SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
This afternoon after the Inaugeration my wife and I decided to go for a short ride. Mainly just to get out of the house. It was cool, (63°F) and windy but it was still fun getting the "knees in the breeze". We ended up at the local beach and went down to check out the water.
The tally board at the entrance to the walkway showed the surf temperature was 72°. Not too bad, a bit cool for us southern Floridians but not too bad. AS we approached the beach I noticed the Lifeguard Stand had double red flags flying meaning no swimming. I knocked on the door and asked why that was and the guard gave me a funny look while telling me it was because of the drop offs in the sand. I didn't understand until we got to the waters edge.
Just before you got to the water the beach dropped almost straight down about ten feet. Not an easy thing to climb if you were in trouble or being beat up by waves. Just beyond the shore break line I knew there was another similar drop off. Okay that explained that. Then I looked at the water and just stared. It was like looking at an ocean made of glass.
The water was clear and flat. Barely a ripple washed onto the beach. The more I looked at it the more I knew what I had to do. Walking back to the car I again stopped at the stand and talked with the guard there. He finally shrugged and gave his okay.
Half an hour later we were again at the beach. This time we walked down to the drop off carrying a load of gear. Setting it down I skinned out of my sweatshirt and started getting ready. The few people on the beach came over to watch. Every one of them was bundled up like my wife and they just stood there shaking their heads as I finished zipping my wetsuit then pulled on my vest and tank. Picking up my fins and mask I waddled down to the water and started wading out. When the water was waist deep I stopped long enough to pull on my mask and fins then stepped off the edge of the drop off into about ten feet of water. With no air in my vest I sank to the sandy bottom and stood there for a minute checking my gear once more. When it checked out okay I popped a little air into my vest and released my dive flag. (My dive flag is a flag attached to an air filled bouy. To deploy it you let out some line and blow air into the bouy.) Once I was ready I started heading for the reef not far offshore.
Talk about incredible. Here in south Florida we are used to clear waters but this was breath taking. I had at least one hundred feet of visibility. Now me being me I know I can get wrapped up in what I'm doing so I take precautions. I'm diving solo and there is a current here so I set up a marker for my entry point. I tied a short line to a rather large rock on the bottom. At the end of this line was a strobe with new batteries. In this visibility I'll be able to see it from quite a distance.
Now along this area there is a current that runs along the beach from the south to the north. It can be quite fast in places. Here it was fairly slow but it was still there. Because of this I turned to the south and started swimming against the current and looking around me.
I'm in clear calm water in maybe thrity feet of water. I have a full tank of air and everything is just fine. Looking around I'm amazed at the number of fish I'm seeing. They're darting in and out of the plants and generally being their fishy selves. I drop into a few holes and check them out. I'm seeing a ton of Lobsters here, more than a couple of them are huge. I leave them be though. Off in the distance I can hear boats but they are quite a ways further out. I'm not too worried about them, that's why I have the dive flag above me.
I'm keeping an eye on my air and when I get down to just above half a tank I turn around. I have plenty of air and I'm relaxed. Hell I have more than I'll need but I like to keep that safety buffer. (WHy do I have more than I need? Easy, to get where I was I had to swim against the current. That takes more effort and a lot of air. To get back to where I came from all I had to do was drift and relax. That doesn't take much air. Besides that if I needed to get out of the water I was close to shore and could easily surface and swim in.)
Now that I'm drifting I relax and my breathing slows even more. I'm just sitting back and letting mother nature do the work. AS I drift the fish grow curious and come over to investigate this new denizen in their neighborhood. I'm looking at Snappers and Grunts. I watched a couple of small Baracuda swim by like silvery torpedos. Off in the distance in deeper water I even get to see a shark swim by. I'm not worried about him.
Slowly I drift along the reef and watch the colors unfold around me. The colors and the life. Eventually I start seeing my flashing beacon coming out of the watery haze. AS I get closer to it I almost laugh and I can feel myself smiling around my regulator. More than a couple of smaller fish have gathered around the flashing light to check it out. When I finally reach the strobe I untie it from the rock, shut it off and shove it and the line holding it back into my pocket. (You never leave line behind.) Turning towards the beach I angle against the current slightly and start swimming in. I follow the slowly rising bottom until it rises sharply. I know I'm close to the beach and pop some more air into my vest. Slowly I rise the last few feet and swim over the edge.
Stopping I stand up in the now waist deep water and pull off my fins. Looking around me I'm happy with my navigation. I was coming out of the water about ten feet from where I had entered it. Wading out of the water I was met by my wife and the Lifeguard. They both asked me about the conditions even though my wife could tell from the grin on my face it had been nice. I told them about the fish and the lobsters. The other people listening in looked at me strangely when I mentioned the shark. One asked me why I didn't seem upset about seeing it and I just grinned.
Now came the not so fun part. The trudge back to the car. Most of this was through soft sand. I didn't bother taking off my vest. I carried my flag, my mask and my fins. My wife had my windbreaker in her arms but I didn't put it on because I was wet. When we reached the bathrooms I stopped while my wife went on to the car. She was grabbing my towel and clothes.
As I waited for her I wasn't idle. I took off my vest and carried it over to the freshwater shower. Setting it on the ground I started running the freshwater over it to rinse it off. I did the same with my mask and fins before stepping under the water myself.
Now this was a great way to spend the afternoon. One of these days I'll have to get me a waterproof caera to take along.
Cat
The tally board at the entrance to the walkway showed the surf temperature was 72°. Not too bad, a bit cool for us southern Floridians but not too bad. AS we approached the beach I noticed the Lifeguard Stand had double red flags flying meaning no swimming. I knocked on the door and asked why that was and the guard gave me a funny look while telling me it was because of the drop offs in the sand. I didn't understand until we got to the waters edge.
Just before you got to the water the beach dropped almost straight down about ten feet. Not an easy thing to climb if you were in trouble or being beat up by waves. Just beyond the shore break line I knew there was another similar drop off. Okay that explained that. Then I looked at the water and just stared. It was like looking at an ocean made of glass.
The water was clear and flat. Barely a ripple washed onto the beach. The more I looked at it the more I knew what I had to do. Walking back to the car I again stopped at the stand and talked with the guard there. He finally shrugged and gave his okay.
Half an hour later we were again at the beach. This time we walked down to the drop off carrying a load of gear. Setting it down I skinned out of my sweatshirt and started getting ready. The few people on the beach came over to watch. Every one of them was bundled up like my wife and they just stood there shaking their heads as I finished zipping my wetsuit then pulled on my vest and tank. Picking up my fins and mask I waddled down to the water and started wading out. When the water was waist deep I stopped long enough to pull on my mask and fins then stepped off the edge of the drop off into about ten feet of water. With no air in my vest I sank to the sandy bottom and stood there for a minute checking my gear once more. When it checked out okay I popped a little air into my vest and released my dive flag. (My dive flag is a flag attached to an air filled bouy. To deploy it you let out some line and blow air into the bouy.) Once I was ready I started heading for the reef not far offshore.
Talk about incredible. Here in south Florida we are used to clear waters but this was breath taking. I had at least one hundred feet of visibility. Now me being me I know I can get wrapped up in what I'm doing so I take precautions. I'm diving solo and there is a current here so I set up a marker for my entry point. I tied a short line to a rather large rock on the bottom. At the end of this line was a strobe with new batteries. In this visibility I'll be able to see it from quite a distance.
Now along this area there is a current that runs along the beach from the south to the north. It can be quite fast in places. Here it was fairly slow but it was still there. Because of this I turned to the south and started swimming against the current and looking around me.
I'm in clear calm water in maybe thrity feet of water. I have a full tank of air and everything is just fine. Looking around I'm amazed at the number of fish I'm seeing. They're darting in and out of the plants and generally being their fishy selves. I drop into a few holes and check them out. I'm seeing a ton of Lobsters here, more than a couple of them are huge. I leave them be though. Off in the distance I can hear boats but they are quite a ways further out. I'm not too worried about them, that's why I have the dive flag above me.
I'm keeping an eye on my air and when I get down to just above half a tank I turn around. I have plenty of air and I'm relaxed. Hell I have more than I'll need but I like to keep that safety buffer. (WHy do I have more than I need? Easy, to get where I was I had to swim against the current. That takes more effort and a lot of air. To get back to where I came from all I had to do was drift and relax. That doesn't take much air. Besides that if I needed to get out of the water I was close to shore and could easily surface and swim in.)
Now that I'm drifting I relax and my breathing slows even more. I'm just sitting back and letting mother nature do the work. AS I drift the fish grow curious and come over to investigate this new denizen in their neighborhood. I'm looking at Snappers and Grunts. I watched a couple of small Baracuda swim by like silvery torpedos. Off in the distance in deeper water I even get to see a shark swim by. I'm not worried about him.
Slowly I drift along the reef and watch the colors unfold around me. The colors and the life. Eventually I start seeing my flashing beacon coming out of the watery haze. AS I get closer to it I almost laugh and I can feel myself smiling around my regulator. More than a couple of smaller fish have gathered around the flashing light to check it out. When I finally reach the strobe I untie it from the rock, shut it off and shove it and the line holding it back into my pocket. (You never leave line behind.) Turning towards the beach I angle against the current slightly and start swimming in. I follow the slowly rising bottom until it rises sharply. I know I'm close to the beach and pop some more air into my vest. Slowly I rise the last few feet and swim over the edge.
Stopping I stand up in the now waist deep water and pull off my fins. Looking around me I'm happy with my navigation. I was coming out of the water about ten feet from where I had entered it. Wading out of the water I was met by my wife and the Lifeguard. They both asked me about the conditions even though my wife could tell from the grin on my face it had been nice. I told them about the fish and the lobsters. The other people listening in looked at me strangely when I mentioned the shark. One asked me why I didn't seem upset about seeing it and I just grinned.
Now came the not so fun part. The trudge back to the car. Most of this was through soft sand. I didn't bother taking off my vest. I carried my flag, my mask and my fins. My wife had my windbreaker in her arms but I didn't put it on because I was wet. When we reached the bathrooms I stopped while my wife went on to the car. She was grabbing my towel and clothes.
As I waited for her I wasn't idle. I took off my vest and carried it over to the freshwater shower. Setting it on the ground I started running the freshwater over it to rinse it off. I did the same with my mask and fins before stepping under the water myself.
Now this was a great way to spend the afternoon. One of these days I'll have to get me a waterproof caera to take along.
Cat
