Lyle,

Thanks for posting such a great trip report!  _Someday_, maybe, I'll get to
dive in the Pacific Northwest......

<snip>

>We take advantage of the flat water, and sail past the Agememnon, North=20
>to Blind Bay, and through Blind Bay to Telescope Pass, where Bryce tells=20
>us the story of Captain Nelson at Trafalgor, when the Admiral raised a=20
>Retreat signal, Captain Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye, and=20
>stated that he saw no retreat signal, and then performed brilliant=20
>maneuvers that made naval history. And now, Blind Bay will forever remain=
=20
>adjacent to Telescope Pass.

Cool!

>Dive #4: 11/28/98, Lighthouse Island, in the Skookumchuck narrows, B.C.
>Vis: Black Water
>80 feet for 11 minutes, 46 degrees, on air, with Barbara, off the Topline.
>
>Comments:
>A dive with more excitement than I bargained for. Coming through the=20
>Skookumchuck narrows, Bryce and I start looking at the current, and it=20
>looks flat. We talk, and he says that yes, it=B9s divable, but we need to=
=20
>get in fairly quickly. We get in as fast as we can, with Barbara and I=20
>taking the last spot, but we drop just as the current starts to turn. We=20
>have about five minutes of control, and then we are picked up, gently,=20
>and swept out into the channel, where the current becomes a raging 7=20
>knots, that tears us off the reef, separates us, and drives me down into=20
>black water, where things go wrong. I=B9m being pushed down, deeper and=20
>deeper, when my mask is suddenly ripped down around my nose, and now=20
>there are lots of things that need my attention. I need to clear my ears,=
=20
>I need argon in my suit, I need more buoyancy, and I need to replace my=20
>mask. I push my mask to my face and clear it, my ears, and look at my=20
>gauges, and then my mask floods again, and the cycle repeats. My mask=20
>won=B9t stay on my face, and I haven=B9t got time or hands to replace it=20
>properly. Now down in black water, with zero vis, and being driven deeper=
=20
>and deeper, I drop my mask, hit both inflators, and hold them down. I let=
=20
>them go when I surface. Barbara surfaces several minutes after I reach=20
>the boat, and the rest of the divers are scattered all over the rapids.=20
>Bryce picks us all up, and everyone agrees that that was one hell of a=20
>ride. Everyone loved it, except me. I would have loved it, too, if I=20
>hadn=B9t lost my damn mask.=20

And they say cave diving is crazy!  Give me a break!!!!!!!

On the boat, I examine my mask carefully, and=20
>find nothing wrong with it. I check everything, and then Bryce is asking=20
>if anyone wants to go back in, so I put it on, and get back in the water.

(Does anyone else wonder if maybe on the last dive Jammer hit his head and
didn't realize it???  <g>)

I guess compared to that, I had a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving weekend,
even though I _did_ get to pet manatees!!!

Nanci



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