BabyDuck
Contributor
i had a blast! got to morehead fri afternoon around 5 & went looking for my buds in the dive dorm. finally found ken [kwickert] (he had said he'd try to be in caribsea, so i went in & started rooting through someone's stuff to see if it was his, and it wasn't. oops!) and grabbed a bunk. then he & i went for a few drinks at raps (this is a theme). nice being laid back & chatting after 3 1/2 hours driving.
then on to the dinner, a walk of a few blocks. lauren (from olympus) & gerry [underh20] are manning the table when i get there so i feel so loved. very nice to be greeted by name, and lauren is sooo good with names. ken & i get a drink (keep the theme in mind) and look at the museum stuff. local history, pretty cool. there's a map that happens to have the teeny bath peninsula on it, so i show ken. he acts appropriately impressed (good acting skills on his part). then i stand in line to meet john chatterton & richie kohler. with moonie, the scubaboard gnome. kinda surreal. diane norwood (michael's widow) tells me the next day that he was infamous for taking pictures of his nekkid butt when someone left a camera unattended. she was wondering 'how did she know that in order to bring that gnome?' hee hee. tom [fspndiver] got a great picture of me, john, and moonie being kissed on the butt by richie. i'll post it later. they were as nice as you always hear, very approachable.
a few more drinks, betting in the silent auction (a reg, several 'history channel' hats and tshirts, a few 'hc' denim jackets,some dvd's, a nitek plus, a trip...some cool stuff. i bet on the nitek) and dinner. a buffet, quite nice for that type of thing. i was sitting next to tony from chicago and david from i forget where but must be local because i've been on a boat with him this summer, and across from tom. ken was at my back. moonie was on the table. he garnered a lot of attention - everybody wanted to know the story of the pantsless gnome!
then a raffle for dan stuff, and the silent auction. i won the nitek! for $260! how cool is that! of course, now i need to take a class so i can actually use the gas switch capabilities of my new computer. which i'm using as a watch because it's so freakin' cool. and which i switched to the strap i got at ginnie because once again the plastic was so very very long.
after keylime pie (quite yum), we heard a few words from diane about michael, and a few words from john & richie about deep sea detectives and some upcoming episodes and the stuff they're currently doing. they're working on specials for hc and showed us about 10 min of a rough cut of one on the titanic. there's perhaps some new evidence about how it sank - we'll see in feb when the whole thing airs, so be on the lookout.
i've been so sleepy since the time changed - once it gets dark, i'm history - so it was bedtime for me. 0530 came around, and i was up & at 'em. i was on the olympus with john c, ken, gerry, tom, and a few others.
richie & another group were on the midnight. it was brisk, but not cold. i was using nitrox for the first official time! figured out how to tell the computer that, read the instructions while going to the site - again - and no queasiness issues thank god. oh, and i used a marine head for the first time since it was big enough to not have to stand on the toilet to close the door. i know y'all look forward to all my milestones, so i'm including this one. to the 352 first. i had a bit of trouble clearing my left. i've been taking some claritin & sudafed because it's just that time of year for me, and it was only 'overflow clearing', just enough to not hurt until i went a few more feet. i was clearing every breath and huffing like i'd been running to keep clearing, keep clearing... finally i kept the pressure up almost enough to blow something up - squeak, nothing, nothing, CLEAR! ooh, it hurt so good. i made a noise that would have been at home on a porn soundtrack. i was worried that the water would be cold, but lowest temp for the first was...hang on while i ask my watch...68. ave depth 72, deepest 113, 30%, 33 min. it gave me a stop but cleared on the way up. ken & i went up quite slow since he had a stop that cleared, too. saw my first shark in nc waters! tom & ken got pics of moonie on the conning tower & in one of the holes, i dunno which one. there were no lion fish and i don't care what anyone else says. the reports of lion fish in nc are all lies and doctored tapes.
nice si except my feet were getting cold in the wet booties after an hour or so. i thought of squirting a little hot water in them, but it was almost time to go back in so i didn't bother. gerry got a pic of me smoking because i put the pack in the top of my bathing suit so it wouldn't get all wet. it fascinated him for some reason. i'm sure he'll post it. better cheddars, cookies, flavordy water...mmm. and saw lots of dolphins playing around the boat and a *huge* turtle!
second dive was on the papoose. this was my first time on it, and from what i saw i liked it. i'm ready to go back. there were several sand tigers off the wreck on the sand (duh! hence the name, maybe?), and i found four pretty big teeth. we posed moonie on the sand with teeth on his back and butt. ken tried to get shots with the sharks in the background, but i'm not sure how successful that was. then up on the wreck itself. saw queen angels both big and little, spadefish, other fish i don't know, but no lion fish. i couldn't unsnap my spg because my shark teeth were in my left hand. i tried to get ken to do it, but i couldn't make him understand what i wanted. finally got it undone with my right and baby, that was a stretch. still had lots & lots of gas left, but was short on time. ken & i turned and tom stayed down. he said that as soon as we turned he saw lion fish, but this is a conspiracy and an obvious falsehood. only barracuda of the day on this hang. 69 degrees, ave 71 feet, 30% again, 117 deepest, 32 min. i actually went ahead and broke down my stuff instead of waiting until i could see land, then rinsed real good and changed back into clothes. tom, ken, and i sat in the stern pretty much the whole trip back drinking 'nasty natties' (natural lights. ick). this was tom's idea. i was able to get down 2/3 or so of mine, then ken chugged the rest. (theme)
food was set up on the pier when we got back, but i took a shower first. updated moonie's log, got john & richie to sign it, ate barbecue & fried chicken. i was getting cold and the party was breaking up, so we made plans to meet at raps. i called mel [suthnbelle] & told her, and she called frank [bigwhitesquare]. i started with a coffee drink, because i was chilly. gerry, jim, and larry (two instructors from the winston area he knows & we've met at bluestone) came. gerry got a coffee drink, too, so now we know that his hetero orientation is all a front. then the serious drinking started. (theme music swells.) mel & frank came, ken came, al from pittsburgh sat in, we got moved to a bigger table, we had fights about the bartender's chest origin (i think they're fake), we drank, a few snacks, and talked and talked and talked. actually, i turned in kinda early, about 10 or so. mel said she & gerry actually went back to raps & had a few more drinks! i bet moonie made them do it - he's kinda a party animal.
i hugged folks goodbye at 0530 since they were going out again & went back to sleep. hee hee! got up at 7 & left for durham. it was a great trip. my gear is drying, i have some great pics, a new computer, and wonderful stuff for the memory banks.
then on to the dinner, a walk of a few blocks. lauren (from olympus) & gerry [underh20] are manning the table when i get there so i feel so loved. very nice to be greeted by name, and lauren is sooo good with names. ken & i get a drink (keep the theme in mind) and look at the museum stuff. local history, pretty cool. there's a map that happens to have the teeny bath peninsula on it, so i show ken. he acts appropriately impressed (good acting skills on his part). then i stand in line to meet john chatterton & richie kohler. with moonie, the scubaboard gnome. kinda surreal. diane norwood (michael's widow) tells me the next day that he was infamous for taking pictures of his nekkid butt when someone left a camera unattended. she was wondering 'how did she know that in order to bring that gnome?' hee hee. tom [fspndiver] got a great picture of me, john, and moonie being kissed on the butt by richie. i'll post it later. they were as nice as you always hear, very approachable.
a few more drinks, betting in the silent auction (a reg, several 'history channel' hats and tshirts, a few 'hc' denim jackets,some dvd's, a nitek plus, a trip...some cool stuff. i bet on the nitek) and dinner. a buffet, quite nice for that type of thing. i was sitting next to tony from chicago and david from i forget where but must be local because i've been on a boat with him this summer, and across from tom. ken was at my back. moonie was on the table. he garnered a lot of attention - everybody wanted to know the story of the pantsless gnome!
then a raffle for dan stuff, and the silent auction. i won the nitek! for $260! how cool is that! of course, now i need to take a class so i can actually use the gas switch capabilities of my new computer. which i'm using as a watch because it's so freakin' cool. and which i switched to the strap i got at ginnie because once again the plastic was so very very long.
after keylime pie (quite yum), we heard a few words from diane about michael, and a few words from john & richie about deep sea detectives and some upcoming episodes and the stuff they're currently doing. they're working on specials for hc and showed us about 10 min of a rough cut of one on the titanic. there's perhaps some new evidence about how it sank - we'll see in feb when the whole thing airs, so be on the lookout.
i've been so sleepy since the time changed - once it gets dark, i'm history - so it was bedtime for me. 0530 came around, and i was up & at 'em. i was on the olympus with john c, ken, gerry, tom, and a few others.
richie & another group were on the midnight. it was brisk, but not cold. i was using nitrox for the first official time! figured out how to tell the computer that, read the instructions while going to the site - again - and no queasiness issues thank god. oh, and i used a marine head for the first time since it was big enough to not have to stand on the toilet to close the door. i know y'all look forward to all my milestones, so i'm including this one. to the 352 first. i had a bit of trouble clearing my left. i've been taking some claritin & sudafed because it's just that time of year for me, and it was only 'overflow clearing', just enough to not hurt until i went a few more feet. i was clearing every breath and huffing like i'd been running to keep clearing, keep clearing... finally i kept the pressure up almost enough to blow something up - squeak, nothing, nothing, CLEAR! ooh, it hurt so good. i made a noise that would have been at home on a porn soundtrack. i was worried that the water would be cold, but lowest temp for the first was...hang on while i ask my watch...68. ave depth 72, deepest 113, 30%, 33 min. it gave me a stop but cleared on the way up. ken & i went up quite slow since he had a stop that cleared, too. saw my first shark in nc waters! tom & ken got pics of moonie on the conning tower & in one of the holes, i dunno which one. there were no lion fish and i don't care what anyone else says. the reports of lion fish in nc are all lies and doctored tapes. nice si except my feet were getting cold in the wet booties after an hour or so. i thought of squirting a little hot water in them, but it was almost time to go back in so i didn't bother. gerry got a pic of me smoking because i put the pack in the top of my bathing suit so it wouldn't get all wet. it fascinated him for some reason. i'm sure he'll post it. better cheddars, cookies, flavordy water...mmm. and saw lots of dolphins playing around the boat and a *huge* turtle!
second dive was on the papoose. this was my first time on it, and from what i saw i liked it. i'm ready to go back. there were several sand tigers off the wreck on the sand (duh! hence the name, maybe?), and i found four pretty big teeth. we posed moonie on the sand with teeth on his back and butt. ken tried to get shots with the sharks in the background, but i'm not sure how successful that was. then up on the wreck itself. saw queen angels both big and little, spadefish, other fish i don't know, but no lion fish. i couldn't unsnap my spg because my shark teeth were in my left hand. i tried to get ken to do it, but i couldn't make him understand what i wanted. finally got it undone with my right and baby, that was a stretch. still had lots & lots of gas left, but was short on time. ken & i turned and tom stayed down. he said that as soon as we turned he saw lion fish, but this is a conspiracy and an obvious falsehood. only barracuda of the day on this hang. 69 degrees, ave 71 feet, 30% again, 117 deepest, 32 min. i actually went ahead and broke down my stuff instead of waiting until i could see land, then rinsed real good and changed back into clothes. tom, ken, and i sat in the stern pretty much the whole trip back drinking 'nasty natties' (natural lights. ick). this was tom's idea. i was able to get down 2/3 or so of mine, then ken chugged the rest. (theme)
food was set up on the pier when we got back, but i took a shower first. updated moonie's log, got john & richie to sign it, ate barbecue & fried chicken. i was getting cold and the party was breaking up, so we made plans to meet at raps. i called mel [suthnbelle] & told her, and she called frank [bigwhitesquare]. i started with a coffee drink, because i was chilly. gerry, jim, and larry (two instructors from the winston area he knows & we've met at bluestone) came. gerry got a coffee drink, too, so now we know that his hetero orientation is all a front. then the serious drinking started. (theme music swells.) mel & frank came, ken came, al from pittsburgh sat in, we got moved to a bigger table, we had fights about the bartender's chest origin (i think they're fake), we drank, a few snacks, and talked and talked and talked. actually, i turned in kinda early, about 10 or so. mel said she & gerry actually went back to raps & had a few more drinks! i bet moonie made them do it - he's kinda a party animal.
i hugged folks goodbye at 0530 since they were going out again & went back to sleep. hee hee! got up at 7 & left for durham. it was a great trip. my gear is drying, i have some great pics, a new computer, and wonderful stuff for the memory banks.
