A few miles north of Oceanside, my favorite beach, lies the town of Bayocean. One day, on a whim, Jay and I drove up to the Tillamook Spit to see the town, only to find a long gravel road ending at a narrow field. We turned around, confused, and never thought much of it.
A month ago, during an ecology lecture, Dr. Knight asked if anyone had heard of the town of Bayocean. I was the only one of 75 people to raise my hand. He then told us a brief history.
Bayocean was, in its time, a thriving resort town. Entering Tillamook Bay from the ocean, though, was difficult and dangerous, so the town asked the Army to build them a jetty. The Army engineers suggested that they build two jetties, at a cost of $2.2 million. The town settled on only one jetty, which vastly improved the ease of travel. However, the redirected seawater began to erode away the beaches. Before long, the entire town fell into the sea. All that remains is the sign at the southern city limits, and a recreational area full of broken, exposed pipes.
I feel a kinship with the story of this town. I feel as if I'm slowly slipping away from my friends, that nobody really listens to me (with the exception of my family and a few very close friends), and that someday I'll be so withdrawn that nobody will remember me. Maybe if I make some changes, I'll turn this feeling around...
Anyways, the cool sea air was definitely what I needed to clear my mind, and it was a beautiful day.
~Marina
Wednesday, May 4
Monday, May 2
Open Water.
This weekend was one of the best weekends of my life.
Open water dive weekend.
It took us nearly 5 hours to get to Mike's Beach Resort, about 10 minutes north of Hoodsport, Washington. There was a ridiculous number of bunk beds, enough for every person to have at least two beds to themselves.
Saturday morning, we wake up at 7:30 when Norm comes in and starts singing 'uppy, uppy, little guppies!' We scarf down pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and drag our dive bags to the staging area just above the beach. 30 minutes later, we've struggled into our wetsuits, jackets, hoods, gloves, and boots, and gotten our BCDs set up and tested. The water, according to the divemasters, is 'warm' that day, at about 50 degrees. We slip on masks, BCDs and fins and wade in.
That first dive is both terrifying and exhilarating. Our plan was to go down as a group, 8 students and 4 divemasters, and take a quick tour around the dive site. Once we dropped down to 20 feet, though, there was so much dust and debris kicked up that the visibility dropped to under a foot. If I hadn't latched onto Dan, I would have been fumbling around alone. We lost the group and my dive buddy, but Dan decides we'll tour around anyways. Once we get down to about 50 feet the water cleared up, and I saw all sorts of rockfish, sculpins, and massive anemones and sun stars.
We regrouped at the surface 30 minutes later, and everyone was in stitches about how difficult it was to stick to the plan. We get out, switch tanks, stand around during our surface interval, then go back in.
We started out with surface skills for the second dive, but after we're done, Dan takes us for an actual dive. Carl swims off by himself (which became a regular occurence) but I follow Dan. We come across a sunken boat, and I sit on top of it while Dan swims around with his light. He motions for me to come look at something. Under the boat was a massive 8 1/2 foot Pacific octopus and her eggs. She was magnificent. We go back up and tell the other divers about her, and they are shocked that we saw an octopus on our second dive.
We get out again, swap tanks, and go inside. Everyone is desperate to wash the salt off their skin. I took, by far, the best shower I have ever taken.
After dinner, we went back out for our third dive and did more surface skills. Our plan then is to go as a group to see the octopus. We really should have learned the first time. The minute we dropped down, the dust kicked up and I lost sight of everyone except Norm, our instructor. I followed him around as he tried to round up the others, but we couldn't find anyone, so we surfaced. Lo and behold, everyone had surfaced immediately after they went down. We went the difficult way, surface swimming to the approximate location then dropping down to the boat. Everyone kept as still as possible and we packed ourselves in around the boat to see the octopus. Once people had their fill, we dragged ourselves out of the water once again.
We all shower off again and collapse into chairs and onto beds. The owner of the resort lets us know that he will be playing Resident Evil: Afterlife in the cinema downstairs. I watched most of it, taking a break in the middle to celebrate Norm's birthday with cake and ice cream. At 10, I am completely wiped out and I crash.
Sunday, 7 AM, we all get up and start cleaning up trash and putting our clothes and towels in our bags. We have one more dive, and only one skill - underwater navigation. I take a bearing on the beach and we head out one last time. The visibility is great this time, since we only go in groups of three. Carl disappeared for a while but we settled into a simple formation after a while. We hover around the 'appliance reef', and pull kelp crabs out of the tires. Once our time is nearly up, we use our compasses to find our way back. During our safety stop, I see a blur of pink a short distance away, and I swim over to find a massive five-armed sea star, 4 feet across.
We get out of the water as newly certified open-water divers. Kelly takes a graduation picture of us as we throw our snorkels in the air. We grab breakfast and pack up, and drive 4 hours home.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to go diving again.
~Marina
Addition: List of injuries acquired.
Sprained both ankles
Blisters from wetsuit seams
Abrasions on hands from neoprene
Sunburn
Sore, knotted muscles everywhere
Bruise on wrist
Bruises on hips from weight belt
Assorted scratches and bruises
Open water dive weekend.
It took us nearly 5 hours to get to Mike's Beach Resort, about 10 minutes north of Hoodsport, Washington. There was a ridiculous number of bunk beds, enough for every person to have at least two beds to themselves.
Saturday morning, we wake up at 7:30 when Norm comes in and starts singing 'uppy, uppy, little guppies!' We scarf down pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and drag our dive bags to the staging area just above the beach. 30 minutes later, we've struggled into our wetsuits, jackets, hoods, gloves, and boots, and gotten our BCDs set up and tested. The water, according to the divemasters, is 'warm' that day, at about 50 degrees. We slip on masks, BCDs and fins and wade in.
That first dive is both terrifying and exhilarating. Our plan was to go down as a group, 8 students and 4 divemasters, and take a quick tour around the dive site. Once we dropped down to 20 feet, though, there was so much dust and debris kicked up that the visibility dropped to under a foot. If I hadn't latched onto Dan, I would have been fumbling around alone. We lost the group and my dive buddy, but Dan decides we'll tour around anyways. Once we get down to about 50 feet the water cleared up, and I saw all sorts of rockfish, sculpins, and massive anemones and sun stars.
We regrouped at the surface 30 minutes later, and everyone was in stitches about how difficult it was to stick to the plan. We get out, switch tanks, stand around during our surface interval, then go back in.
We started out with surface skills for the second dive, but after we're done, Dan takes us for an actual dive. Carl swims off by himself (which became a regular occurence) but I follow Dan. We come across a sunken boat, and I sit on top of it while Dan swims around with his light. He motions for me to come look at something. Under the boat was a massive 8 1/2 foot Pacific octopus and her eggs. She was magnificent. We go back up and tell the other divers about her, and they are shocked that we saw an octopus on our second dive.
We get out again, swap tanks, and go inside. Everyone is desperate to wash the salt off their skin. I took, by far, the best shower I have ever taken.
After dinner, we went back out for our third dive and did more surface skills. Our plan then is to go as a group to see the octopus. We really should have learned the first time. The minute we dropped down, the dust kicked up and I lost sight of everyone except Norm, our instructor. I followed him around as he tried to round up the others, but we couldn't find anyone, so we surfaced. Lo and behold, everyone had surfaced immediately after they went down. We went the difficult way, surface swimming to the approximate location then dropping down to the boat. Everyone kept as still as possible and we packed ourselves in around the boat to see the octopus. Once people had their fill, we dragged ourselves out of the water once again.
We all shower off again and collapse into chairs and onto beds. The owner of the resort lets us know that he will be playing Resident Evil: Afterlife in the cinema downstairs. I watched most of it, taking a break in the middle to celebrate Norm's birthday with cake and ice cream. At 10, I am completely wiped out and I crash.
Sunday, 7 AM, we all get up and start cleaning up trash and putting our clothes and towels in our bags. We have one more dive, and only one skill - underwater navigation. I take a bearing on the beach and we head out one last time. The visibility is great this time, since we only go in groups of three. Carl disappeared for a while but we settled into a simple formation after a while. We hover around the 'appliance reef', and pull kelp crabs out of the tires. Once our time is nearly up, we use our compasses to find our way back. During our safety stop, I see a blur of pink a short distance away, and I swim over to find a massive five-armed sea star, 4 feet across.
We get out of the water as newly certified open-water divers. Kelly takes a graduation picture of us as we throw our snorkels in the air. We grab breakfast and pack up, and drive 4 hours home.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to go diving again.
~Marina
Addition: List of injuries acquired.
Sprained both ankles
Blisters from wetsuit seams
Abrasions on hands from neoprene
Sunburn
Sore, knotted muscles everywhere
Bruise on wrist
Bruises on hips from weight belt
Assorted scratches and bruises
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