Posts Tagged ‘Technical Dives’

The Resor on July third

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Always a popular wreck, the Independence II headed out with a full group of experienced wreck divers to the Resor.   The seas were calm, and since it is a bit of a ride out, many were able to get a quick catnap on the way.  Yoda Frogman (Terry) jumped in for the tie, and had the pool open in no time.  We heard rumors that another boat had been there recently, but tied into the bow.  Dan’s numbers are for the stern.   Given the size of the wreck, there were no real worries.  This wreck is huge.  It’s a good swim from the bow to the stern, and anyone looking for dinner would take too long to make the full journey.

Sunset over the bay

Sunset over the bay

Terry clocked a 150 minute dive and brought up a bag of goodies for his effort.   I jumped once he was on deck.

There was some current on the surface, but it dropped off by the 100ft mark.  The bottom was bright with a good 30+ ft of vis.  I tied off and headed out.  Terry inflatable games told me about his excursion to the left of the anchor, and recommended I go right.   Within a few seconds, I knew exactly where I was, the stem.  There above me was the deck gun, and a few feet away was the scallop dredge … and then the stern of the wreck.   OK, Right is not the right way to go.

The bottom was littered with empty scallop shells from previous trips.  Here and there were live scallop.  By this time I’d nab a few.  Lobsters were in short supply.  I saw a few small claws, but nothing that called out “take me home”.  Heading back through Terry’s path of carnage I ran into the largest Ling Cod I’ve ever seen.  I had no poll spear available.  It swam right up to me.  I pulled out my bag to see just how curious it was, but it was not quite that stupid.

While picking up a few scallops in my path, I was still looking for lobster here and there.   Finally, I found my quarry in large pipe about 4 ft off the bottom.  With claws just smaller than my hands, I estimate a good 4 pounder.  Rules of engagement were discussed, battle plans were drawn, and the moment of truth arrived….  I had was at a distinct disadvantages.  The pipe provided him a deep area to retreat.  But for some reason he would come up to within a few feet of the open end, almost in reach   After he mocked my attempts,  I gave up and continued the scallop harvest.   On the way back to the line Lingzilla swam by again.  It’s annoying when the fish have attitude!

All in all a nice dive.  The bottom was a bit cool at 43, but the hang was a close to 70.

A good number of nice lobsters came up, and Terry extracted a good 4 pounder from another part of the wreck.   Scallops came up by the bag full.  Captain Dan had so many, he had to shoot his up on a lift bag.  Many divers had acquired their first scallops, and Dan spent time demonstrating the proper cleaning method, and discussing various ways to prepare them.  (I’m partial to the wrapped in bacon and grilled, but my wife has many recipes that are all good.)

Most divers did a second dive, with even more scallops and lobster were brought aboard.  Joe and Terry jumped in for a short dive and pulled the hook.

We were quickly home and coolers were loaded.  A great day of diving!

Back to get my butt kicked.

Friday, May 28th, 2010
Cave 2 Kick your butt off

Cave 2 Kick your butt off

Butt kicking again!

In the early spring, a good friend convinced me to take my cave training.    The first part (cavern and intro) was quite enjoyable.  While there were a good number of skills, the conditions were moderate.   This past week we completed the inflatable tent class ( apprentice and full cave).  The dives/ skills were significantly more challenging.  I should have expected this, but it was quite a shock to the psyche.  In addition, I took the first half Open Circuit.  The second half I chose to take Closed Circuit (CCR).

Please don’t take any of this as a negative statement against my instructor.   Just the opposite, he did not hold back, and made sure we were capable of performing the dives safely.   The initial class was restricted by the systems available at the time.  The class was in February, when Ginnie and Manatee were the only systems that were still flowing.  The rest were siphoning river water, and unusable for training.

Given the earlier conditions, I was probably spoiled.   Ginnie is huge with bright, wide open, passages.  Manatee was open with dark but clear passages.    During the dives we practiced our skills and had some really great dives.

This week most of the other systems were open.  We dove Peacock (1 and 3), Madison blue, Cow Springs, and Orange Grove. After getting my butt kicked for a few days, I can say I did survive.   There were many points where I was ready to throw in the towel.  Either my head was not in the right place, or I was struggling with new gear configurations that I did not have time to practice with (my fault).  Either way, it was quite an eye opener.

Don’t get me wrong, some of these passages can be quite beautiful.  The formations and clay layers can be stunning.   On the other hand, I’m not a small man.  At 6’6″, I don’t fit into small passageways.  With full CCR and side mount bailout, I was fighting my way into places that were probably much easier on OC.   However, with the time and duration advantages of CCR, I wanted to finish the class in this configuration.

I’m not going to go into the detail of each dive, but I will say that Paul kicked our butts on most dives.  The skills included several out of air, lights out, lost line… which involved feeling your way along the passages ways.  Some passages ways were smaller than my gear, and involved pulling our way out, as swimming was not an option with OOA diver in tow.   With the low vis on entry, and tight restrictions, it was often difficult to even feel your way.  Only the gold line gave indication of the proper direction.

All in all, we had some great dives, some difficult dives, and some really uncomfortable dives.  Again, this is par for the course.    Many of the skills were to make sure you had the state of mind to survive the worst case.

After all the skills were done, we had the opportunity to just dive.   We hit Orange Grove, and headed over to Challenge sink.  It was a bit of a swim, but a nice open dive with lots to see.  Paul dragged my camera along and took a few shots along the way.  I wish we could have taken a few more shots at Challenge Sink as the light streaming in was quite beautiful, but once we signaled turn, the rest of the group bolted (I’ve got to be more careful with those signals).

The trip was worth the effort.  I know I’ve got a lot to practice before my next excursion.  Paul made me work hard, and he did push a few of my limits, but we also had some great dives, and saw a lot of new systems.  Next time down, I’d love to get some more photos, of these great systems.

Cave 2010

Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Cave 2010

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.

Diver Bubbles

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.

40 Fathoms Grotto

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

40 Fathoms Grotto used to be a great place for training.  As the name implies it is 40 fathoms deep, or 240 ft for you landlubbers.   Located in Crystal River Florida, the facility provides a controlled environment for deep TRIMIX training.Inflatable Water Slide It’s my understanding that the facility has been purchased by a commercial diver training agency, and is no longer available to recreational divers.   This is a shame as it was one of the few training locations with the depth necessary to perform this training.

I hope they reopen to the recreational market, but in the mean time here are a few shots we took on a training trip during the renovations.

October on the Resor

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

It certainly has been difficult to get out diving this fall. However, the few times we were able sneak out, the diving was fantastic. This Sunday we headed out to the Resor with a jam packed boat. Clearing the inlet we had nearly flat seas, and just a breath of a breeze. With the early start, the sun was just rising. We all kept our fingers crossed that the conditions would hold, since NOAA was calling for the wind to pick up a bit in the afternoon.

By the time we reached the wreck, the sun was a bit higher in the sky, and the conditions were still flat. The surface water was a nice Caribbean blue. Dropping down the line it was clear that there was a good current to the east. This made going a bit slow, but we were soon tied in.

While working with the line, shadowy figures kept appearing in the distance. At first I thought the dogfish were back, but it turned out to be bluefish. We vendita gonfiabili saw them inshore last week. Now there was a school buzzing around us on the Resor. Ever few minutes a few of them would dart by. Down on the sand, there were large fluke and flounder almost side by side. Normally we see one or the other, but here the flounder were hunting while the fluke were resting. Both scurried off when approached. Large tog are always around this wreck, and this was no exception. I spotted a few small lobsters, and one good size one with eggs.

I was nearing my turn time when I spotted a nice new Danforth with a long chain. At least I was not going up empty handed. It turns out that the current and the wind were not aligned, and I spent my deco holding my reel in one hand (attached to the Danforth and lift bag) and the shot line in the other. I was just hoping other divers would not get caught in the line.

My hunting efforts had been thwarted, but many others came up with lobster, tog and some nice size pollack. There were various reports of giant lobsters, deep in the wreck, well out of reach. A few folks had ventured out into the sand for scallops, with varying degrees of success.

All in all it was a great day of diving with 30-40 ft of vis and 65 degrees top to bottom. The wind had picked up as we started to head in, but it was still a comfortable ride home.