One More…Why not?

After my bad 2017, I was hoping that my 2018 diving would be much better, but sadly it really wasn’t MUCH better.  After my slight mishap last year, I didn’t think I was mentally prepared to go do one on New Year’s Eve, especially since the weather was cold. I honestly didn’t think I could handle any extreme task loading after six months of not diving, so I decided to not go with Rob and John. 

When I knew that we weren’t going to go to Orlando for the Citrus Bowl, I shot Rob a note and checked to see if he was interested in diving.  He was, I just had to make sure that my dry suit would return from getting some repairs, and I would be set!  The suit DID come back, and I texted him again. He was in, but John wasn’t able due to unforeseen circumstances.  Once we knew what time the gates would be open we set a time to go and just waited.

 Keeping an eye on the weather, we weren’t sure what to think other than it would not be as cold as last year, but possibly some showers. No big deal, we were going to get wet somehow anyway.  When we got to the quarry, it wasn’t as packed as the last time I was there for NYE, so we went straight in, and got some tables near Ron and his nephew. (a newer diver, who was diving wet…. YIKES!)  Although, Rob decided to give the young man his old dry suit (which needs minimal work) to get him started along THAT path! (which I thought was pretty cool!)(But he told him that he can’t use it today)

Rob decided to dive with a single tank since Dutch only lets you do ONE dive on this day, I had my 130’s hydro’d recently, but they filled them with air, so I didn’t care. (I’ll probably let them drain a little before I take them for my next fill)  So we weren’t diving our usual plans.  When I dove last month, I realized that my neck seal was starting to get a little frayed, so I decided to trim it a little last night, I had about three-four inches left to trim, and it ripped! (didn’t expect to need to replace my neck seal, but I was glad I had one)

We seemed to stall getting ready, but we figured that we’re here, let’s just go do it!  So we started getting ready.  Rob needed to change his computers to the number on his transmitter, and was having issues, he finally was able to get it set up correctly, and decided that we weren’t going to do anything crazy. (Now while THIS was going on, Ron was pouring hot water in his nephew’s wetsuit….)  Once Rob was ready, I had him help me get my neck seal straightened out (I hate new ones) and we were soon ready to go jump in.

Due to the massive amounts of rain we’ve been having, the water in the quarry is WAY up, and you almost need to float out to the entry platforms.  Once we were set up, we ducked our heads under water. (and waited for the ice cream headache) Rob pointed to the platforms, and I followed. When we got there, he was having an issue with something, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what he needed, but once I did, he was fine, and we started towards the Crane. (His computer wasn’t registering his breathing gas, so he needed his analog gauge)  We got to the Crane, and waited for a few people to leave before swimming around it, then we started along the bottom of the island diving clockwise instead of our usual counter clockwise (nothing like a little danger on the last dive of the year) I settled in rather nicely, and was using minimal effort moving. A lot of odd debris was floating around, some of the ”clouds-o-crud” resembled odd fish when you first looked at them (or I was narced… I WAS diving air for the first time in a LONG time!)  We made it back to the Crane (which was kicked up a lot more) and Rob pointed towards the Trolley, or the Comet (well that’s where I thought he was pointing) and I chose the Comet, figuring that we could swim around that a little, and then up to line to our safety stop. (and that I wouldn’t be tempted to pop over the hill to see the car)  I was wrong, we headed right back to the platforms, so I figured we were doing our safety stop.  When I saw Rob grab onto one of the up lines coming off of the platform, I knew that he must have been light, and was trying not to ascend. (he said he knew he should have added more weight or grabbed some rocks)   I stayed close and was getting cold, so I tried unloading some air from my wing, and adding it to my suit, and had to struggle myself for a minute or so.  When Rob was done with his stop, he pointed UP as opposed to over along the line, so I knew that he was floaty! I ascended with him, and he told me what I suspected, so we just surface swam back to the exit and were done!

Deepest Depth: 63 ft.

Duration: 34 minutes

Coldest Temp: 41º

Truthfully not the best dive, but not the worst dive (Hey, we made it back)  I tend to agree with his opinion that since we aren’t diving as much as we had in the recent past, it takes more thought and prep to do a basic dive like we had been for the past several years, but I guess you DO have to pull it back occasionally, and make sure that you are doing things the right way, and not letting anything become automatic.  But they all can’t be perfect dives, we’re a little more critical of ourselves than we have been from a lot of years ago (Heck, Rob and I have been diving together for over 12 years, so we are pretty critical of our dives) Oh well what are you going to do (get better the next time)

Well after we packed, we went and got our new memberships for 2019, so I guess we’re still going to do this crazy thing!  Thanks to Rob for driving, and diving today!  It’s always good to end the year on a positive note doing something fun!   Happy New Year to all of you!  I wish the best for you and your families during 2019!  I’ll let you know when we get out again!