Our first day of diving included two dives on the wreck of the Governor.  An inshore dive, the Governor was a steam paddle wheeler that sunk in the mid-1800s.  The temperature was a little cooler than we were expecting - a brisk 52 on the bottom - and the visibility was 15 feet.  But, it was great to be back in the water. 

On day two we made the 53 mile journey offshore to the wreck of the AKA / LKA-107 USS Vermilion.  A Tolland Class Amphibious Cargo Ship that launched in 1944, she was sunk as an artificial reef in 1988 and now rests in 130 ft. of water. 

There were 16 divers on the 90 ft. modified crew boat and the seas were rough (2 -3 ft. wind blown chop on top of 6 ft. rollers).   Most of the divers on the boat were tech divers doing staged decompression dives.  Scott and I were among five divers who were not.

The first dive was great - the water was 62 degrees and vis was close to 50 ft.  During our surface interval one of the deco-divers had some difficulties getting on the boat.  He kept spitting out his regulator and didn't know where he was.  When he finally did get on the boat, he did not look good.  He was showing all the signs of decompression sickness but it turned out it he was in diabetic shock.  Fortunately his nurse was on the boat and helped regain a sense of normalcy.  We extended our surface interval a little longer to make sure he was ok and that we were not going to turn the boat around.  It was a humanizing experience, to be sure.

By the  time we got in the water for the second dive, the current really picked up.  Getting to the wreck was a real challenge but when we finally did it was well worth it. 

All-in-all it was a great way to kick off our 2005 dive season.  Not sure when we will be able to get back in the water again but we certainly hope it isn't another three months.