Hetland
Contributor
Saturday we had a spearfishing charter in PCB, and even though the dive shop assured us we would have a great time, we opted to believe the 5-7ft forecast. We opted for a shore dive instead, and found great conditions at St. Andrews to be much better than I expected. We had about 25ft of super-clear water, and another 10-15 of hazy viz thereafter. Barry spotted a frogfish out in the open who was nice enough to pose for us.
After the dive we split up to pursue vittles, with half going for Chicago Dogs at Pat's place, and the remainder at Red Rose for Italian fare.
It was then back to Vortex for a dive-gear rinse. The basin was filled with green fuzz despite the late-afternoon lack of students. The cavern was a tiny bit better close to the cave entrance, but worse at the bottom of the cavern. I did get some good sidemount practice though, so it was worth the dive.
After we dried off, DocCarl put his Phd in ethyl alcohol to good use by setting up a margarita machine. Ted and Chris provided entertainment by playing some classic-rock. Barry took reigns as head-chef, and I fell in as his assistant. Larry took command of the fryer. We had all the common taco fixin's plus the following:
- grilled slipper lobster
- bacon and portabello-wrapped amberjack
- grilled amberjack
- bacon-fried triggerfish
- lemon-pepper grilled red snapper
- grilled mangrove snapper
- chimichurri steak
- homemade guacamole
For desert, MrsXray made a killer pumpkin-bread cake, and Monica brought her famous homemade banana pudding, that even banana-haters seem to enjoy! I even saw some smores being melted up later in the evening.
I lack the writing skills to describe the further events of Saturday night. I'll just say that the earlier you went to bed, the more you missed
After the dive we split up to pursue vittles, with half going for Chicago Dogs at Pat's place, and the remainder at Red Rose for Italian fare.
It was then back to Vortex for a dive-gear rinse. The basin was filled with green fuzz despite the late-afternoon lack of students. The cavern was a tiny bit better close to the cave entrance, but worse at the bottom of the cavern. I did get some good sidemount practice though, so it was worth the dive.
After we dried off, DocCarl put his Phd in ethyl alcohol to good use by setting up a margarita machine. Ted and Chris provided entertainment by playing some classic-rock. Barry took reigns as head-chef, and I fell in as his assistant. Larry took command of the fryer. We had all the common taco fixin's plus the following:
- grilled slipper lobster
- bacon and portabello-wrapped amberjack
- grilled amberjack
- bacon-fried triggerfish
- lemon-pepper grilled red snapper
- grilled mangrove snapper
- chimichurri steak
- homemade guacamole
For desert, MrsXray made a killer pumpkin-bread cake, and Monica brought her famous homemade banana pudding, that even banana-haters seem to enjoy! I even saw some smores being melted up later in the evening.
I lack the writing skills to describe the further events of Saturday night. I'll just say that the earlier you went to bed, the more you missed