Bahamas Trip 3/20/01 - 3/24/01 Air arrangements were made through Delta, land/dive through Murray Dive Shop and Dale Bucy.

All pictures were taken on the last 4 dives, the first four were my certification dives with Carl Trella. and Elizabeth's first ocean dives after certification so we didn't take the camera down. We stayed at DiveDiveDive www.divedivedive.com on Nassau and really enjoyed the facility. The staff were great. The bungaloes are right at the dock - no long lugging of gear. The sites were all fairly close in. We saw several reef sharks the first and second days as well as some barracuda. Quite a few tropicals. The seas were rough, about 4 feet, the first two days with 20-30kt winds blowing. It made for quite a ride and ladder ascent. Entries were giant stride off the stern of the Sea Dancer. Pics follow. Camera was an MX-5 with ASA 400 film

Location	Date	Current	Viz in ft.	Water Temp F.	Entry Time	Max Depth in ft.	Length of Dive (off surface to start of ascent)
Cessna	3/21/01	none	50	77	0921	50	42
Will Laurie	3/21/01	none	50	77	1038	53	40
Bahama Mama	3/22/01	none	70	66	0939	43	43
Carib Breeze	3/22/01	light	70	73	1058	50	40
Playground	3/23/01	none	70	75	0944	73	30
Southern Reef	3/23/01	none	60	75	1058	33	39
David Tucker	3/23/01	none	60	73	1446	46	39
School House	3/23/01	light	80	75	1613	17	40

A few notes - first dive or two I had to overcome the "all that water" feeling. Anchor rode descents helped with this but hurt with equalization. Swimming descents work best for me. I practiced various clearing techniques after the trip and no longer have a problem. Actually, the sensory overload and task loading led me to forget just about everything on the first dive or two. Safety stops were wild the first two days as we held on to the rode - it was swinging up and down with the sea through a four or five foot arc. I learned to ride it up and down by moving my hands and arms and maintaining a fairly constant depth over most of my body.

The DiveDiveDive folks were great. The facility is a bit out from Nassau but they run a courtesy bus in several times a day. We cooked most evening meals at the resort. They assisted with gear setup and takedown and, for a new diver, were really solicitous. I liked the way they would remove the BC as soon as I got off the ladder and sat on the stern above the platform. I was tired from the book exercises and had swallowed some seawater.

The MX-5 is positive at all depths we've tried. That led to an amusing situation on one dive. I had the camera, Elizabeth had spotted the Bigeye and was working around the reef with it. I had some trouble clearing about 15 feet from bottom - she wanted me to drop the camera to her but it was hanging UP on my wrist. All was not lost as we did get the picture.