Tuwanek day trip this Sunday October 10 - open invitation
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OP
Well, I think we all had a great time at Tuwanek yesterday. 
We really lucked out on the weather, it was a beautiful sunny day. The viz was superb! I would say 70 to maybe even 80 ft!
We did the right Islet twice, and I am really confused! Maybe somebody can clear up my confusion... On the first dive, we swam out to the right islet, but rather than drop in on the south side of it (like I usually do), we went all the way to the western end of it. We dropped in, saw the little rusted boat sitting in about 25 ft of water, and swam out west (away from the islet), over a reef, and dropped in along a fairly steep wall, that actually reminded me more of the left islet in terms of topography. Outstanding viz, lots of jellies, but it was really strange, because nothing looked familiar; it was like a totally new site to me. After about 50 minutes, we ascended and found ourselves on the south east point of the islet, so it wasn't too bad of a swim back to the beach.
I was determined to find some wolf eels for Marty, so on the second dive, we did what I usually do: swam out the closest (southern) part of the right islet, dropped in, the bottom was about 30 ft or so, and followed the contour westward where the boulders meet the sandy bottom, which gradually takes you down to about 70-80 ft or so as you circle the island. This is the "usual" right islet dive for me, a gentle slope of big rocky boulders. We did find the wolf eel dens on the back (North?) wall, but definitely they were not home, because we were 5 divers in excellent viz scouring the reef looking for them! (Sorry Marty! I promise next time we will find them!). I guess they have moved to deeper water for whatever reason.
Anyways, after about 40 minutes, checking my compass, I had a feeling we had swum more than once around the island, and sure enough, I saw that same rusted little boat hull in 25 feet of water, which is on the west side of the islet. So I knew we had gone too far, so we turned around and did our safety stop on the south west tip of the island.
So it seems like there are two totally different dives there. One is an outer wall, where you can go about about half way around on one tank, and the other is an inner rocky slope, where you can go 1.5 ways around the islet on one tank. Cool, but very confusing. Can anyone clear this up? I have been looking at google maps, and am wondering if it is possible that we went around all 3 Lamb Islets on the first dive?
Anyway, if anyone has any insight, it is greatly appreciated! I will defintely go back, and keep diving it until I have figured it out!
We really lucked out on the weather, it was a beautiful sunny day. The viz was superb! I would say 70 to maybe even 80 ft!We did the right Islet twice, and I am really confused! Maybe somebody can clear up my confusion... On the first dive, we swam out to the right islet, but rather than drop in on the south side of it (like I usually do), we went all the way to the western end of it. We dropped in, saw the little rusted boat sitting in about 25 ft of water, and swam out west (away from the islet), over a reef, and dropped in along a fairly steep wall, that actually reminded me more of the left islet in terms of topography. Outstanding viz, lots of jellies, but it was really strange, because nothing looked familiar; it was like a totally new site to me. After about 50 minutes, we ascended and found ourselves on the south east point of the islet, so it wasn't too bad of a swim back to the beach.
I was determined to find some wolf eels for Marty, so on the second dive, we did what I usually do: swam out the closest (southern) part of the right islet, dropped in, the bottom was about 30 ft or so, and followed the contour westward where the boulders meet the sandy bottom, which gradually takes you down to about 70-80 ft or so as you circle the island. This is the "usual" right islet dive for me, a gentle slope of big rocky boulders. We did find the wolf eel dens on the back (North?) wall, but definitely they were not home, because we were 5 divers in excellent viz scouring the reef looking for them! (Sorry Marty! I promise next time we will find them!). I guess they have moved to deeper water for whatever reason.
Anyways, after about 40 minutes, checking my compass, I had a feeling we had swum more than once around the island, and sure enough, I saw that same rusted little boat hull in 25 feet of water, which is on the west side of the islet. So I knew we had gone too far, so we turned around and did our safety stop on the south west tip of the island.
So it seems like there are two totally different dives there. One is an outer wall, where you can go about about half way around on one tank, and the other is an inner rocky slope, where you can go 1.5 ways around the islet on one tank. Cool, but very confusing. Can anyone clear this up? I have been looking at google maps, and am wondering if it is possible that we went around all 3 Lamb Islets on the first dive?
Anyway, if anyone has any insight, it is greatly appreciated! I will defintely go back, and keep diving it until I have figured it out!
BradnerBoy
Contributor
That's probably the single biggest misnomer/myth about why one would dive nitrox, Marty. Generally speaking, nitrox does NOT allow you to dive deeper than air.
You should pop into your LDS and find out more about it. I think you may be surprised by what you learn. At least then you can decide whether to get certified for nitrox or not based on first-hand (and correct) information.
DaleC
Contributor
Here's a link to the latest nitrox thread. In between the spatting there are some interesting ideas being batted about http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/354746-nitrox-vs-air.html
The basic nitrox course was one of the better classes I took because it taught me to look at the elements of mixes and their effects physiologically instead of just viewing them as a whole. Step one of intelligent gas management.
The basic nitrox course was one of the better classes I took because it taught me to look at the elements of mixes and their effects physiologically instead of just viewing them as a whole. Step one of intelligent gas management.
Slamfire
Contributor
I thought it was one of the better classes because I was your only classmate...
When Marty and I were driving back in from Tuwanek, we were talking about going to Caulfield for a couple of dives. Marty asked me, "if you go with your regular dive buddies, wouldn't you guys go deep." As previously established, Marty has a healthy respect for depth. I explained that we can't go deep because the reef there bottoms out at around 45'.
Let's assume that there is a vis of more than 5', and we establish that we will at all times stay at least 5' above the bottom, ie. max depth 40'. RDP says that I can stay down for 140 mins on air. With that much allowed bottom time, there would not be much interest in extending that bottom time. If you only use nitrox because you want to extend bottom times, nitrox would not seem to be worthwhile for this dive (there are other benefits in addition to just extending bottom time).
On the other hand, if you were to dive Whyte Islet for a max depth of 70', your max bottom time on air would be 40 mins. If you use 36%, your EAD would then be 50', which has a max bottom time of 80 mins. You doubled your max bottom time by using 36% nitrox and 80 minutes, while being a longish time for a dive, is not as extravagant as a 140 mins dive. Marty does not have a p-valve
. You are totally correct when saying that Nitrox does not allow you to dive deeper than air. But it starts to become more attractive beyond certain depths.
DaleC
Contributor
Gabriel, I'd forgotten that. Ahh nitrox class... where I demonstrated my Einstein like math skills If I remember correctly you had the formulas plugged into a PDA (cheater).
Also, if one starts diving areas like Pavillion lake (going up again this Saturday) you will start looking at EAN to reduce your DCS risk.
If I remember correctly you had the formulas plugged into a PDA (cheater).Also, if one starts diving areas like Pavillion lake (going up again this Saturday) you will start looking at EAN to reduce your DCS risk.
Marty does not have a p-valve
If i did, those surface swims would've been slow and time consuming, i was kicking like there's no tomorrow to prevent a urine flood.
Gabe explained it quite well, its something I'm deffinitely going to do, I have a serious issue with going too deep, personal opinion possibly a close minded one, i dont see the point.
but he also explained why he dives so deep and the gear that he uses to do it, which also is quite intriguing, but costly.
I'm probably going to hit up mike's advice (gpd mike) and take the online course and write the small exam.
I had a fantastic time at tuwanek with some serious divers, and learned new things about nitrox from Gabe.
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