"Chemical Change" - February 26, 2021

[Daytonh]

Ashore! First time posting, but happy to figure this one out.

[Larrry]

Ashore! Perhaps the chemists among us will concoct a unique punch or cocktail suitable for sipping upon wading ashore, one we can name Muggle(something).

Mugglerita

[hcbirker]

Our excitement (other than the wreck) was an unexpected visitor on our boat when we surfaced. There were two boats diving there and the other guys had a less than experienced guy who panicked, made an uncontrolled ascent, AND held his breath. Not a pretty sight, but he survived. Not really coherent when he surfaced and spit a little blood. Our boat was closest to him and picked him up. First time I'd heard an emergency recall beacon sounding under water. I can do without hearing it again. To add to the intrigue, I found out why my shop switched me to a different boat for this dive. The original boat sank last weekend. Salvageable, but needs some work. It was full returning to the harbor and took on water. Glad I wasn't on that one either!

My friend is coming in a couple of weeks to get his advanced open water cert, so I'll be back to the sea tiger when they check him out. Going to do the YO-257(?) the same day. Getting up early is rough for me, but the increased quality of the deep dives here makes it worth the trouble. And it sure beats work.

According to my log, Sea Tiger was a 107-foot dive. He's lucky to be alive after that uncontrolled breath-holding ascent. Glad he survived.

Normally, unexpected visitors on the boat are a source of light humor. I've never seen it paid off, but it's often joked about among dive masters that if one of your divers ascends the wrong line and ends up on the wrong boat, you owe the crew of that boat a case of beer. But your situation was not a joke.

We don't have many deep sites in my part of Florida. I'm taking a group on a three-tank dive to two wrecks this weekend: twenty miles offshore, and it's still less than 100'.

108' at the very low end of the stern. I think he was above the deck when he shot up, so probably ~70-80 feet. This was still a coast guard inquiry event. Rule #1: Always breathe. Always breathe. And don't forget to breathe.

If you want to get really lost looking for your boat, the manta night dive in Kona is the place for you. A couple of dozen boats, that don't all dock at the same place. You just sit on the bottom shining your light straight up to attract plankton. Thankfully, all the boats know each other, so they can usually direct you to the right one. And it is a very unique dive with those monsters gliding by -- and there's a lot of them. Makes up for the lack of exercise. Totally happenstance that they started them. The long defunct Kona Surf hotel (now sheraton) put lights in the water 40 years ago, for romantic walks along the shore for honeymooners. Plankton came for the lights, mantas came for the plankton, divers came for the mantas. When the hotel was in receivership and empty the town paid for the lights to be kept on.

The Mauna Kea on the Big Island has lights on for the Mantas too. Such lovely creatures.

[LadyBird]

On shore. Matt had us covered this week if we wanted a fun meta. I agree this puzzle, start to finish, has lots of meat for newbies.

You must know by now that any puzzle with the clue “spring bloomer” will have me throwing some at you-

0149B8D6-73E2-4192-A1CA-AB79B74EC018.jpeg
Hey! Compost piles don’t want to be left out of the fun . One year I still had unplanted bulbs after the ground was frozen, so put them here. The result was so delightful that I do this every year.
Lots of chemical changes going on down under these spring bloomers.
A May 30 photo.

MaineMarge, you have set the (beautiful garden) bar high. Even your compost pile looks lovely!

[crswenson]

Ashore! If like me you thought you solved it, only to discover the answer was nonsense, you might be halfway to the finish.

[JaneGummy]

On shore. I'm pretty confident about the answer even tho I haven't figured out the full mechanism yet,waiting for that click to hit me

[grwinski]

Ashore! Fun one (as were all this month!). Of course, it's more fun when you get it!

Rita and George

[DianeA]

On shore. This month's puzzles have been rebuilding my confidence...ready to go into March.

[EVJ]

Ashore! Fun one.

[Susan Goldberg]

Good evening. It is just after 9 here on the east coast so the contest has been out 5 hours. And we have 110 on the shore. (plus Meg's cabana boy)

Another crowded week.

Thanks so much Bob for continuing to manage us all. It occurred to me that with many new solvers, your job keeping track of everyone has also exponentially expanded. But you contribute to be a fantastic Cruise Director!

[Susan Goldberg]

I’m on shore!

[Joe Ross]

Ashore! Perhaps the chemists among us will concoct a unique punch or cocktail suitable for sipping upon wading ashore, one we can name Muggle(something).

MuggleDunkel

[Janet P]

Ashore!

[Homer Buckle]

Ashore - wish it had been a trickier meta.

[Inca]

Ashore...and happy. It seems like I am the only veteran who actually enjoys the simpler metas.... much more than the google-fests.

[HunterX]

If you want to get really lost looking for your boat, the manta night dive in Kona is the place for you. A couple of dozen boats, that don't all dock at the same place. You just sit on the bottom shining your light straight up to attract plankton. Thankfully, all the boats know each other, so they can usually direct you to the right one. And it is a very unique dive with those monsters gliding by -- and there's a lot of them. Makes up for the lack of exercise. Totally happenstance that they started them. The long defunct Kona Surf hotel (now sheraton) put lights in the water 40 years ago, for romantic walks along the shore for honeymooners. Plankton came for the lights, mantas came for the plankton, divers came for the mantas. When the hotel was in receivership and empty the town paid for the lights to be kept on.

The Mauna Kea on the Big Island has lights on for the Mantas too. Such lovely creatures.

They are lovely. One of my favorite memories was seeing one unexpectedly off of Aruba. I was bringing up the rear as we fought against current to get back to the boat. (It shifted while we were out.) I looked forward and thought, "Why is everyone looking at me? And I don't see bubbles coming up so they must be holding their breath???" Right next to me was a gorgeous Manta, just hanging out to say hi. I could have touched it (him? her?). It swooped off and eveyone's bubbles started again.

While going to ~100 feet is fun, I always preferred to keep it a little more shallow, where there was more color. Also, if I stayed a little more shallow than others, my air lasted longer and I didn't have to sit on the boat waiting!

Still waiting for a cab to the dock. Won't make it to Isaac's bar to start the puzzle until this evening.

[Devilbunny]

Been a while since I posted, but I've enjoyed these last few, easy as they've been. Fun grid, saw meta right away.

Ashore.

And as for chemists' cocktails... be careful. When I was an undergrad, we were known to take advantage of the fact that we had lab keys and thus access to liquid nitrogen to make vodka ice instead of water ice. Your drink got stronger as it melted.

[sf592000]

Ashore once more!

[Scott M]

Ashore! Perhaps the chemists among us will concoct a unique punch or cocktail suitable for sipping upon wading ashore, one we can name Muggle(something).

Muggletini? Not sure what's in it, but I guess it has to include METAXA

[Bob cruise director]

On shore. This month's puzzles have been rebuilding my confidence...ready to go into March.

For everyone's benefit, Diane has been a muggle for a long time as she is constantly on shore on the WSJ page. But we welcome her here also.