In Reply to: What did one wave say to the other? posted by Max Bottomtime on September 03, 2007 at 15:10:36:

Funny, Josh and I had about the same experience, but we did see a whole load of Hermissiendas. Our exit was eventful to say the least...

Marineland - The Point
Time in - 9:40 ish
Dive Length - 63 mins
Max Depth 61 Feet
Temp A/S/D: 92 (At 9:30 AM!) 70 / 57
Surf: Bipolar. either almost nothing or 3-4'+ breakers. Ow.
Current: Noticeable dragging us out toward and past the point
Surge: 60 ft maybe a foot, 30+ ft 3-4ft
Vis: Sucked - 6' at depth, pea soup anywhere above 30 ft.

Got down to the parking lot, went out to check conditions and saw you guys floating out halfway to the point. At that time, it must have been a lull in the sets because it looked pretty flat. We walked back to the car, chatted with Rev. Al who showed his dastardly hose failure to us... Had to happen at the Marineland Military PT Confidence course, too.

Josh and I half suited up and hiked down to the water, and it was clear that we had a manic-depressive surf. Josh got a reminder to respect the ocean on entry (Hope you ice the ankle bro), and I got in without too much of a hitch.

swim, swim, swim to the point, where we drop into pea soup and I find I can't equalize past 30 feet. I yo-yo for a bit, then decide to get a fresh start at the surface, where I re-join josh and we kick towards the beach a bit as the current has carried us a bit far out at this point.

We drop, and this time my ear co-operates. Down to 61 feet annnnd BAM - we are right on top of the pinnacle. Amazing navigation skills in pea soup and current landed us right there. Or it could just be blind luck, who knows.

Dive was uneventful other than to say the vis was bad - 6' at most. Saw some Hermissiendas and Spanish Shawls and a nice flatfish, maybe some sort of sole. We saw some dolphins on the surface hike down but they didn't feel like coming our way.

Exit was eventful - I was lucky, Josh not so much. I took my fins off a bit too early but at least judged the timing right. I let the last "big" wave carry me closer to shore, then planted my feet and hung on while the "smaller" (2-3') waves started weakly breaking.

I saw a black blur to my right come in with these waves, and it is clear that Josh didn't really have a choice in whether he preferred to come out in the fashion he did. He was on his knees with fins still on as the last wave of the set broke, but no damage done.

Fins now off, we're starting to get up, when I see this dude in a finding nemo shirt with a yellow camera taking pictures of us. It is interesting to take a pic of a guy exiting, I'm sure, but when josh and I started half-doffing our suits for the hike up, this guy comes like 3 feet away from us and starts snapping close-ups. The man then asks if he can "feel my wetsuit," after which he rubs the neoprene and pronounces it "nice." OK...

3 minutes later, he was surprised that we were "older, because he was "expecting kids." He commented on how nice Josh's wetsuit was, and may he please feel that as well. Intersperse these comments with taking close-up pictures from the yellow camera. I doubt said camera actually contained any film.

It was clear that this fellow had a diagnosed mental disability, but he was high functioning enough to make his way to marineland. I'm curious to know if anyone has had any experiences with this guy in the past. He didn't creep me out because I'm sure he wasn't really aware of the oddness of his actions, but asking if "any other divers were out there," and commenting that Josh and I were "older than he expected," makes me wonder.

All in all a good but eccentric day. Lunch at Ports O' Call. Let it be known that I owe Josh lunch.

• Re: Re: What did one wave say to the other? Max Bottomtime 17:43:08 09/03/07 (0)
• Re: What did one wave say to the other? Josh 17:20:03 09/03/07 (0)