Wednesday night was only going to be Rob and me, but
Wednesday morning, we got a note on the
Scared Turtle page, that Annette was thinking of coming out, so that was good
to know! As the day wore on the weather
was being predicted as being potentially rough after 6:30-7:00. I thought that
the weather would be fine for dive time. I heard through the grape vine that
the Penn State football team would be visiting the Children’s Hospital at the
Medical Center, so I was going to be a little later than my usual time. After the “event” I started down to the
quarry, and called Rob. He was there, all set up and waiting, and resting on
one of the tables until I got there. He
also said that it was drizzling, but not TOO bad, and the skies looked like the
rain would pass soon enough. By the time
I arrived at the quarry, it was in a total downpour! Susie and Steve were getting more and more
hesitant about letting anyone go back due to the lightning, (for the obvious
reason as well as because he didn’t want anyone stranded if more trees came
down over the road like two Wednesday’s ago)
So we were held up in the shop.
Annette showed up shortly after I arrived, and was also hesitant about
strapping on two steel cylinders and walking around in a lightning storm as
well. (can’t blame her for that, I was a
little apprehensive, as well) So we decided along with the staff to bag the
dive. Someone was already calling Ron to get him to come back up to the shop,
so I asked if he’d tell Rob we were bagging it.
So we were done. Annette was blaming the weather on herself
since this was the first time she was getting out this year; I was blaming it
on John, who wasn’t there with ‘Jane’ the magic tarp! Going through my memory banks, I can’t
recall ever getting blown out of a dive at the quarry that we were already
there. A few times I remember the weather being that bad and we decided to just
not go, and a few times because of the weather, we weren’t able to go, the
night was cancelled. (two weeks ago)
Anyway, the main reason I’m writing this is that I’m about
to hit another milestone and wanted to share it! During the trip my wife and I took to the
Florida Keys about six to eight months prior to my 40th birthday, we
had some time to kill before we had to head out of town to drive to Fort
Lauderdale to spend the night in a hotel so we would catch our plane very early
the next morning. So since we’ve done
MOST of the “tourist” stuff down there to just say that we did it, we decided
to take a glass bottomed boat ride out to one of the reefs since that was
something we hadn’t done. When we got
out there, we were able to see the coral, and a lot of fish, including some
nurse sharks, and rays. I thought it was pretty cool. On our way back in to port, they announced
that they also ran snorkeling trips out to the same reef twice daily, and
pointed to one of their boats off in the short distance. I looked at Lisa and said “that sounds like
fun, maybe next time we come down we should go snorkeling!” After we got home from our trip, I was talking
to a lady I spoke with very frequently, in one of my companies agents offices,
and told her about my trip, and that I wanted to go snorkeling the next time. She
informed me that she was a dive instructor out in Jersey Shore, PA, and gave me
some tips on what to look for as far as snorkeling gear. (and sent some old
Dive Training Magazines, and a Leisure Pro catalog with some Post-it notes
through interoffice mail with “get something like this, not those cheapo kits
you see at K-Mart!”)
When we decided to go down for my 40th birthday,
my wife said that she’d buy my gear for me when we get there as my
present! Our friend that lived there at
the time said “Diver’s Direct” was the place to go for it, good quality equipment
at decent prices, so the plan was in place!
I bought my new gear, and went out on one of the snorkeling trips. While
I was observing the reef below, and the little creatures, I noticed a few
people off to the side wearing tanks, and blowing bubbles, not having to
resurface every 30 seconds to get air, and thought; “I think I can DO
that!” So when I got back home, I called
my friend, and we tried to hook up for instruction, but could never find the
right time. While heading down 743 to
the driving range one night, I noticed what I THOUGHT was a “Jack Gaughen” sign
in front of the locksmith place, but thought afterward that it resembled a dive
flag. On the way back, I had my wife
slow down, and I noticed that it was in fact a dive flag! So I quickly copied down the web address, and
phone number, and hurried home to my computer to check things out. A new dive shop, training, equipment, etc. (how convenient!) So I called and got someone named Jeff on the
phone. He informed me about an open house that weekend, and said I could come,
and try it out in the pool. I was excited
and determined! That day came, and it
was cold, and raining out, but I still wanted to go, it was my chance. I met
Jeff, we went out to the pool, him in a wetsuit, me in just a bathing suit
(they didn’t have any that fit me) and I
tried it for the first time. I only
stood up once, but soon, I got the’ hang’ of breathing underwater, and was able
to do some of the skills he was teaching me.
After a few attempts at the skills, he just let me go in the pool, and I
was clumsily doing it. Afterwards, I
signed up for one of their classes, bought the PADI Manual and a hat, and was
all set!
I also was able to accompany my wife on HER attempt at
trying it in the pool, but she wasn’t as thrilled about it as I was, but I at
least was able to get wet again! I
started my classes, but had to miss one since I was able to accompany my wife
on a quick trip to Miami for work. We decided that after her work obligations
were finished, we’d take an extra day or two for a quick trip to Key West to
visit our friend that lived there, (no extra money involved, since we STILL had
to fly back, we had the car rented for a few extra days, and it cost nothing to
stay at his place…no brainer!) I also
figured that while I was there I’d do something similar to what I did with Jeff
in the pool, but also would be able to go out to a shallow reef with the
instructor, and give actual DIVING a try, so I researched it, made a few phone
calls, and settled upon Captains Corner out of Key West. That happened on July 26th 2004! Two dives with an instructor on Rock Key and
Eastern Dry Rock reefs off of Key West. Here’s what I wrote in my dive log: (yes, I
was writing these even then!)
Lisa dropped me off at The Captains Corner, Bob, my dive
instructor, was hanging out outside the shop waiting for me to arrive.
We got right down to business, I started by giving him my
current experience and he was happy to know that he didn't have too much to
really show me at that point, but wanted to get me into the pool to make sure I
was able to do the skills (which I was able to do with no problems) He thought
I was well on my way to being in control of my buoyancy, and couldn't believe
that I only had 2 pool dives previously to get to that point (Jeff gave me some
good tips on those two dives) After he was satisfied with my skills, (and we
went over some hand signals) he left me
under the watchful eye of one of his assistants while he took the tanks over to
the boat, and told me to take my time and basically "waste the tank" practicing
anything I wanted until either he got back or I was tired and ready to quit.
I finished, dried off then went to where the boat was
docked. I had more time to kill, so I
had my lunch, then brought my stuff to the boat.
The boat trip was fairly short; the Reef is seven miles
south of Key West. Our first stop was Eastern Dry Rocks, where I was snorkeling
last year. As we approached the reef I was helped into my gear by Bob and the boat
captain (never got his name, nice guy though) and did my pre-dive check and
waddled up to the side of the boat. Bob had already jumped in and I was told I
would be making a "giant stride" entry (which I had never done at
that point) to which I replied "where, down there?" The captain said,
"Yeah, that's where all the good stuff is" So I walked off the side
of the boat! No time to be nervous, just
wait until I bobble up to the surface and give the "ok" sign
(alright…make sure you're "ok" first) and I was. Bob asked if I was
ready, I said I was, "then let's go!"
And off we went!
I let the air out of
my BC and followed Bob down onto the reef.
Once I was close to the bottom I realized I was going to hit (no
buoyancy control yet) I didn't SLAM into the sandy bottom, just felt like I
"ran aground!" Once there I
put some air into the BC and started to float, and started following Bob
through the reef. WOW! What sights to see, many fish, coral, plant
life, BRAIN CORAL look how HUGE it is, sea fans. A lot to see for the
un-acclimated, but I'm sure there was more that I missed. I felt like I was snapping pictures like a
tourist as Bob pointed things out to me, as I would find, most of the pictures
were a bust, but some are actually salvageable. We weaved in and out of the
reef looking under ledges, seeing the occasional lobster, Sea Urchin, shrimp,
Parrot fish were abundant as were Squirrelfish and Yellowtails.
My buoyancy wasn't bad once I got going, and I kept up with
Bob throughout. Soon I was nearing 500 psi in my tank so it was time to end the
dive. We made our way to the surface, and to the boat and I was given the
instructions what to do once I got there. Take off my fins and hand them up,
hand my camera off, then grab onto the ladder and ride it for a few seconds
until I could start my way up. No
problem! The slope of the ladder and
weight of the tank kept me from falling off and I climbed up. Unbelievable! AND I get to do it again!
Duration: 34 minutes
Deepest Depth: 26ft.
We pulled anchor and headed off to Rock Key for our second
dive. Bob changed my tanks and got me ready for dive number two. Told me I did
great for my first time, and that we would just do more of the same on the
second dive. We wrote down the info for
my log book and decided that we would go over the dive tables after the second
dive.
Once again we tied off and hit the water. This time as I
made my entry, the weights in my pockets fell out, and it took some effort to
get down to depth. Bob had a puzzled look on his face, and then he saw my
weights sitting in the sand. A quick grab and stash, and we were off again.
This time we saw a huge tarpon, a relatively small grouper, and a filefish
(very interesting looking bugger) At one
point we looked under a ledge and saw a volleyball sized sea urchin and a another
lobster. The most interesting creature
was the brittle star which Bob picked up and handed to me. It's such a
privilege to interact with sea life, most people don't get this chance, but it
was a very cool feeling! And as with the last dive, I was taking pictures like
a fiend; if it moved or looked pretty (or Bob pointed it out) I snapped a
picture! I also handed him the camera to take mine...I'm such a
"tourist"!
After we (well I) hit the predetermined air supply (500 psi)
we made our way to the surface again, and climbed back in the boat. Bob paid me
a great compliment; "thanks for making my day easy!"
Duration: 31 minutes
Deepest Depth: 31ft.
Not bad for the first two!
The next week,
Annette was filling in for the usual instructor. It would have been cool to
have done a dive with her Wednesday after all these years, but thank Mother
Nature for fouling it up…oh well!
Anyway...after all that (if you made it the whole way
through) I want to take this opportunity
to thank Jeff and Annette for all they’ve done for me over the years, I’ve
learned SO MUCH from the both of you, and appreciate everything! I know you two aren’t getting OUT of diving,
but it seems like the “professional”
part of your career is at least on hold for now, and the website is
being eliminated. I appreciate the use
of the website as well for publishing my ranting and raving, so thanks guys!!!
Enjoy!
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