We are staying at Sunset House.
On Monday at 6:15am, the local gal and I took off on our pre-dawn dive. We went out via the sea pool as the surge was strong. We wanted to go to the wall, so we decided to surface swim out to the wall to maximize our time on the wall. Unfortunately, she took off before I could talk to her about me surface swimming out with the double hose. In Tennessee, I surface swam out to the Crusher Hose (I mean, House) on my back with my air off and Rob turned it on when I arrived at the buoy. For our pre-dawn dive, I got about three quarters of the way out on my belly (vs. my back which I prefer) and descended. I really need some good advice from the pros at VDH on the best ways to surface swim in the ocean in varying types of surge with the double hose.
The pre-dawn dive was fantastic as expected. I saw three lionfish and two sea turtles. After dawn, I spotted a pod of six dolphin-like fish off in the distance. I was able to go 108’ on the wall and the beauty was incredible. I really, really love diving. My roommate was on shore keeping an eye out for us and praying for our safety. As soon as the dawn arrived, she noticed four cruise ships coming in…one very close to where we were diving. I never noticed it, but that would have been cool to look up and see the silhouette of the cruise ship in the water. Probably means the dolphin-like fish may have actually been dolphins.
At 7am the dive masters arrived and closed shore diving. Needless to say, they were not too happy to hear that two of us were in the water. I got a couple of stern looks when we got back.
We did two morning boat dives. They shuttled us to the leeward side of the island and our first dive site was Cayman Crossing. The dive was nice and we found four swim throughs to enjoy. Because I am falling in love with swim throughs, I asked the boat captain to take us to sites that would offer a lot of them. Our second boat dive was a site called Laura’s Reef. I had spent time chatting with the dive master, Andy from Cambridge, during the surface interval; so, when we were preparing to enter the water, he told me to stick close and he’d show me some great swim throughs. He did not disappoint!!
Immediately upon descending he took me into a black abyss; could not see a thing!! My dive buddy aborted and swam over the reef head to meet me on the other side. After entering the swim through, we were overcome with darkness. Suddenly, light from the other side’s opening started to appear. Very, very cool. All together, we did a couple of dozen swim throughs on that dive site. We saw two giant lobsters and a huge crab hiding in one of the swim throughs. The good swim throughs are like iMax theatre; a full 3D experience…life on every side of you!! Needless to say, I have earned the nickname “Queen of the Swim Throughs” for my ability to find them and my love of swimming through them. I love to try the very tiniest of them to see if I can make it. I only had two that required me to abort and back out. Those experiences were very good as well. I like it when I get into challenging situations that make me stop, think and act with a clear mind.
Since shore diving was closed and we couldn’t get any good information on other diving options from the dive masters, we went to town for lunch and to hit the grocery store for fruit, energy bars and Starburst. We walked and shopped our way back to Sunset House. Found a dive shop that had vintage gear. The clerk was nervous as I asked if I could look at the label of a double hose on display (until I told her I dived one those beauties). It was a Mistral with a diamond label. I will try to return and take a picture of it before the week is out.
By dinner, my dive buddies were once again laughing at me (I am glad that I provide such entertainment for everyone
) Georgetown is full of great dress shops. I love to dive hard all day and then dress for dinner. Being in the Caribbean , I definitely had more options for island dresses then at home. They are now telling stories of how I left a wake of naked mannequins in my path of buying. Every girl diver needs six new island dresses, don’t you think?
Today, we have two boat dives and Sting Ray City on the schedule. We had to abort our pre-dawn dive. I had talked a new shipmate from Canada into going out with me this morning, but it is all roped off. We have rescheduled for Thursday morning. Say a little prayer for calmer seas.
I love how the double hose is such a conversation started. Bryan and Luis your ears should be burning because I tell everyone how amazing my gear is thanks to the two of you. The photographers are especially interested when they see how close I can get to the marine life without scaring them off. I have been trying to do that at least once on every dive. I try to see exactly how close I can get and compare it mentally to my experiences with modern gear.
The double hose definitely wins.
I love my vintage diving experiences and thank everyone on VDH for their continued support and knowledge sharing. You are the very best!!
