Okay, I admit it, I solo dived this past weekend. Before someone lights the kindling to burn me at the cross, let me clarify my 'solo' diving.
About 60 miles away from me, there is a nice saltwater aquarium where they allow diving (both SCUBA and free diving)... the wife is out of town, my other dive buddies weren't interested because of the price.
Me, I'm still running off the Philippines high, and with nothing better to do, I started planning to go out to the aquarium in the middle of the week, and on Friday I picked up my BCD and regulator (same ones used in Philippines - using rentals until I get home to the US and my own stuff), and a couple more weights, to match my weight load from Anilao.
Then I drove out thru the rain to the aquariium, tossed my bag over my shoulder and went in.
First I guess I should describe this place. The tank is about 25 meters across (round) and is 15.8 meters deep, a tidy little depth in my mind. It's set up with about 2/3 of the top ring with seats for the free divers to sit on between their dives.. there is a diving platform for practicing long strides, and there is a 1 .4 meter shelf, a 3 meter shelf built outside the tank diameter side by side (so you can drop from 1.4m to 3m without entering the main tank silo, and then a 7 meter shelf/ledge just above the plexiglass tunnel walk thru, and the deck of a concrete replica of a partial sunken half shipwreck (that is actually the base for the center pillar that supports the upper ledge and walkthru) sits at 12m. The bottom of the boat sits at the bottom of course.
So they sign me in, check my c-card, ask a few questions, if I have weights, am I using their air, etc. And then they say, "today, we don't have coaches". Normally, all divers are accompanied by a 'coach' in the tank. But, they have free diving instructors and assistance swimmers.
What we worked out is this... I would do all my surface checks, and then my personal training objectives before I went down to the bottom, the tank is built with a 1.4 meter step, and a 3 meter step to work on my other stuff... the free diving assistance swimmers and I worked out to check with each other every 3 minutes (set on my watch as a repeating alarm - a little annoying since it rings for 10 seconds, but gotta do what ya gotta do)... but of course it's audible across the tank and worked like a charm.
So, I got myself together, did a buddy check with the dive master, and then went down to the 1.4m level to put on my fins and do a quick buoyancy check, then I dropped off to the 3m deck and did mask drills, regulator recovery, BCD doff and don, oh I was having all kinds of good fun... with everything back on and secured again, I hovered over the edge, exhaled and started my descent.
I spent the rest of my first time circling the big concrete boat wreck (half a small pirate boat with the back end (stern wide open, and two swim thru ports on each side of the bow)... the sting rays were pretty amused at the new guy in the tank (only diver below 7 meters). The two sea turtles, not so much, they hung out above the 7m ledge. The single big tuna, just kept cruising around behind me.
Now, the first dive, I spent most of my time just exploring and getting used to the tank. Water was 27C, and vis was well, I just put infinity in my logbook. I worked mostly on buoyancy stuff, laying on the bottom, doing fin pivots, swimming inverted around the boat (while watching the lovely free diving ladies pose for pictures above)... took pictures of my sting ray buddies, and then even though I could have chewed down on my air to 30-40 bar, at 80 bar I shallowed up and watched people walk by the walk thru tunnel, then sat around on the 7m platform again watching the free divers glide down and up past me... finally with 50 bar I started to ascend and go back into the 3 meter practice platform, thinking I'd just park with my legs over the edge like a kid at the pool... imagine my surprise as I got to the ledge to find a moray eel all wedge into the concrete reef deco... so I bypassed that idea, did my safety stop kneeling on the 3m floor, and then finished.
My second dive was much like the first, except for this dive, I got a little bolder and did the swim thrus on the boat from a bow hole to the stern, bow to bow, stern to bow. It was fun to be alone and practicing different things. One thing we did forget on the second dive was my 3 minute check on the watch.. I was watching, but didn't set my watch when I went in.
So, the fish life was kind of lacking, they say they have plans later this summer to import some other specimens, but with all the free divers, I think that will be a mistake.
Good way to put in two dives, money well spent in my mind, and as I told my wife, cheaper than a round of golf ($150) here in China. That is my report
About 60 miles away from me, there is a nice saltwater aquarium where they allow diving (both SCUBA and free diving)... the wife is out of town, my other dive buddies weren't interested because of the price.
Me, I'm still running off the Philippines high, and with nothing better to do, I started planning to go out to the aquarium in the middle of the week, and on Friday I picked up my BCD and regulator (same ones used in Philippines - using rentals until I get home to the US and my own stuff), and a couple more weights, to match my weight load from Anilao.
Then I drove out thru the rain to the aquariium, tossed my bag over my shoulder and went in.
First I guess I should describe this place. The tank is about 25 meters across (round) and is 15.8 meters deep, a tidy little depth in my mind. It's set up with about 2/3 of the top ring with seats for the free divers to sit on between their dives.. there is a diving platform for practicing long strides, and there is a 1 .4 meter shelf, a 3 meter shelf built outside the tank diameter side by side (so you can drop from 1.4m to 3m without entering the main tank silo, and then a 7 meter shelf/ledge just above the plexiglass tunnel walk thru, and the deck of a concrete replica of a partial sunken half shipwreck (that is actually the base for the center pillar that supports the upper ledge and walkthru) sits at 12m. The bottom of the boat sits at the bottom of course.
So they sign me in, check my c-card, ask a few questions, if I have weights, am I using their air, etc. And then they say, "today, we don't have coaches". Normally, all divers are accompanied by a 'coach' in the tank. But, they have free diving instructors and assistance swimmers.
What we worked out is this... I would do all my surface checks, and then my personal training objectives before I went down to the bottom, the tank is built with a 1.4 meter step, and a 3 meter step to work on my other stuff... the free diving assistance swimmers and I worked out to check with each other every 3 minutes (set on my watch as a repeating alarm - a little annoying since it rings for 10 seconds, but gotta do what ya gotta do)... but of course it's audible across the tank and worked like a charm.
So, I got myself together, did a buddy check with the dive master, and then went down to the 1.4m level to put on my fins and do a quick buoyancy check, then I dropped off to the 3m deck and did mask drills, regulator recovery, BCD doff and don, oh I was having all kinds of good fun... with everything back on and secured again, I hovered over the edge, exhaled and started my descent.
I spent the rest of my first time circling the big concrete boat wreck (half a small pirate boat with the back end (stern wide open, and two swim thru ports on each side of the bow)... the sting rays were pretty amused at the new guy in the tank (only diver below 7 meters). The two sea turtles, not so much, they hung out above the 7m ledge. The single big tuna, just kept cruising around behind me.
Now, the first dive, I spent most of my time just exploring and getting used to the tank. Water was 27C, and vis was well, I just put infinity in my logbook. I worked mostly on buoyancy stuff, laying on the bottom, doing fin pivots, swimming inverted around the boat (while watching the lovely free diving ladies pose for pictures above)... took pictures of my sting ray buddies, and then even though I could have chewed down on my air to 30-40 bar, at 80 bar I shallowed up and watched people walk by the walk thru tunnel, then sat around on the 7m platform again watching the free divers glide down and up past me... finally with 50 bar I started to ascend and go back into the 3 meter practice platform, thinking I'd just park with my legs over the edge like a kid at the pool... imagine my surprise as I got to the ledge to find a moray eel all wedge into the concrete reef deco... so I bypassed that idea, did my safety stop kneeling on the 3m floor, and then finished.
My second dive was much like the first, except for this dive, I got a little bolder and did the swim thrus on the boat from a bow hole to the stern, bow to bow, stern to bow. It was fun to be alone and practicing different things. One thing we did forget on the second dive was my 3 minute check on the watch.. I was watching, but didn't set my watch when I went in.
So, the fish life was kind of lacking, they say they have plans later this summer to import some other specimens, but with all the free divers, I think that will be a mistake.
Good way to put in two dives, money well spent in my mind, and as I told my wife, cheaper than a round of golf ($150) here in China. That is my report
