Jesus saved me

Yes he did. Today, we were diving at the site of Christ of the Deep, at Dry Rocks, off the coast of Key Largo. Let me first say that I normally believe that any day diving is better than almost anything else, but that is absolutely not true of today.

This was our first stop of our two tank dive, and I was excited that we would get to see the Christ statue, since it is so famous. But virtually everything went wrong with this dive. For some reason, guides do not dive with you here--so you are on your own for navigation and to find all the good stuff yourself. That just adds a little stress that is not necessary.

Second, visibility was not great. And as usual, my stupid mask had fogging problems---I am SO sick of that. But I think I have a plan to deal with that that does not require me to buy a new mask. Amy had leaking problems which is bad cuz she wears contacts. She also did not have enough weights, so fought buoyancy problems most of the time.

But I have to admit, the statue is pretty cool. It is 8.5 feet tall and weighs 2 tons. It is a copy of one that is sunk off the coast of Italy, and was given to the US in 1961. It is made out of bronze. It is in about 25 feet of water, which is really too shallow for my taste. It can lead to current problems if you are that shallow.

And it was the current problems that shot the whole dive to hell. We had an hour to explore, but honestly, there was not much to see. We saw some French angelfish, a decent sized trumpet fish and a barracuda, but not a lot. Amy decided to back to the boat about 45 minutes in, to get more weight. I tried to follow her, but by then, the current was vicious. I had a set to with a big honking jelly fish--probably a foot across. He was gross. I had to go on top of the water to see the boat, and I just could not cover any ground. Amy was supposed to come back to me, but something must have happened, because she did not.

Panic started to set in, as I was getting so tired, and she was not coming, and I could not get back to the boat. I was getting so angry, and scared that I was not thinking straight. Evidently, I was near another dive boat and did not even realize it. They told me to come to their boat and I did. I was taking off my fins to get on their boat when our divemaster, Drew, showed up. I was so addled that I did not even recognize him, and could not figure out why I should go with him like he said to do. It finally sunk in though.

I had to pull myself all the way back to the other boat, via tow rope. It was several hundred yards, and the waves were out of control. I finally got there though, and had to wait at the ladder for a while because I could not get my breath. My muscles were shaking for thirty minutes from over exertion, and the adrenaline and panic took its toll on me. I did not want to go on the second dive, but I had to because if I had stayed in the boat, I would have puked all over everyone else. That dive was better as we were able to work with the current rather than against it. We saw two things we had not seen before, a porcupine fish, and a hogfish of some sort that was really crazy looking, and several French angelfish and a little bitty queen angelfish that was so cute. Amy sprung an air leak though, and we got out around 35 minutes.

Right after we left, we went to the divers supply store and I bought my own fins to use with my booties, because the rental fins are not adjustable and I cannot get a pair that fits both feet. I have a raw spot on my left foot from today's dive, and it is hard to enjoy when you are hurting that bad.

All that effort took it out of us, so we are in for a nap before we go to dinner. Let's hope tomorrow is a little less dramatic!