I had to don my dry suit and scuba gear and go diving on my boat last weekend.  You see, there are zinc caps on the propeller shafts and zinc plates on the rudder.  The point of the zinc it that it corrodes more easily than the brass propellers and the metal linkages for the rudder.  The saltwater is going to corrode something.. there's no avoiding that.. so the zinc is sacrificial.. it corrodes first and thereby protects the rest of the boat.

I always like going diving, but.. as much as I know one should never go diving alone... since I don't have anyone to help me work on the boat, I donned my gear, and, after a few hesitant moments, jumped in the water.  Adding to my hesitancy in diving alone is that the water here in the marina can be pretty murky... it sits right at the confluence of the Snohomish River and Puget Sound.. so there's a lot of sediment in the water...

For that reason, I've never dived all the way to the bottom of the marina.. it just seemed too creepy.. and in murky water.. it's just too easy to get disoriented.. especially when you're alone..

Things went well, though.  Got the zincs changed out, cleaned off the barnacles.. and was done in record time...

I looked at my pressure gage and I still had 1500 pounds of air.. what to do...

So I went down.. down to the bottom...

Surprisingly enough.. it was more clear down there than at the surface.  And not too bad.. dungeness crab.. ling cod.. there was life down there... and less garbage than I expected.  I enjoyed it so much.. I spent the rest of my air getting to know the sea floor beneath me...

Late last week.. I had a really good job interview... an even better job in my current field than the one I just lost.. it made me think about seeing the bottom..

I've never been laid off before.. this has really been the bottom of my career.  As I wrote in my blog before.. it's made me question a lot of things..

But as I also wrote.. every time I've hit rock bottom.. the result afterward has always been for the better...

So.. having hit bottom again.. things are already looking up.. maybe.. at least the surface doesn't seem so far away as it did at the beginning of last week...

And in the meantime.. I've done a lot of soul searching.. something that I need to do more often anyway.. and I think in the process.. I've gotten to know myself a little better and I've seen what I can endure... it's too easy to get comfortable with life.. and I don't think that's always a good thing...

So maybe the bottom isn't as intimidating after all... maybe there's even a little life down there... I hope so.. I think so...

But then again, the reason I went down last week was to change something.. something.. sacrificial..

I wonder what the sacrifice here is going to be...?