After weeks of talking about it, I finally got in the water, not once, but twice this weekend! On Friday I did a night dive off my house with someone from my neck of the woods. I was so excited about it that, although he was supposed to get there at about 7 PM, I had all my gear set up by 6. We got in the water around 7:15 or so & kicked out to the first buoys & dropped down. Boy, did it feel cold! There was a north current so we headed south to start. Not much to see in the way of fishes- we were only on the first (& dying) reef) but we did spot a sea turtle & followed that for a few minutes. After that, we ran across a skate hiding in the sand. I found a few of my personal underwater favorites- I call them pufferfish- they have a beige to brown skin with black & white markings on them & great big bug eyes. I love to play with them. But, as I said, it was too cold to begin with & we kept swimming through pockets of even colder water. I finally decided that I couldn't take it anymore & we went back in. It may not seem like a big deal to you guys, but my buddy had me lead us in & I brought us back right where we started from- I'm kind of proud of myself for that one because, frnakly, I had gotten so cold that I probably wasn't thinking as well as I usually do! It's such a gradual proccess that you aren't always aware of it happpening. He checked his computer & told me that we were only down for about 35 minutes- I had gotten so cold that it felt like an eternity to me. So, I came back in with about 2k psi...felt like kind of a waste to me...took off my suit- my body was COVERED in hives! YECH!!!
The next morning, I met up with a few divers down in Dania & we dove the Eurojacs (Walter- we dove that together once with a bunch from scubaboard.com, remember?) One of the divers had an extra vest which I put on over my 5 mil (yes, that's what I dive in all summer). That extra protection allowed me the ability to make it through the whole dive!!! For those of you that don't know the jacks, they are concrete structures that were sunk going out in a row toward the first ledge in Dania. They're called the jacks because that's what they look like- oversized concrete forms that look like the jacks that little girls play with. The only problem with that dive is that they are nowhere near any easy access points off the beach. So, we went in by the Dania fishing pier & kicked out NE for a while. Dropped down finally & then it took ups another 10 minutes or so to actually find the jacks. Because of their structure & the way they are placed, the jacks are typically teaming with all kinds of creatures, and Sat was no exception- don't ask me to ID any because that's never been my forte! So, we had a nice leisurely swim out to where they end at a ledge. Turned south to head back along the ledge, which sometimes houses lots of critters lurking in the holes underneath. By that time, I was really starting to get cold again & I had to hurry everyone along a little to get back. I missed a few creatures as a result- I only found out about them when we got back in. We made our way south on the ledge for a while & then struck out SW to shore. Came back up right at the pier's halfway point & kicked in the rest of the way. All in all, a great dive! Heck, I'm of the mind that every dive is great- my favorite aspect of diving is really the weightlessness that I experience- I love the feel of it, so, even if I don't see much, I'm happy.
All in all, a wonderful way to start out. As I said, it's really still too cold for me yet (I know, warm water wuss!) but, since my reason is that I am literally allergic to cold, you all will just have to forgive me. Yes, I surfaced covered with hives again. I got out of the water & had stripped down first- I'm fast. 10 minutes later my dive buddies got a look at my skin, subsiding by that time, & were amazed at how covered with welts I was! So, now that I got my "fix," I will wait a few more weeks to dive again. I was hoping to be able to do a 2nd dive with some other people in the afternoon but had to return on tank unused because I knew that my body would not take it
