Blackbeard's - The First Dive

The first day of diving began rising at 6:00 am for coffee and a great hot breakfast.

After that we got a 10 minute warning that meant we were to check our air in the tanks and make sure they were full, assemble our gear, get in our suits and prepare to dive.

We then had a lengthy safety briefing.

1.  Tag yourself Off and back On the boat.

No one moves your name tag but you, and that way you do not get inadvertently left behind as the boat doesn't go until everyone has their tag back to the On Board side.

2. Dive to your certification level, not beyond it.

3.  No deco diving.

4. No touch / No take - no touching the sea life and no scuba fishing.

5. Keep a minimum of five minutes from your No Deco Limit (NDL) at all times.

6. When you're done with the dive, get on the tagline and wait for your turn to meet Chuck.

7.  Watch out for Chuck.

The ladder is named Chuck, short for Chuck Norris. 

This is because in a wavy situation it will kick your . . . teeth in  -- if you don't approach feet first.

So suitably briefed, the pool was declared open and we geared up into our tanks and BCDs, tested our regs and double checked to make sure the tanks were on and did giant strides into the ocean.

Dive One was a bunny hop with a maximum depth of 24 feet. A good shakeout dive for everyone.

We were going to dive a plane wreck touted to have belonged to Pablo Escobar and associates. The smuggler's plane crashed in this location, making it a nice, easy, and fun dive. 80 degree water didn't hurt one bit.

The wreckage is strewn around but it is quite recognizable as a DC-3.

There's quite a few fish under the wreck and stingrays "flew" by it.

Some newer divers used the dive to work on their buoyancy and skills.

It was a nice easy dive for 51 minutes of bottom time for my dive buddy Jeff and I. Our max depth 23 feet and average of 17 feet. 

A great way to kick off the live aboard dive experience.