Whale-bone graveyard!

7-31-11

Rick and Debbie! My wonderful hosts at Ocean Quest!

I jumped off a dock, a solid 12, maybe 15feet in height today. Into the ocean. In Newfoundland. In full dive gear. Talk about a RUSH! Now, why the heck did I muster up the courage to jump? Maybe it was because Holly and Jaime wanted scallops for dinner? Uhhhm.. no. Did I mention that I am allergic to shellfish? Yeah..so, there was a better reason for me; whale bones! We were diving off a dock at Dildo. It turns out that back in the day this is where the whales that had been caught were brought back and gutted. But, they threw the bones back into the ocean. So, the bones are scattered all around the base of the dock, perfect for divers to explore!

Tim and Naoko! Fantastic chefs, and great friends!

Once we got down, I started scanning the area for bon….I mean, I was looking for scallops for dinner. Sadly, this uniformed diver didn’t realize that those “clams” were actually scallops..so she disregarded them and got severely distracted by the flounder, starfish, and sea urchins that were EVERYWHERE. It didn’t take me long to realize that the lump of rock these critters were hanging out on or near were actually the vertebrae of a whale! I swear I was dancing around down there like a little kid with a new toy!…in my head of course.Dancing while diving is harder than you would think. 😉

Fresh cod after a day of diving!

I wished that I had my Gates video camera, but I had previously decided that it would not be a good idea to jump 12-15ft down and risk flooding it on impact…I can’t wait to actually have it out up here though! A little over half an hour later our trembling hands decided that it was time to head back to the warmth of Ocean Quest.

Sadly we didn’t end up finding enough scallops for a dinner, but, on the bright side, when we returned to Ocean Quest, Rick and Tim had fresh cod waiting for dinner! And so ended my first day of diving in Newfoundland! I can’t wait to get out on the wrecks!