On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 20:48:09 -0500, Russ Berger <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Wow!  No bitchin' No moanin' You just did the dive!  I know how much you
HATE cold water...I'm mighty proud of you, Meeeester Feeeeeesh.  Your stock
just went up big time with me.  ...but don't sell short just yet. :-)
>
>Hi to Sue.
>
>Best
>Russ
>
>
>Reef Fish wrote:
>
>> Now I can finally say, "Been here.  Done that!"  :-)
>>
>> The psychological preparation to the coldest dive I've done since
>> my ice-diving certification in 1990 was much more challenging than
>> the preparation for any of the dare-devil WARM water dives I've
>> done since, such as the 10 knot current (briefed) that realized
>> only 5-6 knots in the Fakarava Passes of the Tuamotu islands of
>> French Polynesia.
>>
>> After weeks of anticipation and 7 days at sea, the ship finally
>> weighed anchor at 8 am in Easter Island.  It was a beautiful sunny
>> day!  The Pacific Princess passenger capacity is about 730.
>> Probably 729 of them were on one of the three sightseeing tours
>> to the various moai sites to gawk at the gigantic stone statues
>> for which Easter Island is noted.
>>
>>
>> The 730th passenger, me, was on my own, more or less.
>>
>> Trixie, the tour director of the cruiseship, who had dived Easter
>> Island once before, was instrumental in piquing my interest in
>> the dive and making the dive arrangements for me.  We were to meet
>> at the Orca Diving Center, a short taxi ride from where the tenders
>> drop passengers from the ship.   We were to meet at the dive shop
>> at 10:30 am.  She was working with the ship's crew in directing
>> the traffic of the 729 passengers to their respective tour leaders
>> and busses.
>>
>> I was at the dive shop by 9 am, making SURE that I find a fitting
>> wetsuit that is 3 mil or less, because I have never dived in any
>> wetsuit thicker than 3 mil and I didn't think this was the time or
>> place to try to look like a Goodyear blimp, venture into a bouyancy-
>> control territory never stepped into before -- especially because
>> I had brought my ultra-light BC which has a MAXIMUM lift of 16 lbs,
>> for the WARM water diving in Tahiti.  :-)
>>
>>
>> I asked the DM what the water temp was.  "22 to 22.5 C," or about
>> 72 degres F!  That was higher than I expected, and I was happy to
>> see some children swimming without ANY suit.  :-)  After all, I
>> recently dived in Bali (on the mola mola dive) in 75 degree F
>> water with only a 1 mil suit.  So, I tried on what looked like a
>> 2-mil surfing suit than a 3-mil scuba wetsuit, and was contented
>> that I was doing to be able to do the unexpected (Easter Island)
>> frigid dive!
>>
>> I might as well get to the SURPRISE part now!  It turned out the
>> DM was a tad off his 22C estimate.  My ReefNet (independently
>> verified by my HyperAqualand) recorded a dive of AVERAGE temp of
>> 66F, with minimum 65F.  :-)  But I survived the 53-minute dive
>> in flying colors in the 3-mil wetsuit.
>>
>> The dive itself was actually more or less expected -- lots of small
>> to medium fish, nothing as big as a titan triggerfish, of which
>> there was none.  Because of the isolation of Easter Island (1900 km
>> to the NEAREST island, Pitcairn), about 25 percent of its 160
>> species of fish is endemic (you can find them ONLY in Easter Island).
>>
>> (it's chow time on the ship.  Will contniue later)  :-)
>>
>> Da Feeesh.
>>