Ear crab: an uninvited guest.

I do not know what makes my ears of all ears such an inviting retreat for these almost cute eight legged monsters. This makes twice now that I've taken a little piece of the ocean home with me unknowingly; fortunately I was able to figure out what was going on more quickly this time. What's odd is that from what I can gather, this isn't a normal occurrence with other divers. At least I was able to coax him out with minimal worry, I suppose that's heartening. He's now fending for himself in the shaded gardens that surround my apartment. Buena suerte, mi amigo.

This little fellow was previously a resident of the waters about the Catalinas, a set of islands some thirty minutes west of Playas del Coco. I was lucky enough to make it out to the Catalinas with a local dive shop, Summer Salt, earlier today. While there were plenty of fish and even several Eagle Rays at the sites, the most interesting part of the trip was simply getting more familiar with deeper water. My stomping grounds around the coastline that connects Playas del Coco and Playa Hermosa feature seas that are several shades calmer than those of the Catalinas, and water that's substantially shallower.

Accomplishing any sort of effective breath-up in heavy chop, rolling swells and fairly swift current is certainly a frustrating feat. It felt like every time I went for that final, total exhalation followed by taking the biggest lungful possible I ended up with a mouth full of seawater instead. Bleh.

While my dive times suffered very badly from the poor breath-up conditions (around 1:00 on average), I was still able to reach a depth of 63.5 feet fairly easily. Deeper sea-floor was certainly available, but limited visibility and the aforementioned rough conditions made it difficult to position myself appropriately on the surface. That, and I was fairly anxious the whole time given the new and less hospitable surroundings.

The biggest complication besides conditions was fending off a terrible mask squeeze, a task further muddled by what I know believe is a mask perhaps a tiny bit too small around the nose. Right around 30 feet my mask was collapsing stubbornly around my nostrils, making it near impossible to equalize the airspace. I'm hoping that I can solve this problem with fluid goggles within the next couple of weeks. If only throwing money at problems always worked.

My camera is still on an extended dry vacation. In the meantime, you can take a look at Jack Polanen's footage of the Catalinas and other dive sites in this area; he's got an excellent HD underwater setup. He and his wife were two of the several friendly SCUBA divers on the boat today.

All in all, the experience was great and something I hope to repeat fairly often. I will however, need to learn how to accomplish a decent dive preparation in rougher conditions. I have to say I'm looking forward to the placid, inviting waters of Playa Penca tomorrow morning.

Here's to calm seas and less assuming crabs.