The morning of the dive it was a typical Puna morning....meaning it was cold and raining. As we drove up Rt 130 it just got rainier and rainier. We both wondered out loud if there would even be a dive. We hit Rt 11 into Hilo and the rain slowly petered out. We got to Hilo proper and wouldn't you know it, there were blue skies and sun where we were headed.
We pulled into Richardson Beach Park about 10 minutes late, but we were the third and fourth divers (out of 8). It was clear, sunny and beautiful. We had to wait around for quite a bit while we waited for the last divers to show up. At one point a busload of Japanese tourist came by. I could hear their tour guide saying "Japanese Japanese Japanese scooobah divah Japanese Japanese." They oogled us very openly which was really weird. Well I oogled right back at their weird selves with the umbrellas and silly bright Crocs. Finally it was time to suit up and get into the water.
ARE YOU REALLY MAKING ME POSE? 
GETTING READY 
FIRST DIVE TOGETHER...THE LADY TOLD CHRIS TO "SUCK IT IN" - THIS IS THE RESULT!The beach itself is a black sand beach and was pretty well populated with local families. I had bought a wet suit since waters get pretty cold on Hilo side. However, waiting around in a black wetsuit on a hot day becomes horrendous pretty quickly. After waiting so long for the other couple (who not only arrived late, but took FOREVER getting suited up while the rest of us had to wait in our gear), it was a sweet relief to get into the water. I was cooled and the tank is so much lighter in the water.
RICHARDSON'S
DECEPTIVELY CALM BAYWe got ready to swim out. Richardson is a nice little protected bay and the reef was about a 200 ft swim out. About 30 feet out, the waves were really battering us. Because we had waited so long to get out the swell had come in and the current was started to work against us. Our dive master said we would swim out underwater to avoid the surface chop. We descended and promptly lost the last swim couple. Our dive master (I'm gonna call her DM since I forgot her name) told us to hang out at the bottom while she went to go find our wayward. After a few minutes of hanging out at the bottom, the four of us realized that perhaps we had been abandoned. We surfaced. It was a miserable few minutes while the swells seemed to get bigger and bigger. I hate the taste of salt water and it was beginning to make me gag. But after another few minutes DM returned with the wayward other two divers.
DM warned us that conditions were really bad. Visibility was about 5 feet so we needed to stay tight. Swimming back in would be tough and we'd be pulling in hand over hand. Now was the time to opt out. I looked at Chris. I totally wanted to opt out. I was starting to feel seasick from being battered by the surface chop and very apprehensive about the conditions. I knew Chris really wanted to go, so I said go (Probably stupid right?). Down we went...
And we promptly lost those divers again. After a quick surface to essentially cancel the dive because we couldn't even start out together, we puttered around inside the bay. I was feeling pretty annoyed and salt-watered out. Chris was constantly zooming around poking his nose into places I'm not sure he's supposed to. He was happy as a clam. Buoyancy was horrible since the water was around 20 ft. We both found ourselves constantly bouncing off the floor or popping around the top. We ended up seeing some really neat vivid blue coral, some fish, Chris saw an eel. I was bummed we didn't get to go out and see the sea turtles and the eagle rays that have been hanging out in this spot lately. However it was a great dive to get reacquainted with diving.
Afterward there was beer, grilled food and lots of snacks. All in all, it was a great time and we look forward to diving again! But first, I need to get some fins with booties...walking barefoot on lava rock in full scuba gear is less than pleasant.
HILO DIVE CLUB
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