BabyDuck
Contributor
written 6/5
jeff and i drove from durham friday, getting to summersville about 7pm. no problems on the road except for rain, and the drive was pleasant anyway since we have largely overlapping music taste. met paula and greg at the campground gate and what a fun pair! paula really is a blond at heart, and greg is quieter but hilariously funny. charlie and lena were there, and kristi came while we were in line to pay. set up camp between showers, jeff, paula, greg & i in one and charlie, kristi, and lena in another two down. both with easy bathhouse access (and good clean bathhouses with great water pressure, btw). we ate like kings & queens all weekend, both real food and junk - kristi had s'mores for her meal more than once. ok, the dives. next day (sat) we were at the dive shop around 9 & met pedro & kevin there. easy boat ride to the site. vis was about 60 feet, temps about 75, lots of reef fish, i found pirate treasure, and jeff hooked up with a mermaid. no, really. ok, actually, vis sucked due to all the rain this spring (maybe 6 feet - what do you think, guys?) i was going down slow because of clearing - i think that's just my norm, i wasn't stuffy or anything. i have to try to go down head first to get down (perfect weighting at 18.5 lb) but can't clear that way so i sort of rock back & forth until i can start dropping horizontally. anyway, jeff was my buddy & by the time i got down, the swimthrough was a traffic jam and we turned away from it. we were looking at the rocks and suddenly he was gone. i looked around a bit, then ran into paula & greg. they hadn't seen him either. when i got up, there he was - had issues & couldn't tell me about them before he had to go. the vis was just that good. if you didn't stay on someone's fins, you lost them. so in the end, that evening, i followed him since i could see his fins but my jets just blended into the darkness (mwa ha ha! the dark side wins!). second brief dive there with jeff & charlie. charlie & i found a little undercut (it might have been a cave or swimthrough but we just went in the mouth and turned around). and lost jeff. so we came out, went up, and found him again. (did good holding most stops, feel good about that.) lena had been swimming some with the captain watching & swimming, too. switched tanks, had another fairly short dive, then paula, greg, lena, & i jumped off rocks (and i fell) for a while as everyone geared down. then the anchor got caught on something and pedro went back down to clear it. yay, pedro! we left the site & went back to the pier. kevin & pedro left, and we went to the campground and ate sandwiches. then jeff, greg, lena, & paula went kayaking while kristi took a powernap and charlie & i waded. the water was much colder without a wetsuit! after they got back, we went for a shore dive. that was actually the best one as far as keeping up with my buddy or my buddy with me. not a whole helluva lot to see though. to give you an idea, jeff saw a subway cup and left it so the next person would have something to look at! yummy grilled steaks and sausage and potatoes with cheese & bacon and dirt cake and s'mores, and a few beers for some folks, and two of paula's friends rode up on their bikes. they had the cutest little tent, and finished up the leftovers. an early start for jeff & me this morning to get me back for work, and a pleasant drive again but without the rain. so the diving wasn't very good because of vis mainly, but i learned a whole lot and had a wonderful time. thanks again to the smiths for the planning, to the wv girls for the cooking, to the guys for occasionally giving me a hand with gear, and to lena for being so gosh-darned cute.
jeff and i drove from durham friday, getting to summersville about 7pm. no problems on the road except for rain, and the drive was pleasant anyway since we have largely overlapping music taste. met paula and greg at the campground gate and what a fun pair! paula really is a blond at heart, and greg is quieter but hilariously funny. charlie and lena were there, and kristi came while we were in line to pay. set up camp between showers, jeff, paula, greg & i in one and charlie, kristi, and lena in another two down. both with easy bathhouse access (and good clean bathhouses with great water pressure, btw). we ate like kings & queens all weekend, both real food and junk - kristi had s'mores for her meal more than once. ok, the dives. next day (sat) we were at the dive shop around 9 & met pedro & kevin there. easy boat ride to the site. vis was about 60 feet, temps about 75, lots of reef fish, i found pirate treasure, and jeff hooked up with a mermaid. no, really. ok, actually, vis sucked due to all the rain this spring (maybe 6 feet - what do you think, guys?) i was going down slow because of clearing - i think that's just my norm, i wasn't stuffy or anything. i have to try to go down head first to get down (perfect weighting at 18.5 lb) but can't clear that way so i sort of rock back & forth until i can start dropping horizontally. anyway, jeff was my buddy & by the time i got down, the swimthrough was a traffic jam and we turned away from it. we were looking at the rocks and suddenly he was gone. i looked around a bit, then ran into paula & greg. they hadn't seen him either. when i got up, there he was - had issues & couldn't tell me about them before he had to go. the vis was just that good. if you didn't stay on someone's fins, you lost them. so in the end, that evening, i followed him since i could see his fins but my jets just blended into the darkness (mwa ha ha! the dark side wins!). second brief dive there with jeff & charlie. charlie & i found a little undercut (it might have been a cave or swimthrough but we just went in the mouth and turned around). and lost jeff. so we came out, went up, and found him again. (did good holding most stops, feel good about that.) lena had been swimming some with the captain watching & swimming, too. switched tanks, had another fairly short dive, then paula, greg, lena, & i jumped off rocks (and i fell) for a while as everyone geared down. then the anchor got caught on something and pedro went back down to clear it. yay, pedro! we left the site & went back to the pier. kevin & pedro left, and we went to the campground and ate sandwiches. then jeff, greg, lena, & paula went kayaking while kristi took a powernap and charlie & i waded. the water was much colder without a wetsuit! after they got back, we went for a shore dive. that was actually the best one as far as keeping up with my buddy or my buddy with me. not a whole helluva lot to see though. to give you an idea, jeff saw a subway cup and left it so the next person would have something to look at! yummy grilled steaks and sausage and potatoes with cheese & bacon and dirt cake and s'mores, and a few beers for some folks, and two of paula's friends rode up on their bikes. they had the cutest little tent, and finished up the leftovers. an early start for jeff & me this morning to get me back for work, and a pleasant drive again but without the rain. so the diving wasn't very good because of vis mainly, but i learned a whole lot and had a wonderful time. thanks again to the smiths for the planning, to the wv girls for the cooking, to the guys for occasionally giving me a hand with gear, and to lena for being so gosh-darned cute.
