Dive Report 19 March

Yes, it sucked an egg. (I have no idea where that phrase comes from, but it seems an appropriate description for the conditions today.) If you were doing something other than diving at the bridge today, you made the right decision. I saw bridge devotee and photographer extraordinaire, Marv Caples (check out his photos on the Jupiter Dive Center website) enter the water and then turn around and get out of the water; I knew my open water student and I were in for a "git'r done" dive as my student is here on holiday and does not have the luxury of waiting for better conditions. We had about four feet of vis in sixty-eight degree water. A couple of yellow stingrays were buried in the sand probably trying to stay warm. I was toasty in my drysuit for our fifty-one minute dive, but my Canadian student was becoming a bit chilled even with two three millimeter wetsuits. He did much better than I could have, but he's Canadian! My experience is that our Canadian cousins have a cold tolerance gene that is a great advantage in conditions as we have had this winter. In the short vis we obviously have to look at the stuff that is very close. That's the only reason I saw a decorator crab that was moving, probably in an attempt like the stingrays, to stay WARM. East winds this weekend might bring some clearer water. The persistent swell from the northeast has really stirred up the bottom. I'm back at the bridge on Sunday. I know the picnic will be good; I hope the diving conditions will be good, too. Get in the water, Ham