PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III, dive 21

Dive: 21
Season Dive: 6
Date: 8/17/08
Site: PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III
Max Depth: 48 feet
TBT: 73 minutes
CBT: 16 hours, 41 minutes

On Sunday morning Curtis and I did a one tank dive. Nick and Kristen preferred to stay at the cabin and relax. We were on the road around 7:15. Still early, but late enough that the sun wasn’t too blinding through the filmy Explorer windshield.

We stopped to investigate a couple of dive sites before deciding on PADI #79 again. One of the sites had a treacherous entrance point, the other was mostly in the shade. Since we dove this site twice the previous weekend, we decided to dive the shaded half in order to see something new.

Shortly after descending we came upon a wall. It was probably the most wall like wall I’ve seen in my short 10 months of diving. At almost 50 feet it was quite chilly down right cold (although not as cold as last October) and in the shade visibility wasn’t all that good. Sure there were trees, but fishes don’t hang out in the cold dark water so there wasn’t anything too interesting to look at down there.

As we made our way up to warmer tempuratures we were greeted by many curious fishes (I refer to everything as fishes because unless it’s a northern or a rock bass I have no idea what kind of fishes they are) in a brush filled area. We deflated and sat on the sand trying to snap good pictures. I like it when the fishes come up all close and peek in my mask. Curtis says they do that to make us go cross eyed. I think they like it. Little devils.

We stayed around 15′ on the swim back. We were in the midst of a mad dash at the end for a well needed pit stop when we came across another platform. A couple shrugged shoulders and we headed over to practice air rings. I had to pee too bad to concentrate and couldn’t be bothered with them after a couple attempts. I also discovered I prefer to blow them on my knees rather than lying on my back (sounds dirty).

It was a really fun dive. I was shocked to find out the dive was 73 minutes. It didn’t even feel like half as long as the dive the day before. Probably because I wasn’t plagued with problems. Or maybe it was the place. I’m liking this PADI #79 business.