jadairiii
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For those of you considering moving from open circuit to an RB for more bottom time consider this. My buddies and I did a nice dive yesterday on open circuit, double Alum 80's using Suex XJ 37 scooters: (spoiler alert, my SAC ended up being a .39)
We dropped in on the Lady Luck wreck, deck is about 110' and bottom is about 120', great conditions, we tied off the torpedo float and we shot down to the sand to check out an 8' bull shark that showed up to check us out. We did a whole circuit of the wreck along with a bit of penetration, the took a compass heading and scootered our way to the Rodeo 25, there we were greeted by a very large black grouper and lots of cuda and a ton of reef fish, we tied off the float again, did a circuit of the wreck (the recent hurricane really beat it up) then, off again to the 3rd reef. South Florida reefs are in 3 basic reef lines, but those 3 each are in a couple of sections each. We come into the deep reef, lots of fish and some huge lobsters, then onto the main section of the 3rd where a very large Lemon shark buzzed us. We traveled across the 3rd, then through the sand, to a deeper section of the second reef (or shallower 3rd?), lots to see, then off to the next reef line, do a bit of north/south running to check out this rarely dove reef, then on to some super white sand, it looked like diving in a swimming pool! Scooter some more checking out all those critters that live in the sand area, which can be at times more exciting than diving the reef, very few dive this section, too bad for them. We finally get to the true 2nd reef where the reef balls are, we do some north/south running and then, for fun, do some skill work, valve drills, gas switches and such, just to stay in shape. Total run time was 2 hours, and we surfaced with 1200 psi still in my back gas (30/30). Also nice is the boat being right there, within feet of our torpedo float.
Hard to argue the joy of diving a quality scooter and the "safety" of open circuit. The sea life you can see on a 2 hour dive covering that distance is amazing (google earth it), plus starting in 120' of water and ending your dive in 18' with 60 cuft of gas left is pretty fun. Not to mention not having to spend the next 6 hours cleaning your RB.....anyway, that is diving in the "fast lane"!
We dropped in on the Lady Luck wreck, deck is about 110' and bottom is about 120', great conditions, we tied off the torpedo float and we shot down to the sand to check out an 8' bull shark that showed up to check us out. We did a whole circuit of the wreck along with a bit of penetration, the took a compass heading and scootered our way to the Rodeo 25, there we were greeted by a very large black grouper and lots of cuda and a ton of reef fish, we tied off the float again, did a circuit of the wreck (the recent hurricane really beat it up) then, off again to the 3rd reef. South Florida reefs are in 3 basic reef lines, but those 3 each are in a couple of sections each. We come into the deep reef, lots of fish and some huge lobsters, then onto the main section of the 3rd where a very large Lemon shark buzzed us. We traveled across the 3rd, then through the sand, to a deeper section of the second reef (or shallower 3rd?), lots to see, then off to the next reef line, do a bit of north/south running to check out this rarely dove reef, then on to some super white sand, it looked like diving in a swimming pool! Scooter some more checking out all those critters that live in the sand area, which can be at times more exciting than diving the reef, very few dive this section, too bad for them. We finally get to the true 2nd reef where the reef balls are, we do some north/south running and then, for fun, do some skill work, valve drills, gas switches and such, just to stay in shape. Total run time was 2 hours, and we surfaced with 1200 psi still in my back gas (30/30). Also nice is the boat being right there, within feet of our torpedo float.
Hard to argue the joy of diving a quality scooter and the "safety" of open circuit. The sea life you can see on a 2 hour dive covering that distance is amazing (google earth it), plus starting in 120' of water and ending your dive in 18' with 60 cuft of gas left is pretty fun. Not to mention not having to spend the next 6 hours cleaning your RB.....anyway, that is diving in the "fast lane"!