Can You Hear It?

"I love diving, it’s so quiet down there it makes me able to hear the voices in my head much clearer" ~ Anonymous ~

“I’m gonna get some mussels…..I’m gonna get some mussels…..I’m gonna get some mussels….” Maybe.

Where do I begin? It’s tough being born a blonde, having to come up with one blonde moment after the other…..but I seem to manage. The Lady Godiver is waiting for me and I missed my exit on the Parkway….what else can I do? I will soon find out but…… it’s another dive day and a fine one at that.

Luckily I have left early and arrive with time to spare and load onboard. Howard has promised me mussels on the Great Issaic and I am excited. Marinara….white wine and garlic….I cant decide…. so I am having both.

I am joined by Steve R., Gary, the other Gary and Al S. and mussels it is that we discuss on the ride out to the wreck. But alas, there is a boat already on it, my mussels are not to be and we head for the Inshore Tug. Now just to confuse me, they explain the Inshore Tug is not a sunken tug, or any other sort of tug for that matter. It is some sort of wooden sailing ship. Since they have no idea which sailing ship, they call it the Inshore Tug…after all it is inshore. Makes sense to me.

I have had my regulator repaired (its not a year old yet and the shop couldn’t believe what happened), I am test diving a new reel, I have a replacement computer and I again aquasealed my wrist seals(two fingers and the table) and will see how dry my drysuit is today. I am the only set of singles on board and am squeezed out on the bench by all the doubles, and await my turn to gear up and roll over. But I don’t mind as the water is practically flat and looking clear and the skies are warm and sunny. I am enjoying the day already. As I am gearing up I cant find my hood, but luckily Gary has an extra and I am ready to go.

The water has that Jersey green tint and a lot of particulate but it is fairly clear and we have 20 foot or more visibility on the bottom and it was a balmy 64F. Everyone ties off a reel and sets out to see what was around. Going in 3 directions from the tie in I found a plethoria of small sea bass and black fish swimming about a larg piece of the wreckage, sand and some rather large sea robbins in need of some privacy (I poked em anyway), some kind of small fish that I didn’t recognize that kept bumping my mask, like a gnat(do you think he was poking me? hmmm) and the ships anchor. I played about on a piece of the wreckage near the tie in trying to reach in and poke a fish or two, but they seemed to stay right outside my reach, taunting me, rather enjoying it I think. That’s it. I am getting a pole spear. We’ll see whos laughing next time.

The hang was pleasant with the sun shining through the surface and the steamy water temps. Not as many jellyfish today but a lot of particulate and strings of tiny egg casings. It’s that time of year.

Cookies, doughnuts, pretzels and dive stories filled the surface interval. We had quite the group and quite the stories going round. As we could still see a boat on the Great Issaic, we were heading to the San Saba, with Gary promising to show me his “new” digging spot. We were going artifact hunting and stories of a certain porthole …..recovered….or not recovered ….were revisited.

Steve handed me an empty bottle before I went in, and at the bottom of the line the anchor was tied in and I let the bottle go up. The pool was open. I tied off my reel, I was going digging. We finned along looking under things and about. Gary spied a set of antennae and pointed and I made a grab, made two grabs but my arm was not long enough. He stuck his arm in and after a few tries extracted a rather large lobster with eggs. Back she went and we were on our way. Being leader means you find stuff first, like 2 sets of shears about 10 feet apart. Gary found a set of shears, I found a starfish, Gary found a set of shears, I found a rock. Luckily starfish were good as Debbie needed some to feed the fish in her tank so I put them in my bag to bring to her. We continued to look and poke about as we moved along.

Apparently the “spot” we were looking for was far. Very far. When the line on my reel ran out, luckily it was tied on, and I was running low on NDL we had finally arrived, a large open sandy spot. I poked about a bit digging up some pieces of wooden timber and a broken glass bottle, it was time for me to go as I was on a single tank and I gave the signal I was turning back and headed for the line. Not stopping to poke around and with the trial reel running way too smoothly I was back at the tie in in record time and on my way up with gas to spare. As it turned out I would need it, kind of.

Back on board, we start to break down our rigs and the suggestion was made to make one more stop on the way in, something shallow but interesting. It’s such a nice day and the conditions are terrific…… we just cant pass that up ….. and I have just enough left in my tank to partake of the site. Gotta love being good on air. We head in towards shore and a rock ridge that always has some life on it.

We drop anchor and I am the last to hop in. With my knee on the gunwale, Gary pops up from the water and sends me back. Our good luck has not held out and the visibility is measured in inches. One by one the hoods pop out of the water as divers surface all about unable to find the anchor line in the few short minutes they have been down and we call it a day and head on in, definitely not disappointed with the day.

We have several lobster and a sea bass on board. A few artifacts were dug up with both Garys finding shell casings on the San Saba and an anchor has managed to find a new home with us. Flat warm seas, sunny skies, good friends, good conversations, some devil dogs……life is good.

And as for mussels……Spikes makes good mussels, all is not lost. My sleeve was wet and there was a wet spot on the front of my shirt but there was nowhere near the water previously stored in my suit from a dive. I think I am making headway with the aquaseal. I will apparently be making a reel purchase soon…. as soon as Tommy makes me give his reel back. I missed the beeping of my computer, it is now on its way to camp Dive Rite for repairs, but I sort of miss the beeping, but then again the quiet “makes me able to hear the voices in my head much clearer"