We just happened to be on the boat with our friend Ed, and his brother who's visiting. His brother isn't a diver, but he was along for some fun snorkeling. It was nice to get to meet his brother, and see how Corben and Davin might behave some day. To start, we got all our gear ready, hooked up our BC's to our air tanks and put them on the boat. The captain of the boat explained his rules, and also explained that the weather was a bit rough today, there were some winds that had him a bit concerned and said we may not actually make it to the islands to dive, but he'd do his best. Then we headed on out.
There were some darker clouds off to the side, but they seemed to keep moving away, and it was just beautiful as we made our way.
Isn't that just amazing?
At this point, we're getting closer to the group of islands. The sea was getting a bit choppy, and we were bouncing around quite a bit. I would assume that anyone who easily got sea sick, would have if they'd been on the boat.
Just chillin
As we got closer and closer, the water got choppier and choppier. At one point we watched a boat stop, and it was just pitching back and forth so severely it was sickening just to watch. I was so happy we weren't on that boat. Our captain took us around the islands trying to find a nice spot to stop. Eventually we ended up in a nice area where the water was almost as smooth as glass. We stopped, dropped the anchors and started to get ready to go. He explained the current to us, and we jumped in and got ready to go.
Me with my super bright fins. You'll never lose sight of these puppies in the water! There was definitely a current under the water, it was pulling on us, but we were able to stop and see some of the fun fish.
Look closely, a sea turtle! We were warned not to chase them, they're known to take fingers, but Tim followed just close enough to get some pictures.
look against the rocks for the fish. At this point things were getting a bit hairy. (keep in mind, I'm not an experienced diver, I've only been a few times, and never off a boat, or with a current, or anything like that, so to me, this was hairy) While we were diving the current changed, and ended up taking us quite a distance from the boat. The water also changed from smooth and glassy to choppy.
We had some fog on the camera, but you can see how far we are from the boat, and you can see the water isn't smooth. The current was very strong, and we couldn't fight it. The best we could do was try and swim across it and try to stay where we were, and together. Ed inflated his red balloon thingy (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what) so the boat would see us to come and get us, since we wouldn't be able to swim back on our own. Now we weren't in any real danger, it wasn't like we were being swept out to sea, but it put a damper on the dive, because we had to keep surfacing to talk to each other and make a new game plan. I don't know how long we were under, but we had plenty of air left in our tanks. The boat eventually picked us up (and several other divers that were caught by the current). Getting back on the boat was quite the ordeal. I'd never done a boat dive, and you have to climb back up a ladder. I had to take my fins off to climb, the boat was rocking pretty hard because of the wind, I kept losing my balance, but finally got back on board. At that point I was exhausted, a bit scared, and done. I told Tim I'd sit the next dive out.
We got going and were going for maybe 20 minutes to get to a different spot that would be calmer. Getting there was pretty intense. We were hitting large swells that would hit the boat, and send water over all of us, or lift us high then drop us. My stomach went out from under me quite a bit. I'm actually surprised no one on the boat got sick during this time, it was pretty intense, (well to me anyway). I started to get queasy, and definitely made up my mind to stay on the boat instead of try and dive again. Here's where we ended up for our second dive. I assumed that we'd have the same issues, get in, get caught by the current, and have to be "rescued" by the boat. Instead, the water calmed down, the sun came out, the current was almost non-existent, and the boat didn't have to move at all, all divers and snorkelers came back, and had no problems. In hindsight I would have probably enjoyed that dive so much more than the first. Tim and Ed went out together, and had a great dive. The water was so clear, if you looked over the side of the boat, you could see the bottom, and we were at about 60 feet.
We had some fog on the camera, but you can see how far we are from the boat, and you can see the water isn't smooth. The current was very strong, and we couldn't fight it. The best we could do was try and swim across it and try to stay where we were, and together. Ed inflated his red balloon thingy (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what) so the boat would see us to come and get us, since we wouldn't be able to swim back on our own. Now we weren't in any real danger, it wasn't like we were being swept out to sea, but it put a damper on the dive, because we had to keep surfacing to talk to each other and make a new game plan. I don't know how long we were under, but we had plenty of air left in our tanks. The boat eventually picked us up (and several other divers that were caught by the current). Getting back on the boat was quite the ordeal. I'd never done a boat dive, and you have to climb back up a ladder. I had to take my fins off to climb, the boat was rocking pretty hard because of the wind, I kept losing my balance, but finally got back on board. At that point I was exhausted, a bit scared, and done. I told Tim I'd sit the next dive out.
We got going and were going for maybe 20 minutes to get to a different spot that would be calmer. Getting there was pretty intense. We were hitting large swells that would hit the boat, and send water over all of us, or lift us high then drop us. My stomach went out from under me quite a bit. I'm actually surprised no one on the boat got sick during this time, it was pretty intense, (well to me anyway). I started to get queasy, and definitely made up my mind to stay on the boat instead of try and dive again. Here's where we ended up for our second dive. I assumed that we'd have the same issues, get in, get caught by the current, and have to be "rescued" by the boat. Instead, the water calmed down, the sun came out, the current was almost non-existent, and the boat didn't have to move at all, all divers and snorkelers came back, and had no problems. In hindsight I would have probably enjoyed that dive so much more than the first. Tim and Ed went out together, and had a great dive. The water was so clear, if you looked over the side of the boat, you could see the bottom, and we were at about 60 feet.While we definitely had some turbulence, it was fun. I enjoyed being out for the day, and while I was diving, it was great. Seeing a sea turtle, in a natural environment was awesome. Someone else was able to get a picture of a shark (I didn't see it) and on the ride home, several people were able to see flying fish (again, I wasn't fast enough to see them, I missed it every time). Tim is already talking about going again, I'm not sure if I'd do it again, it's an all day thing, but maybe, there's still six weeks before we move. We'll have to see what happens!
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