Re: "Chemical Change" - February 26, 2021
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 2:36 pm
Ashore!
A place to discuss the WSJ Weekly Crossword Contest and other "meta"-style crosswords
https://www.xword-muggles.com/
You had a more exciting Great Backyard Bird Count than I did! The weather here was hideous so I didn't travel anywhere to count--so it was truly a yard count. Although my feeders are in the front yard, not the backyard. I had my sweet regulars but nothing out of the ordinary. A Red-breasted Nuthatch had made a brief appearance earlier but not during the count.Hidden in 3D wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:08 amI always look forward to "hoodie" visits! They usually fly in for a day or two to dive and feast on all the small fish and crayfish in the lake (which is teeming with fish of all sizes because there are no boats, fishing or swimming allowed). I was happy to see (and report) three on the first day of the GBBC.LadyBird wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:26 pm On shore!
Woo-HOO! I have lanDED on shore after eMERGing from the icy waters. I saw the mechanism for the ANSwer partway through the grid and quickly got to work. Careful as you come ashore--I fear that the record crowds over the past few weeks might be leading to some beach ERosion and the footing is a little unsteady. I'll have a flashback to college days and have a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.
I'm thinking we're due for a good pageanting in muggle land. After solving some simpler metas over the last month, we'll all kind of be in that mindset and think we have the answer easily. Then all of the sudden we missed that all important next step. There will be an answer that's amiable and makes sense, but there will be another step where the real answer lies.
Sounds like you’re up somewhere between Hudson and Crystal River. No, there isn’t much offshore diving up there.I’ve tried. Shallow and no vis.Jeremy Smith wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:52 pmTwenty miles offshore in my part of Florida the gulf is only about 20’ deep (about 40 miles north of St. Pete). The only gulf diving I’ve done is offshore of Venice looking for megalodon teeth. It was a 20’ dive, but only half-mile offshore. I much prefer diving springs and sinkholes over diving the gulf in this area.Scraps wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:52 pmTom Shea wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:30 pm
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'.
I sure hope you mean on shore. Otherwise, Isaac might run out of booze.Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Sun Feb 28, 2021 8:57 pm Good Sunday evening muggles
Our final count is 230 on the ship. Next week may bring a greater challenge but we will find out on Thursday
Welcome to all our new muggles over the past month. We are now 875 strong.
Good luck to all winning the mug and stay safe