I get up at five and look out the window. I can hear the wind in the trees but I need to see. Sure enough, the trees are leaning over and shaking limbs like they want to rid themselves of every leaf left from the fall droppage.
Wow, I think to myself, it is really howling.
I fire up my Ipad and check the ocean weather; "forty knot winds increasing to forty-five by noon, then diminishing in the afternoon. Seas 12 feet, building to 22."
It is truly dive season. The rain is pounding down like it can only do in October.
I text Mike, my dive tender. "Looks horrible outside. We might want to wait until later in the day to make our departure from the dock."
"Sounds good," he texts back.
We had been planning on taking some shrimp pots with us to set out prior to our dive season and then picking them up on the way home. It would require running through a big wide open span of water that we now feel would be howling with wind. Leave the shrimp pots behind.
Mike calls in a bit. "Did you see in the paper that the Coast Guard is going to enforce a blue and white international dive flag this week?"
"No, I've never heard of a blue and white dive flag. All the divers fly a red flag with a white stripe."
"Yup. The article says that this year the Coasties will be enforcing a blue and white flag with a fine of up to $4,000 for not having it."
I grab my trusty Ipad and start doing research. The Alaska state law says a red and white flag, but most states do not have any laws in place regarding a diver down flag. I go the the Federal Government sight. Red and white flag is good for them. Then I go to the Coast Guard sight. They are enforcing a blue and white international dive flag for diving on inside waters, even though the State of Alaska claims ownership of all inside waters in Alaska.
I call Scott, my old dive partner and ask if he had read the article. "No, but we'd better get blue and white flags ordered right now and then take pictures of the order conformation to show the Coast Guard in the event of us being boarded. That is our best hope of not being ticketed with the outrageous fine."
The crazy thing is that we don't think any person running a boat here in Alaska would know what a blue and white flag means. For the past twenty years we have all been flying red and white flags.
"We'll get run over by every boat on the water, except the Coast Guard," Scott comments before hanging up.
Scott calls me back in about an hour. "Hey, I'm here with Michell at the old dive shop. She has two blue and white flags we can buy. I've got one set aside for you."
Our dive shop in town closed its doors a few years ago and just yesterday they had an out of business sale.
We quickly cancel our order online and my good wife races to the dive shop to get the last remaining flag.
I'm wore out and have not even left town.
We chatted later about how all the divers have an organization and send e-mails back and forth all the time. Wouldn't it have been in the divers best interest for the Coast Guard to simply send one e-mail to the dive fleet a few months ago, instead of placing an ad in the local paper, which most of us refuse to read as it is so slanted.
That makes way too much sense and you are dealing with the government. They never make sense or do things the best way for others.
At noon the wind has calmed to a roaring 30 knots and we untie to head for Peril Strait, our dive area this season.
The wind pushes us for the next hour as we motor northward. We are very uneasy about turning the corner into Peril Strait. Peril is known for being nasty at times. Wind pushing against the tide can really stack it up at the corner.
Past Poison Cove, Down Dead Mans Reach, and then around the corner and into Peril. No wind at all. The Strait lays glass calm.
"Wow, can you believe this?" I comment to Mike.
"Hard to believe, but I'll sure take it," He comments back.
For sure!
We race down the strait and into Rodman Bay, where we have decided to dive the following day. We anchor for the night and listen to the gentle lap of the waves against the hull.
Tomorrow is dive day. Oh Boy.
Continued...
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