Dorothy, I don’t think I’m in Washington State anymore.
Today I did my first warm water tech dive (if you don’t count 50 degrees in San Diego). On the dive before today (last Saturday) at home, the water temp was 38 degrees. Today it was 75 at depth, and 80 at the surface.
The first dive was on S. Fl. Divers’ pontoon boat. Twelve divers. Sheesh, I didn’t know there were tech cattle boats.
We arrived at the site and discovered a 3 knot current. No exaggeration, just over 3 knots. So the boat situated up-current and we dive-bombed down onto the wreck. Pretty good aim, our team came down just west of the wreck and we had to kick hard to not get swept by and miss it. The vis was fantastic, and we could see the wreck from 50’ as we descended. I‘d say we had 100’ vis. We really had to stay inside the holes, or lee of any structure to keep clear of the current.
What a fun wreck to dive. I went into some big openings, the engine room, bridge, etc., but there were absolutely some penetration potential holes that called to me. I was glad I’d brought my 21w HID for poking into the holes.
We drifted a long way from the wreck in the 3 knot current during deco.
Excellent dive.
My second dive on the Hydro was from a smaller boat (don’t remember the name), owned by Capt. Paul. This was obviously a spear fishing boat, and the other three divers were all diving single tanks with ponies, using air for backgas, and their only goal was to kill fish and send them up. Again, we dive-bombed the wreck, but we were much closer to it and really had to kick straight down quickly to hit it. The current actually seemed faster on the wreck (kicking into it could cost you a mask), but slower during deco. After deco, we surfaced 1.2 knots from the Hydro, so the deco speed was about 2.4 knots. During the 20’ stop, a nice sized bull shark circled around and by two of us, giving us something to enjoy as the minutes ticked by. After we boarded, more bull sharks circled below the boat, and we laid on the platform with masks on and our faces in the water watching them.
The 3 spear-dudes were skunked on the hydro, so they convinced Capt. Paul to make a stop on the way back at some old pier pilings and make a quick 60’ bounce dive (15 mins bottom time). I went along to watch, and again, they brought nothing back to the boat.
I’ve been filling at Air Express. Love those cave fills!!
Tomorrow morning I do the Lowrance. Here’s hoping the current is down, but the vis is just as good.
Will report...
Today I did my first warm water tech dive (if you don’t count 50 degrees in San Diego). On the dive before today (last Saturday) at home, the water temp was 38 degrees. Today it was 75 at depth, and 80 at the surface.
The first dive was on S. Fl. Divers’ pontoon boat. Twelve divers. Sheesh, I didn’t know there were tech cattle boats.
We arrived at the site and discovered a 3 knot current. No exaggeration, just over 3 knots. So the boat situated up-current and we dive-bombed down onto the wreck. Pretty good aim, our team came down just west of the wreck and we had to kick hard to not get swept by and miss it. The vis was fantastic, and we could see the wreck from 50’ as we descended. I‘d say we had 100’ vis. We really had to stay inside the holes, or lee of any structure to keep clear of the current.
What a fun wreck to dive. I went into some big openings, the engine room, bridge, etc., but there were absolutely some penetration potential holes that called to me. I was glad I’d brought my 21w HID for poking into the holes.
We drifted a long way from the wreck in the 3 knot current during deco.
Excellent dive.
My second dive on the Hydro was from a smaller boat (don’t remember the name), owned by Capt. Paul. This was obviously a spear fishing boat, and the other three divers were all diving single tanks with ponies, using air for backgas, and their only goal was to kill fish and send them up. Again, we dive-bombed the wreck, but we were much closer to it and really had to kick straight down quickly to hit it. The current actually seemed faster on the wreck (kicking into it could cost you a mask), but slower during deco. After deco, we surfaced 1.2 knots from the Hydro, so the deco speed was about 2.4 knots. During the 20’ stop, a nice sized bull shark circled around and by two of us, giving us something to enjoy as the minutes ticked by. After we boarded, more bull sharks circled below the boat, and we laid on the platform with masks on and our faces in the water watching them.
The 3 spear-dudes were skunked on the hydro, so they convinced Capt. Paul to make a stop on the way back at some old pier pilings and make a quick 60’ bounce dive (15 mins bottom time). I went along to watch, and again, they brought nothing back to the boat.
I’ve been filling at Air Express. Love those cave fills!!
Tomorrow morning I do the Lowrance. Here’s hoping the current is down, but the vis is just as good.
Will report...
