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GORDON wrote: I will be swimming with gentlemen in gray tomorrow.

Niiiice. Trip report for sure. Tell those kids this is your second try at that dive, and the first was "definitely" not reschedule because the last guy got ate.

GORDON wrote: I will be swimming with gentlemen in gray tomorrow.

I read gay, seemed more believable.

Yeah so I dove.with sharks today, no big deal.

A pic or two when I get home.

Ok, trip report:

I started off the awesome dive by falling off the ladder and into the aquarium, with the big boss watching. The hand rails were these really nice, shiny, smooth stainless steel jobbies... and I was two rungs into the water, my left hand slipped right off and *SPLASH.*

I bobbed back up and gave him the "I'm ok" signal but I am sure they were looking down to make sure I didn't take out a shark. Fortunately, as you can see in the pic, the ladder extends down a ways into the water and any sharks would be swimming around it. They tend to just do laps. All was well.

My major concern was the new equipment. It's a full face mask which is pretty new to me, they had me check out on one at a local dive shop, so it wasn't my first time with one, but that was over a month ago and it was still something I am not yet comfortable using. Turned out I had zero issues with it.

The second equipment concern was the lack of a BC, or "Buoyancy Compensator." It typically holds your weights and is inflatable so you can trim out your buoyancy exactly so you have the capability of just hovering stationary in the water. Well, you don't use one here, just a harness with weight.... so you have to pretty much get it exactly right.... compensate for your personal body mass, the thickness of your wetsuit, and salt/fresh water. The last time I dove with that suit I used 16 pounds in fresh water, but I had a BC, so this time I just wild-ass-guessed 14 pounds in salt, no BC. Turns out I did pretty well, I didn't have to add or subtract any weight.

That isn't to say I was smooth out of the gate.... for the first 5 minutes of the dive when I would inhale I would rise 5 feet, and when I exhaled I would sink 5 feet. I had to slow my breathing, relax, and I got myself to where I was hovering pretty well. I fed the reef fish, smiled when the shark fins would graze past my face, and wave at the kids looking at me through the glass. My own kid was out there watching... he made sure to point and laugh when I fell in and announced it to the room, "That's my dad, he just fell in! ha ha ha...." and I am told he did a good job critiquing my buoyancy to everyone when I was bobbing and sinking. I could hear in my ear piece the announcer guy out there, when he introduced me, he said it was my first dive... so I wasn't sensing any mocking, "Good job, asshole" vibes coming through the glass.

I even played rock-paper-scissors with a few kids.

By the end of the dive, when the feed bottle was empty, I was just swimming window to window, waving at kids... scaring one or two of them, heh. Most of them were cool, smiling and waving. LOVED swimming with the sharks.

After we went out to lunch, I ate a lot of meat and called it my shark lunch. Then we went for a shark drive and I announced later that I would be taking a shark nap.... which I never actually got.

Anyway, when I surfaced I told the big boss, "How'd you like my graceful entry?" and he just smiled, said I did fine, and it was just first-dive jitters.

I just hope I don't repeat that in 7 days when I go back in the tank again.
Right off the kid's left elbow is the back of a 6-foot zebra shark swimming by.

Awesome - and lol at you falling off the ladder.

Dove all day yesterday around SD. Saw lots of seals, dolphins, smaller fish. No sharks or big trophy fish. Spooked a halibut on a sand flat and can finally say I've seen a CA flattie. Those filets go for 23 bucks a pound or more in grocery stores. It was a big fish, but still some inches shy of legal. It didn't give me a chance to do anything but admire it as it took off.

We nailed some smaller sea bass and had a good ceviche dinner. Good to scratch that itch before I go back on the work grind.

See any seals snatching kids?

GORDON wrote: See any seals snatching kids?

They were mostly curious, I'd be treading on the surface, watching my buddy dive and look over and see something like



a few feet away unexpectedly. They were just curious though. A little startling but cool.

Hey Troy you should go to all these places then report back.

http://www.scubadiving.com/best-freediv ... -locations

Tending today, diving tomorrow, right this second watching sharks swim in the water below me.

Had a diving dream last night. Saw a big dream flounder for some reason.

GORDON wrote: big dream flounder

thassa halibut

I counted 2 6-foot Zebra Sharks , 4 4-foot Black Tip Reef Sharks. There were Epaulette Sharks last time but they must have been hiding today.



Would YOU jump in that?

Hell yes! Awesome.

Troy wrote: Hell yes! Awesome.

I swear it is a pretty badass feeling to walk into the zoo you went to as a child... a backpack with a wetsuit in it, a zoo ID badge on a lanyard around your neck, and you walk to the frikkin aquarium to swim with some frikkin sharks.

Today was MUCH smoother.

Managed to not fall in this time, they let me chat with the peeps for quite a while, tons of kids got all excited waving at me, and I got to say my favorite fish was the Black Tip Reef Shark because it looks the most like Jaws.

Aquarium boss went out in the crowd and gave me a big "Doing good" sign. So whew, I get to keep diving.

Saw your FB post. We'll make it when we can. Summertime, so usually the wife and kids are lake bound on the weekend, and I'm not going to the zoo to see you alone unless I get a guarantee that the sharks will bite you.

At our zoo, men who go in alone get watched by the security team the whole time. I learned that from a friend who works there.

Was scheduled to dive a show today, then hang out and tend for the next show.

There's an issue with the tender... I get to dive both shows today!

Frikkin sharks y'all.

A lot of the smaller kids get scared of the diver, maybe 1 in 7 of the <2 year olds.

Today I came right up to the window of maybe a 3 year old, she was looking elsewhere in the tank. She finally noticed me when I was right on the other side of the glass. I couldn't hear, but the scream must have been impressive... she screamed and ran away and all the adults around her were laughing. I gave them a double thumbs-up after that.

That's funny

Interacting with the kids is my fave part, after the sharks.

If only there were some way to combine both aspects....

Dove the aquarium today.

I'm near the bottom interacting with a little girl on the other side of the glass. Her mom bends over her... Suddenly I am looking down the hot mom's blouse at her boobs. I look up at the mom's face, she is smirking at me... And not moving.

Best hobby ever.