Happy Monday

A couple of fun, albeit short dives at Dutch Springs over the week-end. The visibility there seems to deteriorate as the season goes on despite the presence of Zebra mussels in the water. When you are hanging at a buoy looking down the visibility seems endless and the water aqua blue. However, when you hit the first thermocline at 45 feet the water becomes viscous and those green algae particles start to thicken. Once you hit 65 feet viz is down to 10-15 feet and it gets dark. Oh well, the Caribbean it ain’t. The second dive was back to the copter, although we didn’t do more than touch it before two of the divers I was with ran low on air and we had to call it after only 30 minutes. Tagging along with the advanced open water students gets me into the water but the diving is very restricted. A lot of the students in this class have issues with buoyancy as well. And what’s with not diving the plan? I was paired up with Arthur, who I knew, and this other dude, who I didn’t in a three-man buddy team. Arthur and I dive well together, but this other student was too green and kept swimming off to do his own thing. Personally, I try to keep within 10’ of my buddy all the time because I look at that tank on his back as my secondary air source should something go wrong. I probably should have said something but I didn’t. I had my first Nitrox class on Sunday night and I’m looking forward to that certification so I can stay down longer. Its all about staying down longer.

The NYC Scuba meet-up is tomorrow night. I think I’ll go and check it out although this week is kind of busy. Shark River on Thursday night with the same cast of characters from this week-end. At least I’ll be diving with one other person who doesn’t need the dive for an AOW certification. Hopefully the drive to the Jersey Shore will be worth it. It is a great night dive but being at the tail end of a group of divers may impact visibility. This year I am grabbing that lobster if I see him.