Sunday, June 17, 2007
Dive 141 = The worst dive ever
I didn’t think that you could have a worst dive ever. Wow! Was I completely wrong. Here’s the story:
So, there we were, on the Triton boat with Ricardo as our Divemaster. It was the 3:30 p.m. dive on Sunday, June 17.
“Where shall we go?” they ask.
“How about Palancar Gardens? That’s always a great dive.”
“White house? Ok, what the heck—wherever the people want to go.”
The current had been strong all day; it was a windy day. But we didn’t have any problems on our other two dives—we just let the current take us away. Why would this dive be any different?
At 4:02 p.m., we hit the water. As we descended and reached the bottom, Greg and I ended up between Ricardo and the other five divers. Ricardo made sure everyone was ok, and motioned for us to follow him. We quickly realized that the other divers weren’t so good—it was like they were coming at us—flaying hands and feet. Greg motioned for me to follow him but I gave him the “let all those yahoooos go first,” which we did.
And before you knew it, they were off. It was like a RACE! Remember, the current is strong today—no need to kick WITH the current because if you DO…
Wait…it was more like a feeding frenzy! It was a challenge to see who could get to where Ricardo was first.
No, hold on…Greg described it best. He used to be a referee for kids soccer. He would tell me, “Wherever the ball was, that’s where all the kids were. And they’d stay in a clump as they went around the field.”
Yep. That’s more like it. Ricardo was the ball and the other divers where the kids.
Look! Ricardo found a toadfish. Clump! There’s a turtle. Clump! And they’d just spend a few minutes—maybe even seconds—looking and gawking and taking a picture. Then, they were off to find the next treasure. And each time, they’d kick WITH the current.
Greg stopped to take a few pictures but I never saw the toadfish. We turned around, and the “clump” was gone! Literally! We could barely make out their bubbles. So, here we go, kicking WITH the current. Ok, there they are, and they’ve found something else…oh wait! There they go again…yep! Kicking WITH the current.
Wow! Was that the end of the reef? Now we had to kick sideways to go across the sand to the next reef. Are you having fun? I know I’m not. This stinks! And when my mask started fogging up so I couldn’t see, it just got worse. Who had time to stop and clear it? Not me! All I could think of was, “This isn’t any fun!”
Oh look! Ricardo found a green moray eel! Clump! Kick, kick, kick! There goes the clump. Greg: picture, picture, picture as he’s kicking into the current to take the pictures. Me: kick, kick, kick into the current just to keep an eye on Greg who’s about 20 feet away. And when I look over my shoulder to see where the clump was…gone, AGAIN! No way!
Honk, honk! I use my squacker to get Greg’s attention and motion him to COME ON! At this point, I’m exhausted! Really! I can’t hold on much longer. Again, I’m thinking, “This isn’t any fun.”
Kick, kick, kick WITH the current…geez! There they are, playing with a turtle. Ok, I’m done. And Greg is too. He looks at me and I know what he’s thinking. He motions to Ricardo, “we’re heading up.” “Are you ok?” Ricardo asks. “Ok. But we’re going up.”
And we started our ascent to complete our safety stop. That was the longest three minutes of my life. When it was done, we hit the surface and signaled the boat. We were first up—we’ve NEVER been first up.
Typically, our bottom time is about 45 to 55 minutes for each dive. During a shallow dive, like this was, typically, I’ll end up with about 1200-1400 psi of air left. There was NOTHING typical about this dive.
Bottom time=26 minutes
Air remaining=1600 psi
Did I tell you this was my worst dive ever?!
So, there we were, on the Triton boat with Ricardo as our Divemaster. It was the 3:30 p.m. dive on Sunday, June 17.
“Where shall we go?” they ask.
“How about Palancar Gardens? That’s always a great dive.”
“White house? Ok, what the heck—wherever the people want to go.”
The current had been strong all day; it was a windy day. But we didn’t have any problems on our other two dives—we just let the current take us away. Why would this dive be any different?
At 4:02 p.m., we hit the water. As we descended and reached the bottom, Greg and I ended up between Ricardo and the other five divers. Ricardo made sure everyone was ok, and motioned for us to follow him. We quickly realized that the other divers weren’t so good—it was like they were coming at us—flaying hands and feet. Greg motioned for me to follow him but I gave him the “let all those yahoooos go first,” which we did.
And before you knew it, they were off. It was like a RACE! Remember, the current is strong today—no need to kick WITH the current because if you DO…
Wait…it was more like a feeding frenzy! It was a challenge to see who could get to where Ricardo was first.
No, hold on…Greg described it best. He used to be a referee for kids soccer. He would tell me, “Wherever the ball was, that’s where all the kids were. And they’d stay in a clump as they went around the field.”
Yep. That’s more like it. Ricardo was the ball and the other divers where the kids.
Look! Ricardo found a toadfish. Clump! There’s a turtle. Clump! And they’d just spend a few minutes—maybe even seconds—looking and gawking and taking a picture. Then, they were off to find the next treasure. And each time, they’d kick WITH the current.
Greg stopped to take a few pictures but I never saw the toadfish. We turned around, and the “clump” was gone! Literally! We could barely make out their bubbles. So, here we go, kicking WITH the current. Ok, there they are, and they’ve found something else…oh wait! There they go again…yep! Kicking WITH the current.
Wow! Was that the end of the reef? Now we had to kick sideways to go across the sand to the next reef. Are you having fun? I know I’m not. This stinks! And when my mask started fogging up so I couldn’t see, it just got worse. Who had time to stop and clear it? Not me! All I could think of was, “This isn’t any fun!”
Oh look! Ricardo found a green moray eel! Clump! Kick, kick, kick! There goes the clump. Greg: picture, picture, picture as he’s kicking into the current to take the pictures. Me: kick, kick, kick into the current just to keep an eye on Greg who’s about 20 feet away. And when I look over my shoulder to see where the clump was…gone, AGAIN! No way!
Honk, honk! I use my squacker to get Greg’s attention and motion him to COME ON! At this point, I’m exhausted! Really! I can’t hold on much longer. Again, I’m thinking, “This isn’t any fun.”
Kick, kick, kick WITH the current…geez! There they are, playing with a turtle. Ok, I’m done. And Greg is too. He looks at me and I know what he’s thinking. He motions to Ricardo, “we’re heading up.” “Are you ok?” Ricardo asks. “Ok. But we’re going up.”
And we started our ascent to complete our safety stop. That was the longest three minutes of my life. When it was done, we hit the surface and signaled the boat. We were first up—we’ve NEVER been first up.
Typically, our bottom time is about 45 to 55 minutes for each dive. During a shallow dive, like this was, typically, I’ll end up with about 1200-1400 psi of air left. There was NOTHING typical about this dive.
Bottom time=26 minutes
Air remaining=1600 psi
Did I tell you this was my worst dive ever?!
// posted by Leenie @ 9:20 PM 
Comments:
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Eileen, I'm so sorry to hear that dive #141 went so poorly. I hope this dive remains the worst dive you've had. I don't want to read about any more bad dives. I love your blogs. I look forward to reading the next one. How's the wasp neighborhood? Louis
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