The FIRST time ever my SOB dived without me!

It finally happened!

My good wife is the SOB in question.

We are SOBs of each other (aka Self-Reliant Divers) because it
is very common occurrence that we are 100 feet apart horizontally
OR vertically when we dive together.

Since I have logged well over 1000 divers than she did, it's obvious
that I had done many dives without her as my SOB.

But not until today, she had never dived without me being an SOB
ever since she did her certifications 18 years ago.

I could recall TWO incidences when TECHNICALLY dived without
me being her SOB. One was a dive in Tobago when my depth
gauge blew out of my HP hose almost as soon as jumped into the
water from the boat, so I retrived my gauge and aborted that dive
while she completed it without me in the Same Ocean. But I was
at least for a minute or so her SOB. The other incident was in
Palau when on descent she left her camera on board and I went
back up to fetch it for her since the group was going against a
slight current and it would be easy to find the group when I
return. However, the SOB plan didn't quite go as planned.

When I went back down to look for the group it was nowhere in
sight even though the visibility was almost 200 feet. I kicked
against the current a little bit. No sight of divers or bubbled. I
was diving SOLO (having lost ALL the SOBs). After a few minutes
of that predicament, I decided to abort the dive and went back to
the tender. When the group finally returned, she was all
excited that she had spotted a ZEBRA shark and the entire group
of divers followed her, DOWN current, instead of UP current and
she had forgotten that I would look for the group opposite the
direction they were going. :-)

And so it came pass she FINALLY did two dives with me no where
near the water. After two successful days of shore dive down to
a max depth of 20 fsw, she decided it was time to give it a try to
see if her ears would clear without perforating any of her eardrums
in a two tank dive. I sat out the dive because of an intestinal
virus that would require a ban=B0o in close proximity, even though
I hold a Specialty Cert in "Don and Doff and doing a No. 2 while
in a drift dive", as reported in some Cozumel post LONG time ago.

As the real SOB Evangilists might say, "she (or her eardrums) was
BORN again". The Reef Net Sensus Pro recorded her detailed
profiles of the two tank dives (at Palancar Gardens and San
Francisco) so that I could examine the details of her dive profile,
especially in her descent. Everything looked picture perfect,
and she did a 57 minute dive a Palancar Gardens at a max of
81 fsw=F1 and a 56 minute dive at San Francisco at 61 fsw.

It was a correct decision on my part not to attempt to call upon
my UW No. 2 Specialty because during her two-tank dives, I had
to do the No. 2 on land (in the comfort of our suite) no less than
6 times. ;-).

Now we are ready for the shark dives in Moorea, Raiatea, and
Bora Bora, and if possible, whatever Christmas Island has to
offer in diving, next month. BTW, has anyone ever dived in
Christmas Island (about half way between Tahiti and the
Hawaiian Islands) or know the names or webpage of dive shops
on that island?

As I was typing the preceding paragraph, who should show up
but Ron Lee, who has just arrived Coz, staying next door to my
suite, and has not yet kicked his Aldora habit! :-)

nospamronlee...

And it was a pleasant encounter. No "mugging" as you considered after
I asked how long you would be there. That was my first stay at Bahia
and it was nice. Close to the Aldora pick up point and all the town's
amenities.

Ron Lee