Dive 59 and 60


I finally got off my first North Carolina dive yesterday morning with Coastal Scuba and I must say it was good to get back in salt water. The site was The Jell which is a 20 year old wreck off shore from the Cape Fear river about 10 miles. It sits in 70 feet of water.

Conditions were perfect for these waters. The waves were about 1 foot and the visibility was the best the crew had seen which was about 30 feet of visibility.

I took my spear gun after checking with the office and was told it was fine. When I got on the boat the dive master said no I couldn't take it unless I took his course, which was identifying fish from what looked like a local seafood table mat.

The instructor was military and made the whole thing a little stiff and prison like but he got his points across on how to get in the boat his way, how to get down to the wreck his way, how long we would be here total, so were told to get on with your dives so he could get the boat back for a fishing charter.

The dive master told us who our buddies would be and I was paired with another spear fisherman and my usual dive buddy Edwin.

On the first dive I shot 4 spade fish and recovered 3. Plus, I accidentally shot a fish that was off the list. It was a good lesson for me to make sure I identify the fish before I pull the trigger.
The dive master took my speargun upon learning of my transgressions with great drama filled with vulgarity in front of the rest of the divers and crew. But, it is his boat and his dive so I bit my lip and handed over the gun.

The second dive was just nosing around and looking for fish that I could shoot. I was so pissed off at the way the confrontation was handled that I couldn't concentrate on where I was and enjoy the experience.

Overall two nice dives but not fun dives as they could have been.

I have been spoiled with happy and professional staff of St Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventures (SCUBA) so my expectations were high.

The crew ran the boat safely and got real friendly toward tipping time.

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2 comments:

Ken said...

You got yelled at?

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Yep. Chewed me out over a damn fish. I let it go but it had three holes in him.