Diving right in, part deux
After about a year of planning (sort of), Kathy and I finally went diving together. We went with Tina Johnston, Kathy's usual partner, and a family of five vacationing from Ohio: Steve and Chris, the parents; Crystal, the daughter and her husband Jared; Steve, the son; and Amy, the other daughter. Chris explained that this was the first real family vacation they'd taken in a while since 2001, when everything went wrong.
Seems that Steve and Amy had some of the same symptoms that occur with fibromyalgia. They both lost the use of their arms for a while. At the same time, Amy went through a horrible divorce. The parents decided that if they all got through this, they'd take a long vacation to celebrate. Also, Steve, Amy, and Crystal got certified on this trip. A couple of divers from the boat, Joe and Kevin, hung out with us. I was grateful for that, since I'm not that strong of a diver and Joe was more experienced.
I had a lot of trouble with the first dive, a wreck dive in 70 feet of water. The wreck was sunk deliberately as part of the artificial reef program in 1986 and is named the Jay Scutti. It's a popular dive site since there are two other wrecks south and east of it, roughly 100-150 feet away. Two wrecks on one dive (assuming you stay underwater for about 40 minutes) is great incentive for the more adventurous divers. I couldn't sink since I didn't have enough weight to balance. I think I had about 16 lbs of extra weight on my weight belt (including my own body weight and the weight of the equipment I was carrying: the tank, BC, regulator), but I needed more. I followed the guide line down to the wreck, let go, and immediately floated to the surface. Good thing I didn't get the bends.
Finally got back down on the wreck after adding more weight and equalizing the pressure in my ears (by squeezing my nose and blowing hard). It's so beautiful down there. Descending, you see only the blue of the water (visibility was about 70 feet) and the bubbles of the divers below you. You watch the rope and eventually the brown shape of the boat comes into view. The boat itself is covered in coral, bow to stern; fish swim inside and out. This wreck supposedly had skates and rays on it, but I didn't see any.
I was seasick (again!) after the first dive. I discovered that Bonine with a Coca-Cola chaser helps this; so does closing my eyes until I'm back in the water. I debated snorkeling for the second dive, but Robert (the divemaster on the boat)suggested I dive, and I'm glad I did. The second dive was over Sunkissed Reef, which lies in 40-50 feet of water. You could see clearly to the bottom from the boat. The reef system is amazing. Coral ledges and valleys with basket sponges standing like vases; sea fans and assorted oceanic plant life swaying in the current. And the fish.
The fish are pretty used to humans by now, and don't scatter when you approach. I got very close to a pufferfish that was hiding inside a basket sponge, but swam away before we could touch it and inflate it. Two six-inch-wide gray angelfish (or parrotfish, I'm not sure of the species) swam near me. They're gorgeous: slate gray bodies with yellow dots and a yellow slash along the tail. Stoplight parrotfish and yellowtail snapper swam in schools. A shovelnose lobster (at least 2 lbs!) placidly crawled along the bottom. We also saw two eels: a spotted moray hiding under a ledge, and a green moray.
After the two dives were finished, I felt really energized and good. We all met up with Cathy and Lisa at Flanagan's restaurant, which is right next to the dive shop (so I could return my rented gear). I could have eaten everyone's dinner and then some, I was so ravenous. I had shrimp scampi and a huge glass of water. Then we all split a giant dessert: a brownie topped with two scoop of vanilla ice cream (held in place by four Kit Kat bars), chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. "The only reason we didn't lick the plate," Cathy explained, "is that none of us is at home." We all grinned. You could add "or PMS-ing" to that sentence. Kathy and I tried to encourage Lisa to take a scuba course if possible, but she (like me) has depth issues. I feel far more comfortable doing relatively shallow reef dives than I do with wreck dives that require decompression stops.
I want to go diving again in either July or August. I think I'll do a little snorkeling on Memorial Day, since that's a weekend I won't have the kids.
Seems that Steve and Amy had some of the same symptoms that occur with fibromyalgia. They both lost the use of their arms for a while. At the same time, Amy went through a horrible divorce. The parents decided that if they all got through this, they'd take a long vacation to celebrate. Also, Steve, Amy, and Crystal got certified on this trip. A couple of divers from the boat, Joe and Kevin, hung out with us. I was grateful for that, since I'm not that strong of a diver and Joe was more experienced.
I had a lot of trouble with the first dive, a wreck dive in 70 feet of water. The wreck was sunk deliberately as part of the artificial reef program in 1986 and is named the Jay Scutti. It's a popular dive site since there are two other wrecks south and east of it, roughly 100-150 feet away. Two wrecks on one dive (assuming you stay underwater for about 40 minutes) is great incentive for the more adventurous divers. I couldn't sink since I didn't have enough weight to balance. I think I had about 16 lbs of extra weight on my weight belt (including my own body weight and the weight of the equipment I was carrying: the tank, BC, regulator), but I needed more. I followed the guide line down to the wreck, let go, and immediately floated to the surface. Good thing I didn't get the bends.
Finally got back down on the wreck after adding more weight and equalizing the pressure in my ears (by squeezing my nose and blowing hard). It's so beautiful down there. Descending, you see only the blue of the water (visibility was about 70 feet) and the bubbles of the divers below you. You watch the rope and eventually the brown shape of the boat comes into view. The boat itself is covered in coral, bow to stern; fish swim inside and out. This wreck supposedly had skates and rays on it, but I didn't see any.
I was seasick (again!) after the first dive. I discovered that Bonine with a Coca-Cola chaser helps this; so does closing my eyes until I'm back in the water. I debated snorkeling for the second dive, but Robert (the divemaster on the boat)suggested I dive, and I'm glad I did. The second dive was over Sunkissed Reef, which lies in 40-50 feet of water. You could see clearly to the bottom from the boat. The reef system is amazing. Coral ledges and valleys with basket sponges standing like vases; sea fans and assorted oceanic plant life swaying in the current. And the fish.
The fish are pretty used to humans by now, and don't scatter when you approach. I got very close to a pufferfish that was hiding inside a basket sponge, but swam away before we could touch it and inflate it. Two six-inch-wide gray angelfish (or parrotfish, I'm not sure of the species) swam near me. They're gorgeous: slate gray bodies with yellow dots and a yellow slash along the tail. Stoplight parrotfish and yellowtail snapper swam in schools. A shovelnose lobster (at least 2 lbs!) placidly crawled along the bottom. We also saw two eels: a spotted moray hiding under a ledge, and a green moray.
After the two dives were finished, I felt really energized and good. We all met up with Cathy and Lisa at Flanagan's restaurant, which is right next to the dive shop (so I could return my rented gear). I could have eaten everyone's dinner and then some, I was so ravenous. I had shrimp scampi and a huge glass of water. Then we all split a giant dessert: a brownie topped with two scoop of vanilla ice cream (held in place by four Kit Kat bars), chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. "The only reason we didn't lick the plate," Cathy explained, "is that none of us is at home." We all grinned. You could add "or PMS-ing" to that sentence. Kathy and I tried to encourage Lisa to take a scuba course if possible, but she (like me) has depth issues. I feel far more comfortable doing relatively shallow reef dives than I do with wreck dives that require decompression stops.
I want to go diving again in either July or August. I think I'll do a little snorkeling on Memorial Day, since that's a weekend I won't have the kids.