This dive was not for the faint at heart.
Sunday afternoons dive was one of a surprise. A planned drift dive turned out to be somewhat along the lines of diving in a Haunted House. How fitting right here at Halloween. Pre-dive gear inspections found everything to be in order. Why is it I always blind myself when I check the batteries in my dive lights? Thats right Robyn, look right into the light when you turn it on. DUH. Dont laugh, I know you all do it too. LOL My dive buddy was good enough to hook up my tank and my regs to my bc and guilt me into finishing. Hahaha
Our chauffer LOL drove us around the island until we picked the right spot to get in the water. We requested a pick up time for an hour later. It was a very warm day, approx 79 degrees with no wind and the water temps were nice at 72 degrees. SeaJay was my dive buddy and as usual, he was in the water first. One final check before my giant stride found my tank to be off. Glad I checked that. Reach back and turn it on. OK inflate my wing. Check. Brace for impact. LOL SPLASH. OOOO that feels so good. Clear the mask. You OK? we checked back and forth. Since we were starting closer to our exit point than we originally thought, we planned to dive into the current to explore before we turned and drifted with the current to our exit point at the landing. Signals flashed back and forth assured OK and Divers Down. We took hands and began to descend.
The tide was on its way back in but the water looked nice and calm. However, the current was pretty strong and during the dive it gained a lot of momentum. This time last year the visibility wasnt bad. A nice comfortable drift dive rendered us the ability to see a lot of cool stuff. Yesterday, at 4 PM in the afternoon the water was black inches from the surface. On the way down I could not see my buddys light if it were not in front of us. I on the right, he on the left; if his light was facing off to his left, I would not have been able to see it at all. Sinking toward the bottom I couldnt really tell at first that we were going down until my ears began to equalize. It takes me a moment to clear my ears and were descending again. As we get down to the bottom, first thing, we landed on a small ray. It felt like it may have been approximately 3 feet in span. I say felt like because visibility was less than a foot and I couldnt see it all. It quickly darted away and I could see the shells on the bottom. I adjusted my buoyancy so I could hover just off the bottom.
We checked all our gauges to verify depth, 23 feet; psi 3000; time, and direction on the compass. The first five minutes were spent with SJ adjusting and playing with his new ATX 200 and 50 dialing it in just right. Then we checked gauges once more and signaled the direction we would head in. Right off I saw a large Toad Fish and several small fish just hanging out in the current. All of a sudden, I heard it. The sound of a motor boat crossing overhead. We did the typical signals for stop and we planted ourselves on the bottom. All I could think of was, Usually I hear it before it gets that close why didnt I hear this one before now? Pay attention Robyn. That dive flag is in the trunk. You never use it drift diving here because people would park on top of you to check it out. Why do you regret not having that flag? Ok boats gone. Why do you do that to yourself? You are 23 feet deep and its gone in seconds. $hit what was that? (She begins to laugh because she psyched herself out.)
Next I saw a really large shrimp, approximately 8 inches in length, his red and blue legs swimming manically in the current with his eyes stretched out as far as possible. I pointed out my find to SJ as the vis was so poor that it was hard to see anything that wasnt directly in front of your light. The shrimp darted away and there was another to take its place. I thought, hum, maybe you need to go home and get the shrimp net after the dive. It wasnt long that I was attacked by large shrimp impelling me all over. I can tell you that $hit and &amn are word heard quite plainly even when said with a regulator in ones mouth. Hahaha. That hurt. Really. You get poked by those little hypodermic spinney horns on a shrimps head and you too will say ouch among other things. LOL
After the attack, I guess they felt that they had made it clear that this was their territory, they didnt bother me anymore. However, there were a few times that something in the water darted into me and I must admit that I would jump. Then I would find myself taking on water when my masked leaked from me laughing at jumping in the water. Spooked? Yes. I have never been spooked in the water but something about yesterdays dive made me feel as though with every bump in the dark and every eek, $hit and &amn that something was in the black water with us. Watching. Waiting. I will admit that I questioned in my mind. Saltwater crock? Wheres that pond gator?' As if it would be in the saltwater creek with us. LOL
At one point SJ's light quit working and it was very dark with only my light. I signaled for him to stop and I handed him my light. I reached over and got my backup light and turned it on so we both had lights. The entire time I made sure to keep my arm looped in his so we didn't get separated. I was glad to have two lights that's for sure. I dont know what it was but yesterdays dive was spooky. Quite thrilling and very exciting. With no visibility except what my light was shining directly on it left me a little unnerved, which made the overall dive very fun to say the least. It has been too long since I was in the water.
Continuing the dive and verifying our direction with the compass regularly we got quite a work out swimming into the current. At approximately 26 minutes into the dive we surfaced to find that we had been swimming mostly in place. GO figure. LOL Yep the current had picked up and we hadnt ventured far from out starting point. We began to laugh at everything going on down there. It was hilarious. We assessed the situation with the current and decided that it was moving so fast that it would sweep us away from our exit point and with no vis it would not be a good or safe situation in the end. We decided to end the dive early and swim on the surface to the landing. All the way discussing all the fun things we had just experienced and finding out that it wasnt just one of us that felt spooked down there but both.
I will tell you this, I thought about some of the new divers that had shown interest in diving with us but some had issues or apprehensions about diving in dark waters. This would not have been the best dive for any one who is uncomfortable about diving in low/no vis water. If we were spooked, a newbie afraid of dark water would have been scared, I think. Something about the water felt ominous. I dont know, but I sure did enjoy myself. (She finishes realizing that the grin on her face is huge.)
Too bad you guys canceled. We had a great dive. Get your wetsuits and come dive with us. R
Sunday afternoons dive was one of a surprise. A planned drift dive turned out to be somewhat along the lines of diving in a Haunted House. How fitting right here at Halloween. Pre-dive gear inspections found everything to be in order. Why is it I always blind myself when I check the batteries in my dive lights? Thats right Robyn, look right into the light when you turn it on. DUH. Dont laugh, I know you all do it too. LOL My dive buddy was good enough to hook up my tank and my regs to my bc and guilt me into finishing. Hahaha
Our chauffer LOL drove us around the island until we picked the right spot to get in the water. We requested a pick up time for an hour later. It was a very warm day, approx 79 degrees with no wind and the water temps were nice at 72 degrees. SeaJay was my dive buddy and as usual, he was in the water first. One final check before my giant stride found my tank to be off. Glad I checked that. Reach back and turn it on. OK inflate my wing. Check. Brace for impact. LOL SPLASH. OOOO that feels so good. Clear the mask. You OK? we checked back and forth. Since we were starting closer to our exit point than we originally thought, we planned to dive into the current to explore before we turned and drifted with the current to our exit point at the landing. Signals flashed back and forth assured OK and Divers Down. We took hands and began to descend.
The tide was on its way back in but the water looked nice and calm. However, the current was pretty strong and during the dive it gained a lot of momentum. This time last year the visibility wasnt bad. A nice comfortable drift dive rendered us the ability to see a lot of cool stuff. Yesterday, at 4 PM in the afternoon the water was black inches from the surface. On the way down I could not see my buddys light if it were not in front of us. I on the right, he on the left; if his light was facing off to his left, I would not have been able to see it at all. Sinking toward the bottom I couldnt really tell at first that we were going down until my ears began to equalize. It takes me a moment to clear my ears and were descending again. As we get down to the bottom, first thing, we landed on a small ray. It felt like it may have been approximately 3 feet in span. I say felt like because visibility was less than a foot and I couldnt see it all. It quickly darted away and I could see the shells on the bottom. I adjusted my buoyancy so I could hover just off the bottom.
We checked all our gauges to verify depth, 23 feet; psi 3000; time, and direction on the compass. The first five minutes were spent with SJ adjusting and playing with his new ATX 200 and 50 dialing it in just right. Then we checked gauges once more and signaled the direction we would head in. Right off I saw a large Toad Fish and several small fish just hanging out in the current. All of a sudden, I heard it. The sound of a motor boat crossing overhead. We did the typical signals for stop and we planted ourselves on the bottom. All I could think of was, Usually I hear it before it gets that close why didnt I hear this one before now? Pay attention Robyn. That dive flag is in the trunk. You never use it drift diving here because people would park on top of you to check it out. Why do you regret not having that flag? Ok boats gone. Why do you do that to yourself? You are 23 feet deep and its gone in seconds. $hit what was that? (She begins to laugh because she psyched herself out.)
Next I saw a really large shrimp, approximately 8 inches in length, his red and blue legs swimming manically in the current with his eyes stretched out as far as possible. I pointed out my find to SJ as the vis was so poor that it was hard to see anything that wasnt directly in front of your light. The shrimp darted away and there was another to take its place. I thought, hum, maybe you need to go home and get the shrimp net after the dive. It wasnt long that I was attacked by large shrimp impelling me all over. I can tell you that $hit and &amn are word heard quite plainly even when said with a regulator in ones mouth. Hahaha. That hurt. Really. You get poked by those little hypodermic spinney horns on a shrimps head and you too will say ouch among other things. LOL
After the attack, I guess they felt that they had made it clear that this was their territory, they didnt bother me anymore. However, there were a few times that something in the water darted into me and I must admit that I would jump. Then I would find myself taking on water when my masked leaked from me laughing at jumping in the water. Spooked? Yes. I have never been spooked in the water but something about yesterdays dive made me feel as though with every bump in the dark and every eek, $hit and &amn that something was in the black water with us. Watching. Waiting. I will admit that I questioned in my mind. Saltwater crock? Wheres that pond gator?' As if it would be in the saltwater creek with us. LOL
At one point SJ's light quit working and it was very dark with only my light. I signaled for him to stop and I handed him my light. I reached over and got my backup light and turned it on so we both had lights. The entire time I made sure to keep my arm looped in his so we didn't get separated. I was glad to have two lights that's for sure. I dont know what it was but yesterdays dive was spooky. Quite thrilling and very exciting. With no visibility except what my light was shining directly on it left me a little unnerved, which made the overall dive very fun to say the least. It has been too long since I was in the water.
Continuing the dive and verifying our direction with the compass regularly we got quite a work out swimming into the current. At approximately 26 minutes into the dive we surfaced to find that we had been swimming mostly in place. GO figure. LOL Yep the current had picked up and we hadnt ventured far from out starting point. We began to laugh at everything going on down there. It was hilarious. We assessed the situation with the current and decided that it was moving so fast that it would sweep us away from our exit point and with no vis it would not be a good or safe situation in the end. We decided to end the dive early and swim on the surface to the landing. All the way discussing all the fun things we had just experienced and finding out that it wasnt just one of us that felt spooked down there but both. I will tell you this, I thought about some of the new divers that had shown interest in diving with us but some had issues or apprehensions about diving in dark waters. This would not have been the best dive for any one who is uncomfortable about diving in low/no vis water. If we were spooked, a newbie afraid of dark water would have been scared, I think. Something about the water felt ominous. I dont know, but I sure did enjoy myself. (She finishes realizing that the grin on her face is huge.)
Too bad you guys canceled. We had a great dive. Get your wetsuits and come dive with us. R
