Circumstances have once again interfered with my goal of diving once a month. In reality, January is almost always a loss due to post-holiday things, plus weather. This year though I “lost” November and December and so it wasn’t until Sunday – which was coincidentally Valentine’s Day – that I was able to go out. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the winter water temperatures here go down to 70-74 depending on the site and day. While the wet suit helps, the maximum I have is a 3 mil and that’s right on the edge of comfort. I can’t see getting the next thickness up as it’s too warm for most of the time I dive. Also, if the air temperature is around 80 and especially if the sun is out and wind down, then it doesn’t take long to warm up after a dive.

With that said, there was a bit more wind than predicted to bring us 3-4 foot waves; nothing too difficult. Visibility was decent on the first dive at about fifty feet and while there was nothing “big”, I did see several of my favorite fish and multiple lobsters. We moved to the second site and visibility dropped to only about thirty feet. That again is a matter of perspective. People who come from the Northeast often consider thirty feet as “excellent”, not being as spoiled as we are. However, I had just seen one of my favorite fish and knew I couldn’t get the attention of Hubby and his student in time to show them, but as I turned, Hubby gave the sign for “shark” and pointed beyond me. I didn’t see anything and then it happened. Three – count them – three dolphins came zipping past us within like fifteen feet. Hubby hadn’t actually seen a shark and knew I missed the dolphins on their first pass. He just wanted to get me pointed in the right direction hoping they would come back as they did.

Once we were on the boat, the Captain and Mate explained they’d seen the pod approach and realized several of them were close to where they could see our bubbles. Like Hubby, they couldn’t be certain as to which divers would have a chance to see them. Fortunately, only a few of the divers missed out and they did see a shark. It had been like 20 years since I had seen a dolphin underwater.