Date: 4/13/07
Dive Location: Vets
Buddy(ies): Jimmy and David
Time: 9:40 am.
Bottom Time: 30 min
Max Depth: 63 fsw
Vis: 1-2 feet 3 feet at 30 fsw
Wave height: 3-5 feet
Temp at depth: 53F
Surface Temp: 62F

I guess we were REALLY hard up for diving today considering how bad the conditions have been over the last few days. I was actually thinking of doing OML 120 reef but the thought of being Maytagged across Cobble Beach made me change my mind. I met up with Jimmy and David on a beautiful, sunny and calm Friday morning. The wind had died down and the water surface was pretty glassy. However, the waves were still a bit BIG. Some sets were 5-6 feet but the normal waves rolling in were 3-4 feet. It looked pretty do-able but then again, any sand bottom is do-able.

Jimmy and I made it out with no issues. David took a bit longer then expected but he made it out with no issues too. Its funny ducking down under large waves with dive gear on. Surfing and body surfing makes sense but with dive gear…..lol

Judging from how the last few days were, I knew the visibility was going to be bad. However, I was not prepared for how bad it actually was. We lined up at the end of the pier and before we dropped, I told everyone to stay close together. I thought we were OK when we hit the bottom at 60 feet but apparently in the inky blackness, we lost David. Oh by the way, when I say we hit the bottom, I really mean we HIT THE BOTTOM. That’s how bad the visibility was. After a few minutes, we went back up to look for him. We found his bubbles and Jimmy went down to get him. Once we re-grouped I again mentioned to stay 1-2 feet from each other. On the way down I grabbed one of David’s fins to make sure he would stick close. I let go before we hit the bottom thinking that all was OK as I looked around but within one second, we lost him again. Jimmy and I waited and then we went on our way tooling around in the mucky pea soup.

As we reached 30 feet, it opened up a little but the surge was pretty crazy. We were greeted by a playful lobster and a few Hermit Crabs. After hanging around for a while relaxing and just checking things out, we decided to surface.

The waves were still pretty big when we surfaced. We looked toward the shore and saw David making his way through the surf. As Jimmy and I kicked in a huge swell came our way. Luckily, we were just outside the surf zone so we did not get out asses handed to us…lol. Once the set passed we made it in with little issue.

In the end, I think I snapped 8 pictures in total and David is now minus one mask.

Here are some highlights from the dive.