No, Seal on the Rocks is not a drink. Although I suppose it could be.
Well, THAT was fun.
Yup, seals like jumping out of the swell and hanging out on the rocks. I have to say, it is kinda fun.
Had a great dive today. First dive with my own camera. I bought a GoPro camera and a dive housing. I am not big on cameras while diving, but sometimes I wish I had one. My first dive of the day I brought it, but almost forgot I had it.
Then we went into a cave near the surf. This is a cave where the white tip reef sharks like to hang out, partially because there is enough water movement that they can just sit on the bottom without swimming, unusual for most sharks. There were three in the cave. I followed Sandy, the dive master. Another diver came in, which was fine, but that was full capacity. Once I finally figured out that I had been there too long I turned to leave so another diver could come in. As I was going out, the next diver was coming in. Just as we were passing, a huge surprise swell came up and sent both of us up. I tried to help the other diver, but she was lucky and caught the downswell. I was not. I was tossed up on to the rocks. I could not see anything, and tried to swim towards where I thought the ocean was. Not sure if I succeeded in direction, but I failed in outcome. I was stuck on the rocks and could not get back into the ocean. I climbed, with the help of the next few swells, higher onto the rocks to rest. I was feeling like a seal. OK, a REALLY uncoordinated one.
I sat there for a while, looking at the surge, trying to figure out the timing and what the best way back to the boat (or town) was. It would have been a long walk.
Sandy came up to help. Sandy is a heck of a dive master, as well as a free diver (breath hold diver). She dumped her gear and looked ready to climb ashore and do a fireman's carry on me to get me back in the water. I bet she could do it too.
Anyway, between timing the waves and Sandy's advice, I made it back into the water and back to safety. BUT not before getting my first Hawaiian Tattoo (I put my hand right on an Urchin, the black barbs are known as a Hawaiian Tattoo). A few scrapes on my hands, a few sore muscles and a half dozen black dots on my hand that will eventually work their way out. I call that a success.
Hawaiian Tattoo
I also got a pretty good video. Starts with the cave and sharks. Then a bunch of bubbles, followed by a little whoop of relief once I got myself planted solidly on the rocks. I cut the rest of the video off, as I put the camera in my pocket so nothing good to see. Just me resting on the rocks, then climbing into the swell. The camera was not even able to hear my swear when I put my hand on the urchin. Yes, you can swear with a regulator in your mouth.
Oh, did I mention that earlier in the dive one of the divers had an o-ring fail on a pressure sending unit on his tank. Lots of pretty bubbles from that little failure. You can find ALL these videos in my ALBUM But the Seal on the Rocks video is here: Seal on the Rocks VIDEO