down4fun
Contributor
I had plans to dive the wreck of the Miller Lite today with Terri and James. I had been thinking the last week or two it's been a while since i did a bailout drill. So I ran some numbers in vplanner for the dive and it happens that the runtime for 30 minutes of bottom time was almost exactly the same whether i bailout or not. So that clinched the decision. Upon arrival at the dock i shared with Terri my plan to bailout at depth, gas switch at 70 feet and then once i hit 20 feet go back on the loop and clean up with O2. She was in agreement and we informed our third team member when he arrived of my plan.
We get to the site and current is 1.5-2 so we decide to hot drop to the wreck. Capt oliver of Avid Diver is great and puts us right on the wreck almost every time when we hot drop. So we all gear up James and Terri are on the back platform and I am right behind them. The capt gives the shout dive, dive dive and we pile into the water. I am not 5 feet below the surface and I realize My right foot feels vey light. I give a quick kick and confirm I am finless on the right foot. ...What to do. I am behind Terri and James and if I abort they may not know where i am because i cannot catch up to them with one fin to tell them. So I elect to drop to the wreck and sort it out there.
About 150 feet from the wreck the current dies and we are left to swim to the wreck. I am very inefficient with my one fin so i drop to the sand and pull and glide to the wreck. Once on the deck of the wreck I am a little tired and give the time out sign to james. I need a minute to settle my heart rate down and decide what I want to do. I'm getting a puzzling look from my teammates so I show them my unmatching feet...one fin, one no fin. Terri asks if I want to thumb but since the current on the wreck is nil and our plan was to head to the engine room anyway i decide to proceed with the dive.
We had a great time exploring the cargo holds and engine room and since most of it is pretty tight i could just pull and glide my way thru. At 27 minutes i give the thumb as it's going to take a minute or so to get a bag up and i want to be on time for the capt to see a bag at 30 minutes.
The team is all on the deck, i bailout to o/c change my computers and terri blows a bag for us to begin our drift deco. At 70 feet I signal to Terri I am going to gas switch and do. We complete our deco stops up to 20 feet where i again signal i am switching (this time back to ccr) and do so. I flush with o2 and finish my deco. Our decompression was complicated by an abundance of moon jellyfish at 10-30 feet. Maneuvering with one fin was a little more difficult. And I was glad when our deco had cleared and we were out of the water.
The thought not to do the bailout crossed my mind, but in reality when TSHTF it usually is multiple things, so why not bailout with one fin? If nothing else it would create additional stress just like a real oh S... situation. In the end it all went well and i feel better for having done it. With all the recent ccr deaths I think it is important to stay on top of our game.
All in all it was a great dive. Challenging and fun at the same time.
We get to the site and current is 1.5-2 so we decide to hot drop to the wreck. Capt oliver of Avid Diver is great and puts us right on the wreck almost every time when we hot drop. So we all gear up James and Terri are on the back platform and I am right behind them. The capt gives the shout dive, dive dive and we pile into the water. I am not 5 feet below the surface and I realize My right foot feels vey light. I give a quick kick and confirm I am finless on the right foot. ...What to do. I am behind Terri and James and if I abort they may not know where i am because i cannot catch up to them with one fin to tell them. So I elect to drop to the wreck and sort it out there.
About 150 feet from the wreck the current dies and we are left to swim to the wreck. I am very inefficient with my one fin so i drop to the sand and pull and glide to the wreck. Once on the deck of the wreck I am a little tired and give the time out sign to james. I need a minute to settle my heart rate down and decide what I want to do. I'm getting a puzzling look from my teammates so I show them my unmatching feet...one fin, one no fin. Terri asks if I want to thumb but since the current on the wreck is nil and our plan was to head to the engine room anyway i decide to proceed with the dive.
We had a great time exploring the cargo holds and engine room and since most of it is pretty tight i could just pull and glide my way thru. At 27 minutes i give the thumb as it's going to take a minute or so to get a bag up and i want to be on time for the capt to see a bag at 30 minutes.
The team is all on the deck, i bailout to o/c change my computers and terri blows a bag for us to begin our drift deco. At 70 feet I signal to Terri I am going to gas switch and do. We complete our deco stops up to 20 feet where i again signal i am switching (this time back to ccr) and do so. I flush with o2 and finish my deco. Our decompression was complicated by an abundance of moon jellyfish at 10-30 feet. Maneuvering with one fin was a little more difficult. And I was glad when our deco had cleared and we were out of the water.
The thought not to do the bailout crossed my mind, but in reality when TSHTF it usually is multiple things, so why not bailout with one fin? If nothing else it would create additional stress just like a real oh S... situation. In the end it all went well and i feel better for having done it. With all the recent ccr deaths I think it is important to stay on top of our game.
All in all it was a great dive. Challenging and fun at the same time.
