Friday, March 13, 2009 – Morrison Springs. From the view of someone still new to diving. I am OW, Advance and Nitrox certified. Today made my 29th, 30th, and 31st dives. It was a beautiful day; warm and sunny. In fact at one point it got to almost 80 according to car’s temperature “gauge”. This was a planned trip for me to do a night water dive in preparation for diving the keys in July. My dive buddy was Flaski. After a really good lunch at Sally’s, we headed to Morrison’s. As I never saw Morrison’s before the remodeling I can only go by what I’ve heard. But the Springs were beautiful. It was nice walking a board walk and not having sand all over me and equipment before and after the dive. Downside: A long walk from the parking lot to the dive platform. Note to self…bring dolly or box will wheels (I’m a wimp, yes I’ll admit it). I have also added some generic pictures to Morrison’s dive site on DB so check them out.
I had purchased several new things during my long 2 month surface interval but decided not to push things and only use the new mask. And I’m not normally a superstitious person, but it was Friday the 13th.
Even though I had heard various reports about Morrison’s from “it’s beautiful” to “not much too it” I was excited about going once I heard it had “re-opened”. Hey, it is another dive and close to home. Anyway, we suited up, walked the loooonnng wooden boardwalk to the platform. I’m normally cold nature so I had my 5/6 mil on and the springs are around 67 degrees . By time I got to the water I was toast. I was hot, and already tired. Ok, it doesn’t help that I hadn’t been diving since January and out of shape. The water felt great and for once I did not notice that the water was cold.
Dive 1: So here we go....into the “deep”. Got to about 15 feet and my mind kicks in. “go back, wanna go back, I’m not a fish!”. I’ll admit that this is fairly common for me. I usually have a slight hesitation before each dive but normally these thoughts go quickly away and I have enjoyed most every dive and want more. Today for some reason I was a bit spooked, and anxiety up. I wore my normal weight and had some difficulties descending, but was able to without adding more weight. Then once down, I struggled to keep buoyancy right. Now, as silt goes everywhere, my mind is thinking “oh great, I can see the next thread on the board….. Stupid diver goes to Morrison Springs and messes up the viz and should have stayed home”. Which of course causes me a bit more anxiety. Yes there were a few other divers there that day. Oh, and the new mask constantly fogs up! Yes I cleaned it with toothpaste, slathered the anti fog on, all my tricks that have kept my other masks from fogging. But it fogged! I was constantly clearing and it feels too tight.
Oh, and about 20 feet down, I glance at my dive computer. It’s “yelling” at me. No beeping but it’s flashing OLI warning. I show my DB, he signals that he thinks it’s alright as we have been diving same profile and his is fine. I know I hadn’t done anything out of the way, not descended too fast, and had not had a “unplanned ascent”. Of course he indicates that if I want to call dive that was fine. He’s such a great DB!
Nope! I waited too long for this, lets move on! Of course I keep glancing at the computer and it stays blinking the whole dive. (Unnerving me more) But all else is normal. Hum… I know it can’t monitor my anxiety level lol and it’s not integrated so all is good.
Ok, we check out the springs… It’s cool! There isn’t as much to it as Vortex, but it’s somewhere new and different. Didn’t see a lot of fish but then I was too concentrated on buoyancy to probably notice. Got some fairly good pics underwater and the camera did keep my mind occupied somewhat. Even though I should have probably left it onshore today, it is normally attached to me and is my “comfort” both on land and water. I make it about 30 minutes before wanting to go back up.