Monday, July 30, 2012

Dive Adventure!: "The Sherman " Wreck


   Here are pictures of our boat and the shell I took from the site!  Didn't have an underwater camera! Too bad as you will read.
We had a real adventure this past weekend diving the Civil War Blockade Runner " Sherman" off the coast of the  Carolinas near North Myrtle Beach!
We went 6 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean with 19 hardy souls on the Safari IV Dive boat for a two tank dive. The seas were rough and a few got seasick but we are troopers and felt fine!
Once at the site, we suited up, put our tanks on and giant stepped off the stern of the boat into the ocean to descent to a rope which we followed down to the anchor attached to the center of the wreck at 43 feet depth. Once we got down, the visibility was not great.  We could see 10-15 feet only but we traversed the hull, the ribs of the ship, from stern to bow. There were plenty of barnacles and schools of fish.  After going around for awhile it was time to ascend. Myron runs out of air much fast than I do. I guess his lung capacity is such but anyway as we ascended I lost sight of him and couldn't find him at all. I kept looking for him and got quite worried about him. I had plenty of air but always want to dive with my buddy for our mutual safety. Anyway I returned to the boat after my 3 minute safety stop and then struggled in the waves to get my fins off and climb the ladder. There he was sitting on the bench. He was fine!
    After a 30 minute decompression, we did it again. This time we stuck closer to one another. All in all our bouyancy and new mouthpieces made for a very comfortable dive experience. We were properly weighted and the fitted mouthpieces made breathing from the regulator like normal!  We saw many fish again but the murky water kept good visibility to a minimum. I enjoyed exploring the ribs of the boat.  I found a nice shell even though I was looking for Civil War artifiacts. I guess it was pretty picked over since 1865! It is a popular wreck diving site. Anyway, when we got to our 15 foot safety stop for 3 minutes of hanging out, 3 barracuda decided to hang out with us!  They hung right in front of us, only about 3 feet away, eyeing us and those sharp teeth heightened our anxiety a bit! I had my knife on my calf ready to grab. They looked at us and I felt if all 3 decided to attack, we would have been mincemeat in short order. Those were the longest 3 minutes of waiting and watching I have ever had. We got to the surface and got back on the boat and now we have a good story to tell. Thank goodness we didn't see the 14 foot Tiger Shark that was patrolling the area! Yikes!  Can't wait to dive again! But I think I like the Caribbean much better!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Weekend in NYC & Giavanna's B-day


Last weekend we hopped a plane to NYC to visit some friends then head out to Long Island to join Myron's family in Grand Niece Giavanna's 4th birthday party. In NYC, we had lunch with my friend Erdem, his wife Hale and daughter Melis, dinner with Charlie Cante and general strolling around Manhattan. The birthday was quite the shindig and the pictures can tell the story because there are simply no words to describe the extent of the  festivities.
Anna in Rockefeller Center on a very hot day!
 
Tiles in 76th street Subway station

Hale and Erdem

Melis

Melis

Cheese board at Purple Fig French Restaurant

Bouncy House on the front lawn at Giavanna's party.

Princess Giavanna: 4 years old.

Cousins

The Backyard catered!

Anna went in the Bouncy House !

The Princess  and popcorn vendor with all the girls.

The ice cream truck for everyone to enjoy!

Giavanna handing out the ice cream.

The gift table

A fantastic hand crafted doll house made for Giavanna!

Birthday cake!