2/12/2006 - Sad Goodbyes

Today was my last dive with my new friend Hilary for awhile. She heads home tomorrow, but not empty handed. Three lobsters have been granted temporary resident status in New Mexico, at least until dinner time tomorrow. We had blue water at the surface, even saw a whale nearby as we swam to the anchor chain. Things were looking great. Not so fast Mister! The bottom visibility was zero to four feet, maybe. We followed the reef, made of concrete pier pilings, blocks and a few rocks looking for lobsters. We were lucky not to lose each other. After about twenty minutes we finally found a legal size boy. I managed to reach deep into his hole and pull him out while kicking Hilary in the head. Multi-tasking!

When I found a second bug Hilary was ready and backed away from my fins. Her neckseal leaked, so she sat out the next dive where we had better than fifteen feet vis. I grabbed another bug for her, so she should have a nice Valentine's Day dinner with Ed, unless she gets too hungry tonight.

I am really going to miss having her around to pick on. I made her beach dive from rocky shores in high surf with a water heater on her back. I showed her the joy of zero vis diving. I even waited until the last day to get her the long-promised lobsters. What are friends for?

She'll be back here again. Hopefully she will experience the other side of local diving. You know, the side where we actually have good conditions. I miss them too.