Barge 2-12-11

[mikeguerrero]

I had a glorious dive with Mike Tagney inviting me and putting me as the leader to find the line.

We had super long surface swim all the way to marker 13. We were the only two divers out this far, so I had a lot of thoughts racing through my little brain. :shocked2:

But after conquering those silly thoughts we arrived and he made sure we pulled away from the wall about 30+ feet.

At that time we proceeded with our descent down to about 45+ feet. And after making sure we were well situated and all okay, I took a compass heading of 340 degrees.

We placed ourselves parrallel to find the line and I hit it quickly on my right side, he was on my left, a quick knod of my HID light and he came and we were in formation.

Someone has placed new floating bottles on both ends of the line, I suspect Fofo and Guy..

Once we hit the end of the line, Mike T paused and asked if I brought a reel, all I had was my SMB so he took a compass heading from what appeared to be in the direction of the line.

We didn't even do more than a few fin kicks in that direction and the barge appeared out of know where, because the viz was easily 30+ ft.

After making several runs around the barge it was time to head back. Mike T led the way, once closer to the shallows the viz started to even get better by about 10 more feet with less particulates.

I found a broken glass bottle and saw lots of sand critters just having fun all over the place.

We were down for 1 hour 3 minutes with 50 degrees of warmth. I wasn't cold at all since it was my first time diving the Otterbay hood, what an incredible hood.

I was proud that I came back with 1650 psi. Very simple exit and it was off to call Vassili to let him know what he missed...

Here are a couple of pics Mike T. took of me:

 

[g1138]

Sounds like a fun dive.
Is it logistical to take a trip to the barge on a single tank?

Also if you don't mind me asking: what type of mouthpiece are you using on your primary. It looks huge.

 

[Hepcat62]

Sounds like a fun dive.
Is it logistical to take a trip to the barge on a single tank?

It's feasible, but you'll need to make a long surface swim in order to have enough gas at the site. Either that, or use scooters.

The barge is located such that boats pass overhead of the site, so conservatism is important, and especially so on single tanks. You really want to be back on the line or the wall before considering an ascent.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Linda and I have done The Barge swimming on the surface from the beach,
dropping on the line-ups, doing and doing the dive.

I'd STRONGLY advise not doing a vertical ascent from the barge.

It's perfectly feasible to start the ascent while heading back on a compass
heading. You want to aim a bit to the left of the beach so you pick up the
wall. I'd aim at the bathrooms. Do a swimming slow ascent to 30, 3
minutes swimming at 30, a swimming slow ascent to 15, hold 15 till you
pick up the wall or your gas supply says you need to surface. If you
pick up the wall, hang a right, and hold 15 until you find bottom or your
gas supply says you need to surface.

I'd leave the barge with 1000 PSI in an HP 100. And do be alert for boat
traffic, even along the breakwall.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Sounds like a fun dive.
Is it logistical to take a trip to the barge on a single tank?

Also if you don't mind me asking: what type of mouthpiece are you using on your primary. It looks huge.

I think Chuck has covered the topic of a single tank to the barge very nicely. I know divers with experience that have and continue to explore the barge on single tanks. But we are speaking about divers that frequent these waters and are like mentioned have experience.

This is my second visit to the barge both times on doubles; I feel confident and always end up with more than enough gas for any type of precaution.

With my experience I could try it on singles but there is no need since I own both sets; doubles and singles.

Regarding the mouthpiece, it's a lipshield you see and it serves a huge purpose for babies like me that like are lips warm and sheltered from the jelly stings.

Mike

 

[g1138]

Thanks everyone. Guess I'll save a trip to the barge until I get a doubles rig up and running =]

And Mike, whoever makes those should think about making a full face shield, so you could look futuristic underwater and protect your cheeks from the jellies .

 

[mikeguerrero]

Thanks everyone. Guess I'll save a trip to the barge until I get a doubles rig up and running =]

And Mike, whoever makes those should think about making a full face shield, so you could look futuristic underwater and protect your cheeks from the jellies .

LOL,

You are too funny about the full face mask, they look like fun since you get to communicate with others via a transmitter.

And, I think full face mask continue to feed you air, so there is a system you need to use to clear water and I'm not sure I would enjoy that.

I'm trained in the DIR mentality so I use regular mask and regulator, the lipshield is a simple piece of plastic that can be pulled off the mouthpiece by hand if I wanted.

I took my funides class in it and all went well so I continue to use it and it has kept my lips way warmer than without, not to mention my lips are reserved for my girlfriend to kiss not my jelly fish friend... :kiss2:

 

[g1138]

Oh I meant full face mask as in like a half-balaclava, or those gaiters that wrap around your whole mouth and lower face when skiiing.
That would be awesome for scuba diving don't ya think?
A little fighter pilot face mask that attached to your reg like your lip warmers.
Would that be DIR?

 

[MrSpock]

That should do it:

 

[Guy Alcala]

<snip>
Someone has placed new floating bottles on both ends of the line, I suspect Fofo and Guy..

Nope, Matt Warren. Fofo and I were going to, but we mentioned it to Matt and since he was going out there that afternoon and had some bottles and line handy . . .

Linda and I have done The Barge swimming on the surface from the beach,
dropping on the line-ups, doing and doing the dive.

I'd STRONGLY advise not doing a vertical ascent from the barge.

It's perfectly feasible to start the ascent while heading back on a compass
heading. You want to aim a bit to the left of the beach so you pick up the
wall. I'd aim at the bathrooms. Do a swimming slow ascent to 30, 3
minutes swimming at 30, a swimming slow ascent to 15, hold 15 till you
pick up the wall or your gas supply says you need to surface. If you
pick up the wall, hang a right, and hold 15 until you find bottom or your
gas supply says you need to surface.

I'd leave the barge with 1000 PSI in an HP 100. And do be alert for boat
traffic, even along the breakwall.

Concur. 1000 PSI also happens to be minimum gas (by one calculation) for a shared-air ascent from the typical depth of the barge on an an HP100. I often leave the barge with 1200-1400, just because I've seen what I want to see, or I'm cold. But unlike Chuck, I'm not a photographer.

Thanks everyone. Guess I'll save a trip to the barge until I get a doubles rig up and running =]

Not necessary. I've been out there ca. 40 times, and a 95-100 cu.ft. tank gives you more than enough gas if you're not a Hoover. The first few times I did it with an AL80, although that will probably limit your time at the barge to one quick circuit. Solo or with Fofo, we usually have enough gas with HP 100s to drop at the '13', find and follow the line, swim from it to the barge, make one or two slow circuits, return to the line and the wall, swim along the base of it, up the sand slope, do a 3 minute stop at 15'-20' and then in past the anchor until we can stand up opposite the '3' or '4' to walk in, with 500 PSI or so left on a dive time of 55-65 minutes. Well, Fofo can; I may be down to 350 or 400 PSI at that point, but at 15' or less I don't care if I push my reserve a little. I do, however, regularly check the accuracy of my SPG. If your SAC is higher, it just means that you come up further out along the wall and do more of the swim in on the surface.

The main things to realize are that you need the stamina to swim 3/4 mile (round trip distance beach/wall/barge/return), that you should have an SMB and reel or spool and have practiced deploying them from depth, and that you have enough gas to get yourself back to the wall at a minimum, or you and a buddy at least 200' in from the barge while air sharing. The first time or two you go out there give yourself a bit of cushion on your turn-around pressure, say 1700 or 1800 for an AL80, or 1500-1600 for an HP100. Many people run a line from the outer end of the fixed-line to the barge, but if you know the course and distance between them you won't need to waste the time/gas doing so. Once you've done it a few times and you know what to expect you can cut your turn-around gas down a bit.

If you can't find the outer end of the line on the way back in, swimming 200 degrees will get you out of the power/sailboat traffic and to the wall quickly, although you always have to be on the lookout for kayaks when surfacing away from the wall. Oh, and the glass-bottomed tour boat, which sometimes comes in almost touching the wall.

Actually, any course between 180 and 240 will get you to the wall and/or beach: 180 will take you to the wall east of the '13' beyond the fence line, and I prefer to head a bit west so that I can surface and be able to communicate immediately with someone on the BW if there's an emergency. 200 degrees will bring you in about the '12.5' mark on the wall, give or take '.5', so you've got a bit of leeway for course error.

And here's a couple extra tips for dropping your gas consumption. The line is fairly easy to see right now as it's mostly encrusted with white barnacles. So don't swim along with your nose almost on the sand and/or letting the line run through your hand, stay 5 feet or more above it if the viz. allows - it's almost entirely sand on the way out, so there's not a whole lot to see on the bottom.

However, the short sections of the line are buried by sand at intervals, so if you happen to zone out a bit while swimming along it you may drift off and suddenly notice it's disappeared. Usually it will reappear a few feet on, but if it doesn't, hopefully a quick 180 (you did bother to note the course the line was following with your compass early on, didn't you?) will return you to a point where it's exposed, and you can then un-earth it and resume following it. To avoid having to do so, I tend to swim 5-15 feet (depending on viz) off to one side of it as well as above it, so that I know if I turn 90 degrees to my right (or left as applicable) I will cross its path. Scanning 90 degrees left and right as I approach will usually allow me to spot an unburied piece.

HTH,

Guy