August 24 2014 dive # 930 & 931

* I found this funny photo on the internet with a diver diving with his dog!
The guy looks like he is having fun, and dog seems to be having fun too!

August 24 2014 dive # 930
We lucked out on getting such a perfect day to be out diving. Warm and sunny but not suffocating. The water temp, on the surface, had to be close to 70F.
It was a bit surgy with crappy viz but that's the pay off. We anchored off of Folly cove near the restaurant to do some more filming.
Chris and Fred were in charge. Andy and Pete as crew. John (from froggies), Jackie, Alex, Charlie (from NBPT) and his son were onboard.
We had a good easy going group of buddies to share the day.
Back in the water Chris and I went following the illustrated instructions Fred wanted us to do.
I, hopefully, followed the instructions to get that needed footage.
 John was snorkling above us and said we looked pretty good. But time will tell once Chris looks at the actual footage. I swam back and forth numerous times at different angles.
The viz was really fuzzy so that could be a factor. I ended up pretty much draining the tank. As with a double hose reg you can't tell how deep you are nor how much air you have (you don't have any guages). You kind of just have to guess by experience.
August 24 dive #931
The water was really warm and I had an extra tank. There was no way I was NOT going back in!  I am hell bent on keeping my UW skills up so I settled on the bottom to take off my BCD, put it back on and do the same with my weight belt. There was a slight surge and I was bopping around UW. As I was feeling for the buckle on my weight belt a nosy cunner came up to face mask and started pecking at it! I think he knew I was busy doing something. Either that the fish at Folly have gotten so used to the divers that he has no fear.
 I was kind of hoping I would see Andy's "rrraken" friend or Jackie's torpedo ray friend but I did see an odd looking fish. It was the size of a  cunner but longer with tiger stripes and bright yellow coloring.Tropical fish do come up this time of year. When I looked in my fish ID book I found a harlequin bass that matched the description. They live in northern florida.
After I drained this tank as well and got out of my wetsuit we all started to "hampton beach" it and jump in the ocean for just a swim. I blessed and annointed all the "hampton beachers" with a "in the name of Howie Carr, dunkin donuts and the Boston Red Sox' you are all now officially "hampton beachers"!
It's great fun to get all silly like 13 year old kids.
That is best part of being on the boat:-) being kids again!

dive fatalities-addressing the elephant in the room

In general, people don't want to talk about death.
 I can't say I blame 'em.
 It's uncomfortable and we are afraid to offend the departed family.
With that being said, regardless,I do feel it is necessary to talk about what happened to our dive buddy. I am opening up a forum to discuss what we know and using what we know discuss the probabilities of what might have happened to hopefully, prevent another untimely death.
The only information that I have is that our friend was found UW at 25 feet without her dive gloves on.
What we don't know is if she had any medical conditions or if there was any air in her tank and/or tainted air in her tank. In this forum, I am ruling out any malice or foul play. The police reported this as a 'diving accident due to drowning".
OK
All week I've been plagued with very real and vivid nightmares. One dream keeps repeating over and over again is that I wake up and on Fred's boat alone. The boat breaks off of the dock and is moving away from the dock over white caps and choppy seas. I panic and think, "oh God..I've got to save the boat!"
 I am not too far away from the dock that I could put on fins and swim to the dock but the boat would be lost. I couldn't do that.
I try to remember how to start the boat, put it into gear and  bring it back to the dock. I then think, then what? Which line do I tie off first to secure it? What if I can't do this. What radio station do I call for mayday? As the boat floats off, I see passing boats and wave my hands frantic for help. No one stops. I've got to remember, rehearse the skills I've learned awhile back and not to panic/freeze to order to save the boat.
 I do believe this dream is symbolic in many ways.
The boats symbolizes divers and diving in general. I am trying not to panic and I try to kick start my brain into Action. Therefore,by trying to remember what to do  symbolizes that one always needs to practice and refresh your memory into 'what if situations' so that you can jump into action at ease, and you can not rely on others to 'help' you.
Even though it was "only a dream" I asked Chris to review boat stuff "just in case'. Knowledge and learned skills are comforting.
With this being said, I think about general scuba skills and our friend's death.
What we know is that she was at the bottom , with water in her lungs and no gloves.
What happened UW?
This is what I think might  have happened, but I want to be clear this is just me thinking (writing) out loud.
My first thought is that she got caught in a monofiliment ghost net and couldn't get out. So far, nothing has been said about a gill net entanglement.
The fact if she frantically took off her gloves in the cold Maine waters means she was desperate for dexterity to 'fix" something. I am guessing she got herself in trouble and was trying to inflate her BCD hose to get to the surface. The inflator hose might have had a crack in it therefore it filled with water making it impossible to inflate and at the same time making the BCD even heavier weighing her down. She also had a intergrated weight BCD. So either she thought about ditching the weights, or not, or couldn't get them out. Or she nevereven  thought to get out of the heavy BCD, or couldn't, and panicked.
When this scene crossed my mind, I thought this "ditch the BCD and weights" skill that has to practiced over and over again so it is second nature.
I have a simple no frills BCD. I also use a weight belt. They are simple, reasonably priced and I can easily get them on and off. Most people have these $600.00 fancy intergrated weights BCD. I do beleive people either don't think to ditch weights (they forget that this is an option) or they are reluctant of ditching a specialized part of their $600.00 equipment or that they can't.
This may or may not be the issue  in this case but it is worth talking about.
Last year when I did my first dive of the season,I was  testing out my dry suit etc... I got caught in a current. I was struggling to get back to the boat. I thought to myself, "oh shit..this isn't working...what do I do?" and then it dawned on me to just ditch the  friggin' weight belt so I could swim with out the extra burden. As I was reaching for the buckle, Larient came out to get me. (Thank you Larient!) You got to repeat in your mind: just ditch the friggin' belt! (it's only a $20.00 belt!)
I can pretty much get out of all of my equipment UW *but it something you have to practice and think about all the time.*
When I was thinking of this I figured I could probably even get out of my wetsuit, if I really really had to. As I was visualizing my houdini act it occurred to me that the only piece of equipment I would not be able to get out of would be my dry suit. yikes..
Dry suits tear and fill with water making them extremely heavy.
Years ago on Easy Diver, (about 16 years ago) I recall a customer who was struggling at the surface. His dry suit had a tear and it was filling with water. I swam out to get him.
He weighted a million pounds. I struggled to tow him back. Pete jumped as well and we got him back to the boat.
Did our departed friend's dry suit suddenly filled with water as well? Therefore weighing her down? We still do not know.
I really hope we find the answer. It will not bring her back but I think, as the scuba diving community -we need to know.
Please feel free to give your thoughts on this matter. I am just volleying my thoughts on the matter.

August 17 2014 dive #928 & 929

*photo done by Andy Jaswinski. Thanks Andy!

August 17 2014 dive# 928
It turned out be a pretty nice day. There was a chance of afternoon showers but that was Ok. We were going to be wet anyways. We headed to Folly Cove to continue on filming with the "60 years of diving". Fred and Chris were in charge. Andy and Pete at the helm, along with dive buddies,John (from the froggies), Jackie and Sandy.
Chris was filming and I continued as the 1950's diver. As you can see I am wearing Russ K's vintage mask, a double hose reg, back-pack and simple black rubber fins. I got to admit, I'm begining to like this vintage stuff. I like it because it is simple. The mask has a huge field of vision. Unfortunately, I need bifocals!
Andy saved the day by noticing the double hose had a tear in it. The guys jumped into action and repaired the leak. And then, off Chris and I went.
The water was relatively warm (high 60s) but the viz was awful-at maybe 10 feet max. On top of it, there was a sneaky current and some surge action. Chris and I moved away from the surge and I think we got some of the needed shots. I had a little trouble clearing my right ear but it eventually "popped" into place.
dive #929
We moved the boat over at Folly cove to where Andy had spotted the "rraken' a few weeks ago. I still had some air left so I figured I'd look around to see if I would get "lucky". I did see a very large tautog and some good sized lobsters.
After I took my wet suit off Jackie and Sandy came up and they said they found a torpedo ray! Arghhh! I must have swam right by it! Oh well...
We still had fun and beat the rain.

August 10 2014 dive # 926 & 927

August 10 2014 Dive # 926
Today would be considered the "perfect summer day". Hot, sunny with a gentle breeze.
We had a chock-o-block full boat today. Fred, Chris, Pete, Andy,  John (from froggies), Myanna, Linda, Charlie (from Newburyport) AND the Navy guys with the rebreather and hard hat helmet for today's UW filming. Whew!
Russ K lent me his working double-hose reg and an antique plate glass rubber mask that we could use in the "history of diving" UW  filming.
 I will admit I was a little nervous using this equipment at first. I needed to go slow and visualize using this mask and double hose in order for it to "work". The mask had no nose peice nor my needed prescription. It was a little floppy but it seemed to work ok so long as I kept it straight on my face without any sudden movements. The double hose worked OK too remembering to keep in mind that I had no depth guage nor air guage. I used just a back-pack with no BCD as well and black rubber fins.
After I got used to it, I felt incredibly unencumbered. I had no excess equipment dangling. The mask had a large clear field of vision despite no corrective lenses. I only used 14 lbs of weight on my weight belt. I might have even got away with just using 12 lbs.
Chris had the UW camera rolling with me, as the 1950s diver and Victor as the 2014 high tech diver with his dive computer, dry suit, guages, gizmos and high tech rebreather. Chris said I looked  like a little mosquito coming up to a giant transformer.
Water temp was in the high 60s and viz about 10 feet. We were anchored in Folly cove.
The filming with the hard hat didn't work today due to technicalities. The helmet weighed 70lbs so it was difficult to manage it. Another day for that.
dive # 927
Everyone ran out of air. I, incredibly had 1000psi left in my tank (I only had 2000 to start with) so I figured I would do a short dive. I still wore the fins and back-pack but I used MY mask and reg. Andy spotted a blue shark here a few weeks ago so I NEEDED to do some exploring.
Close to under the boat was the BIGGEST lobster I've ever seen. I've seen "biggin's" before with Larient but nothing like this. You would need three guys to lift it. The claws were bigger than a space aliens head. It was massive.
*
*I thank God everyday for having this privilege to enjoy this diving activity with my friends.
With that being said, sadly, we recieved the awful news that one of our dive buddies, Anna Krowczynska, passed away on a dive trip near Monhegan island in Maine on saturday. She was a kind,tough, funny, friendly girl with a very "distinctive" voice. It is such a great loss to lose "one of our own".
She will be missed by all in the scuba community.

our at adventure at Boston's comic con

 Last saturday we bought tixs to Boston's Comic con at the seaport conventions center.
 Let me tell you, we had a blast!
Now you are probably wondering
What kind of people go to something like this? Well, it was completely PACKED with :comic book collectors, comic book artists, people who role play, gamers, people into star trek, super heros, star wars, game of thrones, Dr. Who, underground comics, Marvel comics, fans of particular artists or actors and people who just like to dress up in costume. They had workshops, film festivals,  cosplay, booths selling comic books,collectables, clothing, and posters.
I am sure I am leaving stuff out but the best part of the event was dressing up in costume and seeing other people in costume too. It was hilarious.

* that is me above as "Hit Girl" from the movie "Kick Ass"

 This is "Hit Girl". I loved her character. She is a foul mouth 13 years old girl along with her father (an ex-cop) kicking the crap out of bad guys. hmmmm.
"Kick ass" was one of funniest movies ever.

My husband went as "Red Cloud". "Red Cloud" is a Japanese anime character. I teased him and kept  calling him 'fart cloud" instead.

 Here is Naruto Akatsuki's "Red Cloud" characters.

 Here is a couple of guys at the convention, one dressed as "Wolverine" and the other guy as "Dead Pool" "Dead Pool" was a very popular character. Alot of guys were dressed as the "Dead Pool" character and "the Joker".  Girls seemed to favor Japanese anime characters and the sexy villian "Poison Ivy".
There was one girl who very very obese in a "wonder woman" costume which was kind of wrong. There were guys wearing costumes in body suits that were, well, left nothing to the imagination, if you know what I mean..

 I thought there would be a ton of guys dressed as Batman and Spiderman but I only spotted three. I posed with this Batman.

 Don't ask

 This girl was dressed as "Anubis", an Egyptian goddess, as you can see one big reason guys like this event!

 I had to take this photo of the staypuff marshmellow men from "Ghostbusters"

I couldn't resist having my pic with one of the "Ghostbusters"!

Aug 3 2014 dive # 924 & 925/ dive # 1 & 2

*Ok you are probably wondering why I posted this picture from the funny/scary "Chuckie' movies in a dive log post.
Well, let me explain.
 As a kid I used to tease my brother and call him "Chuckie" after a crazy kid in the neighborhood and also after the killer "Chuckie" doll. As an adult when my brother had a son I subsequently called my nephew "Chuckie Jr".
So hence, the story begins.

Aug 3 2014  dive # 924
Fred and Chris so graciously welcomed my nephew "Chuckie jr"(Richie) out for a day of scuba"aboard Easy Diver.
Pete, Andy, John (from the froggies), and Jackie were out also out for a day of fun. The weather was fairly cooperative -cloudy with some drizzle. Thankfully no noticeable wind. We headed to Nile beach to practice skills in shallow water.
I geared Rich up with my husbands gear. He fit into a brand new 5 mil surf suit, a hood, booties, and size L force fins. We used 12lbs. of weight that seemed to work fine and a back-pack. I had a small green mask that fit him OK, at least for now. I had him use my "little bomb" tank.
We first jumped off the side of boat to get the feel of the wetsuit's buoyancy and to do some snorkling. He had no problem using the snorkle and diving down.
Chris, myself and Rich took the inflatable over to the beach into stand up water Chris had him go through most of the skills which I was amazed as how fast he caught on.
He breathed through the regulator, retrieved the regulator, cleared his mask, removed his mask and cleared it (one of the hardest skills), unfasten and dropped his weight belt, and got himself out of the back pack.
After we finished the skills he out swam me back to the boat! Ha!
This was Dive #1 for Rich
dive #925
Water temperature was about 61F, but I was shivering. However,  I wasn't about to miss out on Rich's first decent down to 18 feet. Chris took Rich down the down line to make sure he could clear his ears and scuba around under the boat. He had no problems. Although the viz was only 10 feet we saw hermit crabs and lots of different skates scurring about.It was pretty cool!.
This was dive #2 for Rich. And Pete presented him with a dive log.
He did well.
I am hoping he will continue on and is now bitten by the "diving bug".

fox 25 zip trip to Salisbury beach

I am posing with Fox 25 TV commentator "VB".
"VB" used to be on the Howie Carr show. When I told him I remembered him being on Howie's show. He said, "oh that fat bastard?".
 I burst out laughing.

A salisbury summertime resident brought her pet pig to be 'interviewed" on the human interest segment.
 I had wished I brought my pigeon!
 I have to say, the pig was very fashionably dressed for the occasion.

The program ran from 6:00-10:00am. I was there only from 6:00-7:30 because  I had an early morning client scheduled at 8:00am.
 It was quite the event, I must say. They had games, contests, "freebee give aways" from local sponsors, food and FREE dunkin donuts coffee!
Everyone who was somebody from Salisbury was there. The selectmen, local popular business owners (including myself. HA!), school kids, market basket employees holding signs, fire fighters, beach people and even the lady who was featured in "People" magazine voted as one the top 25 " most beautiful people in the world" was there. (She is a local Salisbury lady who is 55 years old! I have to admit she is rather stunning and elegant. Way to go!)
I got my mug in one segment of the show "early morning workout" with planet fitness jogging.
www.myfoxBoston.com/category/286276/zip-tripsalisbury
(I did, by the way, already did my morning jog at 5:00am before I went to the event.)
It was fun to be there!