mikemill
Contributor
During my stay at CoCo View I did my first solo dive. On Wednesday we (my brother, a guy we meet there and had been diving with, and I) had decided to do a night dive. Well after dinner was over both canceled. Since we had done two night dives in the same area and dove that area a half dozen times during the day (so I knew the way in and out and the hazards) I decided to go for it solo.
While I was gearing up I came up with my plan: Surface swim to the drop point, head to the night dive tag buoy (procedure there is for night dives you take a number tag that you signed out and attach it to a buoy and then remove the tag when you come back in. First one in attaches a strobe and the last one out brings it back), head to the bow of the Prince Albert Wreck, take the heading I needed to get to the aircraft "wreck", take some pretty pictures, and head back in the way I came.
My brother stayed out near the entry and exit point but I didn't tell him where exactly I was going to head. Probably should have just in case.
Was an interesting experience. When I got to the buoy and attached my tag and strobe I couldn't find the anchor line leading to the Albert. I knew the heading and just took the bearing. I noticed that my heart seemed to beat a bit faster and I felt kinda paranoid/on edge. Once I got to the Albert I decided to forgo the rest of the plan and just stick in that area. Finding a hermit crab with anemones on it helped seal that decision.
My own comfort level (still feeling a bit paranoid) combined with the annoying surge convinced me to call it short.
I really did enjoy not having to worry about another diver, which made taking the pictures a bit more enjoyable.
Looking back it I probably shouldn't have done a night dive as the first solo. But I knew the area and knew what my compass headings were. Though even with that it was kinda eerie swimming along following your compass just waiting for a point of reference to come into view.
I am on the fence about whether or not the camera was a good idea or not. I'm leaning towards it being a good idea. I'm one of those people who's mind likes to wander and worry. So the camera gave me something to focus on. However, it did add to task load.
This wasn't how I planned on starting solo diving but it was a nice one. I got rewarded with several nice photos that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise and an experience to boot
One thing I'm taking away is that I want some more dive experience before I attempt a solo here in Monterey.
Dive details:
Time: 26 mins (like I said, called it short)
Max depth: 50 ft
Avg depth: 28 ft
My SAC was 0.56 which was a bit higher then the previous dives that day (.53, .49, .45)
While I was gearing up I came up with my plan: Surface swim to the drop point, head to the night dive tag buoy (procedure there is for night dives you take a number tag that you signed out and attach it to a buoy and then remove the tag when you come back in. First one in attaches a strobe and the last one out brings it back), head to the bow of the Prince Albert Wreck, take the heading I needed to get to the aircraft "wreck", take some pretty pictures, and head back in the way I came.
My brother stayed out near the entry and exit point but I didn't tell him where exactly I was going to head. Probably should have just in case.
Was an interesting experience. When I got to the buoy and attached my tag and strobe I couldn't find the anchor line leading to the Albert. I knew the heading and just took the bearing. I noticed that my heart seemed to beat a bit faster and I felt kinda paranoid/on edge. Once I got to the Albert I decided to forgo the rest of the plan and just stick in that area. Finding a hermit crab with anemones on it helped seal that decision.
My own comfort level (still feeling a bit paranoid) combined with the annoying surge convinced me to call it short.
I really did enjoy not having to worry about another diver, which made taking the pictures a bit more enjoyable.
Looking back it I probably shouldn't have done a night dive as the first solo. But I knew the area and knew what my compass headings were. Though even with that it was kinda eerie swimming along following your compass just waiting for a point of reference to come into view.
I am on the fence about whether or not the camera was a good idea or not. I'm leaning towards it being a good idea. I'm one of those people who's mind likes to wander and worry. So the camera gave me something to focus on. However, it did add to task load.
This wasn't how I planned on starting solo diving but it was a nice one. I got rewarded with several nice photos that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise and an experience to boot
One thing I'm taking away is that I want some more dive experience before I attempt a solo here in Monterey.
Dive details:
Time: 26 mins (like I said, called it short)
Max depth: 50 ft
Avg depth: 28 ft
My SAC was 0.56 which was a bit higher then the previous dives that day (.53, .49, .45)
