From Zero to Hero

Back in SA we had decided that when we got to America, we would buy the O2 and diluent 3l rebreather cylinders and the 4 Ali-80 stage tanks we needed for diving. The price of buying will end up less than that of renting for the whole 3 months, and then we'll either ship the cylinders home, or try to sell them to a dive shop. So we had organised to meet Geoffrey from Dive Gear Express somewhere in Gainsville (about 30min from High Springs) on Thursday morning to collect everything we'd bought online. Our South African nature was to doubt that any part of just meeting someone we'd never met before, on the corner of some road, at a particular time, would never work out. But things are different in the US, and at 9am exactly Geoffrey arrived at the corner with everything in order.  Awesome :)

We then went to Extreme Exposure, which is a dive shop in High Springs, to find out what the news was on the flooding and if any of the caves were open. Sadly everything is shut :( But the guys there seemed to think that we will be able to dive this area again in a week or two. The good news was that Manatee Springs is still open for diving into Catfish Hotel, and that's only about an hour away.  This meant we had a chance of getting wet by Friday, only two days after landing.. woohoo :) So the rest of Thursday was spent in a scramble to assemble our machines, rig our stage cylinders, get gas fills, buy any supplies we needed for diving, and basically get dive ready. Our mess of a living room ...

 ... was converted into neat boxes of dive equipment ...

... all good to go! :)