Well, we got to Hibiscus a little late (around 3:30pm Sunday) and decided to try a shore dive.
I had brought a good friend and fellow diver, Greg, with me. He's been in the area for a while but has never hooked up with our group, so I thought that it migtht be a good place for introductions. Scubaguy and ScbaBabe called us en route and stopped by to say hello, even though they didn't go into the water. (This is twice that those guys have proven that they were smarter than me by knowing when NOT to dive. I like having dive buddies like that. Now, I just need to learn to watch them and follow their example!)
We decided to gear up at the shelter on Hibiscus despite the presence of surfers at the bouys (Y'know - I think surfers bring the bad viz! They're bad omens for shore diving.) and headed out to the bouy.
Viz was, conservatively, about 1 foot. We went a little past the bouy, dived to the bottom, couldn't see our hands in front of our masks, and decided to call the dive. On the way back, a wave DESTROYED my dive flag, but other than that, it was a good dive. (By my definition, any dive where all divers return to shore safely, still breathing, is a good dive!)
I have to tip my cap to ScubaGuy, who recovered the remains of my dive float and helped me look for the missing pieces, to his lovely bride ScbaBabe, for not laughing at us too much, and to say 'Hi' to DiveMonkey, who had the best t-shirt that I've see yet, and to send my regrets to Marvel and MikeJacobs, who we tried to catch but missed.
I tried to convince Greg that shore diving really IS great at L by the S, but I'm not sure that he believes me. I'll be sure to introduce him around to the rest of the group soon.
BTW, I saw CincyDiver and AlgalBloom at Hollywood on Saturday while enjoying a little beach time with my lovely bride of 16 years (as of Friday). We watched their surface swim but had to leave the beach to meet a deadline. Glad to hear that you guys made it back and survived the surface swim roller coaster.
My best to all,
Grier
My gauge read about 78 degrees F. The rock pilings were a lot of fun to explore. I just didn't want to leave! I almost got to meet Grier, too, as he recognized Chris just as we were starting our surface swim out! Too bad I couldn't stick around and talk. I even found a nice little dive shop who gave me a free fill, albeit, 500 psi to top off my almost full tank. It was a great dive day in my book! Thanks, Chris!
