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Thought I'd bring this back since I just got done with a trip to our familiar haunt in Jamaica and my ears are still kinda plugged up after five dives.

First dive was my first in about three years and it was...not good. Just could not get acclimated. Made it through okay but even watching the GoPro footage I was flailing around a lot, clearly uncomfortable. Thankfully that one did not yield a lot of sea life. And once I got that bad dive out of the way I was a lot better.

It was our fourth dive we got to see quite a bit including an entire school of cuttlefish just kinda hovering there. Had never witnessed anything like that, the only time I've seen cuttlefish up close was on a night dive. And it was only one.

Funny enough the biggest rays we saw were a couple female Bull Rays that hung around the resort beach area. I think the biggest one was around 4 feet across.

Probably going to ditch the mask I've had for the last 12 years. Just keeps leaking and it doesn't seal well underwater anymore. I used one from the dive shop after dive #1 and I was perfectly fine.

Anyway, one thing that's very disconcerting is that after all these years of diving in relatively the same area, you can really see just how unhealthy the coral reefs look now. Bleaching is really taking a huge toll. What was one very vibrant and colorful looks brown and rotten now.

Anyone else dive lately?

Not lately, and I probably won't dive, but I'm going to Grand Cayman this summer with the family. That's where I was certified. Funny thing is, years ago we found far more marine life diversity on the reefs outside the hotel in like 8' of water than going down 100'. My brother's ex-wife didn't dive, so we snorkeled around with her, showing her stuff we saw on dives (and then some). So we're all bringing mask, fins & snorkels and will swim around the reef by the hotel. I'm expecting bleaching, but am hoping to still see good stuff.
I dove at "stingray city" there years ago, where you can feed the stingrays. My kids want to do it. My wife wants no part of it. But we are going to try to do one of those pirate ship cruises where you can hop in for stingray feeding, diving or snorkeling.
I asked my kids if they want to learn to dive. They don't. Fine with me. Too expensive!
I do miss it though. Some of the most relaxed moments in my life were underwater. And some of the scariest. But I prefer to remember the relaxed ones.

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