Friday, November 27, 2015

Black Friday at the Breakwater

We hadn't eaten ourselves into too bad of a stupor on Thanksgiving so had some energy and motivation to give our drysuits another whirl. I was extremely disappointed with my inability to be stable in the last dive and was determined to get back into it.

When we got to the Breakwater, it was cold (44F on the surface), extremely windy and the tide was at the highest I've seen here (6ft peak high tide around the time we were there). This was probably the quickest we've gotten into any suit - wet or dry - just to get some protection from the cold. Brrr. We had talked about adding a couple of pounds of weight from our last dive but decided to try out the same setup. I figured my previous rocketship impersonation was due to suit overinflation as opposed to insufficient weight.
The water was almost to the steps and just as we were about to get in, A realized she hadn't adjusted her mask strap since our return from Baja. Also, it managed to pop all the way out of the buckle when she was trying to adjust it. D'oh! We submerged immediately instead of doing the usual surface swim as there was a TON of seaweed and kelp on the surface. Almost immediately, my left ear started misbehaving and continued to do so for the duration. Considering we were there right at the slack at high tide, there was a surprising amount of surge. I was also trying out A's WetWear hood, which doesn't have the neck skirt, and it was chafing my neck like crazy. That and my troublesome ear caused me to thumb the dive prematurely. 
-> 25min, 39ft, 55F

It was good to get some more time in the drysuits and I got to try a couple of things I wanted to but, overall, a meh dive. Post dive at Hula's.

 - U