Apparently exercising within 24 hours of SCUBA diving may induce symptoms similar to the bends. This fact may explain some of my recent near-death experiences while running, which is reassuring since the other explanation would have been that I was just really out of shape.
We awoke to lightning this morning, and the good folks at Scuba Mau immediately informed us that they were still planning on taking us out on the water so that we could help act as human bridges for current passing from sky to sea – it is possible we haven’t been tipping the divemasters well enough. Luckily they agreed to reschedule us for the afternoon, and we then enjoyed two cloudy and electricity-free dives on reefs that reminded me of an underwater version of Paradise on Mt. Rainier with all of the tiny, colorful plants. Fish were plentiful, regulators were leaky, and a huge green moray eel came out to give us an all-too-close greeting. The divemaster did a quick check after descending to verify that we were all good, and then spent his time spearing lionfish and feeding them to the trigger fish (remember, lion fish are bad), and in between pointed out everything from turtles to eels to crabs to giant parrot fish.
More diving (and rain) is scheduled for tomorrow, and if all goes well there should hopefully also be a video or two available from Mark, a fellow from Missouri that we’ve been diving with.