Back in the Sea

Yesterday I called Michael and suggested we do a shake down dive so he could test the comfort of the equipment I brought down. Plus it had been a while since he dove and I know practice is important in this hobby.

We headed out to Cane Bay around mid day. The water close to shore was kicked up a bit from the recent visit from Earl.

Michael and I suited up tank and all and began the awkward walk to the ocean. Walking 100 yards to the ocean with 70 to 80 pounds on ones back is taxing. It feels so good when one finally gets in the water and floats. It takes a big load off the body.

We swam on the surface, past the breakers and stirred up water. We decided to decent once we could see the visibility clear up and 30 feet below.

We had no real plan except not to exceed 60 feet and basically move along shore.

The water was fantastic. It was warm, very clear and there was no current at the bottom. We lazily worked our way toward the wall. Soon we were at 60 feet and below us was a white sandy slope that reminded me a ski resort in the mountains. We traveled along this slope and began to see clusters of giant sponges and outcroppings of coral. It always amazes me how a small coral outcropping (about the size of a car) can be such and oasis for fish.

We found a nice spot on the bottom and did some emergency breathing off by backup air so we would both be comfortable using it in an emergency situation.

After some time we decided to surface to get our bearings. We did our decompression stops and finally hit the surface to look around. From there we took bearings with our compass and dove again for the swim to shore.

It amazed me how accurate were with our compass.

Altogether, a very nice dive.

4 comments:

terri said...

I've mentioned before how the thought of diving makes me feel claustrophobic, but the way you just described it, I can really see why you enjoy it so much. I could feel the change from feeling stressed by the weight of your equipment, to making the dive and finding peace and calm under the water. It sounds so beautiful!

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

It is Terri. So nice and so different under there.

Rock Chef said...

Thanks for the great description of the dive - almost felt that I was there!

Like Terri, I don't think that I could do this for myself, though.

Ken said...

I just might have to take up diving again when my home floats.