Taking Tracey to The Offsets

11:16 AM Rick



















It had been about a month since our first trip to The Offsets and I mentioned to my wife Tracey about going again. Much to my suprise she showed some interest in going along! This was a suprise because I have been asking her for several years to go a long but the answer was always NO. I honestly didnt think she would like and and might do one short dive but I was game to help her out and get here going. She took a practice session through the local dive shop pool to get aclimated to her gear and water and did really well despite her nervousness.
Along with us were Kevin and Katonya and their two kids. We decided to make a family event of it and brought food, drinks and barbeque to enjoy. Usually I just dive and walk around before the second dive of the day, but since we had a bigger group it sounded fun to make a picnic out of it too.







Getting the girls geared up took a while. Tracey still wasnt certain how much weight she would need in fresh water with a much thicker wet suit, hood and gloves (this was her first fresh water dive!) so this would be an exercise in trial and error. This whole process took a while but we all finally got into the water and the girls got a little suprise when they initaily got in. The water there is a little colder than most bodies of water to say the least. If your not ready for it it can take your breath away but once your wet suit fills up the water warms and its not so bad. We started over on the shallow ledge which usually has the best visibility and help you get used to the conditions by giving you a visual refrence as you go down. I noticed right away that the visibility was down quite a bit and it wouldnt be as clear as it has been for the past year or so. Bummer.


Tracey found out right away that she just didnt have enough weight to submerge with the 5 mil wetsuit on, so we had to swim back over to the exit point and retreive some more weight. This was quite an undertaking since I was the one that did it fully geared up with 60 lbs on my back in 90 degree sun! We quickly got that squared away and off we went.


The diving was cold and murky but we did manage to find lots of stuff. Tracey even managed to find and earing on the bottom. She wasnt down there very long though because it is MUCH colder down there than at the surface and she told me later that she wasnt particularly comfortable down there! (you never really get comfortable in that cold of water) After the first dive we all got out for lunch and a warm up period in the sun. We took a walk around the quarry and by the time we got back we were all burning up in the sun. I still had my wet suit on so I was rapidly overheating. The four of us jumped back into the water and those without wet suits got a taste of just how cold the water is!


Our second dive wasnt very productive since the crowd wasnt very heavy that day and there were not a lot of cliff jumpers that day. At the end of our dive Kevin and I were called over to the zip line landing platfom to find the trolley which had been accidentally dropped in the water. After a quick search I found it and got us all a free zip line ride! It was a lot more fun that I thought it would be but didnt last long enough.
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10:46 AM Rick
The next day I was scheduled for a two tank boat dive in the afternoon. Fiinally, after 5 years I was getting back in the water! The afternoon boat was almost empty too. Only 6 divers going out so there wasn't a crowd to contend with. I didnt bring my camera on this trip. I was thinking I would need a dive or two to acclimate to the borrowed gear I had on this trip but I was wrong. Shortly after I hit the water I felt back at home. Our plan was for the first dive to be a deep one which is typical. Go deep first and shallow second to reduce nitrogen build up in the blood. Our dive master said 80 feet max but that is just a formal statement most operators make. In Mexico that is usually the starting point for a deep dive! We went over the wall and dropped down the steep slope



The last time I was in Cozumel they were still recovering from the devestating affects of Hurricane Wilma. the reefs were burried in sand and much of the coral and sponge growth had been swept away. The reefs were now showing signs of a good recovery. The sand was clearing out , the marine life had returned and coral and sponge growth looked good. The visiblilty was a little less than perfect because of recent heavy rain and winds in the previous days. One thing noticeably absent were Cozumels strong currents that wisk divers along the reefs. The currents were almost still in comparison which means more work and more air consumtion on a dive. Bummer!



I managed a max depth of 96 feet on this dive. It felt good too. I had 12 pounds on my weight belt and was almost perfectly wieghted with my 3 mil suit. All was good and I was enjoying the dive. We saw the typical fish life of angel fish, wrasse, surgeon and trigger fish as well as a green moray swimming across the sand to his hiding spot. A couple of lobster tentacles sticking out of a hole cought my attention. I like playing with them a little by sticking my hand out towards their hole. Their natural curiousity will get the best of them and they will come use their tentacles to check you out. In non-protected waters this is the time to quickly grab the tentacles and yank them out of their hole, throw them in a bag and later have a nice lobster barbeque!



We surfaced to some slightly choppy water to get out of. This is always fun trying to remove fins and grab the ladder. Most divers remove their fins and put them on the boat but in rough water I usually remove my fins and hang them on my arms above my wrist to carry them out myself. By doing this I dont have to approach the boat until I'm ready to grab the ladder. My instructor taught me that years ago and I prefer to be more self sufficient and not depend on other divers or boat crew the help more than they have too. But sometimes your gear just wants to fight everything you do and help is needed!



After a short surface interval we did our shallow dive. Shallow dives are great for photograhy because much more natural light is available. The natural colors are more appearant even with no additional light. A lot of divers like shallow dives for the longer bottom times also. Shallow dives are less stressful since the surface is just a few kicks away. Bottom times can last a long time in shallow waters. My best to date is 65 minutes on an 80 cubic foot tank. Really good divers who are in excellent condition can stretch them to 90 minutes!



After getting back from the dives I cleaned up and got ready for a wonderful dinner with Tracey and the rest of my family members that traveled with us. Diving can sure work up and appetitie and I was ready to do some damage to the buffet at the resort. I was making a point of eating a lot of fruit durig this trip. There is always watermelon, pineapple, honeydew and cantelope to eat there!
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