So there I was lying in bed, it was Saturday night almost midnight and everything was packed and ready to go. 'I'm going diving, I'm going diving.' I was going over my list in my head: 'I cleaned my light and replaced the batteries, checked the straps on my mask, should I take a backup mask? Nah, I have extra straps in save- a-dive kit. Extra o-rings - check; Got my NEW FINS - check; Both suits - check; meds-check; gloves, booties, hood - check.
' My mind begins to wonder, 'the air smells salty, can you smell it? Look the porpoise are playing in our wake. Are we there yet? Gear up. Get in. Divers down...' Oh, where was I, 'gloves, booties, hood. Robyn stop this you have everything. You need to get some sleep.
' I snuggled into my velvet covers in my sea of pillows and closed my eyes tight. I tried to relax and drift off to sleep. I laid there trying to go to sleep for what seemed a long time and I just couldn't sleep. I peeked at the clock only to realize that I had been lying there for a mer ten minutes. 'Girl you've got to get some sleep.' Finally, I fell fast asleep. Beep, Beep, Beep. I jumped out of bed and turned off the alarm. It's 5:30 A.M., I have to be there by 6:45. Go, Hurry. 'I'm going diving, I'm going diving.' I rushed to take a shower and rush to my bedroom to dress. Everything was laid out ready to put on. I don't know about you but I have certain things I pretty much always wear when I go on a diving trip. Same swimsuits, dive sweats, gerkies, ballcap, etc. I'm going diving, I'm going diving. Feed the dog, scratch the cat, hugs and kisses bye. Don't forget your provisions in the fridge. Ah, broccoli for breakfast to feed your body, veggie snack for lunch and plenty of water. But this morning I am treating myself to hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme for breakfast too.
Call my buddy, 'I'm on my way.' Gez there's hardly anyone on the road but the few who are - ARE STILL ASLEEP! 'People could you please get out of my way, I'm going diving!' I get to the boat and the first issue to deal with..."I'm not breaking down my gear bag. There's plenty of room for everyone and everything and I bought a gear bag to keep my gear together. I don't care, call me a b***h but I am not dragging my gear to the boat in pieces. Oh and by the way, this is my thermal bag to use to get warm after the dives so I have two bags. ' Great. Waiting for others to arrive is a pain.
OK it's time to go. Untie the boat. No wake zones suck. I like speed but with speed comes cold air. 'It wasn't this cold on shore.' That's OK I'll use my thermal bag to keep warm. I jumped into my bag and zipped it up. 'We have about an hour til we get there, I'll just take a nap.' I snuggled into my bag and went to sleep. About 45 minutes later I wake as the boat begins to slow down. 'Are we there?' They are calling out coordinates. See the blip on the depth finder, that must be it. 60 feet of depth - look how long it is. That's got to be it. My heart begins to pound. 'Wake up were there.' I jump to my feet as they begin to throw the anchor in. As I quickly undress, I realize it is colder than I thought it would be. 'That's OK the sun will come out and burn off the haze while we're in the water and we can warm in the sun when we come up.' "SJ, I'm gonna where my 2nd suit only so I can put on a drysuit when we surface that way I can use it to warm up and when we do the second dive I can put the wet one on top to keep warm in the water. What do you think about that? Whatever you think is best." He mutters. He's busy at the moment. We gear up and I double check my buddy before he gets in. Air on - check, reg clear - check, all clear to roll in. (Splash) "I'm right behind you." I rinse my mask once more and prepare to backward roll into the ocean. (Splash) 'That was the best bw entry you've ever done girl.' I was proud of myself. "s**t, the current is strong.' I grabbed hold of the rope on the side of the boat to keep the current from taking me away. It is too strong for me to swim in so I'll have to pull myself to the anchor line. The seepage from the water isn't as shocking as it usually is at first. But this water is much colder than he said it would be.
I met my buddy at the line..."You OK?" he asked. "Yep. But something feels strange." "Are you ready?" I asked him. "Yep" "Don't take off on me when you get down there in case we have to navigate over to the wreck. Ok?" I told him. "OK" he replied. Signal Ok, return signal. Signal Diver Down, return signal. As we expell the air from our BCs and plane out horizontally to descend down the anchor line. The aquablue water was full of jellyfish everywhere. Grab the light. 'Look at the moon jellies...that one's purple, that one's blue, that one's green. 'Look out' I signaled to my buddy, that jelly had tentacles three feet long. Oh my that mushroom jelly was as big as my head. ' My eyes began to widen as we sank deeper in the ocean the tug boat came clearly into view. Every time I descend upon a wreck I get this feeling that there are those who have lost their lives at sea tending the wreck. Keeping watch. It feels very much like the wreck has its own spirit and that we're not alone. The sheepshead are huge and there are sea urchins everywhere.
I signaled to him, "You swim over there, I'll follow." After a good once over around the boat, we began to take a closer look. I glanced at my wrist to notice that at seven minutes into the dive my body was beginning to quiver. 'OK girl, tough it out.' I noticed my buddy hovering above me, no doubt practicing his new DIR skills. 'Look I can helicopter turn too.' I demonstrat, showing off a little myself. I like to maintain my bouyancy close so I can get a good look. I only like to hover at a distance if I am observing. He looked great in the water. Ok back to business, 'look at that. And, ooo what is this? We began to inspect the wreck more closely. Ooo there's a hole I peered down only entering from the waist up to take a look. We were not prepared to penetrate that wreck today. The entire boat was encrusted and manned by several different species of fish. I looked at my psi and man was I sucking air. I tried to watch my air consumption but it was sooo cold. At approximately 18 minutes into the dive I was shaking uncontrollably and my buddy was not far behind me. We signaled to go up. Since we had gotten so cold and used so much air I signaled for a safety stop. I know 60 feet for 20 minutes a safety deco is not required but we had used almost 3200 psi and we were cold. After a minutes wait, we did a very slow ascent to complete the procedure just to be on the safe side.
Once we reached the surface. I was back in the current. The waves weren't high but the current was strong and at 95 lbs it sweeps me away quickly. I swam as hard as I could to the side of the boat and grabbed hold of the line once more to pull myself to the ladder. My hands were so cold that I could hardly unlatch my fin straps. I reached my weights up to the boat captain and began to climb up out of the water. 'Man this rig weighs a ton.' I thought as I pulled myself up the ladder. Once on the boat and out of my wetsuit, my body gave way to shaking so that I could hardly talk. "WWhaatt's thhhe watterr temmpp?" I mumbled. 50 degrees. They told me. "sh***tt! Whhatt happpennd tooo 65 - 70 SeeaJayy?" I asked him. But he was in about the same condition. I immediately pulled out the dry wetsuit... on it goes. Then I grabbed my socks. I couldn't even feel my feet as I put them on. Sweats and sweatshirt next. "Where's your clothes?" I asked him. He didn't bring any. I can't believe he didn't bring any. OK. "I have an extra coat. You take the thermal bag. Get in and zip up." We discussed the possibility of diving again after a surface interval. No one could decide what was best so I spoke for me..."III'mmmm notttt gettttting baaaackkkk innn thattt wattterrr." "MMEEE EEITTHEER." he chattered back. And at that moment we aborted the rest of the dive. This really sucked but safety first. Right? 'Where's the sun. The sun didn't come out.'
I almost froze my tushy off on the way back. I couldn't feel my feet. I reflected on what a great dive it was despite the cold. If the water was warmer and the sun had been out. WOW what a great dive this would have been. It wasn't bad as it was just cold.
When we got to shore, I put my gear in the car. "Do you want to take the gear to the island for the drift dive?" he asked me. (We had planned a drift dive anyway for that afternoon.) "I want to go to the house and check on my little man first, grab a bite to eat and warm up. " "OK", he said. "Give me a call and I'll see you later." I went home and jumped into a hot shower. I still couldn't feel my feet when I got out. I dawned my big red fuzzy VS robe and slippers and headed to the kitchen for a feast. I starve after a dive. Before I ate, I called SJ. No answer, I left a message..."I still can't feel my feet...I'm gonna eat call me back." I had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies and dip, chocolate cake and a tall glass of milk. Sorry all you DIR veggie people. Do what is best for you. More power to you. I support you. Do the same for me. OK?
I sat down on the bed and fell asleep sitting up. The phone rang and it was SJ. I jumped up and put some clothes on. I had dried all our wet gear so we didn't have to put on wet gear for the drift dive. The inland surface temperature was much warmer by this time and the inland waters were 55 degress. When we got there we check the gear and headed to the landing. This time I wore both suits to stay warmer. We entered the water and began the drift dive. The visibility was remarkable for these waters. We saw lots of interesting things. Right off the bat I found a shark's tooth. I was so excited. I showed SJ and he couldn't believe it. I always find the good stuff. Ask him about his ring from Blue Grotto sometime. As we drifted along there were large spider crabs and a really big stone crab. Some little fish and lots of interesting shells. At the end of the dive we came across an old tractor that was dumped in the river around the turn of the century by relatives that live on the island. All in all, this was a really cool dive. I wish you guys would have been there. After the dive we had to walk back to the cart and go get the rest of our gear. We were a little chilled by the time we got back to the house but nothing like earlier. It was early afternoon. So we decided to jump into the hot tub with a glass of wine and some good munchies and warm up. It was a great ending to a great diving day.
Two days later a herd of deer hit my car on a dead run in the passenger side and my week has gone to hell in a hand basket pardon the expression. BUT I did get to dive last Sunday!!!
R
' My mind begins to wonder, 'the air smells salty, can you smell it? Look the porpoise are playing in our wake. Are we there yet? Gear up. Get in. Divers down...' Oh, where was I, 'gloves, booties, hood. Robyn stop this you have everything. You need to get some sleep.
' I snuggled into my velvet covers in my sea of pillows and closed my eyes tight. I tried to relax and drift off to sleep. I laid there trying to go to sleep for what seemed a long time and I just couldn't sleep. I peeked at the clock only to realize that I had been lying there for a mer ten minutes. 'Girl you've got to get some sleep.' Finally, I fell fast asleep. Beep, Beep, Beep. I jumped out of bed and turned off the alarm. It's 5:30 A.M., I have to be there by 6:45. Go, Hurry. 'I'm going diving, I'm going diving.' I rushed to take a shower and rush to my bedroom to dress. Everything was laid out ready to put on. I don't know about you but I have certain things I pretty much always wear when I go on a diving trip. Same swimsuits, dive sweats, gerkies, ballcap, etc. I'm going diving, I'm going diving. Feed the dog, scratch the cat, hugs and kisses bye. Don't forget your provisions in the fridge. Ah, broccoli for breakfast to feed your body, veggie snack for lunch and plenty of water. But this morning I am treating myself to hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme for breakfast too.
Call my buddy, 'I'm on my way.' Gez there's hardly anyone on the road but the few who are - ARE STILL ASLEEP! 'People could you please get out of my way, I'm going diving!' I get to the boat and the first issue to deal with..."I'm not breaking down my gear bag. There's plenty of room for everyone and everything and I bought a gear bag to keep my gear together. I don't care, call me a b***h but I am not dragging my gear to the boat in pieces. Oh and by the way, this is my thermal bag to use to get warm after the dives so I have two bags. ' Great. Waiting for others to arrive is a pain.
OK it's time to go. Untie the boat. No wake zones suck. I like speed but with speed comes cold air. 'It wasn't this cold on shore.' That's OK I'll use my thermal bag to keep warm. I jumped into my bag and zipped it up. 'We have about an hour til we get there, I'll just take a nap.' I snuggled into my bag and went to sleep. About 45 minutes later I wake as the boat begins to slow down. 'Are we there?' They are calling out coordinates. See the blip on the depth finder, that must be it. 60 feet of depth - look how long it is. That's got to be it. My heart begins to pound. 'Wake up were there.' I jump to my feet as they begin to throw the anchor in. As I quickly undress, I realize it is colder than I thought it would be. 'That's OK the sun will come out and burn off the haze while we're in the water and we can warm in the sun when we come up.' "SJ, I'm gonna where my 2nd suit only so I can put on a drysuit when we surface that way I can use it to warm up and when we do the second dive I can put the wet one on top to keep warm in the water. What do you think about that? Whatever you think is best." He mutters. He's busy at the moment. We gear up and I double check my buddy before he gets in. Air on - check, reg clear - check, all clear to roll in. (Splash) "I'm right behind you." I rinse my mask once more and prepare to backward roll into the ocean. (Splash) 'That was the best bw entry you've ever done girl.' I was proud of myself. "s**t, the current is strong.' I grabbed hold of the rope on the side of the boat to keep the current from taking me away. It is too strong for me to swim in so I'll have to pull myself to the anchor line. The seepage from the water isn't as shocking as it usually is at first. But this water is much colder than he said it would be.
I met my buddy at the line..."You OK?" he asked. "Yep. But something feels strange." "Are you ready?" I asked him. "Yep" "Don't take off on me when you get down there in case we have to navigate over to the wreck. Ok?" I told him. "OK" he replied. Signal Ok, return signal. Signal Diver Down, return signal. As we expell the air from our BCs and plane out horizontally to descend down the anchor line. The aquablue water was full of jellyfish everywhere. Grab the light. 'Look at the moon jellies...that one's purple, that one's blue, that one's green. 'Look out' I signaled to my buddy, that jelly had tentacles three feet long. Oh my that mushroom jelly was as big as my head. ' My eyes began to widen as we sank deeper in the ocean the tug boat came clearly into view. Every time I descend upon a wreck I get this feeling that there are those who have lost their lives at sea tending the wreck. Keeping watch. It feels very much like the wreck has its own spirit and that we're not alone. The sheepshead are huge and there are sea urchins everywhere.
I signaled to him, "You swim over there, I'll follow." After a good once over around the boat, we began to take a closer look. I glanced at my wrist to notice that at seven minutes into the dive my body was beginning to quiver. 'OK girl, tough it out.' I noticed my buddy hovering above me, no doubt practicing his new DIR skills. 'Look I can helicopter turn too.' I demonstrat, showing off a little myself. I like to maintain my bouyancy close so I can get a good look. I only like to hover at a distance if I am observing. He looked great in the water. Ok back to business, 'look at that. And, ooo what is this? We began to inspect the wreck more closely. Ooo there's a hole I peered down only entering from the waist up to take a look. We were not prepared to penetrate that wreck today. The entire boat was encrusted and manned by several different species of fish. I looked at my psi and man was I sucking air. I tried to watch my air consumption but it was sooo cold. At approximately 18 minutes into the dive I was shaking uncontrollably and my buddy was not far behind me. We signaled to go up. Since we had gotten so cold and used so much air I signaled for a safety stop. I know 60 feet for 20 minutes a safety deco is not required but we had used almost 3200 psi and we were cold. After a minutes wait, we did a very slow ascent to complete the procedure just to be on the safe side.
Once we reached the surface. I was back in the current. The waves weren't high but the current was strong and at 95 lbs it sweeps me away quickly. I swam as hard as I could to the side of the boat and grabbed hold of the line once more to pull myself to the ladder. My hands were so cold that I could hardly unlatch my fin straps. I reached my weights up to the boat captain and began to climb up out of the water. 'Man this rig weighs a ton.' I thought as I pulled myself up the ladder. Once on the boat and out of my wetsuit, my body gave way to shaking so that I could hardly talk. "WWhaatt's thhhe watterr temmpp?" I mumbled. 50 degrees. They told me. "sh***tt! Whhatt happpennd tooo 65 - 70 SeeaJayy?" I asked him. But he was in about the same condition. I immediately pulled out the dry wetsuit... on it goes. Then I grabbed my socks. I couldn't even feel my feet as I put them on. Sweats and sweatshirt next. "Where's your clothes?" I asked him. He didn't bring any. I can't believe he didn't bring any. OK. "I have an extra coat. You take the thermal bag. Get in and zip up." We discussed the possibility of diving again after a surface interval. No one could decide what was best so I spoke for me..."III'mmmm notttt gettttting baaaackkkk innn thattt wattterrr." "MMEEE EEITTHEER." he chattered back. And at that moment we aborted the rest of the dive. This really sucked but safety first. Right? 'Where's the sun. The sun didn't come out.'
I almost froze my tushy off on the way back. I couldn't feel my feet. I reflected on what a great dive it was despite the cold. If the water was warmer and the sun had been out. WOW what a great dive this would have been. It wasn't bad as it was just cold.
When we got to shore, I put my gear in the car. "Do you want to take the gear to the island for the drift dive?" he asked me. (We had planned a drift dive anyway for that afternoon.) "I want to go to the house and check on my little man first, grab a bite to eat and warm up. " "OK", he said. "Give me a call and I'll see you later." I went home and jumped into a hot shower. I still couldn't feel my feet when I got out. I dawned my big red fuzzy VS robe and slippers and headed to the kitchen for a feast. I starve after a dive. Before I ate, I called SJ. No answer, I left a message..."I still can't feel my feet...I'm gonna eat call me back." I had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies and dip, chocolate cake and a tall glass of milk. Sorry all you DIR veggie people. Do what is best for you. More power to you. I support you. Do the same for me. OK?
I sat down on the bed and fell asleep sitting up. The phone rang and it was SJ. I jumped up and put some clothes on. I had dried all our wet gear so we didn't have to put on wet gear for the drift dive. The inland surface temperature was much warmer by this time and the inland waters were 55 degress. When we got there we check the gear and headed to the landing. This time I wore both suits to stay warmer. We entered the water and began the drift dive. The visibility was remarkable for these waters. We saw lots of interesting things. Right off the bat I found a shark's tooth. I was so excited. I showed SJ and he couldn't believe it. I always find the good stuff. Ask him about his ring from Blue Grotto sometime. As we drifted along there were large spider crabs and a really big stone crab. Some little fish and lots of interesting shells. At the end of the dive we came across an old tractor that was dumped in the river around the turn of the century by relatives that live on the island. All in all, this was a really cool dive. I wish you guys would have been there. After the dive we had to walk back to the cart and go get the rest of our gear. We were a little chilled by the time we got back to the house but nothing like earlier. It was early afternoon. So we decided to jump into the hot tub with a glass of wine and some good munchies and warm up. It was a great ending to a great diving day.
Two days later a herd of deer hit my car on a dead run in the passenger side and my week has gone to hell in a hand basket pardon the expression. BUT I did get to dive last Sunday!!!
R
