My dive vacation in Turks & Caicos!!

I’ve been home for about a month, and I figured it’s about time that I sit my butt down and write about my trip to Turks and Caicos, my dives, and getting my PADI Advanced Open Water certification. So, after about a half an hour of searching for where the heck I put my log book, I’m ready to get everything down in black and white (and color photographs!!!)

I’ve been going to Turks and Caicos (staying at Club Med) for years now, but have only been diving there twice before. But I would want no other place to advance my training from OW to AOW! I arrived at the village on Saturday early-afternoon, but my room wasn’t going to be ready for several hours. I actually had asked to switch my room so that I would be closer to the SCUBA dock, for those early morning dives. So in the meantime, I had a bite to eat and a drink at the bar, where I ran into the SCUBA instructor from my OW certification. She was on a day off, and was headed off into town, but it was nice to see her and do a little catching up.

My room finally ready, I got changed into proper attire (a bikini and flip flops) and headed over to the SCUBA shack to sign up. I filled out all my forms, and paid for the dives and the AOW classes. But, like always, I had one thing on my medical form that required me to see the Dive Doctor that evening during his office hours to get approved for diving. I’ve thrown my back out several times, and that just means that I need to get approval, which I always do. Even if my back were not in tip-top shape, I could always have the Dive Master put my BC with the tank on into the water, and get into it there, instead of having to walk from the bench to the “giant stride” point of entry.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the pool and going to the afternoon trapeze session (my other obsession). That evening, after a couple of hours at the beach bar, listening to the live music, hanging out with new-found friends and old buddies, and tossing back a few, I headed over to the “Sea Center” (where SCUBA classes are held, and where those of us who need to see the doctor have to present ourselves before we’re allowed to dive). I grabbed the form and headed down to the doctor’s office. Sitting outside on the bench, waiting my turn, I felt like I was back in elementary school, waiting for the school nurse to see me for a scrape on my knee.

The doctor called me in, and I told him about my prior back problems, and that I was not currently having any issues. He then decided that he wanted check my ears, listen to my heart, and take my blood pressure. He finally gave me the thumbs up to dive, and I headed back up the stairs to hand in my approval form. On the way up the steps …. I got an idea!!!

I walked into the Sea Center, and all the dive instructors sitting there turned to look as the door opened with looks that said “So? Did you get the OK to dive?” Without hesitation I said ….

“Is a pelvic exam customary to get the OK to dive?”

Every mouth dropped open in shock!

“Kidding!!!”

So, I was all set, and the plan was that I would do 2 dives the next morning, just for the fun of it, and start my AOW classes/dives on Monday morning. And then I would add 4 more dives over the two days after I was AOW certified. A total of 11 dives. I was PSYCHED!!!

I’m not going to recap all the dives individually in this blog, other than to post the stats later. But I will post the highlights.

My first two dives were with Elliot as our dive master/instructor. He wasn’t so much instructing as much as he was our guide. The good thing with that is then I don’t have to worry about navigating, and can focus on simply enjoying the dive and taking photos. He pointed out some cool stuff. Like the HUGE lobster that he was “playing” with.

He also not only pointed out the sleeping (or resting) nurse shark, but told me to move around to the front, while he went up behind it, and woke it up by slapping it’s tail. And I was able to get some pretty cool shots!

My AOW certification dives came next. They went very well. Even the night dive, which I was a bit nervous about, went very smoothly. I really enjoyed when we had to do the navigation part during the night dive. Not because I like navigating, because as a person who has number dyslexia, it’s difficult to figure out the 180’s to return. I enjoyed when OTHER people were doing their navigation, I got to wave my hand around and then watch the bioluminescence of the plankton!! Also, the tiny worms that spin in the light were very cool!! The only time during the certification dives that I was “less than happy” was this one time that we were at the safety stop on the safety bar below the boat, and this barracuda decided that he “liked” me. It was known by the dive instructors how much I HATE HATE HATE barracuda … so they were getting a pretty good laugh when they saw me slowly slide across the safety bar to try to get out of the line of the barracuda! I turned to look at them, and all I saw were bubble coming out of their regulators that were definitely caused by them laughing at me!! How mean, huh?

Anyway, on one other dive, after I was fully certified, I had another “run-in” with a barracuda. This dive was a sort of “reunion” dive. When I had originally gotten my OW certification, there was one other student getting his certification. My friend Alex. He works at the reception of the Club Med village, and had been on vacation the week we got OW certified. So this vacation, he and I went diving together on his day off. And we were lucky enough to get put with our original instructor, Adrienne, as our dive “guide”. We even were lucky enough to get to go to two of the dive sites we had been to when we were originally certified. One of these is called “The Crack”, because there’s a “crack” in the reef, which you can swim down through from the top of the reef and come out on the side of the wall of the reef. We weren’t able to do this on our first time at this site, because of the depth, but this time we were able to go through the crack! Well, of course, at the entrance to the crack was a “friend” of mine. Yup, a barracuda.

Adrienne gave a look over her shoulder at me, and I gave her the “OK” sign, because I HAVE to get past my fear of them! Anyway, that dive was so much fun! I even got a cute video of Alex acting silly!

The rest of the dives were great! That is, all except my final dive of the week!

The visibility was HORRIBLE!! Maybe 10 feet at most! Probably less. I had to stay right on top of the fins of the person in front of me, in order to not get lost. And there was pretty much nothing to see! AND, on top of that I had a LOT of trouble equalizing my ears. When they finally did equalize, I ended up with vertigo, which made me think that I had gotten narc’d (nitrogen narcosis). But since it went away without my ascending at all, I realized that it had to do with the equalizing. A somewhat sucky way to end a week of diving, but at least it did teach me to deal with poor dive conditions! Always a positive!

OK, now for the dive stats:

Dive # 11 – April 6, 2008 – Paradise Cave – Turks & Caicos. Boat dive. Dive Leader – Elliot Burlin. Max depth 64 feet, bottom time 40 minutes (no residual time, 53 minute surface interval). Visibility good (50+ feet). Weight – 8 pounds. Saw Yellowtail Snapper, French Grunts, Squirrel Fish, Butterfly fish, Damsel fish, Blueheaded wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Nassau Grouper, etc.

Dive # 12 – April 6, 2008 – Catacombs – Turks & Caicos. Boat dive. Dive Leader – Elliot Burlin. Max depth 51 feet, bottom time 44 minutes (25 minutes residual time) Visibility good (40-50 feet). Weight – 8 pounds. Saw a HUGE Caribbean spiny lobster, nurse shark, Squirrel Fish, Butterfly fish, Damsel fish, Nassau Grouper, Blueheaded wrasse, Yellowtail Snapper, French Grunts, Stoplight Parrotfish, etc.

Dive #13 – April 7, 2008 – Coral Stairway – Turks & Caicos. Drift reef dive. AOW certification dive #1. Dive instructor – Juanita Powers. Dive Master candidate – Julian Halton. Dive buddy – Michael Perazzola. Max depth 71 feet, bottom time 41 minutes (no residual time) Visibility great – 100+ feet. Weight – 10 pounds (extra 2 pounds since it was a drift dive). Saw – reef shark! Squirrel Fish, Butterfly fish, Damsel fish, Blueheaded wrasse, Yellowtail Snapper, French Grunts, Stoplight Parrotfish, Spotted goatfish, etc.

Dive #14 – April 7, 2008 – Grouper Hole – Turks & Caicos. Fish ID, AOW certification dive #2. Dive instructor – Juanita Powers. Dive Master candidate – Julian Halton. Dive buddy – Michael Perazzola. Max depth 57 feet, bottom time 46 minutes (residual time 27 minutes, surface interval 46 minutes). Visibility fair (30 ft.) Weight – 8 pounds. Saw: Barricuda, Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Queen Triggerfish, Trumpet fish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Nassau Grouper, Squirrel Fish, Black Durgin, Spotted Drum, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, etc.

Dive #15 – April 7, 2008 – Cathedral – Turks & Caicos. Night dive, AOW certification dive #3. Dive instructor – Juanita Powers. Dive Master candidate – Julian Halton. Dive buddy – Michael Perazzola. Max depth 41 feet, bottom time 51 minutes (no residual time, as surface interval was over 7 hours) Visibility – well, it was night so it was hard to tell, but good for a night dive. Weight – 8 pounds. Saw Reef shark, barracuda, Queen Triggerfish (sleeping) Squirrel fish, Butterfly fish, Nassau Grouper, Black Jack (HUGE), bioluminescence, etc.

Dive #16 – April 8, 2008 – Ampitheater – Turks & Caicos. Deep dive, AOW certification dive #4. Dive instructor – Juanita Powers. Dive Master candidate – Julian Halton. Dive buddy – Michael Perazzola. Max depth 94 feet, bottom time 51 minutes (no residual time, surface interval 1 hour, 3 minutes). Visibility good (60+ feet). Weight 8 pounds. Did Nitrogen Narcosis test, and passed with flying colors! No narc’d experience yet. Got some cool shots looking up into the light. Saw:Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Queen Triggerfish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Squirrel Fish, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, etc.

Dive #17 – April 8, 2008 – Crocodile – Turks & Caicos. Navigation dive, AOW certification dive #5. Dive instructor – Juanita Powers. Dive Master candidate – Julian Halton. Dive buddy – Michael Perazzola. Max depth 36 feet, bottom time 51 minutes (residual time - could not calculate, since table didn’t take into account varying depths that computer was able to calculate). Visibility good (50 feet). Weight 8 pounds. Practiced navigation skills. Saw: Morey eel, Porcupine Puffer fish, Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Nassau Grouper, Queen Triggerfish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Squirrel Fish, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, etc.

Dive #18 – April 9, 2008 (Happy Birthday, Dad!!) – The Crack – Turks & Caicos. FIRST dive with AOW certification!! Dive leader – Adrienne Katz, Dive buddy – Alex Rivera. “Reunion” dive of the three musketeers!! Max depth 116 feet, bottom time 38 minutes. (no residual time, surface interval 1 hour, 4 minutes). Visibility good. Weight 8 pounds. Saw: Barricuda, Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Squirrel Fish, Black Durgin, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, Flamingo Tongue Snail, etc.

Dive #19 – April 9, 2008 (again, Happy Birthday, Dad!!!) – “Two Sharks” – Turks & Caicos. Dive leader – Adrienne Katz, Dive buddy – Alex Rivera. “Reunion” dive of the three musketeers!! Max depth 61 feet, bottom time 50 minutes. Visibility ok (40 feet). Lots of surge! (kept having to be careful not to get smashed into the coral!!) Weight 8 pounds. Took video of Alex acting silly! Really love diving with Alex!! And I miss him!! Saw: Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Nassau Grouper, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Squirrel Fish, Black Durgin, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, Flamingo Tongue Snail, etc.

Dive # 20 – April 10, 2008 – Chimney – Turks & Caicos – Dive Leader – Elliot Burlin. Max depth 98 feet, bottom time 40 minutes (no residual time, surface interval 1 hour, 4 minutes) Visibility great (100+ feet). Weight 8 pounds. Went to The Dome, which was the set of a French reality TV show that never aired. Saw: Yellowtail Snapper, Blue Tang, Bluehead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Fairy Basslet, Clown Wrasse, Squirrel Fish, Black Durgin, Spotfin Butterfly, Bi-color damselfish, Queen Angelfish, Yellowtail damselfish, Schoolmasters, Whitespotted Filefish, Nassau Grouper, Flamingo Tongue Snail, etc.

Dive #21 – April 10, 2008 – Catacombs – Turks & Caicos – Dive Leader – Elliot Burlin. Max depth 56 feet, bottom time 43 minutes. Visibility – HORRIBLE!!! (5 to 10 feet!). SO murky, like swimming through a snowstorm! Weight 8 pounds. Had lots of trouble equalizing. Experienced vertigo once I was able to equalize. Saw: NOTHING!!

Some of my favorite photos from the dives:

Beneath the Sea!

The song ... Under the Sea, from The Little Mermaid, keeps coming to mind!! I need to plug my iPod earbuds into my ears and get a new song in there!!!!!!

Anyway, I will be going to the Beneath the Sea Expo at the Meadowlands in NJ this weekend!! Saturday, to be specific! I've already reviewed the seminar schedule and have picked out a few seminars that I want to go to.

Dive Back Into Time: Early East Coast Wreck Diving at 9 a.m.

Journey to Digital: Hard Lessons Learned On The Road from Film to Digital at 10 a.m. (if I can make it from the Expo Center over to the Holiday Inn in time!!)

The Camera Coach, Your Guide to Creating Underwater Video at 11 a.m.

Photography: Ask The Pros at noon (I may bring my camera and strobe and see if they can help me out with figuring out the settings that would work best under which conditions)

An Image is Worth a Thousand Words at 1 p.m.

and

Sizing and Sharpening in Photoshop at 3 p.m.

The free time ... what little there will be ... will be spent checking out the booths, looking at different dive computers, BCDs and Regulators and stopping by to say Hi to the ScubaBoard people at their booths. I wonder if Wreck Valley Divers will have a booth? If so, I'll stop by there too!

I think Sunday ..... I'll sleep!!!!

Rented my gear today!

I headed into the city this afternoon to my LDS to try out and reserve my rental gear for my trip to Turks and Caicos. I'm leaving in 3 weeks. I own most of my gear, but haven't purchased the BC, reg or computer yet. So, that's what I rented. And the cool part of it ... whatever I spend on rental is allowed to be used towards the purchase of the same type of gear (i.e., if I rent a few different BC's over time, I can use the money spent on all those rentals towards the purchase of a BC of my own) up to 30% of the sale price! So if I end up buying a $600 BC, it will only cost me $400!!

While I was there, I also looked into their Dry Suit Cert class. I will do that after I get back from T&C. Although I will look into other courses offered around the NYC area before deciding on who to go with. So, anyway, I am excited that I'll have everything I need to dive with (although, I will need to borrow (or rent) a compass.)

Now if these next three weeks will just go quick!!!!!

Florida diving

My parents have a place in Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale that is their “winter“ home. A break from the cold, miserable winters of New York. My Mom stays there for a few months during the winter, and my Dad, who’s still working, spends his vacations down there.

I decided to get a break myself, and booked a small mini-holiday to head on down South. At first I didn’t even think of working in some dives, because I was going to visit my Mom. But then she kept talking about how she played golf one morning, or just got back from tennis, so I thought that perhaps I could go diving in the morning, while she did her own thing. She thought it was a good idea too.

I began to look up different dive operations in the South Florida area, but my friend Sarah suggested one company (South Florida Dive Headquarters) that she had gone diving with one time, and how they were very nice, and very professional. I looked up their website, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could fit the dives into my plans, AND that I could actually do a wreck dive!! Being that I just was certified last November, there are lots of things that I am finding “new” and “exciting”. And wreck diving was one of those new, exciting experiences! I booked 4 dives in total, two on the first morning after I arrived, and two more on the next morning, my first dive being the wreck.

I spent the next few weeks getting myself ready. I purchased my new wetsuit (a Henderson Titanium Hyperstretch 5mm full suit), which I LOVE!! It fits me like a second skin!! No more rental suits that bulge in places! And I bought a beanie, to help me stay warm. I also dug out my old Olympus camera that has the underwater housing. I hadn’t used it in a while, because it had some electrical issue in the past, where it would just decide to shut down on its own. But, perhaps the rest that it had did it good (yeah, I know, inanimate object … doesn’t need “rest”). Whatever it was, the camera seemed to be working well enough. But I was going to bring my new Reefmaster Mini as well, just in case.

So, I arrived in Florida on Thursday night rather late, my Mom waiting to pick me up. By the time I got my luggage and we drove back from the airport, I ended up getting to bed around midnight. I was up the next morning by 7 a.m., borrowed my Mom’s car (it’s a boat, itself!!!) and headed out to the marina. There was the Friday morning commuter traffic to deal with and I also ended up getting stuck at not one, but TWO railroad crossings! The second one had a freight train going past, which literally took a full 5 minutes to pass!!! I was getting nervous, because I didn’t know how far the marina was, and I knew I had one more “crossing” to deal with (the Intercoastal) but I did get there in time, paid and got all my extra rental gear (I needed to rent a BCD, a regulator and weight belt/weights)

We were on a small boat, with only 7 of us diving. I think the boat accommodates 10 people, though. Plus, we had 2 dive masters onboard as well, Ed and Ari (who was also Captain of the boat). Both were very nice!! As a matter of fact, all the people on the boat were super nice!
I found a buddy (Kevin) to dive with as soon as I got on the boat. And then the dive master put a third person with us (Jim). Which was fine. Both “my guys” were very nice. Kevin was more experience than both myself and Jim (who had also recently been certified). Kevin was also planning to take photos, so that was good, because then we would be going at a similar pace. And Jim was still a bit nervous underwater, so he fit in well too. I even loaned Jim my second camera, and told him if he wanted to use it, great. If not, just let it hang off his BCD and don’t even worry about it. He ended up trying to take a few photos, but must have hit the video mode, and recorded video by accident. It wouldn’t have been bad, but most of his video was of the ocean floor (just sand), since he thought the photo was taken with the first click, and the video ended when he thought he was taking a second photo. I had to laugh!

Anyway, we got to the first site, the wreck, within 15 minutes. The wreck is the Sea Emperor (also known as the Aqua Zoo). It is a 171’ barge, which had to be donated as part of a fine levied on a dredging company that destroyed some reef. Before they sunk the barge, to create an artificial reef, they piled large concrete culverts on top, forming a pyramid. But when she sunk, she tipped over, scattering the culverts all over the sandy bottom.

We descended on the anchor line, and at approximately 45 feet down, came to the top of the wreck. The sand below was at 70 feet. Immediately you notice the plethora of sea life! I was being checked out by a very pretty Gray Angelfish as I got to the wreck’s top (which is it’s bottom, actually)

Back in the late 1990’s divers would bring food to the site (now that’s illegal) and interact with the sea life. So there are lots of fish, who are very much “in your face”. But the “star” attractions were the two large stingrays, one moray eel who wasn’t the typical “I’m going to hide in this crevice type” but rather liked to come out and swim around the divers, and two HUGE…. and I mean HUUUUUUUGE goliath groupers!! And there was lots of variety of sponges and coral as well.

For approximately the next 40 minutes (less a couple) we swam around and over the wreck a few times. Passed by the other divers. I like how when you pass other dive buddy groups, everyone kinda “smiles” through their regulators and gives the “OK” sign. It’s very social, even underwater. I took LOTS of great photos, and the dive was very exciting and relaxing at the same time! But alas, we needed to ascend. It was very difficult to say goodbye to all the wonderful new “friends” I made, but I know I will definitely go back to that same site on my next trip to Florida!

We met up again with two of the divers on our boat, Tony and Dave, at the safety stop. They had gotten there only a minute before us, so we got to all hang out together. I did feel that the 10 pound weight was just a teeny bit light, but with the anchor line, it wasn’t a big deal. But when I got back up on the boat, I was sure to add 2 more pounds.

Dive Stats:
Dive #7 - February 8, 2008 - Sea Emperor (Aqua Zoo) - Pompano Beach, Florida. Anchored boat wreck dive. Buddies - Kevin Wheeler and Jim Berger. Max depth 70 feet, bottom time 38 minutes (no residual time, 800 psi remaining). Water temp 73°, visibility good (40-50 feet), although some scatter. Weight - 10 pound (need 2 more pounds if not using anchor line). Saw Angelfish, butterfly fish, surgeonfish, pork fish, yellowtail snapper, parrotfish, filefish, moray eel (named Baby), two very large stingrays, 2 even bigger goliath groupers, split crown feather dusters, tube sponges, sea plumes, and lots of types of coral!

Back up on the boat, we had some snacks, some fluids, and some conversation of our experiences. I like that part of diving almost as much as I like diving. It’s nice meeting new people! And like I said, everyone was really nice!!

After a 45 minute surface interval, we headed back into the water for the second dive of the day. This was a drift reef dive (meaning, for those who don’t know, the boat doesn’t anchor, but instead each buddy group brings down a line with them that is attached to a float at the surface. The boat then follows along, and when you resurface, it picks you up where you are. Talk about being a pampered diver!!)

This dive was a lot less interactive, but I was able to focus more closely on some of the tinier creatures that I would not necessarily have seen at the first site. Again, lots of great sea life! We were in the water for approximately 30 minutes, because of our residual nitrogen and of course I was getting a bit chilly. But in those thirty minutes, I took what I think is such an AMAZING photo of a Christmas Tree Worm! I am definitely going to get a print of that one!!! It is so difficult to get these cute little buggers to stay put! If they sense any strange vibrations, they quickly disappear into the coral they are using as their homes!

As I sit at my computer, looking at a fish identification site online (http://reefguide.org/) I see that I am probably missing a lot more than I’m seeing! I think if I “study” these pages, I’ll be able to get more out of my dives, because I’ll know what to look for! And possibly some great photos!!

Since I was chilly, I signaled to Kevin that I would go up, and thought that he and Jim could stay down. But it turned out that they were also ready to come up (at least Jim was). So we all ascended, and did our safety stop at 15 feet. I am getting better at that. I keep my depth gauge in front of me, and watch my second-hand on my watch! It’s a good feeling to know I can do it without relying on my buddy’s dive computer! (I am thinking of getting one, but not sure yet. But I do want to get at least a compass.)

Dive Stats:
Dive #8 - February 8, 2008 - The Sanctuary - Pompano Beach, Florida. Drift boat reef dive. Buddies - Kevin Wheeler and Jim Berger. Max depth 60 feet, bottom time 30 minutes (25 minutes residual time, 1600 psi remaining). Water temp 73°, visibility fairly good (25-30 feet), although somewhat murky. Weight - 12 pound (perfect!). Saw Blue Chromis, Bluehead wrasses, Yellowhead Wrasse, Spanish grunt, Spotfin Butterflyfish, Stoplight Parrotfish, Blue Tang surgeonfish, Bluestriped Grunt, French Angelfish, split crown feather dusters, tube sponges, sea plumes, and lots of types of coral!

That was the last dive of the day. I exchanged email addresses with all the people on the boat! I hope we keep in touch! I’ve already heard from Kevin, and when he’s had time to download his photos, he’ll be sharing them with me. Meanwhile, I headed back to my Mom. We had a lovely afternoon, and I slept like a baby that night!

The next day … two more dives.

I woke up even earlier on day two, since the boat was leaving at 8 a.m. Luckily this time I did not get stopped at any railroad crossings or opened bridges! In Florida you have to contend for that possibility! It was another gorgeous day in South Florida!! Sun was shining and the forecast was for low to mid 80’s! Ahh, what I would do to be able to live in that climate year-round!!!!

This time I was on a bigger boat for my dives. I think the boat fits around 30 people. But it was not full (only around 11 of us). Ed, the dive master from the prior day, was also on this boat. I again found my buddy (Jay) soon after getting on the boat. Then Ed asked if we could also buddy up with 2 other guys (Mark and Jason), because Mark would probably surface earlier than the rest of us, and this way Jason could stay down longer with us. That actually benefited me in the end. Jay ended up not paying attention to where the rest of us were, and we ended up surfacing without him on the second dive. We did try to find him, and did catch a glimpse of him, but he was moving fast away from us! I spoke to Ed when I got back up on the boat, because I found that upsetting. He said that Jay dives with them a lot, and that he does that often. So I don’t feel like it’s my fault, but still, I wonder how I can make sure I don’t have a buddy like that in the future?!? Luckily, it was Jason who was holding the float line. I don’t want to ever have to surface without a marker. My luck, I’d be run over by some drunk jerk in some speedboat!

I got some more good photos from the first of the two dives that day. But I had a problem with my camera housing when I had first gotten on the boat. For some reason, the O-ring didn’t seem to be sitting properly. After placing the camera in the bucket of water, I quickly noticed bubbles! So I grabbed the camera out of the bucket and opened it back up. Luckily the camera hadn’t gotten any water on or in it. I dried everything out, re-greased the O-ring, and put the camera back in, locked it up and placed it in the water bucket! No issues this time. EXCEPT…. I had forgotten to place the little moisture muncher packet into the housing. So, on the second dive, the entire housing fogged up, and I couldn’t take any photos. At least the camera didn’t get effected by it all. And it was a good lesson to learn!

Anyway, the drift reef dives are very relaxing. You don’t have to worry about where you’re going other than to make sure you’re not too deep or too shallow. But where you end up popping up on the surface is where the boat will pick you up!!

After we had all gotten back up on the boat after the second dive, the skies opened up like it hadn’t rained in months!!! BUCKETS pouring down!! But wait…. we were already wet, so who cares?!?!

I drove home after the second day of diving, exhausted, relaxed, exhilarated, giddy, and just plain old HAPPY!!

Dive stats:
Dive #9 - February 9, 2008 - Lighthouse Ledge - Pompano Beach, Florida. Drift reef dive. Buddies - Jay Moorie, Mark Holowesko, Jason Holowesko. Max depth 50 feet, bottom time 41 minutes (no residual time, 1300 psi remaining). Water temp 73°, visibility good (25 feet). Weight - 12 pound. Saw Honeycomb Cowfish, Bluestriped Grunts, Blackbar Soldierfish, Rock Beauty, Moray eel, Foureye Butterflyfish, Spotted Drum, Scrawled Cowfish, Spotfin Butterflyfish, Blue Chromis, Smooth Flower Coral, Bluehead wrasses, Yellowhead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, Blue Tang surgeonfish, split crown feather dusters, tube sponges, pink lumpy sponge, sea plumes, and lots of types of coral!

Dive stats:
Dive #10 - February 9, 2008 - Abbey Too - Pompano Beach, Florida. Drift reef dive. Buddies - Jay Moorie, Mark Holowesko, Jason Holowesko. Max depth 70 feet (only for about 1 minute before we realized how deep we were. Then rest of the time between 50 and 60 feet), bottom time 35 minutes (15 minutes residual time, 1300 psi remaining). Water temp 73°, visibility fair (15 to 20 feet). Weight - 12 pound. Saw Yellow Stingray (and was so pissed my camera was fogged!!!) Bluestriped Grunts, Rock Beauty, Foureye Butterflyfish, Blue Chromis, Smooth Flower Coral, Bluehead wrasses, Yellowhead Wrasse, Stoplight Parrotfish, split crown feather dusters, tube sponges, pink lumpy sponge, sea plumes, Wide-Mesh Sea Fan and lots of types of coral!

Next planned dives are for April, when I return to Club Med in Turks and Caicos. I’ll be going for my Advanced Open Water certification while I’m there. So that means … night diving!!! But when I’m in “class” for certification, I’m not allowed to carry a camera. So that will be the phooey part of it!!

Until then, I'll just have to look at my photos and remember my time underwater.

Dive logs!

After reading Sarah’s blogs, I have figured that I should keep a dive log within the blogs as well. So, to catch up, here are the dives I’ve logged so far. Future blogs will contain logs within the blog itself. (if the blog is about a dive)

Dive #1 - November 6, 2007 - The Crack - Turks and Caicos. Anchored boat dive. First dive in OW certification course.* Max depth 40 feet, bottom time 27 minutes (2200 psi remaining at end of dive) (no residual time). Water temp 83°, visibility good (not sure of feet), slight surge with a fast current. Practiced skills: cramp removal, tired diver tow, snorkel/reg. exchange. Instructor (Adrienne Katz) pointed out various sea creatures. Showed us how to wave water in front of an anemone to get them to close up. Relaxing, easy dive. Safety stop on the drop-line at 15 feet for 3 minutes. Surface interval: 46 minutes. Ate sandwiches and went over the evaluation of the dive with Adrienne.

*Actually did “Scuba Diver” certification course in May 2006, with 2 dives. But those dives were not logged. So beginning dive log with these dives.

Dive #2 - November 6, 2007 - The Ampitheater - Turks and Caicos. Anchored boat dive. Second dive in OW certification course. Max depth 40 feet, bottom time 33 minutes (residual time: 16 minutes, did not look for PSI remaining at end of dive) Water temp 83°, visibility good, slight surge with a fast current. Relaxing dive. Practiced skills: remove water from mask, remove replace mask, buddy breath, recover regulator. Safety stop on the drop-line at 15 feet for 3 minutes. Last dive of the day. Approximately 30 minutes back to the dock. Seas a bit rough.

Dive #3 - November 7, 2007 - The Chimney - Turks and Caicos. Anchored boat dive. Buddy - Alex Rivera. Third dive in OW certification course. Max depth 41 feet, bottom time 42 minutes (no residual time, did not record PSI remaining) Water temp 83°, visibility good. Practiced skills: remove/replace scuba (surface), remove replace weights (surface) CESA. Saw: sea turtle (swam next to him, until he turned and swam in the opposite directions … directly below me!!!), baby nurse shark (approx. 4’), giant crab, angel fish, Nassau grouper, spider fish, etc. Safety stop on the drop-line at 15 feet for 3 minutes. Surface interval: 45 minutes. Ate sandwiches and went over the evaluation of the dive with Adrienne.

Dive #4 - November 7, 2007 - Garden Eel - Turks and Caicos. Anchored boat dive. Buddy - Alex Rivera. Fourth (and final) dive in OW certification course. Max depth 40 feet, bottom time 42 minutes (residual time: 31 minutes). Water temp 83°, visibility fair, fast current, cloudy. Practiced skills: surface swim w/ compass, underwater compass navigation, fin pivot (6 pound weights with the fast current made this difficult to do). Saw: barricuda (I HATE these!!!) that kept acting funny. Jerking around a lot. Made me nervous! Had rented all equipment, and had to use children’s size fins. Made it hard to keep up with buddy and instructor. Need to purchase equipment!

After the final exam and the pool test …. I’M FULLY OPEN WATER CERTIFIED!!!

Dive #5 - January 18, 2008 - Quast Rock - La Jolla, California. Anchored boat dive. Buddy - Todd Moseley. First dive as a certified scuba diver. Max depth 60 feet, bottom time 35 minutes (no residual time). Water temp approx. 57°, visibility poor, very murky. Underweighted - which caused a problem on ascent. Luckily Todd was able to hold me at the safety stop (18’), but did not get to stay full time. Saw California Golden Gorgonian coral, crowned sea urchins, elk kelp, Garibaldi, lobster, red sea urchins, senorita fish, spined stars, warty sea cucumber, and even a lost fishing rod! VERY cold by the end of the dive. Had to surface rather than navigate (well, Todd was the navigator) back towards the boat. So we had a 300 foot surface swim back to the boat. Once on board, I was so cold, I couldn’t control my shaking hands! Surface interval: 50 minutes.

Dive #6 - January 18, 2008 - Chuck Rock - La Jolla, California. Anchored boat dive. Buddy - Todd Moseley. Max depth 60 feet, bottom time 35 minutes (residual time: 19 minutes). Water temp approx. 57°, visibility poor, very murky. Weighted fine this dive - added 5 more pounds. No problems completing full safety stop of 5 minutes at 18’. Saw all the same things as the last dive, but also nudibranch eggs AND a seal!! He was hanging out next to the boat when we got in the water. He even kissed the boat (told the boat’s owner that it had been blessed). Then when we called the seal, he looked up at us, and disappeared. We immediately looked into the water, and there he was, at our fins!! Unfortunately, he didn’t hang around. Lost buddy for a few seconds, because I stopped to take a picture and it was so murky, when I looked up, he was out of sight. But was able to find him, but noticing area that was more murky than the rest, caused by his moving through it. Again, very cold once on board again, but it was the last dive of the day, so I changed into warmer dry clothes!! Good dive experience, but I prefer warm water dives!

My first dives as a certified scuba diver!!!

Well, I have my certification, and I'm allowed to dive to a depth of 60 ft. But being from New York, and having gotten certified on a Caribbean vacation in November, it's hard to have to wait to be able to dive again. I guess eventually I can get dry suit certified and go diving in NY in the winters ... that is, IF I feel crazy enough!!

So, what's a gal to do? Well, I guess go diving on any vacation or mini-vacation that you can! And that's exactly what I did.

Last week my sister had a conference to go to out in San Diego. I join her every year for this conference, because I only have to pay for the airfare, and the rest (hotel, food, even an excursion) are paid for by the sponser of the conference. The first day of the conference is taken up with workshops and presentations. I usually get together with one of my friends that live in San Diego, or go sight-seeing myself. But this year, I decided to see about going diving!

Now, remember, I was certified in the Caribbean. Cold water diving is NOT something that is second nature to me. And being a somewhat ... um .... tiny person, I already get cold so easily! But, I am game! I mean, it's a dive experience, right?! And I want to get as many of those as I can!!! So I found a dive boat (Dive Connections), and signed up for a morning of 2 kelp bed dives. I was all psyched to possibly see seals!!!

So early Friday morning, I get up, get some breakfast and go out to the hotel lobby. The owner of the dive boat, Barry, was so nice, and even offered to pick me up at my hotel and bring me to the boat! Talk about service!!! We chatted a bit on the way over, and I felt really at ease!

I filled out all my forms, paid and got all my rental equipment (remember from my previous blogs that I only had some of my dive equipment. Then I went onboard the boat we were taking that morning and set up my BC/Regulator/Tank. My first regulator was doing a free flow so I had to exchange it.

The rest of the people started to file on, and get themselves set up. During this time, I sat with an advanced diver named Roger who had a REALLY good looking dive camera with the strobes and all that professional looking stuff. Yet, he was really nice and talked to me about the little starter camera I had, and what I could possibly do to increase the likelihood that my photos would come out better.

There were 3 women on the boat who were also newly certified like me. We all talked and figured we would try to dive together. We went over our plan. I even worked out a hand signal with one of them, who was going to be "my" buddy that would mean we were scared (the hands on the face like the kid from "Home Alone")

One of the women had actually talked with another guy, named Todd, who was an advanced diver. He was nice enough to agree to "babysit" us newbies!! I learned later that I was VERY glad that she had talked him into this! You'll understand why in a minute. Another advanced diver, Mary joined our little group as well.

So, we get to our first dive site (Quast Rock, depth of approx. 60', near La Jolla, CA) and into the water, make our way to the front of the boat and start down the anchor line. The 3 women were taking some extra time, so Todd signaled to me to go ahead down. It was REALLY murky on the way down. But once I passed about 40 feet, it opened up .... a bit. Visibility was nowhere near what I had in the Caribbean!! But I was there, breathing under water, looking around, enjoying the whole experience! Mary got down next. We just hung out for another few seconds, and then Todd was with us. He gave both of us the "OK" sign, which we returned, and then signaled for us to start out.

Confused, I quickly wrote on my slate "Where others?", to which Todd somehow signaled to me that they were not coming afterall. I found out when I got back on the boat that they had started down the anchor line, didn't like that they couldn't see too far, and decided to just hand onto the anchor line, and then go back up on the boat. Had I been with only them, I would not have gotten to dive at all on that dive. Now do you see why I said I was really glad that Todd had agreed to "babysit"? (side note, Todd told me that I had done really well, and that I didn't seem like a newbie! Yup, I'm proud!!)

Ok, so we went off and did our dive. It was murky, but I saw lots of different things, and really enjoyed myself. Check out what I saw on my photo profile on Scuba Board. http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/member.php?uid=90301&protype=1

But then I started to get cold. I was having such a great time that I didn't want to go up. But with hypothermia setting in (just kidding, it wasn't THAT bad) I signaled to Todd that I was cold. He signaled back to see if I wanted to go to the boat. I said yes, but he could see how cold I was, and decided we should just ascend and then swim back to the boat. We hadn't gone too far, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

That was, until we started to ascend, and I realized that I was underweighted!!! Going up slow, I was able to keep myself at an "ok" pace, but I needed to use my arms to push myself downward. But when we got to the 15 ft. safety stop, I had a LOT of trouble staying there!!! So much so, that Todd actually had to grab hold of me, and keep me at the 15 ft. level. It was scary, but once again I was so happy that Todd was there for me!! When we were up on the boat, he said that although you'd want to do the safety stop on all dives, at the depth we had been to, it wasn't such a big deal if we didn't get to do that. Then I remembered reading about that (how a safety stop from a depth of 60 ft. was recommended, but that it was "required" at deeper depths)

Back on board the boat, I was sooooooo cold!!! I could hardly hold onto the cup of soup that I had!! After about an hour rest, we went back in for dive #2! This second dive was also in La Jolla, at a spot called Chuck Rock, with a depth of approx. 60'.

This time a seal did come by!!!!!! Yup, soooooo incredibly psyched! Unfortunately, my camera had not been handed down to me yet, as we had just gotten in the water! So no photos! But the cutie was swimming around the boat, and actually kissed it. I told Barry later, that the seal had blessed his boat! Mary and I called to him ... yes, we did the "kissy" sound you do to a dog. He looked over at us, and then disappeared underwater. So immediately, Mary and I stick our heads in the water. And within a few seconds, there he was, swimming around our fins!! I wish he had stayed, but off he went! But I felt so honored that he had come by at all!

This time I had the proper amount of weight! The problem I had on this dive ... getting too distracted! I was taking a photo, and so concentrated on that, and I didn't notice that Todd and Mary had kept moving. The visability was really bad, and within seconds they were out of sight! I looked up from my camera and realized I was alone!!!

Slight freak out!!! But I stopped myself, and looked at everything logically. I was not in any emergency situation. I had enough air in my tank. I was breathing fine. Worse case scenario, if I had to ascend by myself, I knew how to do that. I had the proper weight, so I should be able to do the full safety stop. But before I ascended, I figured I should at least try to find Todd and Mary. Or they'd end up spending their whole dive looking for me! I didn't want to ruin their dive because I was inexperienced!! So I looked all around. Yeah, it was murky (maybe 10 feet of visability), but wasn't that one area a little more murky than the rest of the ways I could go? Could that extra murkiness be caused by Todd and Mary stirring up some silt or knocking into some kelp? I tried it, and guess what?! Lo and behold, there they were. And it looked like Todd was just starting to freak out and notice I wasn't there. He gave me the "OK" and I gave it back to him. Later on the boat, I told him about what happened. Not that I want to lose my dive buddy, but I was happy that I didn't freak out and that I was able to figure it out for myself!

The ascent on that second dive was MUCH better! And Todd made us stay there for a full 5 minutes! :-) Back on the boat I changed into all my warm clothes! I came prepared, thankfully!!

After we got back, returned our gear and washed off our own gear, I hung out for a few minutes while they closed up shop (no afternoon dives that day) and Barry and I headed to Pacific Beach for a bite to eat! We chatted some more, and now I have yet another friend in San Diego!! I will surely dive with the people from Dive Connections again!!

Ok, on to the next dive experience!! (by the way, that's in 12 days from now, when I go to Florida to visit my Mom. I'm signed up for 4 dives, including one wreck dive!!!)

I’m going diving next week!!!

Next week is my annual trip to San Diego!! Same fantastic hotel, same great conference, where we get fantastic meals, fun excursions, a banquet, etc. The first day of the conference has workshops, which I have no interest in sitting through. So instead ….

I’M GOING DIVING!!!

I did my research and found a company that runs various dives in the San Diego area. They are actually located near the hotel, so the guy who runs the dives is going to pick me up in the morning, and we’ll go out for a cup of coffee before going to the boat.

I will be diving in the La Jolla/Point Loma area in the kelp beds!

So, to better enjoy this dive, and to hopefully capture some great memories to share, I went back to the dive shop today and purchased some more things!

I bought a digital underwater camera, that is waterproof to 130 feet, and shockproof. I’ve seen photos taken with it, both under water and above, and they look really good! It’s 6 megapixels, and you can attach an external strobe and wide angle lens, although the camera comes with internal strobe and wide angle feature. They had a special, and threw in a 1G memory card too, but I already have memory cards from my regular digital. AND, the guy took an extra $25 off the price.

I also purchased some things that will make my dive experience a bit nicer. (photos below*)

I bought a slate, which attaches to my wrist, and which I can use to write underwater, in case I have anything I need to convey to my dive buddy, and then erase it when I surface to be able to start fresh.

I bought anti-fog gel. Yeah, I can use spit, but the gel works a bit better, and I hate having to spit into my mask!

I bought a “dry pak”, which will keep things like my cell phone or other items dry on the boat. Because anything not in one of these things WILL get wet!

And finally, I bought a quick-release lanyard for the camera. I was going to get a floatation strap, which would have made the camera float to the surface if I accidentally let go of it. But instead I bought the lanyard. It will attach to my BCD, and then when I want to use the camera, I unclip the extension, use the camera (which is still attached to my BCD, but can now move around further away from my body) and then reattach the camera. A benefit of this is that I don’t have to have it strapped to my wrist when not using it, and I can also have my hands free when climbing back up on a boat or onto a dock or whatever.

Then, on top of that …. my friend Sarah … the wonderful friend that she is … is being such a sweetheart and gifting me a dive log book and an extra pair of dive gloves that she has! How sweet is that?!?!?!

THANK YOU SARAH!!! YOU’RE THE BEST!

Plus, she’s been great for information help! I hopefully will be able to take photos half as good as the ones she’s taken and shared with us! But you all will have to be the judge of that, when I post the photos. Heck, I may even download them that afternoon and post them, if my sister brings her laptop again.

Anyway, I’m getting very excited!!! But I think you can tell that!!

* by the way, I didn’t purchase the seal swimming through the kelp. I just included the photo because that’s what I’m hoping to see on my dive!!!!