Hello my friends!
This was a long week-end that started on thursday afternoon. We spent 2 days in Key Largo and drove back up for some real diving in Madison Blue.
Nanci, Erik and I set off on Thursday afternoon to the Keys for some open water diving. Those who know me may be surprised by this as I don't like open water diving anymore because I get sea sick and bored by most trips. Well I did not get sea sick on this one as we did not get to dive! Friday and Saturday were 6-8 feet swell days where the good stuff was, so the boats stayed close to shore in 30 feet deep waters with 5 foot swells and 15 feet of viz for the people who were desperate to get their C-card. We passed.
Instead we visited Key West on Friday and did some Kayak plus lots of
driving back home on Saturday. I should not forget to mention the unforgettable
friday
night with Big Dick and the Extenders. Big Dick is a fat Indian slob
who was trying to be funny by using very foul language and making fun of
everybody. It was absolutely hilarious... It's the second time that I go
to the keys. Twice the same kind of deal. I'm not going back any time soon.
The only good thing about this one was the company and getting a good deal
on a AL40.
At least on sunday we drove up to Madison Blue and got to dive. They
just re-opened. The flow was kicking and the viz was about 15 feet on the
main line
up to just before the jump to the Courtyard and down to 10 feet in
the Gozilla area.
Nanci, Tiffany, John, Erik and I did our first dive on the main line, as far as we could. The viz in there was worse than I had ever seen. I got to be in the lead, doing all the line work. John being Intro to Cave, I did not really expect to get past the half hitch restriction with that flow and viz. I was in for a surprise. We nearly reached the jump to the Courtyard and he was not the one who turned the dive! He did extremely well for a North Carolina guy who has only a few cave dives under his belt.
On the second dive it was just John and I. Nanci did not want to dive. I think that she is getting too local. One dive per day is all she can handle now. Tiffany bailed out as we reached the main line. So Erik swam out with her, what a gentleman! John and I continued alone. On second thought we should have all exited with Tiffany and resumed the dive. I'm sorry that I did not think of that on the spot. My apologies to you Brother. Anyway, the dive went smoothly. We swam leisurely to the Gozilla area. As the first 400 feet are fairly low, I heard a few clonks behind me ;-). The viz was barely 10 feet. Parts of the line were covered with sediment. We dropped through the first hole, started the left curve where the circuit jump is. I showed the line on the other side to John, clipped Nanci's little frog on the line and went on. We dropped through the second hole in the floor. It was very difficult to see the walls of that room. Then we completed the circuit, picked up the frog and made it happily to the fresh air. It was dark already at 6:30 pm.
The five of us finished the day with a good hot tub session at our house.
I hope you had a great week-end too!
Take care.
Herve.