dive #952-964 Andros island adventure

I don't know how to begin to tell my story of our adventures in Andros Island (Small hope bay) in the Bahamas. There is so much to tell.
Fred and Chris so generously invited both my husband and I to join the team in the filming of the 185 foot wall dive. It was on Fred's "bucket list" to recapture the original dive descent/ascent filming that won him an award at a film festival many years ago.
 And to go on this trip was also on my "bucket list"
And so this trip turned out to be one nonstop BLAST!
I would have to say this was the best trip I've been on..and I've been on some really good ones!
I think, mostly because of the company I was with. We worked well as a team and ALWAYS had funny stories to share in our spare time. I never had time to even look at any of the magazine I brought. If I wasn't diving then I was swimming if I wasn't swimming I was hanging out with our group talking, laughing, making jokes and checking out film footage or we were off to another exciting adventure. We did more adventurous stuff in one week than 99.9% of the general population does in a lifetime.
The main purpose of the this trip was to dive and film the wall. Fred was pretty specific in how he wanted this done all the way to what equipment we would (or would not) be using. I will admit I was a little nervous about going down that deep but we, as a group, talked about so I felt pretty confident after that.
I used a 60cc tank, wore just a backpack (no BCD), one regulator, air/depth guage, six pounds of weight on a weight belt, force fins and a simple one piece black "Ester Williams type of bathing suit.
Chris filmed and directed how and where she wanted us positioned. Alex filmed hovering the wall. My ears for the most part behaved. I "exercised them" prior to the descents. As long as I went down on a easy descent I was OK. I did feel at about (about 135 feet although I refused to look at my depth guage in fear of freaking out) some pressure on the back of my neck and head. I also got a "little loopy" once I reached the ledge. I believe this was what you would called being'narked". I understood what it was so I dealt with it.
The filming for the most part went smoothly. We had only one "three stooges"  incident that all of a sudden we bolted down. I had a hard time clearing my ears at this rate of descent and when I finally did get down to the ledge I got completely narked. The holes on the walls turned into "Clutch cargo' mouths talking to me. Patrick knew something was off with me and kept an eye out.
That was one odd sensation.
We did these deep dives at the crack of dawn. I would study the dive tables to make sure we could dive later in the day. The 2:00 dives seem to work out fine. All these dives had curious reef sharks. That was a bonus (at least for me).
(I will continue on to another post)*