Back underwater with a steep learning curve ahead...lemons and lemonade!

When anchored out with the wind blowing 20, gusts to 25, and the "car" not working (more on that later) a lot gets done on a boat.  Capt Wayne and Capt Paul are getting a handle on the battery situation... and I have been able to work on pictures and video from my two tank dive yesterday!

It was an early morning yesterday as I needed to meet a van driver from the dive shop at the bus stop at 6:20am!  Capt Wayne lowered the dink and carefully helped me get all my gear, which included my new camera gear, into it.  I climbed in and off we went!  No dingy docks here... all shore landings.  The good news is Capt Wayne dropped me off right at the bus stop, even insisting on carrying my heavy gear (getting a bit spoiled here... ha ha ha)! The van driver was also the Divemaster that would be my exclusive leader.  I had arranged this so I wouldn't hold up other divers on my first day with my new camera equipment just in case there were issues.  The boat was a hard bottom dingy type (RIB) probably 25 feet in length.  Six other divers and I all loaded into it while it was on the trailer towed by a tractor... and off to the beach we went! 

The RIB was backed into the surf and we all were dutifully christened with water!  It was a pretty heavy surf!  First dive was Manta Rock!

With my new equipment I did learn ALOT!  Now I know I have a lot MORE to learn also!  The positive was, I was expecting not to be as comfortable with it as I was.  The biggest issue I had was using the 45 degree view finder!  It actually was a huge issue as I had outfitted with the macro lens!

A Spotted Eagle Ray came to visit right off... using the Gopro for some video was fun... but I also have a lot to learn about shooting stills and video at the same time! 

The octopus was a delight!

Was changing colors!  

And then there were two... with a Soap fish seemingly upsetting the octopus.

While I have a lot more coordination I need to do with the video and so much more with the photo's, I thought I'd at least share the beginning... and then hopefully I will improve and can continue sharing!!  

Finding the little critters... like the Nudibranches was especially difficult with the 45 degree view finder!  One heck of a learning curve this will be!

But, fun as I get to practice... practice... practice... translated into dive... dive... dive!!  Near to the end of the dive I saw one Manta... not enough for a photo and when I pointed it out to the Divemaster (my only dive buddy) he decided to chase it!  I got a little extra exercise trying to keep up with a 20 some year old!  I guess it was a big deal as there were others on the boat that had been diving for three days and had not seen a one!

Two people on the boat got seasick as we had our surface interval... one gal felt so bad that the boat went back to the launch site and dropped her off (yes, she had to swim in).  The other guy toughed it out and went on the second dive at Turtle Cave. 

No turtles....

And only limited coral...

Bottom line of course...I was getting to be underwater and I felt comfortable with the camera!  The results can ALWAYS be improved upon!

So while I shared the good news about getting things done earlier in the blog with 20 knot winds and higher gusts, there is the bad news... that the diving would be more difficult with less vis with the high winds!  So I did not arrange any more dives this week. 

I mentioned in the beginning of this blog that the "car" was not working! When I refer to the car...I of course am referring to the dingy (named "leaps with lizards" by the way). 

I was delivered back to the bus stop by the dive shop in the early afternoon... Capt Wayne met me there... we loaded up... he started the engine and off we went back to the boat.  Did I mention that the wind had started up by then and white caps?  Into the wind (really, INTO the wind... you just can't make this stuff up?) we motored... until the little engine stopped.  We were only about a 1/3 of the way back to DWD when Capt Wayne took to the little bitty oars (thank heaven he HAD oars), into the ever increasing wind and waves!  And, what did we do?  Well, for those of y'all that know Capt Wayne... then you know... as he rowed, he started singing!  Any of the songs that I knew the words to like... Jesus Loves Me... I joined in! Apparently we made enough racket that Capt Paul even heard us from a far off!  Lemons and Lemonade!  I do enjoy lemonade!