Skills Practice at Point Lobos

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Gombessa

Contributor
Messages
4,436
Reaction score
227
Location
NorCal
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm not sure if I even need to post this, since most people probably think skills dives are pretty dull material (but if you like the bunnies, you can always skip to the end).

We neglected to discover beforehand that Sunday was the Big Sur Marathon, so Highway 1, being a big part of the race course, was blocked off. We sat around and in a parking lot on Rio Road with a bunch of other stranded motorists waiting for the timed southbound convoy to roll. When we arrived at the park, we saw that this day was the perfect example of marginal swell models (8-11ft in the morning) with pretty darn good conditions (25ft viz, low-to-moderate surge). We had committed to a skills dive, so we made our way out to the north end of Middle Reef (through some pretty big surface swells rolling in) and descended.* Much hilarity ensued.

[youtubehq]AY6gTnL-A2s[/youtubehq]

After a long set of skills practice, we made our way back to shore, and as we were packing up, a baby bunny hopped into the middle of the dirt path, laid down on its tummy, and proceeded to roll around in the dirt. It didn't even move when August and I flanked it for a better look. Cutest thing ever, but probably not a lot going for it natural-selection-wise.

TI27w.jpg


* After getting home, we heard about a very sad incident at the park that unfolded right over our heads that day. Apparently, a diver aboard the BH2 suffered a heart attack after ascending from a dive, and a rescue was attempted in the cove. We missed the whole thing, and had no idea anything had transpired when we got back to shore.
 
Love the oatmeal cam!

You guys are looking good out there, but I'll tell you Danny Riordan would be all over the light signal for the S-drill -- he wants it FAST, so it's clearly discernable as an emergency signal.

I think skills dives are fun . . . good thing, because I need to do a few in preparation for my visit to you guys at the end of May.
 
Love the oatmeal cam!

You guys are looking good out there, but I'll tell you Danny Riordan would be all over the light signal for the S-drill -- he wants it FAST, so it's clearly discernable as an emergency signal.

Thanks Lynne! Tell you the truth, it was a bit hard picking out a couple of minutes of decent looking footage out of an hour of video, but we were getting a bit more on track by the end of the dive. Thanks for the tip on the light signal as well, I'll remember for next time.

I think skills dives are fun . . . good thing, because I need to do a few in preparation for my visit to you guys at the end of May.

Heh, you know a surefire way to be the best-looking diver on a team in NorCal? Dive with Team Bunny.
 
I'm not sure if I even need to post this, since most people probably think skills dives are pretty dull material.

If you don't mind a HOG DIR fence-sitter tagging along, I would like to join you in a skills dive sometime.
 
If you don't mind a HOG DIR fence-sitter tagging along, I would like to join you in a skills dive sometime.

Awesome, let's do it! We usually try to incorporate a skill or two into a regular dive too, which is kind of a "best of both worlds" thing. I'm just glad we didn't make it seem too boring :)
 
Dude, oatmeal-cam rocks!
 
Dude, oatmeal-cam is like the most brilliant invention of our time.

I love the baby bunny pic too!

I'll tell you Danny Riordan would be all over the light signal for the S-drill -- he wants it FAST, so it's clearly discernable as an emergency signal

Looked alright to me. If my buddy signaled me the way the second diver signaled in his S-drill, and I didn't stick a reg in his face, well that would be my fault, not his.

But I think your gear checks are really rushed, guys. You need to slow down on that :wink:
 
Ken,

Quick question, and I don't know if you can answer it? S-drills when they are in operation on a real OOA situation, will the divers be in that orientation, side to side in trim?

Or is more emphasis placed on getting the regulator in his/her mouth, regardless of trim?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom