Welcome to Thunderdome

GORDON wrote: Next dive at 2. Come see me. I'll wave. Maybe.

Feels a bit far.

Sometimes between dives I'll spend a little time in the aquarium on a bench, chilling, looking at fishes, resting, listening to the crowd misidentify fish. Usually it's.kidsncalling the blue tangs "Dorys," or they call the zebra sharks "leopard sharks."

A grown adult male.just.told his small children that the Lookdowns were pirhanas.

Not even close.

I mean...there are signs identifying the fish right there...

EXACTLY. The dude was literally standing under the monitor that was identifying the fish.

And there are actual piranhas in a tank, right around the corner.

When you're under and hear that propeller whine, you can't tell where it's coming from, at all. The sound travels so fast through water that it hits your two eardrums much faster than in air, and you can't get a sense of the origin.

So if I heard that, I'd be looking up, expecting a boat barreling through the area....

Step 1: Wake up in Georgia and drive hours to get to Ginnie Springs, FL.
Step 2: Sign in and get the dive briefing and pay $100.
Step 3: Unload dive gear and check underwater camera battery, and make sure the date stamp is correct.
Step 4: Set up dive gear for an hour, put everything else away, lock up the truck.
Step 5: Time to get in the water, so turn on the camera.
Step 6: See battery is registering dead, I'm all geared up, and the spare batteries are now locked up in the truck.

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

It was a good dive, though. The kid was nervous because the last time he dove, September 2017, it was cold as shit in Lake Superior, and the waves were high.... but we went nice and slow today, no rush, no pressure, and he dove right down into the deep cavern without waiting for me. Good stuff.

Next diving: Saturday morning, in salt water.

Had a second camera, the laptop can't handle the video very well (thus the other, older camera), but here's a few screenshots I managed to grab.

GORDON wrote:Dive lights. Bought 2, both worked flawlessly. Comes with a rechargeable battery, sturdy case to store it in and tossing it in the gear bag, and keycouthain LED flashlight.

There worked perfectly the first year I had them.

They worked perfectly the second year, too.

Today, at about 50' of depth, they BOTH flickered and turned off. COming back up to 45', they both turned back on. Did a little research tonight, and learned that flashlights like these, with magnetic ring on/off switches, tend to fail over time, at about 50' of depth. Yep.

They were cheap, so I don't regret getting 25 dives out of them... but I can't be diving with unreliable lights. We're hitting Devil's Den again on the way back north, and the thought of being in that bouldery mess in the pitch blackness without lights is kind of terrifying. Will find a dive shop in the keys and get a couple new overpriced lights.

GORDON wrote:

GORDON wrote:Dive lights. B
They were cheap, so I don't regret getting 25 dives out of them... but I can't be diving with unreliable lights. We're hitting Devil's Den again on the way back north, and the thought of being in that bouldery mess in the pitch blackness without lights is kind of terrifying. Will find a dive shop in the keys and get a couple new overpriced lights.

I love/hate this aspect of diving in salt water. There are all kinds of fancy knives I could buy, but I always go with the $10 one. Then when I lose it or it rusts, I just buy a new one.

Ha, yesterday I was showing the kid the corrosion dots on our knives from the last ocean dive.

GORDON wrote: Ha, yesterday I was showing the kid the corrosion dots on our knives from the last ocean dive.

It's crazy how fast it happens. Even a nice knife, even if you do a good post-dive gear wash religiously.

One of the best things my dad taught me about being in salt water - gear wash after any session. Fishing, Diving, Beach going. Just do it.

Then he would go back into the AC and make me wash everything. He's the best.

Super obvious to most people, but then you dive with someone with really nice gear and they are like "yeah no big deal, i'll just throw it in my car after" What? Dude.

My kid finally got to dive with a shark, this morning.

GORDON wrote: My kid finally got to dive with a shark, this morning.

Sweet - what kind?

Black Tip Reef Shark.... the same species I dive with in the aquarium, ha.

Supposedly there was a nurse shark near the boat, but we didn't see that one. Also a few big barracuda, and a moray eel out swimming around. Tons of reef fish. This a good reef, even if there were 10 other dive boats near by.

Oh, they said there was a Great White in the area last week... but we still have a couple more days.

GORDON wrote: Black Tip Reef Shark.... the same species I dive with in the aquarium, ha.

Supposedly there was a nurse shark near the boat, but we didn't see that one. Also a few big barracuda, and a moray eel out swimming around. Tons of reef fish. This a good reef, even if there were 10 other dive boats near by.

Score!

I bet getting there early helped too.

Yeah, we were slightly ahead of the crowd. As we were getting ready to jump in, three more boats were coming in to tie off.

Tomorrow we're going to the big Jesus statue... on Easter. It's expected to be crowded.

Hey I'm in Key West. Dive charter in an hour. White people errywhere.

GORDON wrote: White people errywhere.

Hide your wallet.