Tuesday Dives

[Uncle Pug]

I showed up for the dive with my SeaQuest Wing and plastic backpack sporting a steel 72.

We did a 57' max depth 55 minute dive as follows:
35 minutes averaging 50'
15 minutes averaging 20'
5 minutes to the surface.

I guessed the profile at 40' and the Stinger said 38' so we still agree for the most part.

I forgot to put the Stinger in computer mode but on this dive it really wouldn't have been that instructive... I will try to remember to do it the next time we do a ~100' dive.

It was just a fun dive... nice and relaxed pace except for the swim against the current on the way back... but then that was at 20' so it didn't matter that much. Started with 2500 psi and ended with 400 psi.

No octopus but plenty of fish and one huge cabezon that Curt swam right in to... I was trying to warn him off with my light but he didn't get the message in time. The cabby didn't even move. I figured Curt would get chomped... but no such luck.

Curt carried a pile of bricks back... I ended up carrying two but that was just because I started to get light toward the end of the dive.

Diving that little 72 is like having nothing on... slips right through the water... but I do miss having some weight on my back.

{Shadow... yes}

 

[Uncle Pug]

Shoot! Dive gear loaded... waiting for a call from my Tuesday dive buddy... tried to call him at school (he's a teacher) but no answer.

Left a message on his cell phone... it went un-returned... the appointed hour drawing nearer all the time.

Well isn't that a fine kettle of fish... beautiful day today but tomorrow will be rain and blowing again. Figures... spring break we usually get rain!

Spring break?

Hmmmm.... teacher.... oh... now I remember.... something about a taking a spring break trip to the Oregon coast.

I knew that... I was just getting my gear loaded for tomorrow.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Tax Day or Dive Day?

I say "Dive Day."

But it turned out to be a taxing day anyway.

122' for 11 minutes.

I had the little 72 filled to 2400 with EAN32 (that was all the bank had to offer) and topped it to 2500 with air... that gave me about 31.6% (so I figger it's still EAN32.)

I pressurized the reg and turned the valve off before leaving home... yep 2500... and when I got to the dive site it was about the same.

Curt and I got geared up and headed out on the surface to a point where we estimated the depth to be 70'~80' and descended.... bottom came at 80' and from there we head on down to 120' or so.

When we got to *or so* (about 5 minutes after starting our descent) I heard bubbles coming from somewhere... but I couldn't discern where.

It was dark and the viz was horrible but I got Curt's attention and signalled for him to check my 1st stage for bubbles... he looked and signalled back that it was OK.

Still hearing bubbles I again got his attention and again signalled for him to check me over... it was then he realized that my second stage exhaust wasn't from breathing... the o-ring was kaput on the hose.

He pointed to my second stage and I took it out and looked it over and sure enough it was hosed.

This all took about a minute to figure out so six minutes into the dive I thumbed it.... and spent the next 5 minutes ascending to the surface.

This is the first time I have ever had that happen! Interestingly enough, even though the o-ring was completely compromised the leak didn't empty my tank right away... in fact when I checked *my* SAC rate for the dive it was only .88 (twice what it was last time I dove.)

.... so....

I suppose I could have at least gotten in half a dive instead of just thumbing it...

JUST KIDDING Aborting the dive was the only prudent thing to do....

However there really was no need to expedite the ascent and I could have taken even longer if I had wanted to on the way up.

 

[jepuskar]

My buddy and I were doing a dive called South Slave Hut in Bonaire a little over a month ago...well on descent she noticed a constant stream of bubbles coming from her computer..right where the hose goes into the computer.

We got down to 30 feet and she tried to get it to stop, but it was not going to stop. I guess we could of continued the dive, but we surfaced and started to head back in.

This particular site on Bonaire is not near any resorts and the surface swim was a good 100-200 yards from the shore...nobody around either.

UP, your problem was more severe as it was deeper and involved your reg, but you obviously did the right thing, like we did.


Jason

 

[Uncle Pug]

What a beautiful day! Flat calm... both water and wind. The tide was out so the surface swim was a walk instead. The bottom drops away rapidly at a certain point here and we were able to almost walk out to that point. Still we took 7 minutes slowly swimming down the slope to our max depth of 115' (which would have been 127' if the tide was up.)

The usual suspects were lurking in the dark... big lings and various species of rockfish. It was so dark that I could not read my depth gauge without shinning a light on it.

This is the same place I discovered my regulator hose o-ring was kaput last Tuesday. Today I was diving the set of double steel 72s I had just put together. What a sweet little rig... I really like it!

We worked our way along the bottom and started back up the slope and it was just a very leisurely dive with a gently incoming current carrying us along.

At 75' I spotted a weight belt and showed it to Curt... he promptly reached out for it so I let him take it. Remember he is the brick collector and I guess he just likes carrying heavy stuff.

While he was busy trying to lug it along I got out my lift bag... tapped him on the leg... took the weight belt back and hooked the bag up to it... a few squirts from the inflator hose and the belt was neutral.

We turn around a that point a began swimming back toward our entry point but now against the slight current... still a very pleasant dive.

When we finally surfaced Curt said, "I was in the yellow the whole dive until here at the end and the computer finally went down into the green two clicks."

Funny how that works.

Max depth 115' BT 46 minutes
2500 psi start 1400 psi end / double steel 72s

 

[scuba-sass]

Dearest UP,

Thanks for one of the most descriptive and relaxing posts I've ever read. I almost feel like I was there!

Keep 'em coming...

Scuba-sass

 

[Big-t-2538]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

At 75' I spotted a weight belt and showed it to Curt... he promptly reached out for it so I let him take it. Remember he is the brick collector and I guess he just likes carrying heavy stuff.

While he was busy trying to lug it along I got out my lift bag... tapped him on the leg... took the weight belt back and hooked the bag up to it... a few squirts from the inflator hose and the belt was neutral.

Why does he collect bricks...you have mentioned in other posts he likes rocks and bricks....you would think he would eventually figgur out that a lift bag is wonderful for heavier objects.

 

[Uncle Pug]

...the bricks were from... well... I don't know what they were from but there are a lot of them... and they each have a word in the middle of them.

Curt is making a walkway out of them at his beach cabin. He is collecting different words.

Yesterday he was towing a plankton sein to collect samples so he didn't get a chance to harvest any bricks.

Next Tuesday... if I remember it... I will take a mesh bag along to use with the lift bag for brick hauling.

 

[Big-t-2538]

you guys could start a little u/w brick recovery business....

 

[Uncle Pug]

scuba-sass once bubbled...
Thanks for one of the most descriptive and relaxing posts I've ever read. I almost feel like I was there!

Keep 'em coming...

Scuba-sass... I shall try... I'm leaving out the other dive days of the week but this is the closest I've ever come to a dive log so I want to keep it up.

Big T... I don't know about making it a *business* but I'm thinking Curt may be on to something with the brick path thing... I think I'll start fetching home some bricks myself.