So I was diving yesterday at Juturna Springs (Woodsboro MD) helping clean up from the Halloween event we had over the weekend. I had never been below 69' before, and since I'm heading to Cozumel this weekend, I wanted a little more experience being deep. Last time I tried to break 70', I hit a blackout layer and ended up in a tree, again at 69'.
My buddy and I had a plan to hit a certain spot, shoot a lift bag with some decorations, then go around the side and down. All was going (mostly) as planned. We got a little chilly as the temp dropped below 50, but we were geared well for it.
As we hit the blackout layer at around 66', we locked arms to not get separated. Rumor has it the vis opens up beautifully after about 80'. I was swimming down slowly with my light right next to my face in my right hand and my left hand holding my buddy. The light lit up some swirling haze about 3 inches in front of me, but it was black beyond that. Conditions were obviously poor, but I had my buddy locked to me, we had a plan, and there was nothing but water overhead.
One kick.
Two kicks.
My face hit the silt!
I started laughing my butt off through my regulator. We slowly ascended to about 30' and continued the rest of our dive plan. She didn't realize I face planted until after the dive.
I didn't hit the 80+ feet I was hoping for, but it was a really fun dive with a fantastic partner.
My buddy and I had a plan to hit a certain spot, shoot a lift bag with some decorations, then go around the side and down. All was going (mostly) as planned. We got a little chilly as the temp dropped below 50, but we were geared well for it.
As we hit the blackout layer at around 66', we locked arms to not get separated. Rumor has it the vis opens up beautifully after about 80'. I was swimming down slowly with my light right next to my face in my right hand and my left hand holding my buddy. The light lit up some swirling haze about 3 inches in front of me, but it was black beyond that. Conditions were obviously poor, but I had my buddy locked to me, we had a plan, and there was nothing but water overhead.
One kick.
Two kicks.
My face hit the silt!
I started laughing my butt off through my regulator. We slowly ascended to about 30' and continued the rest of our dive plan. She didn't realize I face planted until after the dive.
I didn't hit the 80+ feet I was hoping for, but it was a really fun dive with a fantastic partner.
