Muddy Waters, no not the singer

What to write about today? The weather has turned cold again and sometimes I just think spring will never come. I'm hanging at the end of my weather rope here.

Rope. Now there is something I can talk about!

Hubby and I are adventurous. Hmm. Maybe that shouldn't have been the first sentence, but really, you will see where this is going in a minute. We are also very competitive. We also like to do different and new things.

So, when we first started diving (and a few in subsequent years) we started going to underwater treasure hunts. No, not like Mel Fisher. Like here in the Midwest where you go to a quarry and find things purposefully placed.

Around here, they are usually sponsored by one of the dive shops and are fundraisers for charities. I've seen them run a couple different ways. Find the numbered item that corresponds to a numbered prize. Find the lowest number to be the one to pick out your prize first.

Needless to say, there are always a TON of people there. They give away great prizes like BCs, regulators, and then smaller prizes like bandanas and key chains. Usually they provide lunch/dinner too.

After our first one, we learned our lesson. It was truly an ordeal. And dangerous. Well, not really, but being new it was scary. With well over 100 people in the quarry, the silt and muck was stirred up in no time. I can't tell you how much time we wasted looking for EACH OTHER! That was the real treasure hunt. See if you can find your buddy!!! We did end up winning a BC at that event, that we have never even used. It was/is brand new. I have tried to sell it on ebay but no luck.

So at the next one, we came up with a plan. We used cotton rope (like for a laundry line) and cut it about 4 foot long. Then we tied a small loop on each end. We were able to use it to stay "connected" to each other by holding on to the loops. We could signal each other by tugging. We couldn't loose each other, even though we could scour our area completely. We got to spend most of our time searching for the really important stuff :) I have to say on that hunt, we won a bandana.

Over the years, we have used the line for various outings. It just lets us see more and we don't worry about loosing each other.

Ahh, the trials of diving in Midwestern muck!