A Tale of Two….

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get out, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to go diving, so when we started talks of going this weekend, I was all for it.  My wife was on an out of town trip to visit a friend who just got two new puppies, and with our two new little residents, I wasn’t really able to go, since we don’t have a good cat-sitter yet. (although I really didn’t want to go… so the cats are a great excuse!)  I shot Rob a note, and we were mulling over Friday or Sunday!  But when Friday got put out, we decided Sunday it is, and we had a guest in John Weaver!  So it was a big party!

We met at Rob’s at 7:00am-ish, and packed his truck full of dive gear. The ride up was spent catching up on every topic known to man!  When we got there, we scouted out some tables, and found a few along the side road, what luck!  After some unpacking and preliminary set up, we ran over to Wegman’s for  our lunches. We came back, and finished setting up in the stifling heat.  Our plan was a similar one,  swim out to the Trolley, drop down the hill, etc.  JUST to get our bearings on a hot day.  When we were done sweating… I mean SETTING up, we waddled down to the water. 

Everything looked good, so we dropped to 20 for our bubble check, and we were  ready to go. (I had a slight bubble coming from my valves, but nothing rough to worry about, maybe an askew O-ring) So we decided to keep going. Out past the boat, and over to the Trolley, we all took a quick trip through it, and reconvened at the top of the hill.  We all gave “ok’s” so we went down the hill to the car.  Swam around that for a few, then over to the Deuce and a Half, and up the hill.  Once we were over the slope, we started along the back of the island.  Nice easy diving.  This is the kind I love.  Nothing too strenuous, and at a nice pace! After going around the front, we noticed that there was a nasty cloud in front of us. The last time we saw something like that, Rob changed direction, but John went into it!  We swam over to the crane, and around that for a few minutes, when we came out of the cloud, we felt like we were in 100ft. visibility! Hahaha!  (ok, maybe 20 ft.)   From there we followed the line over towards the Comet, and Rob and John swam through that, while I just chilled on the outside.  By this time we were getting towards the end of our time, so we followed the bottom of the slope over to the decks, and did our safety stop.  After five minutes, we all gave each other the thumbs up and ended our dive!

Deepest Depth:  86ft.

Duration:  49 minutes

Coldest Temp:  44º

Not a bad dive at all, felt like a mid summer dive of other years (when I was diving every Wednesday and occasional weekends by now)  SO it was time for a nice relaxing surface interval.  We got to enjoy our wonderful Wegman’s subs, and watch the many people wandering about the property, both Aqua Park, and divers. (the place was packed!)  We saw that Todd was with some rebreather people, so we went over and chatted with him, then I ran into Ron on my way to the rest rooms, and told him who I’ve seen so far.  So it was a great weekend for diving!

After about a two hour surface interval, we decided to get dive number two under way.  The plan was to hit the plane, then try to find the copter, and end up at the firetruck, etc.  Not a bad dive two!  So we set up and went down to the water.

After checking things out we went to 20 ft. for our bubble check, and this is where it gets weird for me. As I was trying to get my buoyancy under control, I somehow started descending at an uncontrollable rate, and plopped down at 35 feet, on my back. I rolled over, and tried to get my bearings.  By this time Rob was down checking on me. He gave me an “OK” sign, so I gave him one back, then a “not so OK” sign.  Not entirely sure what I did, but I knew my ears were hurting.  So I tried clearing the best I could, and started putting air in my suit.  Rob and John helped me to the surface, and onto the platform, where I said I wasn’t going to continue.  They called up to Todd, and asked him to help me back to the tables. (no reason for them not to continue)  So they kept going, and Todd helped me back. Once he knew I was ok, (Thanks, Todd!)  he went back to his crew and they went on with their dive.  I just  started putting my gear away, and tried to sort out what happened… and actually, I’m NOT sure?

Deepest Depth:  37ft.

Duration: 2.5 minutes (may be a new record!)

Coldest Temp:  72º

After putting my gear back into its respective bags, I spotted a friend that was there, and went over to chat with Donna for a while. (who was there for some recreational dives, as opposed to training dives!) Rob and John were coming out, so she finished getting her gear squared away, and I went to see them. (and apparently their dive went a little weird as far as navigation, they didn’t find everything they wanted, but it was apparently still a good dive)

After they put their gear away, we went to Wegman’s for a light snack.  While all of this was going on, my ears were sore, especially my right ear, so I kept “clearing it” slightly to ease the pain, after a while it felt like things were bubbling, and possibly the water in my ear was going away. As I drove home, I noticed that the water in the ear was a little red-ish on a tissue, so I thought “uh-oh”!  I sent a picture of it to my wife who showed it to a doctor friend, and he thinks I may have ruptured my ear drum.  SO… off to a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to find out for sure…yay!  

Who knows what this will be, but I’m not expecting to be out diving next weekend.  Enjoy your Fourth!

UPDATE:  NOT a ruptured ear drum!  Possibly a busted blood vessel.  Seeing an ENT soon.