Went with 2 buddies. Buddy A used his steel 120. Buddy B and I used his AL80's. The problem is that I've been diving borrowed or rented steel tanks, and didn't check my buoyancy close to shore.
Once we cleared the jetty, we got caught in one of the strongest currents I've ever experienced, carrying us racing into the ferry terminal. Not fun. Kicking as hard as we could, we were barely breaking even. One of the event's safety divers surfaced near us and said if we submerged, the current wasn't as strong, and we could pull ourselves along the bottom to the carving area. So I deflated my suit and my BC, only to find I wasn't carrying enough weight to offset the positive buoyancy of the aluminum tank. No problem, I thought-if I jackknife and lift my legs up, their weight will force me down enough to get past the first couple feet, which is always the tough part. Except that the current was so strong that it kept knocking my legs over, and I couldn't descend.Exhausted, I looked around and found that I had drifted almost to the southern end of the park, and was very close to the ferry lane. My buddies were sufficiently weighted and had gone down, leaving me alone on the surface. I was too tired to swim against the current, so I started swimming 90 degrees toward shore, hoping to get in the shadow of the jetty so I could rest. After quite some time, I was successful, but pooped. I floated on my back for awhile, resting, until I felt strong enough to try to submerge. I took a compass heading toward shore, jackknifed again, and made it to the bottom, a whopping 10 feet of depth. Swam on my heading for awhile, then thought I'd surface to see where I was. I was 50-75 yards from shore, still fighting some current. There were safety divers in the water, so I figured I'd swim toward them and get a tow if I needed it.
That's when I felt my right calf muscle start spasming. Before I could grab my fin tip, it contracted in the worst cramp I've ever had in my life. Cursing uncontrollably, I managed to get one of the safety divers over to me to help stretch it out. Still hurts today. So there was no pumpkin carving for me, a total of about 10 minutes of bottom time, and a charley horse like I've never experienced.
What did I learn from this? Check the current tables, use accurate correction times, and dive according to the current tables at current-sensitive sites. I also learned that I need to buy tanks of my own so my weighting is the same every time, and I should probably buy some fins that provide more thrust than my BioFins. And that nightmare could've been avoided if the organizers had held the event closer to slack current, and not so close to a full moon. The ultimate responsibility lies with me, but still, ALL of the divers exiting the water indicated they'd struggled with the current.
I need to go diving again to wipe the bad taste out of my mouth. After I buy tanks.
So PenepolySMARTYpants... it sounds like this happens once a month - is this indeed the case? 
nevermind. 
