Sunday in the Water Alli & I went diving Sunday morning with Donna, Bill, Susan, and Donna's friend Kevin. We were going to go at Victoria Park, but they had parking and I had a very unexciting experience diving there before. As Datura & Hibiscus are at present being ripped apart, leaving them parking- and shower-less, I suggested the condo at last minute. Good call.

We somehow lost the others within the first, oh, five minutes of the dive. This is okay, as Alli was carrying a flag. We had a nice, leisurely dive. After the dive, we showered and hung out under the patio umbrellas and talked for a while. Then the rest of the gang took off as Alli went for food and air fills. After refueling, we went back in the water.

On this dive, Alli pointed out this completely weird, alien creature. You know those wide, deep holes that go on as far as you can see? Well, creatures do live in them, and we saw it. It is some kind of mantis. Some ALIEN mantis. Big huge eyes. Seriously weird. We also saw the biggest moray eel I've ever seen.. four or five feet? And not being shy at all. It was awesome.

And now for the weirdest part - thermoclines! The viz was SO BAD on our second dive that I lost Alli at one point and surfaced.. She had surfaced too and we were all of 15 feet apart. The water was also HOT. Hot hot hot. Annoyingly hot. At one point, when I was laying in the sand to get a good look at something tiny, I felt the water was cooler down there. As we swam east, that cooler thermocline fortunately began to take up the bottom five feet rather than just the bottom one foot. Alli & I swam as close as we could to the reef to enjoy the cooler water. The temperature difference was crazy, though - I could raise my hand and the water up there was HOT. Many degrees warmer. I only wish I had the computer on at the time. Also, the warmer water was where the bad viz was, so while we swam in the cool water, it was as if we were swimming under a hazy sky. If I raised my head into it, I couldn't see ten feet away; Alli disappeared. Lower again and there Alli and the fish were, plain as day.

I had the best time diving Sunday that I had had in a while. It was as it should be - relaxed, a walk through the woods. I love it down there. :)  ¶ 8:58 AM