My rule for birthday dive in during my birthday week and in trying to dive once a month when I can, going August 31 slipped into both categories. Conditions were good for the first dive, but I was not quite feeling it and decided to snorkel at second spot. Mother Nature and something unexpected came into play though. During my dive, I was having issues with my mask getting matter in and I thought I had perhaps caught some hair underneath the map which is not uncommon. While there was nothing big on that dive, I did get several of my small favorites and finally saw yellow-headed jaw fish again. For whatever reason, the last couple of dives, I hadn’t seen them in some of the familiar spots.

The wind and some rain came in and whipped up the waves for sure. I thought I would try snorkeling anyway at the second site and even though it was bouncy I would have been okay for at least twenty minutes. Then I realized my mask genuinely was leaking and I couldn’t keep it cleared. There is a technique to handle that and if conditions has been calm I wouldn’t have minded. Waves and the mask were enough to send me back. I mentioned it to the boat captain and he said, “hmmm, you do have some yellowing going on”. In other words, the mask was showing signs of age. Later when I said something to Hubby, he reminded me the mask was like twenty years old. Oh, yeah. I do have a prescription mask and since i was overdue a bit for my annual, I decided to squeeze in an exam so when we get back from our trip, I – well, Hubby, will send off the new prescription to get me a new mask. While you do get some magnification from the glass in a regular mask, it’s just nice to have the stronger type.

Yellow Head Jawfish out of it’s hole.