While we get our equipment on, we watch the water and determine the direction we will go. Before we splash, Rick gets his bearings using his compass. We typically go down the anchor line, clearing our ears as we go, and meet at the anchor to check in with each other. We make sure the anchor is secure, give the "everything's okay" sign and off we go. I swim behind Rick because I want to know where he is at all times. Even with 71 dives in my log book, I am still tentative and always close to my buddy.

When we first get in, we head off in the direction of the diminishing current, descending between 60 and 90 feet. Once we feel the water slack, we head back in the other direction and slowly ascend, gauging the current flow as we go along. As we travel upwards, we are passing new sites and seeing different life at the different depths.

Photo by Carol-Ann GirodayRick LeBlanc, a certified master diver, with a rather large kelp bed.

HEADING HOME

Rick is watching his compass all the while to have us surface with the boat in front of us, not behind us. If we were to miss the boat and go beyond it, we would likely have to get to shore, take off our gear and walk to where the boat is tied up. In all our dives, we have not once come up past the boat.

I did almost miss the boat once, because I wasn't paying attention. I was laying on my back after we had surfaced, relaxing, marveling at the experience and was not watching where I was going. Rick hollered to me to get to the boat, but by the time I looked around it was abeam of me and the current was pushing me past it. I had to paddle hard and fast, but I managed to grab hold of the bow line and held on until I caught my breath. It would not have been a total disaster, because I would have drifted along to shore. Rick would have gotten into the boat and picked me up. But it did teach me a lesson: just as in cruising, there is no room for complacency.

Which brings me to that work on the boat that I mentioned. Often after returning home from a successful dive, Rick will go under the boat and inspect how things are doing. He will check the zinc plates, look for dings in the propeller, make sure it turns freely, look at the cutlass bearing, check the condition of the bottom paint and whether or not there is barnacle build up. He also checks that all the water intakes are clear. When you consider that it costs roughly $300 to haul the Sea Foam out of the water, these inspections help save money. They may even offset the cost of some of that diving equipment.