The Tale of Tater: End of the Year

Now that the year has wound down it's time for me to reflect on the past year of diving.  It was a great year for me going all the way back to January.   One of the top highlights that come to mind last January was seeing several Bull Sharks while diving in Playa Del Carmen.  I particularly remember trying to follow one as best I could in the fairly decent current to get pictures.  What made it memorable was watching as he slowly turned and started a pass in my direction, at which point I decided to not to keep swimming towards it.  Not really scared but thinking OK, that's close enough!  I'll just go with the current now.  

The next giant thrill for me was going to Cayman Brac with Team Manta in late March.  I can't really say enough about that trip.  The food, view, climate, boats etc. were all amazing.  Visibility was fantastic!  Three dives a day and each one had some great photo ops, a creature not seen before and fantastic color and scenery.

Those trips in January and March/April gave me something to look forward to through the long dry winter.  They also carried me on into spring when the Manta Summer Schedule kicked in.  Early trips to Pearl Lake to get back in the water are always good.  

Then it was off to Ohio for the Manta Trip to Gilboa Quarry. 

                                                          

Then there was the dive marathon at Lake Wazee ending with a Night dive.  Another trip to Three Lakes Wisconsin and Finding the mysterious Ghost Anchor of Butternut Lake.   I could go on and on since I was able to get in 62 dives this year.  Nearly all of them were very good in some way. 

I reached some milestones along the way including my Night Diver Specialty, my 100th dive, Master Scuba Diver card, and completed my open water requirements to become a PADI Divemaster.  

After all that diving and those trips, there was one more thing that stood out to me this year.  New friends and new dive buddies.  My regular dive buddy Josh.O  and I always have a good time and dive well together but this year was a bit of a good news/bad news situation.  The bad news was that this year he had a bit of trouble finding time to dive whereas I dove double what I did last year.  The good news was that meant lots of new dive buddies.  In some cases I dove with people I had never met before the day of the dive.  In other cases, people I met with Manta on other dive outings became my dive buddy on a subsequent dive.  In some cases, students or recently certified divers were with me.  http://www.mantadiveshop.com/certified-divers-2013.htm  I won't mention you all by name, but I wrote this blog to THANK YOU for diving with me.  Of course a big thank you goes out to Mike and Lisa for making it all possible.  I had a blast and it was a pleasure meeting, hanging out and diving with you!  I can’t wait for next year!!   If by some chance you are reading this and haven’t been on a Manta Dive Outing come and join in next year!

Before I sign off, I want to toss out a teaser for a future blog.  So after all that fun and all those dives how do you keep track of it all?  Of course with your log book, but pen and paper??  C’mon man that’s so 1990’s!!  Time to geek out with some dive log software.  Next time I will do a review of a couple of products that I have been playing with.  Got to find some way to get through a 3-4 month surface interval!!

Later

Tater

PS  If you are interested in joining Manta Divers on the trip or want to put in some input, stop by the shop on 8 February 2014 at 3 pm for the yearly planning meeting.