Can't Say

No sooner had I been helped into my bathing suit than I sprang out upon the warm sand and without thought of fear plunged into the cool water. I felt the great billows rack and sink. The buoyant motion of the water filled me with an exquisite, quivering joy. ~ Helen Keller

Things were not looking promising this morning….. I couldn’t decide if it had rained or was going to as I walked the dog. But it didn’t matter..... the prop is fixed and our merry band of divers are out on the oceans terrorizing man and beast once more…….

Arriving at the dock, cup of coffee in each hand, I was greeted by the sight of the Lady Godiver and our regular crew, Howard, Francis, Harley, John and Jack and to add to my enjoyment Dan Leib was joining us today also.

I was quickly loaded onboard and we headed out. The forecasts for the day were varied and numerous. 1-3, 3-5, 5-10, windy, no wind, south, north, east and west. We were going to find out for ourselves. Everyone had a wish list, blackfish were high on many..... just something I had not been on before, and maybe a mussel or two was on mine. Maps, charts, and numbers flew back and forth along with catching Dan up on what was east of the north/south portion of the ridge that wasn’t a barge or whatever…… he is a quick study and was soon right in there with them making my head spin.

Harley and I sat out on the deck relaxing, eating watermelon and catching up on things old and new. Each time we asked where we were going, all 5 of the jokers in the cabin would point and yell out there! We would shrug and go back to our snacks and pleasantries. Where ever it was we ended up, we knew we would not be disappointed. Soon a few names were tossed about, ever been on this one, or this one, here, how about?????? We were still going …..thataway….. and so we leaned back and enjoyed the warm sun and gently rolling seas.

I am not allowed to say where we ended up but I haven’t been to this one….. The race to see the bottom was on as divers scrambled over the sides and down. The water had a dark green haze to it with no sign of letting up as I descended the line. Once at the wreckage I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by 54F, 20-25 foot of visibility and fish……. major fish.

The sides of this barge have fallen away and what is left is a grid of wreckage. I toured about noting large starfish lying strewn about in the sand, and squid egg casings resembling one of those squishy balls with those finger looking things sticking out all around rolled about in the current. Searobbins were everywhere and quite large and they were not fans of a finger to the forehead. Go figure.

I picked up a nicely shaped moon snail shell for my bucket and moved on to the homeboys of the wreck. I am not good with recognizing the finer points of fishies. I don’t pick up on the bump on the head, more white on the body, stripes horizontal or vertical…… whatever, as long as it's not a great white, I am poking it woo hoo!! Just let me say, I saw some big black fish that looked like they ran headfirst into the wreck and have a knot the size of a baseball on their noggin. They would not let me poke it…. I tried.

Before long I was on my way up the line and back onboard. I was soon joined by 6 of my knot headed friends…… and NOW I poked em, the fish….not the guys.

Let me also just say, reseating the valve on my arm has not helped….. I am still wet…on both arms…. Pinnacle ARE YOU LISTENING!!!!

Our next stop, I still can’t tell you where but I was here before…….. Dan explained to me that what I had previously thought to be decking lying in the sand around wrecks was actually the sides fallen in, the decking wood long ago disintegrated. Decking material is nowhere near as hardy as the ship itself. Interesting......

We sit on deck enjoying the day and the company before gearing up to roll over. Soon I am ready and with less than the grace of a ballerina I enjoyed on the Old Salty I plummeted into the sea and down the line. Here the visibility was much greener and hazier even at depth than the last site. 55F and only about 15 foot of viz in 60fsw and a much stronger current seeming to move on every side of the wreckage.

Making my way around, I peered in and about the disjointed array of hidey holes. Here, a few starfish littered the sand and there was a noticeable difference in the fish life with fewer and smaller inhabitants. Maybe I was just spoiled who knows. Mussels clung to the sides and I gathered a bag to bring up. Small fish gathered excitably around me….. maybe they had heard about me from their cousins on the Stolt but I wasn’t sharing this time. Poking, but not sharing.

Things just seemed darker here and several times things darkened above me as either the boat was overhead or a cloud moved by and I soon headed up. Once topside I sat on deck and had some lunch as I awaited the last of the divers to surface. We headed on once more, with blackfish, bags of mussels and a 3lb blue rubber dumbbell in tow. Don’t ask, Dan is a scavenger like the rest of us….. and a wise guy.

Flat seas, warm water, full coolers, good company…. What more can you ask from one day? One more dive …… that's what and this time....I still cant say where or I’d have to kill you but I have never been here and the description is typical for these guys, they are going to make me nuts. Jeesh.

I am one of the last to go over the side as I have sat in the sun drying my shirt as best I can before donning my trilam “wetsuit” once more and Howard has no plans to dive this one and asks me to pull the hook and lay it in the sand on my way up. Not knowing who will be up last we will just tug at the sisal tie to the wreck and haul in as the last diver comes onboard.

Again I head on down through a thick haze of water thinking this time it will never open up. I arrive at the sand inches from Jack struggling to place a more than legal fluke in his bag and immediately reach out and lend a hand. This was apparently an example of tag team fishing as Dan had spotted the fish as he swam by and pointed it out to Jack before continuing on his way. 5 fluke were taken in just this small area around the tie in this afternoon. Talk about being spot on with your tie in ….. Captain Howard is good.

A nice little welcome to the wreck. Visibility is still in the 15 foot range here and I begin to swim about….. Oh my! What is this? Lying in the sand is a blue dumbbell, with some small mussel growth and a good sized starfish covering it. How weird is this? Has someone been putting them in their pockets for dive weights….. how strange. I remove the starfish and place the weight in my pocket to show Dan.

I look about and spy large google eyed fish lying buried in the sand, more of the squid egg casings blowing about like tumbleweed and searobbins lining the sand like teenagers at their first school dance. I come across a pipe half buried in the sand I spy a small claw and really long antennae. I make a half hearted grab at what I am sure is an undersized bug and have him halfway out of the pipe when he stops short. Seems like he made a grab with his back legs for the pool table or something else sturdy in his little house and is holding on for dear life. I haven’t even brought a goody bag down with me and giving consideration to his last minute herculean effort……..I let him go.

Back at the line I pull the hook and unwrap the line tied around the piece of wreckage. I lift the hook over the wreck wall and swim it out into the sand so it will not catch again when we snap the sisal and coil the rope neatly next to it before heading up. On the line I pass Howard on his way down…. apparently the grand haul of fluke has changed his mind about this dive and he is going in. Gives me a chuckle as I hang for a few minutes in the warm shallow water.

I am just about out of my harness when Harley joins us on the boat. He can’t believe the hook let loose after how well he tied it in!!! All the way off in the sand…. He had a heck of a time pulling the boat back to the wreckage to tie it in again…. Whew hard work!! Gotta love it….. more tag team diving….LOL Luckily all but Howard are onboard and he will know to pull the hook once more on the way up.

As I finish stowing my gear I pull the weight from my pocket and hand it to Dan. He can now have a matched set, maybe pump a little iron on the way in. He muses over how these things can be on all the wrecks….. maybe someone is using these weights for their buoy markers and not trying them on well? We are halfway home before he gets a big grin and tells me he felt heavy when he was diving and suddenly realized he had forgotten to take the weight out of his pocket after the previous dive and so he dropped it in the sand and moved on. That starfish must have thought he hit a homerun coming across that little mussel snack on that funny blue thing in the middle of the sand. He was probably in on the step too….wise guy..

We head in, snacking on cherries and chocolate chip cookies as dolphins splash in the water just off the port side of the boat and we stand and watch as they fade in the distance. Blackfish, fluke, lobster and mussles……Three tanks, calm seas, bright sunshine and the stories that get told….. that’s a good day on a dive boat.

And one day …… after a good day on the water …… these stories will be told too. Yea… I will do this again.