Blissful weekend

For a change of scenery, I had a weekend off. Yes, I had to Google the concept.. I like the idea, having 1/3 of the year off and then adding holidays on top. What a life some people lead.

Friday shift was early am, and I was ok with that. I made chicken Enchiladas for dinner the night before and they seemed to be received well. :) I took my extra one to work and it was yummy. Can I live on Mexican food??

Friday was prawn Tom Yum. I added Quinoa to the rice to bulk it out and Worcestershire steak sauce to the sauce. Seemed ok but I wouldn't make it again I don't think.

Thursday and dog and I restarted the couch to 5km, just to get out and I wore the hound out but friday had us deal with his hyper excitement with other dogs (He loves to play) and him sending me arse of head and a wrenched shoulder. Lucky the people he was trying to get to had hype excitable puppies and were quite understanding.  I was loading the car late in the day and had my head turned when I heard an old lady screaming. GREAT. Looked around for my hound and yes, he was after her Doberman. FUCK. Hauling my dog off hers I had to apologise and hope she too understood. He is so untrainable with this issue. He thinks he is a tiny, friendly dog and other people just see a hell hound barrelling down upon them.  ARGHH If the old lady reports me the dog is doomed. SIGH.
If anyone is a live at home person with other dogs and kids and wants a friendly cuddly mastif cross let me know.  My poor puppy is so bored as I am never home.

The weekend started with an ungodly alarm for a day off. Hauling my arse to Wollongong, H and I had two morning dives planned and a night dive. The forecast today was 26C and calm with evenign cold change for Sunday.

We got all of H's rental stuff and he got the air tanks. We headed off and joined a social dive.
Standing at the gutter, we all agreed that the weather gods were against us and we headed over the outcrop to Bushranger's bay. A much sheltered bay, it was so very clear the locals were surprised. You could see the basin bottom. Lovely.
Suiting up, we dived in. H and I followed the diver master. I felt rushed as we had some many animals to stare at.




Back at the surface we gossiped for just over an hour. Us girls were cold, but both of us went in for dive two.
H convinced me that he knew the bay and he would lead the next dive. I happily agreed as it allowed me to take photos. I was trialling two different cameras, the Sony Olympus being the camera on dive 1 above. The camera can't deal with under 12m with colour balance. Something I have to work on.
Camera 2 was Intova HD Scuba Diving Waterproof Underwater camera Not quite this one on the link but its predecessor.I got it for $100 so,no complaints

The camera is tough to use underwater. The screen is so small, I cannot see what I am aiming at. Also I couldn't see if it was recording or not. Still... It did a better job at 18m than the Sony, but you can see the green is creeping in. At 12m it did an excellent job. . I think for deep diving 12m to 30m, use this brand esp if you can afford strobes etc. AHH Something to dream for . The go pro isn't even in the ball park. I would only use a Go Pro 12m and shallower. Even 12m is pushing it.



There were several starfish that we saw. Blue, this yellow and a more drab browish one. For me the highlight was the Stingaree and the Cuttlefish. He was aggressive, he pulled his female away from us and hid her elsewhere away from the intruding divers.

We got carried away and even though I turned at 100 bar, I was turned around and I asked H which way to go. He signalled one direction and I agreed then after a bit, he changed direction after i was caught up with a catfish family.  I felt he was swimming the wrong way and my air was now at 60bar, so I signalled the opposite way but was forced to surface. I saw we were indeed heading the wrong way and I saw on the surface for the rest of the dive with H swimming a few metres under me.  We had violated our time underwater. oops.. mostly as I was so engrossed in my photography and chasing Stingarees. Epic FAIL. Luckily, the 10 minutes at the surface brought us to V pressure group.

I learnt several lessons from our virginal solo dive.

Listen out for your dive computer, in the videos, I can clearly hear it, but in the water I didn't.
I didn't check my computer enough.
Take a bearing from your entry point to have a reference to return.
Use Nitrox when in the shallows, so I can dive for ages. Air tripped me up. I forgot my limited time period.
Have a proper dive plan. We sorta did.
If you feel your buddy is going the wrong way, check yourself!! Not his fault but it did cause me to mildly panic.

I had the best time though. DID you know, two 45 min dives burned around 1100 calories!! :)

We had a wonderful, quiet lunch at subway before returning to the dive shop so H could wash is rental gear. We  had noticed int he car thet my hyper expensive dive computer had flamed out. To make sure it was the not the battery (It was 5 weeks old.) The owner of Windang Dive gave me a spare battery and we tested it. Nope it was the computer. It was beeping too and had developed a screen issue. There was a huge blob like water had entered the computer. ARGH.

We saw around and nattered. It was like flying again. The social aspect that even Abyss doesn' t have. I loved it. We gossiped about the owner's knee surgery, the two men had a pissing comp re their amount of qualifications and Donna won.. hahahha I was comfortable and didn't want to leave.  What a turn around from my first impression of this store. I have found the people who made it miserable were not there and the others are friendly, welcoming and lovely.

We have a date for our Deep dive certification and a weekend away at Terrigal to get the dives done.  I can't wait!

I made potatoes with meat and baked beans. Filled up the tummies. I was even allowed a desert. :)



Sunday
Sleep in. A real sleep in. H had taken the dog for a walk and I had the house to myself. The forecast was for rain and storms but it was perfect.
I rang Abyss and the owner Peter, agreed my computer had committed suicide and to post it in. I preferred to drive out as I was on 1122 for the rest of the week. We headed out there via my mother's  place. She had a computer issue that I couldn't fix via telephone. She bribe H with caramel slice. Damn her. LOL

Abyss was quiet, everyone had gone diving. Damn. Oak park was perfect diving today.

Peter took my computer, did a work order and gave me a loaner computer for my regs for next weekend. AW.

THANK YOU PETER!!!!!

I can dive next Sat whether the computer is ready or not.

Returning home, the storm had hit but was gone in 20 mins. Back to perfect.  HMM

Dyed my hair and the neighbour's kid did some computer work.
Off to the pub for Sangria, H finished the jug but was struggling.  D and I couldn't finish it last time we tried. The barmaids were betting he wouldn't get there. As I was driving, I only had one glass.

Dinner was lamb shoulder and gravy made from the juices and veg. Yum. Best gravy ever.

I went to bed a happy camper. 

XOXO

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