Our Thursday night dive began with what was supposed to be meeting only Lucas and Shannon at Rockaway beach. Lucas did not even agree to dive on Thursday until I called him and let him know the visibility at the Coleman Dock in Seattle had increased dramatically and it should be a good dive to the deep reef. We were to meet at 6:15.
I showed up at 5:50 and went down to the beach to check the viz and indeed it had cleared dramatically. As I walked back up to the truck I noticed someone standing there that I hadn't met before on our Thursday night dive. We chatted briefly and I learned his name was Mike. I told him the viz looked great. He replied "great, then I'm going diving". No one else was around so I asked him if he was diving alone. Yes he was. He was a contractor working in Afghanistan and is here on his 1 month vacation and was told Rockaway was a good place to dive. I left it at that and went to get ready.
Lucas and Shannon showed up a short while later and while we were getting ready Mike walked by with his tank and BCD set up and went down to the beach. When he came back up we spoke with him a bit and found out he was planning to dive alone and hadn't been to the site before. Lucas began asking him a few questions such as when he last dove, cerification level, the basics. He hadn't dove since last September and only had an open water certification, we eventually invited him to dive with us.
We were nervous about taking him to the deep reef so Lucas suggested we take him to the shallow reef then bring him back and go to the main reef. He was diving a Scubapro wet suit and the zipper opened after I zipped it for him. He went to try and fix it while the rest of us went down to the beach. I actually didn't expect Mike back but he managed to get the suit off, fix the zipper, came back down and put his gear on in the water. He had a few problems putting it on but eventually got it straightened out with Lucas's help. I was really starting to get nervous by this time. I thought he really needed to take a refresher course before he got back in the water.
Eventually, everyone was ready and we swam out to the buoy before heading down. After the signal to dive, we went down but I only saw Shannon in front of me at the bottom. We were only in 15 feet of water. I looked up and Lucas had partially descended but Mike was still on top. We went up and it turned out he wasn't weighted properly so Shannon and Lucas each gave him some weight. We all descended and went down the line to the brick then North to the shallow reef. I went off to take pictures while Mike followed Lucas and Shannon.
The small octopus was in it's hole and I signaled with my light to Lucas to come over and take a look. I didn't see Shannon or Mike at this point. We later found out that Mike kept adding air to his BCD and eventually made an uncontrolled ascent. Shannon had tried to grab him but couldn't so just followed him up. We were only in 30 feet of water. Shannon had been able to calm him down on the surface and brought him back down where Lucas and I caught up with them not knowing what had happened. When Mike's air was at 1500 psi we started back to the brick and the line back to the buoy.
Shannon and I went down to the main reef while Lucas took Mike back to the shallower depths. We went down along the main reef and headed back up when Shannon's air was at 1000 psi. Past the brick on the way up we saw a faint light in the distance in front of us, that turned out to be Lucas. He had been trolling around with Mike in the shallows having a good time. Shannon continued on up and Lucas and I spent some time around the buoy eventually heading in towards the beach. This is some of the best area to dive sometimes and with the viz clearing up there was a lot to see. A three arm starfish, a Saddleback Gunnel and a Swimming Anenome among others creatures.
Once we all arrived back at the beach and made it up to the cars we caught each other up on what happened down below. Shannon and Lucas were great and the dive turned out well because of them. All in all it was another good dive in Puget Sound.
I showed up at 5:50 and went down to the beach to check the viz and indeed it had cleared dramatically. As I walked back up to the truck I noticed someone standing there that I hadn't met before on our Thursday night dive. We chatted briefly and I learned his name was Mike. I told him the viz looked great. He replied "great, then I'm going diving". No one else was around so I asked him if he was diving alone. Yes he was. He was a contractor working in Afghanistan and is here on his 1 month vacation and was told Rockaway was a good place to dive. I left it at that and went to get ready.
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| Shannon waiting on the line |
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| Lucas with his new friend |
We were nervous about taking him to the deep reef so Lucas suggested we take him to the shallow reef then bring him back and go to the main reef. He was diving a Scubapro wet suit and the zipper opened after I zipped it for him. He went to try and fix it while the rest of us went down to the beach. I actually didn't expect Mike back but he managed to get the suit off, fix the zipper, came back down and put his gear on in the water. He had a few problems putting it on but eventually got it straightened out with Lucas's help. I was really starting to get nervous by this time. I thought he really needed to take a refresher course before he got back in the water.
Eventually, everyone was ready and we swam out to the buoy before heading down. After the signal to dive, we went down but I only saw Shannon in front of me at the bottom. We were only in 15 feet of water. I looked up and Lucas had partially descended but Mike was still on top. We went up and it turned out he wasn't weighted properly so Shannon and Lucas each gave him some weight. We all descended and went down the line to the brick then North to the shallow reef. I went off to take pictures while Mike followed Lucas and Shannon.
The small octopus was in it's hole and I signaled with my light to Lucas to come over and take a look. I didn't see Shannon or Mike at this point. We later found out that Mike kept adding air to his BCD and eventually made an uncontrolled ascent. Shannon had tried to grab him but couldn't so just followed him up. We were only in 30 feet of water. Shannon had been able to calm him down on the surface and brought him back down where Lucas and I caught up with them not knowing what had happened. When Mike's air was at 1500 psi we started back to the brick and the line back to the buoy.
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| Saddleback Gunnel |
Once we all arrived back at the beach and made it up to the cars we caught each other up on what happened down below. Shannon and Lucas were great and the dive turned out well because of them. All in all it was another good dive in Puget Sound.
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