My son's first Ocean dive...

Now to be clear... my son has been certified for more than a year. Unfortunately, his (and my) old instructor HATES salt water, unless he is diving in the Pacific. Consequently of my 100+ dives, all but a dozen or so have been in fresh water, and so ALL of my son's diving has been in springs and lakes.

He has had a few "qualms" about diving in the deep blue, and I don't beleive he has shared them all with me. Things like driving time, and salt water will sting my eyes, were the things he kept pointing to.

But today, my son went to see the reefs for himself, and he was enthralled. He poked his nose and light into every crack and crevice, into every nook and barrel sponge on the reef. He pointed out all of them cool little fishies, that I have loved for some time. He got to laugh at dad's encounter with a loggerhead (see seperate post) and he just had plain fun.

Vis was 80+ ( you could easily see the bottom from the boat) and the depth was only 60 or so. Water was warm (he only wore a skin) and we were the only ones on this boat. Captain Jim went overboard (not literally) to put him at ease and to make him feel welcome. I was soooooo impressed by this guy. All charter boat captains should ride with Captain Jim JUST ONCE to see how it should be done. Then he did some experiments with a one litre bottle for his school science fair... I took pictures... LOTS of pictures that had BETTER come out! He was able to capture his Sister's attention with his stories of all he had seen. What a hoot! I think his sister will now finally finish her C-Card so she can join us too. Oh yeah, it was fairly choppy on the way out... "COOL boat ride dad!!!" And he learned that if you feel sick toside, there ain't nuthin' like a little dip to get your tummy back in line!

:tease:

didn't know what freshwater was! Must be your son and instructor have "nawthern" blood in them.

Glad to hear he made the "discovery" of the other world.

What's the details of his science project? I've been trying to think of something Kristin might do along these lines.

Fresh water eh... OK here's a confession from me... I've done less than .1% of my diving fresh water. Hehe Oh well, not all of us have the luxery of diving in wonderful lakes and quarries

Actually I'm jones'n to do some missle silo's type of diving... hopefully someday soon!

Hey guys...

News flash... more springs in Florida then the rest of the US combined... More fossils too, but I think I was erroneously included in that count... :tease:

congrats on your ocean dive.

I love diving, anywhere. I live in Mexico so I have the opportunity to dive the caves and caverns of the southeast (Yucatan and Q. Roo)... however, I am in heart a reef diver... no matter how much technical diving training I go through, there is always a reef dive, 60 feet on singles on the back of my mind.

I suggest you study books about the flora and fauna of your reefs along with your son and I asure you next dive will be even better.

way to go

ali

......congrats to your son. I have only dove twice in salt water and I sure enjoyed it.

So :mario: that means 2 /47=??%
well......I 'm to tired someone, else can so the math!!

But I did enjoy the vis,warmth and the reef. I hope to do the same in Jan/02.

Butch eace:

We're heading back out this Sunday if Gabrielle permits...

Ahhh, I actually just threw that number out there without working out any math, but I've only done 3 fresh water dives and they were for the PADI IE course.

Pete,

Back to Boynton already? You DID like the dive.

My West Palm dive tomorrow was washed out... wish I wasn't tied up on Sunday or I might try to go to Boynton. I'll be jealous if Gabrielle lets you dive and not me.

Despite the drought, I'm doing my anti-rain dance, and it isn't working....

Julie

I only made a few fresh water dives mostly to find things for people. I will remember my Gainesville, Florida fresh water dive however. It was the one with the swim by from an Alligator!