The middle agers group. (Upper 30s,40s & 50ish folks)

mtaratoot wrote: »

drmwc wrote: »

My drysuit arrives tomorrow! I'm hoping I can get a quarry dive on Saturday; then I use it in the sea the following weekend.

Have a good week everyone.

My drysuit neck seal gave me a rash on my Channel Islands trip. It was a new seal. It was getting worse despite my efforts to medicate it with bag balm after each of four daily dives. Finally I started rinsing the seal from the inside out after each dive to rinse away the salt. That was part of the solution - the water dries leaving crystals that are abrasive. My dive buddy gave me some water based lubricant, and I applied that to my wound before each dive. Between those two treatments, I stopped it from getting worse and got it to heal. The bag balm was still working UNDER the KY Jelly to get things healed, and the lube kept it from getting worse. I definitely recommend both. Have fun diving!

I sneaked in 19 dives over five days and saw a long list of animals. We got to spend a full 15 minutes with a Giant Black Sea Bass who was curious about us. A couple noisy divers came along and chased it away, but four minutes later, it came back to hang with us. My camera batteries were dead. Bummer. I also saw four species I had never observed in the wild before -- Orangethroat Pinkblennies, California Halibut, Finscale Triggerfish, and Round Stingray. That last one is a maybe first -- I'm pretty sure I've seen one before, but maybe not. We also saw horn sharks, angel sharks, moray eels, octopusses, harbor seals, sea lions, blue banded gobies, black eyed gobies, garibaldi, california sheephead, many kinds of nudibranch including red sea hares, black sea hares, navanax, spanish shawl, lemon peel nudibranch, leopard dorid..... The list goes on. And they fed us REALLY well. I was SHOCKED that I didn't gain even a pound on the trip -- I expected to put three or so on and deal with it, but I stayed pretty much the same weight as I left. I guess 15 hours underwater will do that to you....

It really was a great trip, and I got to know my buddy a lot better. We have very similar gas consumption and dive objectives. That's really nice. He is also an aquarium volunteer, but not on my shift. I recruited him and his wife for years, and when he retired, they started. They love it. Too bad his wife couldn't come this year, but it meant we got to spend more time diving just the two of us. I did a couple solo dives and I did one dive each with two other folks who needed a buddy.

We were trying to drag our heels a bit on the way down so we didn't get to the boat until at least 17:00. Good thing -- we didn't get to board until closer to 20:00. I suggested we stop at Firestone Walker in Paso Robles for a beer. Oh my! It was like going to the shrine. Very nice. My buddy enjoyed seeing me sample six three-ounce tastes of their offerings I don't see in Oregon.

Our boat came in later than planned, and we waited for them to clean and fuel before we could board.


Then we were off diving!














I am already signed up for next year's trip. The owners of the dive shop are trying to convince me to join them for a Fiji trip they are organizing, but it's out of my price range and is during prime whitewater season. They also said I should join them to Bonaire, and I might just do that. I'm honored they would like me to join them.