.jpg)
Says the captain of the boat and we all jump together in the ocean, it's my first solo dive fresh out of SCUBA school and I'm a bit nervous, but in a good way as I playback the procedures in my head I intend this to be a safe dive as I plan to do many more. The first good news of the day is that the ocean is relatively calm to the locals it is an unusual occurence at this time of year, for me Neptune decided to give me a break from pucking my heart out to feed the fishes, nevertheless I'm full of triptone a gravol derivative well recommanded by the natives, also I'm eating my ginger as I'm thinking about my fat free breakfast. I'm still nauseous but functional. This dive is a drift diving dive, it is new to me but of course as usual I have researched it and I know the workings of it. As I get on the boat I tell the Dive Leader that I'm new at this and that it is my first solo dive, he introduce himself as Woody and tells me that he's going to be my buddy on this trip. This is the second good news of the day, you can't help being confident when you dive with a diver that has that level of experience. The water is a nice 71 degrees Farenheit and the visibility is a good 25 to 30 feet. They set me up with a 100 cubic feet tank that gives me a nice 3300 psi for my first dive this way I will have enought air to do the entire 40 minutes dive at 50 to 60 feet. The only sad thing is that I can't bring my camera it is rated for 30 feet on that dive it would crush under the pressure. We are told to look for lionfishes that are an invasive species if spotted they will be killed we see quite a few on that dive and the 3 subsequent ones Woody is grabbing some lobster from the ocean floor, supper will be good tonight, as he grabs them I see them Thermidor, Armoricaine and au Beurre blanc. We come across giant turtles the size of small cars one of them swims right by us, how gracious they are in the ocean compared to their demenour on land. As we pass near sharks there is alway a little tought about that movie I saw years ago Jaws it was called. Anyway as Woody is petting the Shark on the nose I think that either he never saw the movie or that that he knows things that I don't (more research about sharks to do for me). On my last dive I can't believe my eyes there is a giant Manta Ray right bellow me, when I say giant I mean it, that thing could swallow my pickup truck.
So today I decided to go diving with a dive instructor that is also a photographer, I looked at his pictures on line before leaving home and that is what I want to do. The plan is for a beach dive (no boat no seasick) at less then 30 feet, I can bring my camera. I get up and it's cold as hell outside 51 F, I think I woke up in Montreal, Well a plan is a plan and I get my ass to the Dive Shop (Force-E Great place and great people) to meet with Mark. Already the locals (except one Tom a wonderful and interesting gentlemen in my age group that dives without a wetsuit) are looking at me strange with my shorty wetsuit and no hood, This time I think they might be right I might get cold the water in in the 65 to 68 degrees, so before we go I aquired a hood and took my gloves along. It is cold to get setup on the beach but once in the water we are fine, Mark told me that he saw a Seahorse on his last dive and that they are a rare occurence, ten minutes in the water and here it is posing for us. My camera works fine the water is clear and with some tips given by Mark before the dive I'm clicking away. Here it is two things that I like doing merge together in perfect harmony and with that big 100 tank strapped to my back I'll run out of batteries before running out of air. We dove for one and a half hour and I clicked away at my heart content and now out of air and batteries it's time to get out. After the feeling of exliration passed and out on the beach the first thing that hits me is the cold, a new experience for me, those who know me for a while or ever entered my office will agree. I took my hoody sweater that I got as a gift from my aunt and uncle and a good 20 minutes to regain my body temperature. The verdict is that I really enjoy diving and I wish I always would carry a camera as I do it, so I see the breaking of my piggy bank in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment