. Longest was 140. Warmest about 80 off Akumal, and coldest 43 in Browning Pass. Best viz was, as always, in the caves; but in open water, the very best viz I saw this year was probably a dive we did in September in our local mudhole, where I swear the viz was 100 pale green feet.
Highlight of the year were Browning Wall (which is as fabulous as the articles say it is); a site I think was called Ed's Wall off Monterey, where we did the long fall to 160, and then cruised incredible topography in clear, cold water, among hundreds of rockfish (thank you, KMD!); doing the bomber in Lake Washington, which was a rite of passage; doing the Blue Abyss line in Mexico, which gave me goosebumps; watching a Giant Pacific Octopus trying to simultaneously remove a good friend's mask AND regulator in Hood Canal; and last but not least, spending 20 minutes watching octopus eggs hatch, and the tiny octopuslets striving mightily to swim UP into the water column, like tiny underwater fireflies doing the samba.
It was a good year.
Deepest dive this year was 160. Longest was 140. Warmest about 80 off Akumal, and coldest 43 in Browning Pass. Best viz was, as always, in the caves; but in open water, the very best viz I saw this year was probably a dive we did in September in our local mudhole, where I swear the viz was 100 pale green feet.
Highlight of the year were Browning Wall (which is as fabulous as the articles say it is); a site I think was called Ed's Wall off Monterey, where we did the long fall to 160, and then cruised incredible topography in clear, cold water, among hundreds of rockfish (thank you, KMD!); doing the bomber in Lake Washington, which was a rite of passage; doing the Blue Abyss line in Mexico, which gave me goosebumps; watching a Giant Pacific Octopus trying to simultaneously remove a good friend's mask AND regulator in Hood Canal; and last but not least, spending 20 minutes watching octopus eggs hatch, and the tiny octopuslets striving mightily to swim UP into the water column, like tiny underwater fireflies doing the samba.
It was a good year.
Dive before that involved an aggressive shark, so basically it has been a bad week 
