Today was one of the best dives I've had in almost 9 months. I am still giddy.
Last dive was over 4 months ago and just nothing went right. My dive buddy is my son (15 years old) and we have only been diving for about 2 years. Last dive visibility was horrible, he got vertigo and I lost my GoPro when I focused on his needs. Son is fine and got GoPro back. He started to develop lots of dizzyness so no diving. After all the MRI's, CAT scans, neurological exams, etc, he finally nails it down to stress at school. Whew! Then he broke his collar bone at football a few weeks ago. Got cleared on Friday.
So today was the first time we have dove together since late April. At first I was going to do a boat dive, but then he got mad at me that I wasn't going with him. We decided on a late start and a noon dive at one of our local mud holes (Alki Cove 2). Perfect tides and little exchange. There is absolutely nothing special about this place. But here is why it was such a great day and re-stoked the passion.
1) Gorgeous day! Low 60's and sunny, water temp in mid 50's. Perfect drysuit weather. (Goldilocks day not too hot, not too cold)
2) Prime parking. It's Labor Day weekend at a popular spot for everyone, not just divers. We see no street parking. Pull into the lot and Bam! Pole position. Easy donning of equip. and a short walk to the entry.
3)I never met Lynne personally but her passing hit me hard like so many others here. We had communicated here on SB and learned so much from her posts. To honor her, my son and I spent the first half of the dive and 15 minutes before hand just practicing skills we were probably rusty at (air share, buddy system, bouyancy, SMB, etc).
4) Nice easy entry. I usually have problems equalizing. Today no such problems. Slow ascent from the beach to 25 feet and just cleared and cleared. After that no problems.
5) Visibility was amazing for this site. Easily 40 feet. WOW!.
6) Lots of flora and fauna. Just tons of things to watch and get lost in the moment.
7) I WAS DIVING WITH MY SON AND BUDDY AGAIN!
8) I everything worked perfectly. I love my equipment. It's so comfortable I just forget that it is there. All of it just becomes one with me.
9) We had perfect navigation. We planned our dive and dove our plan and literally surfaced at the exact same spot that we descended. This was a first for us.
10) We both had huge smiles at the end of the dive.
So it was one of those days you cherish. Even though its not the most amazing diving spot it just stoked the passion with shovels of coal and lots of air.
I hope everyone has days like this.
Last dive was over 4 months ago and just nothing went right. My dive buddy is my son (15 years old) and we have only been diving for about 2 years. Last dive visibility was horrible, he got vertigo and I lost my GoPro when I focused on his needs. Son is fine and got GoPro back. He started to develop lots of dizzyness so no diving. After all the MRI's, CAT scans, neurological exams, etc, he finally nails it down to stress at school. Whew! Then he broke his collar bone at football a few weeks ago. Got cleared on Friday.
So today was the first time we have dove together since late April. At first I was going to do a boat dive, but then he got mad at me that I wasn't going with him. We decided on a late start and a noon dive at one of our local mud holes (Alki Cove 2). Perfect tides and little exchange. There is absolutely nothing special about this place. But here is why it was such a great day and re-stoked the passion.
1) Gorgeous day! Low 60's and sunny, water temp in mid 50's. Perfect drysuit weather. (Goldilocks day not too hot, not too cold)
2) Prime parking. It's Labor Day weekend at a popular spot for everyone, not just divers. We see no street parking. Pull into the lot and Bam! Pole position. Easy donning of equip. and a short walk to the entry.
3)I never met Lynne personally but her passing hit me hard like so many others here. We had communicated here on SB and learned so much from her posts. To honor her, my son and I spent the first half of the dive and 15 minutes before hand just practicing skills we were probably rusty at (air share, buddy system, bouyancy, SMB, etc).
4) Nice easy entry. I usually have problems equalizing. Today no such problems. Slow ascent from the beach to 25 feet and just cleared and cleared. After that no problems.
5) Visibility was amazing for this site. Easily 40 feet. WOW!.
6) Lots of flora and fauna. Just tons of things to watch and get lost in the moment.
7) I WAS DIVING WITH MY SON AND BUDDY AGAIN!
8) I everything worked perfectly. I love my equipment. It's so comfortable I just forget that it is there. All of it just becomes one with me.
9) We had perfect navigation. We planned our dive and dove our plan and literally surfaced at the exact same spot that we descended. This was a first for us.
10) We both had huge smiles at the end of the dive.
So it was one of those days you cherish. Even though its not the most amazing diving spot it just stoked the passion with shovels of coal and lots of air.
I hope everyone has days like this.
