Today's Race - We Lost

There has been current every day we have dived.  Usually it has been a surface current.  The biggest problem has been getting from the back-roll over the side of the boat to the bow anchor line to haul ourselves down the anchor line.  Usually a current will lesson as you go deeper.  So most days there has been a small current on the bottom where we are diving but as you go around a rock formation, it will disappear or you will be in a protected area for a bit.  Sometimes I have had to grab a hold of a piece of rock to stay in position to take a photo but it hasn't been bad at all.


But today was destined to be not so great in some ways and awesome in others.  First thing, my dive light crapped out on me.  Better than the camera going wonky but makes it for seeing things in colors a lot harder and sometimes it's a bit too murky as well to get a good photo.  But second thing, as we are heading back into shore after our first dive, there is a total ring, a rainbow, around the sun.  that was MOST AWESOME.!  I don't think I've ever seen that.

But third thing, on our second dive, there was a current underwater at the bottom where we were diving.  The dive masters all wear these monstrous fins.  They are shoe type fins which means you just slip your foot into it rather than wear booties and strap it on.  That aside and not really being critical to the story at all, these fins are probably a good meter long - NOT including the shoe part of the fin.  I have never seen fins this large before other than free divers who must stroke hard and fast to get deep enough on their one breath of air.   What it means to me is the dive-master can do a lazy-like stroke with his fins and get propelled through the water while I'm kicking about 15 kicks to keep up with him.  Hasn't been a problem but today we had to go against the current at different stages during our dive.


I'm trying still to take photos, my hubby - who is my buddy - is watching me and also watching the dive-master who is slowly disappearing into the distance as he lazily swims along.  I finish my photo and swim like I've been shot out of a cannon to try and catch up to him.  He looks behind to see if we're all ok and we all are but I'm exhausted from trying to keep up.  Unfortunately for me,  he looked to check on us, I was there.  So I guess I was doing OK in keeping up but several times I had to pull myself along a rock and give myself a hard push off the rock to get that little bit of umph to swim into the current and keep the dive-master in sight.  WHEW.  It was an exhausting dive and I didn't get a lot of good photos because my dive light was blooey.


I did see some good stuff:  a small moray, a lionfish hanging out with two Sarlacc clams (one of the other divers came over to take photos and he almost ran into the lionfish who immediately extended all his venomous fins - almost like they were on a spring.  As if to say - ha ha, dare you to touch me), some anemones with lots of little 3 spot fish around it, a school of something smaller hanging out, and some anemone fish.  So, all in all it was a good dive but I was so glad when we were getting down on air and about to surface.  Not at all sure I could have kept racing against the current.  Definitely felt like we lost this race.