Dive #67 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

So where the hell is it?
Vidcap by Linda Torkington in Mexico 2001

Dive Journal: We are instructed to find 2 one gallon containers full of rocks, located in the proximity of the buoy anchor. To find the first we are to use a circular rope technique, the second a U-pattern technique. How tough could this be?

We start the rope pattern, but get immediately tangled up in the open water divers, who are occupying the same area. Not only are their legs obstacles to the rope, but they have totally kicked up the bottom, turning our visibility from bad to nearly zero. We patiently wait them out, and perform the search, but no bottle is to be found. We extend the range of the search, well out on the rope, and even cover a nearby rock formation, looking in all the crevices. We come across a splendid crowns of thorns starfish, but still no bottle.

After about 45 minutes of searching in these tough conditions, Linda has had enough, and we surface to tell Feliza that “someone” has already taken the bottles (ha-ha). Feliza and I head back down to the buoy anchor, and she then uses her compass to locate the bottles. But she can’t find either one of them either!

She says this is the first time this has happened, and that the buoy anchor must have moved in the surge. I think it is also possible that Linda and I may have dragged its position during the circular pattern drill, or that the open water divers somehow moved it. In any case, Feliza gives us the thumbs up on this cert dive, due mostly to our effort I think. Although we were unsuccesful, it is still a good exercise in these bad conditions.

Hooray! I am now a PADI certified Advanced Open Water diver!