What do you get when you graduate from scuba diving school?
A deep-loma.
Funny…..funny how some days things all go your way and some days they don’t….
Funny….
It was cold today, colder than it has been in a while. Guess I just wasn’t ready for it. My warm fall diving is gone for another year.
The chance for an afternoon dive came up and I took it. The weekend blowouts are getting old and I am looking to get in some practice before my trip. The Railroad Bridge it is our entry of choice.
John has never had the pleasure of being washed through the railroad bridge on the incoming tide, coming up in the marina and missing the opportunity to fin north for the rocks only to be pinned against the boat slip pilings and clinging tightly until the tide turns or until some boat owner pulls you up on the dock to safety and a walk back around to the park. Funny thing is….John doesn’t want that pleasure either. And yet he still lets me lead……
The tide is still coming in but it is slacking quickly as we gear up for the water. I am trying out my new can light, the one I had to take to a machine shop this morning to get it opened to charge the battery. Who knew I was so strong I could screw the end on so tight it would take an act of Congress and a bench vise to get it off? I can assure you we will try not to do that again.
I have new spring straps on my fins and as usual the mediums were too big and the smalls are a bit snug. Oh well.
And I am diving my doubles for some last minute practice with buoyancy before hitting cave country. This leaves me debating on the necessary weight for this dive. Always err on the side of heavy…..
As we enter the water it is cold, 50 F kind of cold, but it is clear, with 10-15 ft on the visibility scale.
We drop down and the first thing I notice is that the cord on my light is a wee bit long for my arm. I am not all that surprised as most dive gear is designed with someone a bit taller in mind. The next thing I notice is that the switch is a bit** to reach with the can clipped to the back plate. This is immediately followed by the memory of why I really don’t like my 5ml gloves and the way they interfere with my fine motor skills. Turning the light on is a bit of a challenge. I guess a bit of imaginative routing is in order.
We swim about a bit in the channel as I play with my new toy, shining it about as we look in and around. There are slim pickings today with star fish and small crabs being the most abundant. There are many really small hermit crabs skittering around though and a lone tiny flatfish to poke and send on his way. At this point I realize I really have not been paying much attention to where we are and I surface for some bearings. We are just shy of the white marker by the bridge and my plan is to hit there and pick up a hand full of mussels and then shoot through the bridge and peek in among the rocks for friends to poke and feed the mussels to.
I must not have conveyed that clearly because as we cleared the bridge I could clearly hear John yelling at me through his regulator. Something tells me he was not ready for that ride…..actually John tells me that….oh well.
We are peeking and poking about but alas no fish are around to feed and I abandon my mussels as we move along. In the shallower water along the rock wall I can feel that I have not gauged my weight well and am a bit light. This will prove to be a bit of a pain as we make our way back under the bridge pulling along against the flow.
We swim along the north shore of the inlet and the mussels thin out as we head farther east. We still only see the tiniest of hermit crabs and a few teeny moon snails and make out the slightest of movements beneath the sand as we disturb some crabs that are freshly dug in for the winter. As we swim along we see the largest hermit crab of the day, about the size of quarter, and she climbs up on my glove, holding on and not moving. I take her with me for a while showing her the sights as we move along, waiting for her to choose where she wishes to get off.
As we turn and head south for the bulkhead we pass a crab about the size of my fist having an afternoon snack of eel. I give a tug on his quarry but he holds fast and I swear if looks could kill…..well ……it would not be good for me.
Swimming across the channel I can feel I am too light and the water is getting a bit chilly, my arm is wet, I am sure the dump valve is leaking and will bring it into the shop this weekend. I go up and make the last few feet back a surface swim as I head on over to the ramp and my exit to a warm dry car.
It’s funny how some days everything goes right…..and some days it just doesn’t. Not “Why is the sand wet?......Cause the sea weed….” kind of funny…..think about it ….you will eventually get it…..anyway, not that kind of funny..but funny none the less.
A deep-loma.
Funny…..funny how some days things all go your way and some days they don’t….
Funny….
It was cold today, colder than it has been in a while. Guess I just wasn’t ready for it. My warm fall diving is gone for another year.
The chance for an afternoon dive came up and I took it. The weekend blowouts are getting old and I am looking to get in some practice before my trip. The Railroad Bridge it is our entry of choice.
John has never had the pleasure of being washed through the railroad bridge on the incoming tide, coming up in the marina and missing the opportunity to fin north for the rocks only to be pinned against the boat slip pilings and clinging tightly until the tide turns or until some boat owner pulls you up on the dock to safety and a walk back around to the park. Funny thing is….John doesn’t want that pleasure either. And yet he still lets me lead……
The tide is still coming in but it is slacking quickly as we gear up for the water. I am trying out my new can light, the one I had to take to a machine shop this morning to get it opened to charge the battery. Who knew I was so strong I could screw the end on so tight it would take an act of Congress and a bench vise to get it off? I can assure you we will try not to do that again.
I have new spring straps on my fins and as usual the mediums were too big and the smalls are a bit snug. Oh well.
And I am diving my doubles for some last minute practice with buoyancy before hitting cave country. This leaves me debating on the necessary weight for this dive. Always err on the side of heavy…..
As we enter the water it is cold, 50 F kind of cold, but it is clear, with 10-15 ft on the visibility scale.
We drop down and the first thing I notice is that the cord on my light is a wee bit long for my arm. I am not all that surprised as most dive gear is designed with someone a bit taller in mind. The next thing I notice is that the switch is a bit** to reach with the can clipped to the back plate. This is immediately followed by the memory of why I really don’t like my 5ml gloves and the way they interfere with my fine motor skills. Turning the light on is a bit of a challenge. I guess a bit of imaginative routing is in order.
We swim about a bit in the channel as I play with my new toy, shining it about as we look in and around. There are slim pickings today with star fish and small crabs being the most abundant. There are many really small hermit crabs skittering around though and a lone tiny flatfish to poke and send on his way. At this point I realize I really have not been paying much attention to where we are and I surface for some bearings. We are just shy of the white marker by the bridge and my plan is to hit there and pick up a hand full of mussels and then shoot through the bridge and peek in among the rocks for friends to poke and feed the mussels to.
I must not have conveyed that clearly because as we cleared the bridge I could clearly hear John yelling at me through his regulator. Something tells me he was not ready for that ride…..actually John tells me that….oh well.
We are peeking and poking about but alas no fish are around to feed and I abandon my mussels as we move along. In the shallower water along the rock wall I can feel that I have not gauged my weight well and am a bit light. This will prove to be a bit of a pain as we make our way back under the bridge pulling along against the flow.
We swim along the north shore of the inlet and the mussels thin out as we head farther east. We still only see the tiniest of hermit crabs and a few teeny moon snails and make out the slightest of movements beneath the sand as we disturb some crabs that are freshly dug in for the winter. As we swim along we see the largest hermit crab of the day, about the size of quarter, and she climbs up on my glove, holding on and not moving. I take her with me for a while showing her the sights as we move along, waiting for her to choose where she wishes to get off.
As we turn and head south for the bulkhead we pass a crab about the size of my fist having an afternoon snack of eel. I give a tug on his quarry but he holds fast and I swear if looks could kill…..well ……it would not be good for me.
Swimming across the channel I can feel I am too light and the water is getting a bit chilly, my arm is wet, I am sure the dump valve is leaking and will bring it into the shop this weekend. I go up and make the last few feet back a surface swim as I head on over to the ramp and my exit to a warm dry car.
It’s funny how some days everything goes right…..and some days it just doesn’t. Not “Why is the sand wet?......Cause the sea weed….” kind of funny…..think about it ….you will eventually get it…..anyway, not that kind of funny..but funny none the less.