What a day…
BillZ tossed out an open invite on the board for a couple of Hood Canal dives departing from Mike's Beach Resort on Saturday morning. I jumped on it, and as we firmed up plans turned out I was the only one. I arrived at Mike's 5 minutes late due to miscalculating where it was (it's been awhile) and Bill and I did the meet and greet and proceeded to get my gear in the boat.
As we were loading the boat our conversation turned to Flagpole (my favorite site on Hood Canal). -BillZ "I've never done Flagpole." Me - "Hey, we are close to slack do you want to give it a try?" Bill agreed, and dive plans were changed.
As the day would turn out, it was a good thing... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
After wading out and jumping on board (because Mike's just pulled their dock, even though it is not even Sep 15, a rant for another day) we putted over to the WSA buoy, tied in and proceeded to gear up.
I back rolled in, and the trickle that I have been feeling for a few weeks and not been able to find got REAL strong. Crap. Bill - "You wanna call the dive? No problem if you do!" Me - "Screw it, we're at Flagpole, let's go and if it gets bad enough I'll thumb the dive. Let's go." Not sure in hindsight if that was the best decision, but it is what it is.
We surface swam against the somewhat stiff surface current, got to the buoy, and dropped down the line. As we did I could feel the trickle moving in my suit. We went from bathtub warm surface water, through a thermocline, and settled into the 51 degree water. Viz is about 20', with a pretty thick layer at around 20-25 fsw. The Orange Zoanthid covered boulders soon come into view and after an exchanged OK light signal we move along the Knuckle, my strobe firing as fast as my finger can go.
Wolf Eels. Check. Water is moving in my suit. Crap. Another Wolf Eel. Check. I can really feel it now. Double Crap. Big Ling. Cloud Sponge. Sweet! 4 species of Rockfish so far. Feeling a hair chilled. Crap. Water is moving. Double Crap. Not sure good trim is a good idea. Triple Crap.
I began to tighten our circle on the knuckle figuring that this was not going to last much longer. Two big Vermillions. Sweet! More Cloud Sponges. Nice! Squirrel!! (Just kidding!) I start working my way up the zoanthid covered rock face to where I know the buoy is moored. Puget Sound Rockfish! That's six species of Rockfish! How much more can I do? OCTOPUS tentacle! One more picture.
And I'm done.
Sideways light sweep in front of Bill to call his attention, hand waggle followed by a thumb - time to go.
We start to ascend up the line. I lift my shoulder the way I usually do to slow my ascent, although because of the weight of water in my suit I have vented too much and my ascent stops. Deep breath. No depth change. I kick up a few feet. That's better. Continue the ascent. 3 minute stop. The water in my suit is screwing with my trim and things just don't "feel right". Finish the stop and head up and break the surface 29 minutes after we dropped. It takes more air than normal for me to float well. Bill sheds his gear and gets on board, I shed my gear, and kick up hard and Bill helps haul my sorry and very heavy waterlogged ass out of the water and I do my obese Sea Lion imitation and roll back into the boat.
I shed my suit and the gallons of water along with it. I have "water cankles" as the water collects in my pant legs. And I have a quarter sized split in my boot. Not cool.
Obviously my diving is done for the day but we are only 2 minutes from home port so it's all good. I am not even cold, just very water logged.
I hesitate to say "great dive", except that it was. Bill was jazzed about Flagpole and we spent a half hour in an environment that few people (relatively) ever get to see. And we lived to tell the tale, more or less unscathed.
20 / 20 hindsight I probably should have called the dive as soon as I felt the water. We handled it, but a suit full of water is not only very unpleasant (understatement), but potentially dangerous as well. Accidents happen in part because unpleasant circumstances multiply… one thing becomes two becomes three, becomes a cluster. We avoided this well, but I wouldn't do it again. In fairness I have not had a suit flood in over 850 dives, so really didn't know all to expect. Lesson learned.
So… thanks for reading the story. And thanks Bill for a great morning on the water!
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