Go deep, stay long

Cave 2010

This year, I finally broke down and decided to try cave diving.   Back in the dark ages, I tried a cavern dive in Mexico.  While I enjoyed the dive, it was too early in my diving to fully understand the nuance of the dives.

This year, Becky invited us on a Manatee dive down in Florida, and figured I’d stay in the area and take a cave class.   After many discussions on cave instructors, I settled on Paul Heinerth.  I wanted an instructor that would challenge me rather than let me coast through the class. My Trimix instructor (Corey Mearns) introduced me to Paul at a social gathering last fall.   Others echoed the recommendations, so I made plans to stick around and take the class.

Little Devil

The cavern portion of the class involved a number of new of skills.  Many were familiar, some were not.  Much of the class pushed me to the limits of my comfort zone.  However, after it was all done, I felt much more comfortable diving in this environment.   I guess that’s the point.   I want to thank Paul, for suffering with me.  I’m sure he’s dealt with worse, but I know I was a handful. After the class, Becky and Dave were kind enough to take their time to dive with a cave newbie.   I’m sure it can be a bit annoying to dive with a novice.   I appreciate them taking the time to dive with me.  Given all the flooding in Florida, we ended up in Ginnie Springs.  Two days of our class was spent at Ginnie, so I knew a little bit about of the layout.  Diving after the class removed much of the “stress” involved, and we had a lot of fun.  Becky took a lot of photos.   I’ve posted a few here, but check out her website for more great shots.

I returned to the scene of the crime for some more shots of the cavern and caves.  The weather up North (NJ/PA) was not good, so my lovely wife (Val) suggest that I stay in Florida.   Did I mention that I love my wife?!   I spent the next two days practicing my skills, and taking pictures.   I’m not sure if I’m a died in the wool cave diver, but I did have a good time diving with some good friends.

After a few false starts, and scheduling conflicts, I finally hooked up with Alan Studley for some training out in Monterey California.   This time my wonderful wife was able to join me for the trip.   I booked what I hoped was a nice room for the week.  We packed our bags along with my rebreather and drysuit, and headed out west.  The trip out was long, but uneventful.  When we left NJ, the weather was warm and sunny.  Upon arrival, we were met by the typical So Cal ocean breeze.  The temp had dropped 20 degrees, and I was digging my jacket out of the luggage.   Although it was 10pm, we were in a desperate search of food.  The airlines have now gone to a “pay as you go” meal program, and there was no food for half of the plane.   Fortunately the restaurant at the hotel was open.  We got a light bite to eat, then headed to bed.

The next morning was a wonderful surprise.   We woke to find a few rays of light sneaking between the curtains.  The first order of business was to acquire necessary caffeinated beverages.   Coffee, hot, and lots of it!  Room service!!!!

While we sipped the life giving liquid, we opened up those curtains to check out the view.   As it turns out, our room overlooked Monterey Bay.  Below us was a kelp bed, to the right was the marina.  While the coffee infused new life into our tired frames, we looked out over the bay.  We both commented that it was a shame that we did not bring our binoculars.   While pouring another cup, I noticed a pair of binoculars sitting on the table.  Nice touch!   Armed with binoculars and my wife’s digital camera, we sipped our coffee, and watched the wild life.

Off in the distance we could hear the calls of sea lions.  The marina is protected by a stone breakwater that they have now claimed as home. I would guess that there are over a hundred at a time on this structure alone.

We noticed an object in the kelp bed below us.  On closer inspection it appeared to be the floating remains of an otter.  Given the boat traffic in and out of the marina, I assumed it had been hurt, then drifted over from the channel, and caught in the kelp.   Soon, I was able to pick out what appeared to be a few other otters.  Much to my surprise (and embarrassment) they were all alive.  I was not aware that otters actually slept in the water (a feat I’ve yet to master).   Sea lions and harbor seals climb out of the water to warm themselves, and I assume to sleep.  Apparently otters do not.  Obviously, I need to watch the discovery channel more often.  Once they started moving about it became clear that this was a whole family with several small babies in the group.  I was really starting to regret my decision to leave the video camera at home!

Along with the seals, sea lions, and otters, we also watched the birds diving under the kelp, and bringing up what appeared to be crabs.  They brought them back to their nests in an abandoned building down the shore line a bit.  The event was of particular interest since they did not fly directly from one point to the other.   Instead they took off heading out into the bay, then made a large turn heading back to the shore.   I’m guessing they needed to head into the wind to acquire lift, then they headed home once they had the necessary speed.  (Sea birds are notoriously bad fliers).

As a crescendo to our morning wild life experience, a large pod of dolphins came by just beyond the kelp.  They appeared to be chasing some form of prey towards the shore.  We watched for a few minutes as they churned up the surface in the pursuit.  We’ve only been here for a few hours, and I’m already amazed at the diversity of life.

I placed a call to Alan, and found that the class that was scheduled to start in the evening was moved to the next morning.   That meant that the rest of the day was free, so we spent the time touring the town.   We stopped in the local aquarium, the marina, and selected spots along the water.   I found the store front of Backscatter.com who’s shop was just a few blocks from our hotel.  It was a beautiful day, and we made the best of it.

Wednesday morning, I joined Alan at our classroom which was actually a well appointed garage of one of the students.  Looking around I could see several under water camera rigs, and what appeared to be video equipment.  We set up a sport and classic KISS and prepared for class. Alan and I took turns walking through the operation and setup of each unit.  Alan also showed me some of the upgrades available in the new units. We covered the operational fundamentals of each, and went about preparing them for the next days dives.

In the morning we packed our gear and headed out for the dives.  The offshore winds had picked up a bit.  We tried to head out around Monterey, but the chop was a bit much for our little boats.   Instead we set anchor next to the marina’s breakwater.  After our standard preparation, we splashed and headed down the anchor line.

Once on the bottom, I was again amazed at the diversity of life.  Here were tube anemone standing 6 inches out of the silty bottom. Their tentacles spanned another 6 inches.  Large colorful nudibranch slid along the bottom.  Here and there were huge sun starfish, over 2 feet across. At one point we could hear the sea lions above us so loudly that I was sure they were barking at us.  I was then startled to see one swim right between me and my buddy.  Looking up there was a group of them swimming in concert above us in a ballet of motion.  At first I was surprised at the lack of fish life, but with all those sea lions and seals, they probably don’t have much of a chance.

In the midst of all this, I’m supposed to conduct a class?   Along the way I signaled divers to perform various drills (hypoxia, hyperoxia, hypercapnia …)   Each was performed well, and we continued along the dive.   I must point out at this time that my buddy/student was the owner of all the previously mentioned camera equipment, and I later found out, is an accomplished photographer.   As such he had the unnerving habit of stopping and looking at objects underwater.   While doing this, he stopped and remained completely motionless.  For any of you considering CCR, do not do this during class!  It scares the shit out of your instructor!

During our surface interval we headed into the marina.  Here Alan had previously noticed an adult otter and baby that had taken up home in one of the slips.   We were able to pass a few feet away on our way to the dock.  (Damn, no camera again.)  The second dive went much like the first: a few more skills, and a lot more swimming.

We all survived the day, and headed back to clean out our rigs, and get ready for the next day.  I tried to casually mention the “hang motionless” issue, and got a few chuckles in response.  At least every understood my concern.  Drills had gone well, and it was just a matter of getting everyone comfortable with the units.  We agreed on a plan for the next day, and headed back to the hotel.   My wife had selected a great restaurant for dinner, then we turned in after a long day.

We were up and at them early again.  The marine forecast did not improve, so we headed back to the break water.   Alan had the skinny on a secret wreck, a few hundred feet off the breakwater.  That was our destination. We all suited up, and jumped in.  While I was helping everyone get ready, my student/buddy had hit the water a few moments before me.  When I rolled in and looked for him, he was nowhere to be found.  Again the panic of loosing a student runs through my head.  Alan suggest we descend the anchor line, and guess who’s at the bottom?  Damn, he’s going to be the death of me.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s an excellent  diver.  Its just the initial shock factor of not knowing where he was.

This dive Alan brought his camera.  I wish I had mine!  During the surface discussion, I found that the nudibranchs prey on the tube anemones. During this dive we got to see this in action.  It was quite the sight, and again I need more time on the discovery channel.   Alan was able to get pictures, and we watched as the slow mo action played out.

We took bearings and headed out to the secret wreck.  It turned out to be a good swim, and again we did some drills along the way.  The wreck appeared to be an old wooden barge, broken up on the bottom.  Hidden between the planks were small groups of fish.   I guess we were far enough away from the sea lions for the fish to survive.   Alan got some more shots, then we headed back.

The last few drills were the hardest.  I had briefed them in detail on the surface, but the execution takes some thought.  The frustration factor was climbing, but by the time we hit the surface, everyone was done the class with flying colors!  We cleaned our gear and debriefed for the the week.

My wife and I packed our bags and headed home.  I had spent the week diving, and she had spent the week sightseeing, and stopping at various saunas along the California coast.

Kind of sounds like a Jules Verne novel.

After some scheduling conflicts, I was finally able to head down to Florida for NAUI Tech instructor training. The class included me, as instructor in training, and a friend of mine as a Trimix student. Our class was with Chris Laughrey a NAUI Tech Course Director from Pittsburg, PA. He comes highly recommended by fellow divers, and most of my instructors. After completing the course, I would also highly recommend him.

The trip down was long. My friend (also named Chris) and I were going to travel together, but some more last minute schedule issues caused us to go separately. I got on the road Saturday morning around 4:00am and found myself pulling into the driveway around 8:00pm. One more “South of the Boarder” sign, and would have lost it. We talked for a bit to unwind from the road, then turned in.

We were up at six and out the door to 40 Fathoms Grotto. It’s recently been taken over by a commercial diving training agency, and is also a NAUI training facility. There have been a lot of changes including a new Mixing station and classrooms. We unloaded, went over the dive plan, reviewed gear configurations, and then jumped in the water for Laughrey to have a look at our abilities. We demonstrated skills, Laughrey would have me demonstrate them to Chris, then he would do them fo me. (At this point, I have to admit that I’ve been CCR, save for Open Water classes. This was my first time in doubles in two years.) Dive one went off without a hitch. We debriefed, and we were off to the classroom.

Laughrey had the latest rev or the NAUI Tech course material (still under review). It contains details on new studies and the latest research. Great stuff! We went over it for a while during the surface interval, then jumped back in for more skills on Dive 2. This was an all skills dive Valve drills, S-drills, stage drills, line drills … Again after a debrief we packed up and headed back to the room and out for dinner. It had been a long Sunday, and the class was just starting. We had dinner and talked shop for a while. We started the dive plan for the next day, then turned in.

The rest of the class proceeded much the same way. We did progressively deeper dives early then classroom during the surface interval and skills in the afternoon. As the week progressed we transitioned from Laughrey running the dives, to him briefing me, then I worked with Chris to plan and execute the dive. Each morning we would arrive, setup our gear, and analyze our mix. It’s a new mixing station, and they are working out the bugs. Most of the time it was pretty accurate. On occasion it was off. The crew was very helpful in correcting any inaccuracy, and we did teach Chris to always analyze.

Laughrey seemed to know everyone in the area. I know he has been diving and teaching for years. During dinner he would entertain us with stories from the who’s who of diving. On the last day Hal Watts stopped by to join us for the 240ft dive.

By the end of the week Chris was proceeding well. We had worked through some equipment issues, and were honing our skills. Everyone learned a lot. Even Laughrey said he learned a couple of tricks, but then he may have been humoring me. I look forward to getting the production copy of the course materials. A great deal of work has gone into this, and it shows. I also recommend 40 Fathoms Grotto for anyone considering Trimix training. There are constant improvements going on. It’s like a smaller version of Dutch with 240ft of water.

On a final note, we were extra careful not to lose Laughrey’s brand new reel. He did make the mistake of calling it “jam proof”. We took that as a challenge.

Just to be clear, this was not a scheduled event, but just another day of diving on the Independence II. The plan was to head to the Stolt, but the weather did not cooperate. On any day you will probably see a few rebreathers aboard. For example last week, on the Pinta, there were five different rigs. This Sunday there was more variety than usual.

Megs, Ouroboris, Classic Kiss, and Evolution are brought aboard regularly by various members of the crew. On any given day, you’re likely to see some combination of the above.  Today they all showed up.   Occasionally, an Inspiration is also thrown in. An Optima, Sport Kiss, and Hammer-Meg were aboard courtesy of the passengers.

The variety does not stop there. On the Open-Circuit side, there were double Al 80s, double steel 90s, 100s, 120s and 130s. Finally there was a single steel tank I think was an 80 (boy was that light).

The S.S. Carolina August 23, 05

Boiler of the S.S. Carolina

In my mind I’m on the Carolina…. Ok it misses something without the music.

The S.S. Carolina was the final dive of our NAUI Trimix II class. I have been working toward this for the last two years, and am finally done. Don’t try this at home, but here is the report.

The Carolina was one of six vessels sunk by the U-151 on June 2, 1918 - a date now known as Black Sunday. The wreck is 75 miles of the coast of even with Cape May sitting in 250ft of water. Since we were leaving from Barnegat Light, the trip was probably about 100 miles. The dive vessel Independence II met us behind the Barnegat Coast Guard station at 6:00am. We spent the next 5 hours cruising out to the wreck.

Several people were all ready asleep aboard, and rack space is always at a premium. Dan, the captain, sleeps next to the captain’s chair when one of the mates is driving the boat. Corey, my instructor, brought his dog, Picasso, along to keep watch on the boat. Picasso curled up between Corey and Dan in the cabin. I brought a mat along to sleep on.

Picasso watches over the dive gear

When we got to the site, the seas were calm with some high clouds. Clouds are not an issue on this wreck since very little sunlight penetrates to that depths. The crew threw the line in, and while we waited for the mate’s to tie in, a pod of dolphins entertained us on the surface. We thought they might be playing in the divers bubbles.

Once tied in, we realized that the surface current was ripping. Equipment lines were hanging like flags behind the boat. My tanks were buried in the back of the group, so I had to wait for the others to enter the water. Many were waiting to see if the current might die down. It did let up a bit, but not significantly. Two by two the divers started to gear up and jump in.

About this time a large lift bag hit the surface. Corey jumped in with fins and a rope. Once he had secured the bag, we pulled him back in. Tied to the bag was a perfect port hole. The glass was intact, and all of the pieces were there. One of the mates found it at the end of his dive. Since he was on a rebreather, he was able to extend his dive to recover it. We lifted it on to the boat and secured it.

Nice Porthole!

Dan wanted to wait for the mates to get on board before he jumped in. Corey and I decided to join him and dive last. This gave me time to configure my gear and double check all of my equipment. Gearing up requires a lot of redundancy. By the time you hit the water, your carrying quite a load. I figured once that I weigh over 400lb. Stumbling around on a wet deck in fins. Doesn’t that sound safe?

When we hit the water, we were holding the back of the granny line. The current would take you immediately, and with all that gear, you don’t stand a chance swimming against it. Once under water, we quickly dropped down to the line. Then we started pulling ourselves hand over hand to the anchor line. The current stopped around 50 feet down. What first gets you diving this deep is how long it takes to get to the bottom. Now that the current was gone, we swam down loosely holding the line. Your free hand moves back and forth between your nose and your drysuit inflator. The decent itself takes about five minutes. After two minutes, you start to think you should be seeing the bottom. When you don’t you look at your depth gauge, and notice that your only half way there.

Once on the bottom, I adjusted my buoyancy and tied off my one reel. We headed out over the debris, looking for artifacts. Here and there we saw complete port holes secured to the wreck. Since this was a training dive, I did not bring any tools to work on them. We swept over the wreck looking closely at each piece trying to discern valuable items from the silt, sand and shells. We did manage to bring up some small trinkets for our efforts, but nothing significant.

There were huge ling cod swimming about in small schools of 10 and 20. There were several large monk fish laying about the wreck. It was odd to see them on top of wreckage. There camouflage works well in the sand, but they stand out on the straight edges of steel wreckage. At one point Dan came across a large lobster caught in some monofilament. He freed him long enough to get him into my bag. I estimate that he was in the 5 lb range. One advantage of the dark depths, is that many of the creatures do not know that it is daytime. Lobsters could be seen walking about the wreckage. The fish did not hide. You could almost reach out and touch some of the fish.

After 20 minutes, I signaled to Corey that it was time to turn around. I started to reel my line back in and head for the anchor. We reached the line and I untied my reel right at the 30 minute mark. That was our plan, and it worked out perfectly. Now was the fun part two hours of slow decompression.

When we hit the 170 foot mark, we felt the temperature drop. The bottom had been about 50 degrees. At 170 where our deco stops started the temp was now 44. These stops were short, but each one was cold. Just when we were getting really uncomfortable, I felt the temperature rise a few degrees. When we hit the 50 ft point the water was back into the 70s, but the current was back. The stops were longer now, and we deployed our john lines. Now we were hanging on like flags in the breeze. I kept looking around to see if the dolphin were still in the area, but did not see them. With nothing better to do we started looking in each others bags to see what priceless article we found. Neither of us was making history on this dive.

Dan had gone up a few minutes before us, so he was out of the water quicker. We went up and started breaking down our gear. One of the mates jumped in to untie the line, and we were off back to Barnegat.