Rear ended, plastic faces , and WOW…

Trip report , Windy Point Private, Mothers day weekend…Only contains the first dive…other dives from the weekend to follow.

Saturday started out rough, first we woke up at the time we were supposed to meet Melissa and Chris at the park, and I am not one who accepts being late so needless to say I was a bit rattled.  Then as we are on our way I realize I forgot all the bedding so I head back.  Just as I am pulling back into our drive way Melissa calls and asks if we can pick her up EMT shears since hers broke.  So it was actually good that we were running way behind.  Sadly Harbors did not have any shears.  So we decide we are hungry and head to McDonalds to catch breakfest (we never are up this early on a weekend so this is a treat)  There was one car ahead of us and NO ONE ahead of her, and suddenly I realize Nathan is on the horn and I am yelling “Stuipid Fing Ahole” …The bitch backed up into us.  After finding out our car has no damage but hers does we tell her its no big deal and go our seperate ways. 

Once we arrive at WP my mood shifts.  Im about to get my dive on.  Melissa and I are both working on our navigation, so she brought some numbered milk jugs to set up a little course for our group.  While me and Nathan set up our tent and crap the others went to start setting up.  They only got the start jug in place before there were gear malfunctions so on the next dive (which yay Im on) we were going to set up.  While we are preparing to go Robert with Lake Travis Scuba comes over and asks if we want a free boat dive.  Some rich dude and his plastic eye candy trophy girlfriend paid him to retrieve a anchor they lost.  At first we are all about it, and Robert describes the dive site.  Once he leaves to go get the truck ready me and Melissa register the site brief…”cables…devils cove…” and we decide we do not want to add this to our log books and let the boys know they are free to go but we are not comfortable.  I already go out of my experience but so far I have not gone out of my comfort zone…This dive was out of my comfort zone and no free boat ride is worth that.  However Chris, Nathan, and Matt are well capable and comfortable enough with the situation to go. 

Now is when I go from content to giddy…Diving with just Melissa is a huge treat (no Im not a dyke but shes the best dive buddy ever ) and when it is just me and her is when I feel most capable in not only myself but in the water.  So our plan was to finish setting up the nav course, her run it once , then air permitting just hang around and watch the fish.  My job (yes yay I finally have a job under the water) was to pass her the jugs in order when she needs them, which means we get to make new communication signals.  Wp is very busy, tons of students, hehehe it feels nice not to be the newest SD in the water… and we decend, and wow I must say I am starting to grasp buoyancy, it hasnt completley kicked in yet but I can avoid the crash landing, and I can after just a few adjustments, maintain neutral buoyancy and it barely hold up the dive plan. 

We head to the starting point and I sit by and watch her make her compass adjustments and we head to the first jug that was in place already.  Once we get to the second point I hand her the second jug and watch as she places it and secures it.  At this one I could tell it was not a natural feeling to her (just yet) , and I watch as she writes stuff down on her slate.  Then on to the next point, I notice she is not only much faster but more efficient in her placement and time spent and realize Im really proud that I have a buddy who not only is still learning but is a fast learner at that.  I dont get nearly as much time to check the bottom for anything cool before we are off to number 3.  Number 3 was set up before I even had time to tie up the bag the jugs were in.  Same with number 4.  However at number 4 is when she got to take a few seconds to set her compass to get back to the starting point… She did amazing, considering this was her first time setting this up and the fact shes new to getting so technical with navigation I was very proud of her, we got back with no trouble and both had a butt load of air still left. 

Now she gets to do the run through to see if she was accurate on the degrees and such.  Melissa swam through that course per her writings with ease, although she did make minor corrections to her numbers but they were very minor.  I was really happy for her and I could definitly see the pride she felt in charting the course and felt it as well for her.  We both mesh together in diving because we have similar likes in how things should be, we expect perfection from ourselves but not from others.  So we understand each other I think, and it is one of the many reasons I feel completely secure with her as a buddy.  After we run the course we still have a shit load of air left and decide to play in the water with the fish a bit. 

I love watching the fish watch me, I feel as if they are shrinks and I am the messed up person on the couch, but I dont have to pay them to fix me.  They just do, they fix me, the water gives me this feeling of being enveloped with understanding and acceptence in an unknown world.  Being accepted with the unknown makes the surface easier, I know the surface, I know the world we live in, if I am feeling the grace in the water, then I must surely feel it above (“Don’t call me Shirley, Shirley”…name that movie quote).  While remaining stationary on the platform we watch the world go by us , we watch fish watch us , and then we see Todd, neither of us actually had seen Todd before and the fact that he was okay with us touching him made him even more perplexing.  Todd let Melissa touch him, and since he didnt swim away I touched him as well… which figures, made him swim away.  He was a beautiful fish who was not named until after we were on the surface and identified him and Melissa says “ahhh he’s a crappie, we shall call him Todd”.  Anyways that is getting ahead of our dive so back to the water.  At 700 psi we motion to go to our safety stop, we were at the steps and hovering on these steps was this HUGE monster of a bass.  She literally would not move, no matter how close we got, and in truth seemed a bit pissed of our presence.  When I looked to Melissa to shrug at her to explain the behaviour she just rubs her tummy, that is when I realized the fish was a bass…she meant good eats/ watching over her fry. 

Once we surface I couldnt hold it in.  That was my best dive ever.  There was something amazing in the way the dive went from start to finish.  It was exactly what I needed to start my weekend.  There were so many little signs that I am coming into my own under water.  One of the biggest things I felt and saw was that Melissa does not feel like she needs to watch over me constently, as if we transformed together from scared newbie, to equal buddies.  Thats actually it, (seriously the following just hit me while writing this)  I think finally Melissa felt I was safe enough to be her buddy,  in a good way, not that I wasnt a buddy to her before but before I was so new and she did not know me enough to tell if I was safe.  Now I think she sees me and is comfortable with my skill to a point she to can relax in the water with me, she can somewhat let her guard down with the knowledge that we together are okay.  Wow.  I hope to get her feedback on if thats the case because it will help me to accept that I finally am coming into this unknown world and can be looked upon as a competent scuba diver with the skills to take care of myself and aid in taking care of my buddy if the need so arises.  I just got goose pimples, I really am a scuba diver, I really am able to after just a little over a month of diving, feel this sense of my existence as a scuba diver.  I breathe under water… me, wow.  I think the past dives were more surreal for me, as if I was just an observer directing a film that eventually I would star in.  

Okay I actually just had to take a break from the blog, I needed to grasp all that I had just realized and wrote.  I basked in this new found status others referred to me by, but I had not truely felt yet.  It was a very beautiful moment and I do not think anyone will understand how important that previous paragraph was to me but I hope that it is accepted and that my friends do not start referring me to the yellow pages to seek thearpy.  Anyways back to the diving, or well at this point the surface interval, me and Melissa reiderated our happiness at staying behind from the boat dive, it was to me a perfect dive, and the happiness was evident in my words, tone, and body language.  Theres something to be said about the vulnarable emotions I have after a dive, its as if I am a more naive me.  One who has not experienced a world of pain in the past 30 years, the me that is trusting and open to the world.  Now the dive perticulars, we had a max depth of 54 feet, down for 58 minutes (my longest dive thus far) the vis was at best 15 feet, maybe 20 but I suck at determining that so dont quote me on it.  The water temp was not bitter cold, but it helped that the surface was in the mid 90s. 

Our plan for the next dive was to play with the camera, after all I need to get me a proper dive avatar for scuba board.  However that started to change as the boys came back from a not very successful retrieval.  For this fact I will state the following,  Robert with Lake Travis Scuba has not had a easy time trying to get this anchor, and the nice guy he is has gone above and beyond in trying to help this couple out.  Also I must point out that he is a new resource to us divers and as such I would like to take the time to promote his business for a bit before ending this chapter of the weekend.  When I first met Robert was 2 weekends ago when I had my first boat dive.  I had blogged about it but somehow the blog disappeared in cyber space and my words on his operation were gone.  It was well known to him that I had not been on a boat dive, and although his job simply was to charter us to the sites of our choosing , he took the time to explain many things to me about the boat, the sites, the lake, safety, and well you name it and he helped me.  The only thing he failed to mention was that it is normal to tip a boat dive.  Sadly I did not do this, because I didnt realize it.  And knowing what I know of Robert it probably did not cross his mind that I did not tip.  I truely feel that the whole reason he is operating the giant stride is simply because he loves this sport and the people in it.  I think the tip he enjoyed was the moment his divers surface and thank him , with our smiles of joy at seeing parts of the lake not easily accessable.  Because of this reason I urge any Austin divers, and others planning to visit Lake Travis to go to www.laketravisscuba.com and book a trip with his operation as soon as possible, and tell him I sent ya.  That way I can feel less guilty about my lack of tip that he more then deserved.  I know I plan to make as many trips as possible with them, you will find no greater sense of hospility then you will with him and his boat “The Giant Stride” .  Thank you Robert, thank you for showing me Sternes Island and the old Scuba Park, thank you for taking a chance and starting a business catering to scuba divers, we all thank you and appreciate the vision you help create by showing divers parts of Lake Travis that may get ignored or over looked.

Due to life I must end this weekend blog , but I shall share my other 4 dives including the night dive shortly.  For now I must go do what other people do, work… but while I take this surface interval of life, I will bask in the dives that I took this past weekend.  The dives that shaped me into a title I finally earned…Scuba Diver. 

“The Giant Stride, Lawnmower, and the 3 H’s…

May 4th trip log, but is it a trip if I just have to drive a few miles? 

The day started out a bit sketchy, Nathan was just starting to pack for his trip and I had to have him at the airport by 11 to be early for the boat dive.  Who starts to pack the morning of a business trip?  One that takes you away for a week?  Sigh, thats the other problem, my house is completley empty, no kids, no Nathan, just me, what the heck?  This will definitly be a LONG week!  We get Nathan to the airport and I head out to Lake Travis Scuba , Today would be dives 10 and 11, I will meet 5 new divers and all of them are WAY more experienced then I am.  Talk about intimidating.  I had already talked with kvalve and ftwdiver so I was looking forward to putting the emails with the faces. Once I finally arrived at the Marina (yes I got lost, twice, jeesh) I notice two scuba divers.  They really are not hard to pick out of a crowd, just look for the shirt with the dive flags.  I meet Zinc (Brandon 1) and an older man (cant remember his name, he was the smart ass with the rebreather hehehee).  I was a bit confused on procedure , I had no idea it was okay to take the golf carts, nor did I realize they were there on purpose to be taken.  Brandon gave me a quick briefing …take gear out, put on cart, move car, look both ways at the top of the hill (Im on a standard and not exactly proficient going up a hill) and I was in motion.  It surprises me that I feel a bit less clustered at the beginning of a dive, that is until I get to the boat. ..

Lake Travis Scuba, owns the boat we will be on today, and well Ive only been on a boat once, and I have only shore dives atup until this moment.  However I get within shouting distence of “The Giant Stride” and already am being welcomed.  Bill, David , Jim Bob, whatever you want to call him (as long as you call him) helped me orientate with preparing to leave for a boat dive.  He was a patient man who had no problems teaching me a bit so I can not be one of “those divers” with no boat manners.  I was instantly set at ease, I knew at that moment I was going to have a blast.  The boat is quite nice here you can see a view of the outside http://www.laketravisscuba.com/gallery.html, inside where the gear sits is probably pretty standard, maybe even on the big side for boat dives, thats what I gathered from the more experienced divers anyway.  However theres a nice somewhat inside area with ample dry storage and comfortable seating.  While I am setting up my BCD I get my number (Im number 2) so I wont get left behind, and I also get a water weenie with a whistle (Im such a kid, saying weenie still makes me laugh almost as hard as when they are inflated, Im definitly the larger child in this family).  Also at this time is when I get to meet “frank” / Matt / ftwdiver and Brandon 2 / txmanager,  Brandon 2 is extremely shy but nice and polite and Frank is on the quiet side to, you can see his excitement as well and we joke a bit about our previous exchanges.  Finally I get a call that Melissa and Chris are about to pull up with our tanks and so I head back to the front to help them unload. 

Since I am over 15 I got to drive the golf carts, to bad they are slow, I can see the fun if they went just 5 more mph.  Once I am at the front I see kvalve, I only recognized him because he had been described to me as a old tall teddy bear with salt and pepper hair (I added the old part lol).  He is one of the few that read my blogs all the way through, so I definitley gotta give the man a huge, he was also correct in his height.  Its nice to not always be the tallest person in the group.  Instantly at ease with the man.  Ive known of his experience and Ive talked with him enough to already respect his view and opinion in this sport and now to top it off he is very down to earth for a watergod.  Even though I am so new , I was not treated as if I had cooties, I am a newb but thats okay cause they were once to.  Its nice that they saw that, as that isnt always the case.  In skydiving a newb is looked down upon generally, as if the skygods skydived out of the womb or something.  This is a refreshing feeling to me.

Once  we are all packed up and on board the group decides Sterns Island to start.  At first it was going to be me and Melissa in our own group, but Chris, Frank and Brandon 2 joined us.  We recieved a great briefing of the area and what to see.  We were asked if we saw the lawnmower if we could tip it back the right way.  I still am not good at calculating the time it takes to get ready and was baking in my 7 mil wetsuit with an additional 2 mil on my head and core so I offered to get in the water first.  I had not taken a stride since training so I was a bit nervous but did fine and did not smash my face in the water first.  Once we all grouped up we decended.  I had a bit of trouble breaking the surface so I decided to calm down a bit and relax, funny enough that works and down we went.  We were heading out to the sailboat and on the way Melissa found me a intact carnival cruise hurricane glass for a treasure.  We checked out the boat, and heading towards the lawn mower.  The five of us put it right which was surprisingly cool to do and its about this time Melissa made a new friend and had me laughing my butt off underwater.  It wasnt to long after this that someone hit 1500 and we had to turn around.  We found a nice spot to do our safety stop and I hit the surface with 1200ish psi.  The boat wasnt to far away from where we came up at, and once at it I realized that I had to climb a ladder to get back on, uhhhh I had 20 lbs of weights, crap, and with all the waves and not using them to my advantage I got knocked off the ladder half way up.  Now kids, my first PSA of the blog is this …. when climbing back in the boat have your reg in your mouth and goggles on!!! I learned this the hard way so listen to my advice lol.  Since we had a long time to wait for the 3 solos or whatever they were doing this is when David/JimBob/ Boat operator gave me some more boat training per say.  Which is good because I definitly plan to use his services more often.  The vibe of the boat was awesome.  I was granted getting motion sickness but they also told me how to fix that.

Once Kvalve got on the boat he asked me how deep I went, and well 60 ft, and he laughed and ribbed my rule following ways and said “and not one inch over hahaha” thats when I remembered I had broken a rule the day before and had to tell him all about my rebel ways. 

Our next site was going to be the old scuba park, and me and Melissa were going it alone this time.  We were planning to do a straight out then in dive.  Thinking that we would get that navagation right.  I of course got ready to early and had to hurry into the water, then Melissa, and we were decending before anyone else even was in the water.  I knew this meant we had plenty of time to rest on the boat before others came back up.  Prior to the dive we talked about how I felt comfortable to go deeper if it was just the two of us.  She knows my oh shit faces, the good oh shit and the bad oh shit.  This whole dive was a bunch of good oh shits.  At my max depth to date I was the most relaxed to date.  We saw one boat , one milk truck, and one inverted pool shell.  About that time is when I hit my turn around mark.  The plan had been to head to shore at 1500 psi and play around that area until we got down to 700 ish psi.  We used our compasses and headed to shore… at 15 ft we were in middle water NOT shore.  So we had a very interesting safety stop, one that had me laughing and actually enjoying the choas of not having anything around…Since we were not where we planned to be we surfaced after 3 minutes and realized we should use the weenie (hahahhaa) because we were a bit far from the boat.  I couldnt shut up about how awesome the dive had been, it was just amazing.  Granted neither of us on either dive saw even one fish but it was still an amazing dive. 

Once on the boat we got to talk about the dive some more and just enjoy how beautiful the lake was.  That is except for other boaters.  Now folks here is where I get serious, just because any Joe, Dick , or Nancy can rent a boat does not mean they should be excluded from the rules.  The boat has a HUGE flag on it and he also flies a flag.  The flag means divers down ya dumb shits.  When the three uber experienced guys weenies (hahahha) came up, we saw a pontoon boat heading straight for the weenie (hahaha) as if it was a beacon to say “Hey come look at me” … Its not a beacon, it means theres someone holding on to the other end.  I stopped swearing at them to stop once I saw the kids on the boat, and as the boater BARELY missed the weenie (hahahha) and drove past us he apologized.  Thats all good since no one was hurt, but next time it happens and my head gets run over, sorry isnt going to cut it Mister, Im gonna be pretty pissed when my happy day turns into watching a diver getting rescued and or being rescued because anyone with 60 bucks a hour can rent a boat with no knowledge of anything but turn the key and go. 

Once everyone was onboard we get to head back to the dock.  It was a rather enjoyable boat ride.  It didnt hurt to have such awesome people around me.  However the 3 H’s took over about 5 mins into the boat ride and I was already planning how to fulfill the one with food involved.  We decided Mexican is the best after dives so we were going to hit Iquana’s after wards.  6 of us agreed to go and let me just tell you the food was glorious except the meat was a bit dry, and the view was awe inspiring.  When you eat there make sure you try a Melon Margarita, they float midori around the frozen bliss and it was to die for.

If you have not dived with Lake Travis Scuba, then book here http://www.laketravisscuba.com/about.html right now he has openings but I dont suspect it will be easy to get a seat for long.  You have plenty of dive sites to choose from, its value priced, and the entertainment value is ten fold.  Tell him I sent ya, lol.  And if you have been on the giant stride then you know how great it is and Ill see ya there.  I plan to take the boat at least once a month , support your local dive shop and dive operation because Lake Travis Scuba is the best, and a great compliment to Windy Point.  Austin definitly is a dive town and we have two of the best resources to utilize our lake, if we dont use them, we may lose them and I still havent seen the whole lake … so book now, just save me a seat.

ALL MINE, Hotdog fingers , and Good Eats!

Nathan took work off so we could go to the dive shop and then Windy Point to meet up with Melissa and Chris for a after work dive.  I was going to put my reg set on rent to own.  I had it in my mind to purchase the alpha 8 with its matching octo and then analog gauges.  I hadnt planned on Nik being such a good salesman, I did get the Alphas, and a nice little lesson on why I do like this perticular reg, less moving parts.  Im simple, less moving parts mean less chances of it breaking in my mind.  Moving on to the gauges I get a lesson on the different types, and why I need a computer.  He made alot of sense, first he approached it from the technology standpoint, then to add on to that, and knowing I am thrify he went on to the costs and somehow he justified it.  I am a very hard sell, and Nik won that battle.  Next thing I know Im grabbing a gear bag, and clips, and apperently I HAVE to have the flashlight… oh and dont forget the new mouthpiece.  So while my new layaway is getting tested and hooked up I start realizing its not mine yet, it doesnt feel MINE.  Sooooo I pay it all off.  Yea thats right, I go from putting 250 down to plopping my 2 weeks grocery money and clothing fund money in the hands of Oak Hill.  HAPPY NOW?  It feels so damn good though, I wanted to sleep with my computer but I figured Nathan didnt want to share the bed with us so Bessie (yes thats her name, reg doesnt have a name yet as I am unsure if its male or female) slept in her bag. 

My planned hour in the dive shop turned to 4 so we knew we wouldnt have time for a dive before Melissa and Chris get to Windy so we hang out.  Since Im in the wetsuit I get a bit warm and decide to get in the water.  Yea uhhhh it was cold…Ive started to wear the 5 mil because it is a much better fit, but I hadnt realized just how much warmer that 7 mil is.  It was horrible, I did not like being in the wetsuit without my BCD on!  I lasted just a few minutes before I decided to get out and just sit and wait.  At this time Im giving Nathan the evil eye, he has the hood , the 7 mil, the nice happy warm gloves and the extra layer of man handles to keep him warm. 

Chris shows up and I can already tell hes either A.  Not diving, or B.  Going in slacks and a polo, I assumed it was A.  He was walking with a limp so he was just going to be an observer.  Finally my Melissa gets there, yay dive time.  As we catch up about the gear I just bought we start to go over the plan for the dive.  Nathan seems to understand the dive plan, and he knows I like organization, hell in the car ride over I had just told him “now were not going there to have fun were going to dive, so no playing around and popping down in front of me without warning”  Diving to me is fun, when we plan the dive and dive the plan.  In all aspects of life things follow according to my to do list and when they dont the fun for me is less and or stops.  Nathan on the other hand thinks that makes me a old fuddy duddy or whatever.  That should have been my first indication that its hard to dive with someone you share a bed with. 

Without going into to much detail I will state that we did not follow the plan, me and Melissa tried, but we failed to get Nathan to grasp the concept of turn left.  It didnt help he had problems with everything, from clearing (Its early and often babe, not when the pain reminds you) to his mask always fogged.  We ended up spending 30 minutes of platform playing.  From somersaults, to handstands, to hiding my bare fingers because the fish think they are hotdogs.  I got to try Melissas pony bottle, dude that thing is so adorable and light, one day I want one.  The good thing about staying in one spot is I got to see my improvements.  My buoyancy is getting much better, Im starting to feel what is right and making small adjustments versus large ones and screwing it all up.  I also noticed there was not one bit of panic or nervousness that was above normal new fear.  Even when we TRIED to follow the dive plan and I was thinking I am brail diving. 

In the car Nathan pointed out that I am to much a drill sgt to dive with often lol.  I was good by not pointing out that he got on my nerves as well.  I tend to be the bigger bully in our relationship so I let him be the one who for once got to state complaints.  Disclaimer – Nathan does not read my blog as he is to ADHD.  It was nice to see him under the water, so we will continue to try to dive together, and maybe one day I wont want to knock him up side he big ole head when he goofs off versus following the dive plan but for now I will always try to have Melissa there so Im not stuck being the only one not getting to follow a plan. 

After we packed up we decided to go to a place that was spoke highly of, its called “The Boat House” its on the corner of 2222 and 620.  Its a mom and pops type place and the food was amazing.  I know I know food always taste better after diving but for real this was the best buger Ive had in a long time.  They have a teeshirt that says “Catfish Patrol” that I wanted , but considering I got all my new gear I decided I shouldnt spend another 10 bucks on the cool teeshirt.