Diveyak report from Hibiscus

[MikeJacobs]

pipedope once bubbled... SNIP...What features would you want in a diveyak?...I always thought "Calypsito" (little Calypso) would be a good name for a diving 'yak.

lol como se dice "dive log"? Seriously, as long as it tracks better than mine that would be a great name.

Hmmm... good question on the design issue. I'd start with the SOT design. Its drawback is that its sooo wide. What if it was narrower but taller, so that you could place balast (up to 4 tanks or the equivalent in lead weight pouches) in-line in the bilge? The diver would sit on top of the tanks. To pull a tank, he'd tilt it back by grasping the top and then roll it into the water.

Sounds even to me like there are a lot of drawbacks with this, however.

A couple of things missing from all dive yaks are dry storage and COLD storage. I'd like a cold drink now and then out there on that saltly desert!

 

[pipedope]

Here is a link to some light reading on the subject of paddles and paddling styles to get you started.
http://www.paddles.com/library/index.html

I will dig up more as I have time.

My spanish is not so hot but maybe "Buceo Tronco" will get what you are after.

Buceo is underwater swimming also exploration or searching.
Tronco is literally a tree trunk, figuratively a dimwit or blockhead.

Depends on your sense of humor ... or is that horror?

I refered to, "The American Heritage Larousse Spanish Dictonary" for help on this one. Don't blame me if local idiom gets a different take on it.

 

[pipedope]

Here is a link for a *bunch* of videos of paddle technique.
I hope you have a fast internet connection.

 

[pipedope]

Here it is;

http://www.qajaqusa.org/Movies/movies.html

;-0

 

[MikeJacobs]

pipedope once bubbled... My spanish is not so hot but maybe "Buceo Tronco" will get what you are after. Buceo is underwater swimming also exploration or searching. Tronco is literally a tree trunk, figuratively a dimwit or blockhead.

lol try plugging el tronco por zambullir into a translator. I think yours would be Tronco por Buceo, or Tree Trunk for Underwater Swimming.

Thanks for the intel on paddling. We're getting the hang of it and *fearless* so who knows what kind of trouble we'll eventually get into. This weekend, for example, I'm probably going to drive down to just north of sunrise and then paddle out to the second reef bouys for a loooong drift dive back to Hibiscus.

I want to find the caves again, which we did of of a dive boat a few weeks ago... it was beautiful. I could paddle out there to that and dive every day.

 

[pipedope]

I am sparing you all the boat safety stuff usually tossed at new kayakers. Being that you are a diver you might just be safer in the water than in the boat.

Be sure that you have your PFD. Even with full dive gear you still have to have a CG approved PFD or you can get a ticket.

 

[MikeJacobs]

pipedope once bubbled... I am sparing you all the boat safety stuff usually tossed at new kayakers...

Ah, don't hold back. I'm one of those guys who doesn't mind back seat drivers. By all means, anything you have to offer I'll appreciate.

FYI, we have everything requied. I have two kayak pfds and we take them. We also keep a throw line (it detaches from a small anchor). We don't have a white boat light yet for night dives, but I'll get one before we do our first trip. That should do it, right?

Tomorrow morning we're going to either paddle south or drive down & drop the yak, and then drift back north along the reef. Life is good...

Any and all advice gladly accepted!

 

[MikeJacobs]

We paddled out from Hibiscus down to The Palms (the big twin pink towers just north of Sunrise) and finally found the southern set of bouys at the end of the "shallow" reef. - I'm estimating 3 miles total, and between 1/2 and 3/4 miles out. The water was so clear that when we ventured into 60' it looked to us like 25'.

Wow what a workout, but we both agreed that it was worth the trip. We've paid for boat dives to the spot. On the way back we saw reef after reef that we intend to dive again soon... enough reef to keep us happy for a looong time.

We're still working our timing out and building those kayak muscles. We also have trouble judging the current.

I'm still a little self conscious about paddling with "real" kayaks, but a couple paddled by while we were resting, smoking and joking after our dive. I don't think they were doing much better than we did.

I'll be reading through those kayak paddling sites over the next few days while on a business trip, and hope to improve our technique for next week.

That's the report from Hibiscus... hope everybody is having great dives this weekend.

 

[pipedope]

More kayaking info;
http://www.performancevideo.com/tips.htm

Things are hectic here but I haven't forgotten about getting more
kayak info for you.

 

[MikeJacobs]

pipedope once bubbled... More kayaking info;http://www.performancevideo.com/tips.htm
Things are hectic here but I haven't forgotten about getting more
kayak info for you.

We're getting the hang of it. It's nothing now to kayak out to the bouy line, though we've only ventured south once (GREAT results). Marvel's having laser eye surgery soon and can't dive for a month and a half, so she paddles out with me and reads for the 2 hours I get to dive.

We just discovered that there is a second set of bouys a little north of the pier... only maybe less than 100 yeards out... too close to be the second reef but we'll be checking it out AFTER the hurricain.

Take care and when you get down here let's plan a trip.