The Dive Evangelist

Tomorrow I'm going on my first local dive of the season to the wreck of the USS San Diego and I'm giddy as a bottle of bubbles. Oceanblue Divers chartered the trip which quickly filled with a as many old salts as there are folks who are tentatively giving local diving a chance to impress them. The weather reports are as groovy as the crowd with predictions for seas like glass and wind blowing just enough to keep you cool in your drysuit.

Just as I've never gotten to dive the San Diego before, so is the dive is from a boat I've never jumped off before, the R/V Garloo. This is the boat that once was the legendary R/V Wahoo, arguably one of two boats that defined Northeastern wreck diving over the course of the 80s and 90s.

This is the exact dive which I woke up at 3AM about a year ago to make. I packed my gear in the car and drove the 70 or so miles out to the dock.

I'd gotten there early, before the folks who had slept on the boat were up. So, instead of getting on board for the first time without the captain's permission I went back to the car to set up my rig. I opened up the crate I tote everything around in and stared. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I slowly admitted to myself that what I was looking at was the sad truth... I'd forgotten my BC.

Well I'm not making the same mistake this time. I'm all packed up, checked, double-checked, and redouble-checked. Everything is where it belongs and I'm ready to rock and roll.

Now there's just the bit about having to wake up at 3AM.

Wish me luck.