No, not something accidently left in the wetsuit after a bout of “Mummy Tummy”… some random neural firings from about 4 days of salt water-based recreation…
– Lucked out: If you’re going to be stuck on a dive boat with 16 people for a week, it’s a little bit of magic if there are no assholes in the group. And we got the magic… Odd collection of folks, for sure, but very cool. And yes…. Much. Debauchery. Oh, i’ve met my match with some of these folks!
– SCUBA Pranking: Learned a few tricks from the seasoned divers. If you want to tweak someone? Load the pockets of their dive vest with bits of sausage. After you get submerged, the sausage bits start to release from the mesh pockets, and the largish grouper come to feed… *snort*
– Night Diving: This is just on the hairy edge of terrifying. Add a very strong current (5mph) at about 50′? There were about a dozen of us trying to stay in a group… Holy. Shit. Not likely to do this again until i’m somewhere with no current… and have several thousand a few more dives under my weight belt. Did i say “Holy Shit?”
– Surprises: Not sure what i expected, but was stunned to see several barracuda, a few sea turtles, nurse sharks and a gigantic pregnant green eel…. had to be 6′-8′ long… But the most delightful surprise so far? The flying fish. Somehow i always thought they were located in the south pacific. Schools of ’em… flying alongside the boat! Astonishing in the sunlight!
Apologies for being absent in your comment boxes… but i’ve only got a few more days left here, and i don’t wanna miss a thing! Surf’s up!
Night diving = terror. Didn't even see any octupii - we were moving too fast!
Trailer Park Refugee 
oh i love it!!! more more more!!!!
That’s FUCKING AWESOME!! I’m so happy for you (and have such a case of dive-envy!). I will boogie-board tomorrow in honor of you.
Thanks for the update dais! Keep ’em coming!
Oh, and the flying fish thing? Watch out for them; they sometimes come over the side of the boat. I saw a woman killed by one of those when it hit her on the head. I think it was on CSI:Miami, so it must be true.
That’s nicer than snorkel pranking, when you fart into someone’s snorkel.
Did you see any octopus during the day? Theys my favourite animals…
My goodness – no complaints!!!! ……. *state of shock*
I’m diving vicariously through you – thanks for the thrills! 🙂
glad you’re having such a wonderful time darlin’ xx
thanks for the update. Looks/sounds like you’re having a hoot!
Why wear a bathing suit under the wet suit? They’ll both get wet.
At least you haven’t mentioned the movie Open Water yet. Mostly because it wasn’t that good.
I would be afraid a shark would come after me with sausage in my pocket. Think I would prefer a fart in my snorkel. Living vicariously through you.
Sooooo jealous! Fantastic! Nothing like being swarmed by a school of barracuda!
I’ve become rather attached to you, so make sure you dinnae end up as fish bait after a neet on the swally.
Have fun.. lots of it.
@paisley – there will be more. but first? back to the pool…
@stanky – will be looking forward to boogie boarding with you on my next trip to SoCal…
@rob – given the choice of hanging on the computer, or sitting by the pool? i’ve been doing more “poolin’ ” than “computerin’ “. No one was injured by the fish, but thanks for the warning!
@uncle keith – TOTALLY going to put the snorkel-pranking into my bag of annoying tricks!
@alex – unfortunately not… we hoped to see them on the night dive, but the current was wicked fast. didn’t see much of anything, other than the terror reflected in my own goggles…
@DP – oh, wait for it… there have been a few moments. but in general, it’s a happy, happy thing…
@tNb – it’s a complete rush! will be keeping this on my list of
expensivehobbies…@nursemyra – not much downtime, but have enjoyed a day knocking around the island on scooters today…
@stephanie – it’s been delicious! have managed to drink my weight in Dos Equis, i think…
@uncle keith – considered that. but the lovely folks on the dive boat would have been frightened off by my un-wetsuited body… and someone might have felt compelled to rescue me and drag me back into the surf…
@renal failure – i didn’t see it, despite several “friends” suggesting in watch it before heading down here…
@silverstar – i wondered about the shark thing, too, but apparently nursesharks are pretty mellow, and that’s mostly what they have in these parts…
@Bb – saw a bunch of barracuda… wicked, wicked cool…
@jimmy – i think i was at more risk on the rented scooter today than i was in the water!
It sounds so wonderful! Except the night diving – you’re nuts.
Wonderful stories although I’m more interested in debauchery than in diving 😉
What Archie said 🙂
pickles – i like to push the envelope. it was at the far outer limits of the envelope. not gonna do it again until i have A LOT more dives under my belt (along with a bit more training). it was a trip… and yes. in fact, i did pee in my wetsuit. a
littlelot….@archie – oh, but my children read the blog. what happened in mexico shall have to stay in mexico… but it was festive…
@Miss P – no casualties. all shall live to debauch another day….
Sounds like fun daisyfae!
But tell me, why the terror in night diving? Why would it be that much different?
Curious.
kevin – several reasons, at least for me. i’m relatively inexperienced, and the process requires focus, clear thinking and a degree of calm – when you can see 100′ and have no problem knowing where the surface of the water is at all times. throw in darkness? the need to be able to read gauges by spotlight? the virtual impossibility of tracking the dive leaders*? the possibility of disorientation – even briefly not realizing what is “up”? enough to make me a bit jumpy… i simply need more experience and more training…
*ours both carried dual beams to make it possible to track them…
Night diving is nicer when there’s just two of you carrying ordinary small to medium sized hand held dive lights and at least two unused backups between you. Dive the intended site during daylight to orient yourself and if from shore keep someone ashore with a light to guide you back. Always go with someone who you’ve seen for yourself that they know what they’re doing rather than those who just say they do. How do you do all of this. I mean plan and marshal a dive.
Read on but do all the locally available courses anyway.
My experience is somewhat different to yours since I come from the days when professional scuba training was rare. I joined a British Sub Aqua Club branch who did most of the training in house. Using BSAC techniques and training materials. It was all very gradual and great for socializing with the added bonus that anti social and dangerous types tended to get spotted pretty quick. I ended up making some very long lasting friendships and some remain so.
From what I’ve read I like your attitude. I’d dive with you but would you dive with me? There’s no right answer to that unless you’ve seen me dive a few times. Which is unlikely I must admit since my favourite sites are in Scotland.
Mark – welcome to “the park”! appreciate your insights! i was certified for over a year before i did more diving just for those reasons – trust! i hated the idea of just being assigned a dive buddy without knowing his or her level of skill and level of crazy! on my first dive with my trusted (and also rookie) dive buddy, we watched a couple of guys doing REALLY stupid things – and that confirmed my fear that some people don’t appreciate the risk.
i also like the idea of visiting a site during the day before doing the night dive. makes good sense. my plan is to do an advanced open water course over the winter to improve skills and expand my ‘dive network’. sounds to me like you’re an experienced diver… diving in scotland? could be a blast! i’ll swap e-mail info with you and if i ever get over that way will definitely pick your brain!