dumpsterDiver
Banned
- Messages
- 9,003
- Reaction score
- 4,652
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
So my buddy and I head out Saturday to do a dive on a new 300 ft long ship that was sunk as a reef the previous day in 220-230 ft of water off Palm Bch County. We have a driver to run the 26 ft boat in 20 kt NW winds. Seas on the site were around 6 ft, current was running around 3.5-4 kts, vis on top was 50, vis below 100 ft was 100. We were diving a single big steel tank of air, a little air pony and each had a stage of oxygen (or 80%). Planned dive is 15 minutes which should give me around 35-40 minute deco on the Oceanic hockey puck computer (which thinks I’m using only air).
We find the wreck and take a GPS number, run 600 ft up current of the brand new gps number and jump into the water intending to do a free descent with no visual reference and drift into the wreck (which is pretty standard for us).. We really don’t know how the wreck landed or even the orientation relative to the current. We drop down to around 160 feet in about a minute or so and I can see the bottom but no wreck, so we drift north with the current for a short time and I see the wreck inshore maybe 90 feet which requires a cross current swim. I signal to my buddy (who is 40 feet away and 25 feet above me). He has a scooter and is pulling the surface marker bouys. I swim gently to the wreck for maybe 45 seconds and catch hold of the railing near the very end of the wreck (at the stern) which is the most downstream location. I’m on the deck at around 200 ft and look for my buddy. I don’t see him and assume that he rode the scooter a little faster and got on the wreck further up current then me. The water is a lot colder on the bottom and the current is less; maybe 2.5 kts. I hang there and then move a little higher to the highest roof on the “wheelhouse” which is maybe 180? I can see the bottom 50 feet down very easily.
I decide to swim/crawl forward a little and move about 60 feet, but I don’t see him. I’m kinda worried now. He appeared to have no problem on the descent, but it is really every man for himself on a drifting rapid descent to a wreck in a 3-4 kt current. We are supposed to be spearfishing also, but I see nothing to shoot. Since he has the only surface marker and top side is whitecaps and ugly, I really have no good option. If I abort early and he stays on the wreck up current, then I will be drifting away and the boat will stay with his markers. I figure the best thing to do is wait for the planned 15 minutes at the downstream portion of the wreck which is our predetermined meeting place. My buddy doesn’t show and I’m more worried about him than myself, but there is nothing I can do, I can see 100 feet in every direction and I’m alone. I crawl up a heavy rope that has some fish attraction devices on it (giant floats attached by a hawser) that is just buzzing in the current and let go of the wreck at around 150 feet, I guess.
I like to ascend the first 30 -40 feet or so kinda fast. Like 60 fpm and I get my 6 ft emergency SMB (float) and reel out and send it up from a depth of around 105 feet. I stop my ascent, for a quick stop and then slowly ascend, stopping at 50 feet and 40 feet and then slowly ascend to 20 feet and get on the oxygen. My computer initially gave me around 35 minutes of deco, I think but since I come up too slow and do the deep stops it spanks me and clears slower. I finish all my deco at 20 feet and then 15 and switch back to air for a little while every 10 minutes. I’m shivering and trembling and the boat has not circled me which would be standard procedure if they had seen my marker. I’m wondering if the shaking is just cold and nerves, or if it is too much oxygen. I hit the surface with a run time of around 1 hour and I’m really cold since I did not exert myself .
After a few minutes I ‘m surprised to get a few glimpses of my boat between waves, about 250 yards inshore of me and start to blast the dive alert. Now the damn thing doesn’t work! It is making pathetic little squeeks and I still have 1000 lbs in my tank. (It worked last weekend!) I scream and yell and exert myself by trying to hold the base of the SMB down with one hand and hold the middle erect with the other hand in the 20 kt + wind with 6-8 feet, very tight seas, with whitecaps. The boat leaves and then comes back close again 15 minutes later and then is gone again. Since it is so ugly offshore there are few boats and I can see none. I then decide to get out my small 4 ft see-me tube, inflate that and then hold that on the tip of my speargun as far above my head as possible. I’m actually thinking now about all the idiots on Scubaboard who say you don’t need a snorkel in the ocean. Waves are crashing over my head occasionally and I’m constantly clearing my snorkel.
Then I’m surrounded by a school of small tuna and then the bull shark shows up. I’m now trying to watch the shark and hold all the crap up and decide to lower my gun incase I need it. The shark and fish leave after 5 minutes and I see a nice sailfish. I m getting colder and really pretty bummed because I have to take a crap and I’m already imagining how bad the Coasties are gonna laugh when they haul me out with a load in my suit.
The wind is blowing me offshore and I know the current is running hard. The water clears up to like 80 feet vis and then another shark appears, a 9 ft bullshark right under me. He is more curious and circles around below me. I decide I may have to shoot it, so I unclip the monofilament line which connects my shaft to the gun. The last thing I need is to lose my gun to a big bull. I unclip the line and then I t gets tangles in the two float lines that were attached to the smb’s which are also a little wrapped around my body and gear now. (Sometimes I really wish I played golf), Now if I shoot the shark he would be tied to me. I decide not to cut the line and get the spear line untangled and the shark comes in and takes a little nibble on the brass clip hanging 15 feet below me from the smb. He doesn’t like it and leaves.
I’m really getting bummed out now, I was not really that scared, but it is amazing how quickly you get sad and lonely floating out there. I say a prayer that I don’t get sea sick, or I would be really miserable. I concentrate on holding up the gun and float and not crapping my pants.
After like 45 minutes of drifting on the surface a 50 ft sportfish boat shows up! Pulling at least 6 lines (with lures or live bait, I can’t tell) He pulls close and then makes a turn and I have to yell to the Skipper on the fly bridge not to drag all his lures through me. I swim away to get away from the lures and the mate on the deck starts pulling in the lines. I am pretty relieved, and tell him to call my boat. It is hard to hear with the whitcaps slapping me and a hood. He tells me to get in the boat, but has no ladder and no platform. I say that I will just wait for my buddy. He starts getting real mad and says I’m now in 400 ft of water and he can see that there are no boats within 2 miles. He pulls up and I hand my gun through the tuna door, he has backed down on me rather than pulling upwind and allowing the boat to passively drift into me. I’m quite nervous about the props spinning toward me (and have no clue how well he can handle the vessel in this wind and seas around a diver) and then he lets the boat drift away a little in the wind and I feel a heavy monofilmant line (tied to one of his fishing lines flying through my crotch) I very quickly cut his line and not say a word.
The tuna door is narrow and it is obvious I can not get through the door with my 3 tanks on, especially without a ladder or platform. He then starts screaming and swearing and ordering me to take my gear off. Well I figured, I floated this long I’m not ditching all my scuba gear now. I yell that I will wait for my buddy and he is really mad and says that he is “ordering me” to get on the F’n boat. I refuse and then finally, I decide that I will remove the gear and try to pass the gear through the tuna door and then hop in. We manage this without getting chopped in the props. My buddy shows up in 5 minutes and I jump out the tuna door with all my gear in my hand and swim to the other boat.
We find the wreck and take a GPS number, run 600 ft up current of the brand new gps number and jump into the water intending to do a free descent with no visual reference and drift into the wreck (which is pretty standard for us).. We really don’t know how the wreck landed or even the orientation relative to the current. We drop down to around 160 feet in about a minute or so and I can see the bottom but no wreck, so we drift north with the current for a short time and I see the wreck inshore maybe 90 feet which requires a cross current swim. I signal to my buddy (who is 40 feet away and 25 feet above me). He has a scooter and is pulling the surface marker bouys. I swim gently to the wreck for maybe 45 seconds and catch hold of the railing near the very end of the wreck (at the stern) which is the most downstream location. I’m on the deck at around 200 ft and look for my buddy. I don’t see him and assume that he rode the scooter a little faster and got on the wreck further up current then me. The water is a lot colder on the bottom and the current is less; maybe 2.5 kts. I hang there and then move a little higher to the highest roof on the “wheelhouse” which is maybe 180? I can see the bottom 50 feet down very easily.
I decide to swim/crawl forward a little and move about 60 feet, but I don’t see him. I’m kinda worried now. He appeared to have no problem on the descent, but it is really every man for himself on a drifting rapid descent to a wreck in a 3-4 kt current. We are supposed to be spearfishing also, but I see nothing to shoot. Since he has the only surface marker and top side is whitecaps and ugly, I really have no good option. If I abort early and he stays on the wreck up current, then I will be drifting away and the boat will stay with his markers. I figure the best thing to do is wait for the planned 15 minutes at the downstream portion of the wreck which is our predetermined meeting place. My buddy doesn’t show and I’m more worried about him than myself, but there is nothing I can do, I can see 100 feet in every direction and I’m alone. I crawl up a heavy rope that has some fish attraction devices on it (giant floats attached by a hawser) that is just buzzing in the current and let go of the wreck at around 150 feet, I guess.
I like to ascend the first 30 -40 feet or so kinda fast. Like 60 fpm and I get my 6 ft emergency SMB (float) and reel out and send it up from a depth of around 105 feet. I stop my ascent, for a quick stop and then slowly ascend, stopping at 50 feet and 40 feet and then slowly ascend to 20 feet and get on the oxygen. My computer initially gave me around 35 minutes of deco, I think but since I come up too slow and do the deep stops it spanks me and clears slower. I finish all my deco at 20 feet and then 15 and switch back to air for a little while every 10 minutes. I’m shivering and trembling and the boat has not circled me which would be standard procedure if they had seen my marker. I’m wondering if the shaking is just cold and nerves, or if it is too much oxygen. I hit the surface with a run time of around 1 hour and I’m really cold since I did not exert myself .
After a few minutes I ‘m surprised to get a few glimpses of my boat between waves, about 250 yards inshore of me and start to blast the dive alert. Now the damn thing doesn’t work! It is making pathetic little squeeks and I still have 1000 lbs in my tank. (It worked last weekend!) I scream and yell and exert myself by trying to hold the base of the SMB down with one hand and hold the middle erect with the other hand in the 20 kt + wind with 6-8 feet, very tight seas, with whitecaps. The boat leaves and then comes back close again 15 minutes later and then is gone again. Since it is so ugly offshore there are few boats and I can see none. I then decide to get out my small 4 ft see-me tube, inflate that and then hold that on the tip of my speargun as far above my head as possible. I’m actually thinking now about all the idiots on Scubaboard who say you don’t need a snorkel in the ocean. Waves are crashing over my head occasionally and I’m constantly clearing my snorkel.
Then I’m surrounded by a school of small tuna and then the bull shark shows up. I’m now trying to watch the shark and hold all the crap up and decide to lower my gun incase I need it. The shark and fish leave after 5 minutes and I see a nice sailfish. I m getting colder and really pretty bummed because I have to take a crap and I’m already imagining how bad the Coasties are gonna laugh when they haul me out with a load in my suit.
The wind is blowing me offshore and I know the current is running hard. The water clears up to like 80 feet vis and then another shark appears, a 9 ft bullshark right under me. He is more curious and circles around below me. I decide I may have to shoot it, so I unclip the monofilament line which connects my shaft to the gun. The last thing I need is to lose my gun to a big bull. I unclip the line and then I t gets tangles in the two float lines that were attached to the smb’s which are also a little wrapped around my body and gear now. (Sometimes I really wish I played golf), Now if I shoot the shark he would be tied to me. I decide not to cut the line and get the spear line untangled and the shark comes in and takes a little nibble on the brass clip hanging 15 feet below me from the smb. He doesn’t like it and leaves.
I’m really getting bummed out now, I was not really that scared, but it is amazing how quickly you get sad and lonely floating out there. I say a prayer that I don’t get sea sick, or I would be really miserable. I concentrate on holding up the gun and float and not crapping my pants.
After like 45 minutes of drifting on the surface a 50 ft sportfish boat shows up! Pulling at least 6 lines (with lures or live bait, I can’t tell) He pulls close and then makes a turn and I have to yell to the Skipper on the fly bridge not to drag all his lures through me. I swim away to get away from the lures and the mate on the deck starts pulling in the lines. I am pretty relieved, and tell him to call my boat. It is hard to hear with the whitcaps slapping me and a hood. He tells me to get in the boat, but has no ladder and no platform. I say that I will just wait for my buddy. He starts getting real mad and says I’m now in 400 ft of water and he can see that there are no boats within 2 miles. He pulls up and I hand my gun through the tuna door, he has backed down on me rather than pulling upwind and allowing the boat to passively drift into me. I’m quite nervous about the props spinning toward me (and have no clue how well he can handle the vessel in this wind and seas around a diver) and then he lets the boat drift away a little in the wind and I feel a heavy monofilmant line (tied to one of his fishing lines flying through my crotch) I very quickly cut his line and not say a word.
The tuna door is narrow and it is obvious I can not get through the door with my 3 tanks on, especially without a ladder or platform. He then starts screaming and swearing and ordering me to take my gear off. Well I figured, I floated this long I’m not ditching all my scuba gear now. I yell that I will wait for my buddy and he is really mad and says that he is “ordering me” to get on the F’n boat. I refuse and then finally, I decide that I will remove the gear and try to pass the gear through the tuna door and then hop in. We manage this without getting chopped in the props. My buddy shows up in 5 minutes and I jump out the tuna door with all my gear in my hand and swim to the other boat.
