First off, we had boat issues. Every time we go out on the water with instructor Kevin, we have problem after problem on the zodiac. This particular day:
- One of two engines wasn't working, so we barely crawled over the water at 7 mph.
- The bow of the boat folded backwards when hit headon by a medium sized wave. Later, we learned that the keel wasn't thoroughly inflated, which explained the lack of ridigity.
- The interior of the boat was a mess with the anchor line entangled with the dive equipment.
- Kevin's GPS and depth gage were precariously balanced and threatened to fall into the leaky boat bottom.
- Kevin's depth gage also ran out of batteries...
Secondly, I had equipment issues. To complete my drysuit certification, I had to don the BCD unit in the water. First of all, I was wearing a drysuit (limitations in flexibility). Layer upon that the pitching waves of the seas. Compound that with my brand new, expensive (and heavy!) weightbelt sliding off my hips, and you have a near panic situation. I am so glad I had to practice the weightbelt ditch and replace exercise in the pool for my Divemaster training because the operation was second nature. Thanks Dan!
To complicate matters, Kevin was teaching several different classes all in the same weekend, and even on the same day. One of the other divers on the boat was completing his AOW Deep Dive. He was wearing a brand new Mares drysuit and couldn't figure out how to use the drysuit inflator and had to sit out the first dive, growing ever more nauseaus on the pitching waves.
Dive #1: Sandflats off of Lover's Point (Cumulative #155)
Max Depth: 109 feet
Time: 0:26 minutes
Buddies: Mark, Kevin D.
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 43 deg. F (49 deg. F)
Visibility: 20-30 feet
Weight: 24 lbs with an HP steel 80 low slung
Observations: This dive is what makes me convinced that I must really love diving. There was nothing to see but sand and clumps of sea stars (I saw an interesting starfish burrowing into the sand). But I was blissfully hovering, frog kicking 3-4 feet above the bottom, revelling in being warm and not kicking up the fine sand.
Also, I noticed Kevin as he geared up on the surface. He looks very comfortable in the water and was steadfast despite the imperfect conditions. He clearly shows the mark of a very experienced and skilled diver.
Dive #2: End of Breakwater (Cumulative #156)
Max Depth: 47 feet
Time: 0:33 minutes
Buddies: Mark, Kevin D.
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 44 deg. F (50 deg. F)
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Observations: Noone felt comfortable to venture far from shore with our myriad of boat problems and with the white capped waves growing in the distance. So we opted to anchor at the end of the Breakwater to see if any sea lions would dive bomb us there (there's a small colony of sea lions that live here). Small shrimp made the water cloudy. I saw a couple of kelp greenlings. The usual nudibranchs, including one that looked like a Aeolidia Papillosa. Mark saw a sea lion posing above a rock, checking him out. I was concerned about Mark's one bare hand, and whether his hand might be freezing, so I decided to end the dive early. I saw a sea lion circling us at our safety stop before it gyrated away into the haze.
Afterthoughts:
This day of diving was the perfect example of trying to accomplish too many things at once. To Kevin's credit, he treated each problem with utmost calm, which is a fine quality for the technical diver that he is. But at the same time, he had too many classes and gear problems to handle, and it all could have easily gone awry.
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