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Thought I'd bring this back since I just got done with a trip to our familiar haunt in Jamaica and my ears are still kinda plugged up after five dives.

First dive was my first in about three years and it was...not good. Just could not get acclimated. Made it through okay but even watching the GoPro footage I was flailing around a lot, clearly uncomfortable. Thankfully that one did not yield a lot of sea life. And once I got that bad dive out of the way I was a lot better.

It was our fourth dive we got to see quite a bit including an entire school of cuttlefish just kinda hovering there. Had never witnessed anything like that, the only time I've seen cuttlefish up close was on a night dive. And it was only one.

Funny enough the biggest rays we saw were a couple female Bull Rays that hung around the resort beach area. I think the biggest one was around 4 feet across.

Probably going to ditch the mask I've had for the last 12 years. Just keeps leaking and it doesn't seal well underwater anymore. I used one from the dive shop after dive #1 and I was perfectly fine.

Anyway, one thing that's very disconcerting is that after all these years of diving in relatively the same area, you can really see just how unhealthy the coral reefs look now. Bleaching is really taking a huge toll. What was one very vibrant and colorful looks brown and rotten now.

Anyone else dive lately?

Not lately, and I probably won't dive, but I'm going to Grand Cayman this summer with the family. That's where I was certified. Funny thing is, years ago we found far more marine life diversity on the reefs outside the hotel in like 8' of water than going down 100'. My brother's ex-wife didn't dive, so we snorkeled around with her, showing her stuff we saw on dives (and then some). So we're all bringing mask, fins & snorkels and will swim around the reef by the hotel. I'm expecting bleaching, but am hoping to still see good stuff.
I dove at "stingray city" there years ago, where you can feed the stingrays. My kids want to do it. My wife wants no part of it. But we are going to try to do one of those pirate ship cruises where you can hop in for stingray feeding, diving or snorkeling.
I asked my kids if they want to learn to dive. They don't. Fine with me. Too expensive!
I do miss it though. Some of the most relaxed moments in my life were underwater. And some of the scariest. But I prefer to remember the relaxed ones.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Kinda funny, stingrays are really quite gentle creatures. They get a really bad rap.

Both the wife and I are STILL having issues with our ears two weeks after our last dive. Probably a result of us both having some minor sinus issues because it being allergy season, two kids in daycare bringing home every strain of ailment that affects the ENT-area, age, etc. We talked at length with a guy who's been diving for 40+ years and did a few dives with us, was telling me a place he went to--forget the name--where he and his buddy did an insane amount of dives in a short time, so many in fact they had to do them with Nitrox. And here my wife and I are with eardrums beat to shit after FIVE dives over the course of a week.

If you haven't already, take some sinus clearing medication. I used to put a bit of eucalyptus oil on a Q-Tip and rub it around the insides of my nostrils to help clear it too. Humidifier... Anything you can do to clear your sinus/ears will help a little.

I used to get really bad headaches from diving. Starting doing my safety hangs with an 02 tank- no more headaches. Diving really fucks with the body in a lot of ways. Pretty glad my kids don't want to learn because I'd feel compelled to dive with them.

My wife has phobias of some weird animals. Mostly marine life. First time she came on the dive boat with me a friend thought he'd be funny and wake her up from a nap (while I was diving) by putting a lobster on her leg. She completely lost her shit. Never touched a lobster before so she had no idea she has a real phobia of them. Obviously I didn't know this had happened, so I came up from the dive all excited to show her I'd caught a 4 lb lobster and some 2 lbers. She wanted to kill me. A few decades later, she finally tried lobster and was like "this is AMAZING!" Yeah. Could have had free lobster for YEARS and she wouldn't touch it. Now that it's like $15/lb she loves it. Mussels & scallops too. I get so mad when she orders sea food now. But yeah, she's scared of stingrays. Shrug. I told her she's probably eaten plenty of them, thinking they were scallops.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.