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Larry's LogWe were going to do a dive the next morning with Peter and Vicky but they came by to say that the refrigeration guy was coming over so they couldn't go. So, we went by ourselves to a site that was pretty far from the boat. After getting the tanks, we went to Oil Slick Leap, about 2 miles away. Getting there wasn't too bad since we were going with the wind, but coming back was uncomfortable - getting splashed in the face on almost every wave. The dive itself was good but not great - we saw lots of fish and the coral was very nice but nothing new. We were getting better at staying down though. I had 750 PSI or air left and Diane had 500, but we were in the water about 50 minutes and had gone down to about 60 feet for 10-15 minutes. We got back, dropped off the tanks, rinsed the gear and went back to the boat around 2. Peter called again inviting us on the night dive to the Town Pier (it had been delayed because of a cruise ship in town) and I was very tempted to go but I would have had to go and get the tanks and buy another underwater light, and I still wasn't completely confident about doing a night dive in an environment where it was partially enclosed overhead. When we came back next time, I would definitely do it. Most of the afternoon then, I just relaxed and read while Diane went to run some errands. Thursday morning we ran some errands in town again and met Jesse Armacost there, the woman who did the fish ID slide shows every Tuesday. She was running a fish ID boat tour on Sunday and we asked her about the tour and she told us that we had to do at least one REEF fish survey before going so she gave us the data forms and the sheets for the underwater slates so you could mark easily what fish you saw on the dive. I had looked at the REEF.org web site that morning and saw what kind of information they wanted and what they did with it. It seemed a worthwhile thing to do so we said we would try. We ran the rest of errands and went back to the boat to eat lunch and get ready for our next dive. We picked up the tanks, met Peter and Vicky, and went to a site nearby called The Cliff. We each picked up the mooring and got into the water. Doing the survey while paying attention to our basic diving skills took some getting used to but I seemed to manage OK after a few minutes. Diane had some more problems but started to do it as well, except she didn't know the fish as well as I did so she couldn't fill in much of the form. We were down about 50 minutes (I stayed longer since I went with Peter for a few extra minutes) and saw a new species, a Pallid Goby, a very large grouper and some other interesting fish. After the dive though, Diane didn't feel like she could do the survey tour on Sunday since she wasn't comfortable doing the survey while maintaining her proper buoyancy. I thought it was an interesting thing to do but it did take away some time from just looking and admiring the surroundings. I may still do it sometimes though. After we finished, we went back to the shop, had the tanks refilled right away, rinsed the gear, and went to the marina office to pick up a small package that had come in. My brother sent new pictures of my 2 nieces and they were really very good. The girls were growing very quickly. Anyway, we went back to the boat since Vicky was coming over at about 4:30 to show Diane how to make pizza. Diane was going to make one and so was Vicky, and we were going to Halliday Girl later to have a little pizza party. We had a drink after Vicky left and the pizza was baking and went over around 6. The pizza actually came out pretty well and we all enjoyed the change. It was a little tricky taking a hot pizza across in a dinghy while it was blowing 20 knots but we managed. Diane went into town Friday morning to do some food shopping since Christmas was coming next week and the supply boat had come in yesterday. Because of the timing of Christmas and New Year's, both on a Thursday this year and since the supply ship usually comes in on Thursday, the one that came in yesterday was the last one for the rest of the year. So, she and probably many other women were going to try to stock up before everything was gone. I stayed on the boat and worked on the PC. That afternoon we went diving to the "Small Wall" again and found the webcam that was there. I would have to check the Internet to see if its working and if it is, try to arrange a time when my brother could look at it when we were there - that would be pretty cool. The dive itself was very nice and we saw several very nice fish, including several large Porcupinefish (usually, if we see any at all, its just 1) a large Spotted Moray and 2 new species, a Peppermint Goby (maybe 1 inch long) and a Boga (like a small blue jack). We got back to the boat around 4:30 after getting the tanks refilled and just relaxed the rest of the evening. Saturday wasn't a particularly good day for me. Diane went shopping with Vicky, from Halliday Girl, in the morning while I stayed on the boat. Peter had come by early also to take our propane tank in to the marina to get filled - he was going in anyway but it was very nice of him to pick it up and save me the trip. Diane came back and she put the stuff away and we ate lunch, some hot dogs from Venezuela that weren't very good - oh well. We had planned to do a dive that afternoon but hadn't decided where. Peter and Vicky called and asked if we wanted to go to Angel City, Ray's (our instructor) favorite dive site. The only problem was that it was very far away to the south, probably about 4 miles. We thought about it and said sure - with another dinghy along, if anything did happen, we would have help. Around 1:30, we had our gear in the dinghy, met our friends and off we went. It took about 30 minutes, running the engine wide open, to get there. (I had put more gas in before we left.) We finally got there, got tied on and I started to put my gear together. As I put the regulator on though and opened the tank valve, I kept getting severe air leaks. I looked at the valve o-ring and it was fine. I finally figured out that the yoke assembly was loose and that the o-ring inside it had split and was coming out - no dive for me today! I helped Diane get her gear together and she went in with Peter and Vicky while I went snorkeling. Actually, the snorkeling wasn't bad; I saw a small moray and an octopus, as well as lots of smaller fish. I went near the shore in the shallows and after about 35 minutes, looked towards the dinghies and saw that they had come back, so I swam back myself. Vicky's mask started to leak badly so they ended the dive early with air left but they all said it was very nice. Diane said she really liked the spot and would come back. Hopefully we can, once I get the regulator fixed. On our way back, we stopped at the place where we bought the equipment and he fixed the regulator right away (no charge). Of course, by then I couldn't dive then since it was late and Diane didn't have any air left in her tank. So we went back to the dive shop where we get tank refills but they were closed already (after 4pm). We tied up to rinse the equipment and ourselves at the outdoor shower but the water was turned off. Diane went to find someone and she finally came back with a girl who knew what to do (she was a dive instructor there) and turned on the water for us and even got the faucet valve so we could get clean water to rinse the gear. We thanked her, finished up and went back to the boat. After putting the scuba gear on deck, I raised the dinghy and checked to see if there was any water between the double hulls of the dinghy. On the way to the Angel City, we couldn't go nearly as fast as Halliday Girl did in their dinghy, even though they have the same engine and the same length and style boat. Peter thought we might have water between the bottom and the floor, but I think its just because Diane and I weigh more than Peter and Vicky. Their dive tanks are also smaller and weigh less. Maybe their boat is a better design but I doubt that so I'm left with trying to loose some weight to plane faster - oh well. (Turns out that their dinghy is also lighter.) It was a busy Sunday for us. In the morning we ran some errands and went in to the marina and then the dive shop to get Diane's tank filled. We were told that we couldn't come in after hours (4pm). I later learned that this was because we had used soap and shampoo at the outside shower there. Actually, we did it twice although Diane was told not to after the first time. I told here that we shouldn't after that but she insisted since there was "nobody around". Evidently there was. Anyway, we will look into changing shops since Diane wants to be able to take a shower after diving and there are shops that don't mind. In the afternoon, I went on the fish survey dive we had found out about earlier in the week. I met Ray and Gail and they lead the way there in their dinghy while I took mine. Jesse Armacost, the woman who does the fish ID slide show every Tuesday was there already and people started arriving just after we got there. Diane had decided to stay on the boat and do some cooking and PC work - she had been diving every day for 18 days. So, I went by myself, figuring that in that large a group, I couldn't get lost. As it turned out, I buddied with Jesse. After everyone was there we our tanks, and Jesse explained what was going to happen. Most of the people were cruisers who came in their dinghies so we all just used them to get to the site, called North Belnem, just a short ride away, right in front of the airport's runway,. Ray and Gail got there first and I tied to their dinghy. The others tied onto the mooring directly, 5 boats in total. While we all were getting the equipment ready, a 747 came in for a landing - directly over our heads. It was deafening and pretty cool to see. Since I was by myself, Jesse asked if I would like to buddy with her so I said sure. I'm sure I could have tagged along with Ray and Gail, but this was good as I could see how she did the survey. We went down and I went deeper than I had been before, 80 feet, but just for 10 minutes. I did most of the survey at about 40-50 feet but didn't see much unusual until I went shallower, at the end of the dive in about 20 feet. I saw 2 new species (for me anyway) and that was nice. I also was down for longer than usual, about 61 minutes. At the end of the dive, we went back to the dive shop, rinsed the gear, and filled out the REEF survey forms. The group then went through a list of what we saw and, as a group, set a new record of 142 species observed. I wish I could have seen just half of them. After we finished, some of the group had a beer or soda but I went back to the boat since we were expecting Peter and Vicky at 5:30 for dinner. They came over and we had some drinks first and then the spaghetti carbonara that Diane had made. For dessert we had a cheesecake that Vicky made and an apple cobbler that Diane made - not a bad meal. We were supposed to start our Advanced Open Water Diver course Monday morning but Ray came by and said the things he had to do (helping Nightwinds with fueling) weren't finished yet so he asked if we could start tomorrow. We said sure, we had other things we could do anyway. So while I worked on the pictures for our PADI certification cards, Diane went into the marina, got our propane bottle and paid for our mooring until the end of the month. She wanted to pay through the 2nd of January but their computer system would not accept payments into next year - oh well. We then went into town to get the ID pictures for the PADI cards printed. They were OK but the girl behind the counter didn't have any photo quality paper. She said she would ask the owner to bring some tomorrow. During lunch, we noticed that the boats moored next to us, on either side were now gone. The number of boats in the mooring area had dropped significantly since we had arrived and there were now only about 20 boats on moorings (from a maximum of 40). After eating we went dove at a close spot, The Cliff. We had been there before and it was a nice dive and we saw several Spotted and Goldentail Morays, and a very large snapper that I later found out was a Cubera Snapper, a new one for me. Diane was getting better with breath control and so was I. I had used another pound of weight in the weight belt though but had a slight problem with staying down at the end of the dive. I think we will take the buoyancy control dive as part of our advanced course. We went back to the dive shop to get our tanks refilled and rinse the equipment and saw Andy and Sharon, from Its Good, there. They had come back from the marina in Puerto Cabello in Venezuela and said it was very nice and had no problems. We still had some problems with the shop though and so Diane got some of our money back for the tank refill contract and we will start tomorrow with another shop, WannaDive, nearby. We rented our equipment from there when we took the SCUBA course and they seemed like very nice people and they now had their own dock, which will make it easier. We'll sign up tomorrow. |