Where did you solo dive today?
- Thread starter shoredivr
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Did a dive in Lake Lucerne today. Toad mating season is on!
Yesterday I soloed Ogden Point, Victoria. The Surf Motel kindly loaned me a wheelbarrow to haul my gear out to the lighthouse, that makes a big chore into a pleasure. Good conditions, good dives, nothing spectacular to report though.
Settling in to the early dives in the new season diving a Revo rebreather in the English Channel. The spring algal/plankton bloom is well under way so lots of 'snot' reducing visibility, last weekend’s dive was 50cm/2ft and very dark, almost a touch dive.
Yesterday’s solo dive on the UC65 coastal mine laying WW2 U-boat in 45m/150ft was much further out in the Channel with much better visibility of 1.25m to 2.5m (4ft to 8ft). A full "independent" boatload of divers with 5 on open circuit and 7 on rebreathers, meaning those who dive with buddies bring them, those that don’t dive alone.
Have a shiny new Santi drysuit and BZ400 heated undersuit for this season and am still getting used to it. Great in the 10c/50f water, also using the thicker textured dry gloves which, whilst a lot warmer, have the dexterity of boxing gloves.
The wreck is unusual as it’s a coastal U-boat missing the bow and stern, and also split into two pieces just forward of the conning tower. This means that there’s four faces to look into the submarine. One has a door/hatch which is temptingly just too narrow to penetrate with backmount. Always want to dive a sidemount rebreather to be able to clear out the silt in that area which is close to the control room.
The conning tower is more of a tube than a sail. There’s no hatch so you can clearly see inside but it’s too small to penetrate with dive kit. The voice tube is still there. Aft of the tower is the deck gun. Aft of that are the mine laying saddles that all seem to have a lobster or crab in residence including one very gnarly old chap festooned with barnacles who didn’t want to play. Lots of congers in most of the smaller holes. Whilst lifting the shot line out of the sub a large conger poking its head out of a hole kept biting the rebar grapnel hooks, better it biting the anchor than me.
Due to the snotty and pretty poor visibility, it wasn’t possible to jump to the other section of the submarine without lining off. I’d only brought a spool and with the boxing gloves it would have been a pain to use, so didn’t bother making the jump.
Dived for over an hour on the sub, had it to myself for probably half of that. Great diving as there’s lots of nooks and crannies to nose around.
The 65 min decompression was uneventful but surprising how fast the SMB reel drifted away from me. Prefer to leave it bouncing up and down a couple of metres/6ft away from me as a reference rather than hanging on as it is less hassle.
Definitely liking the Santi drysuit and BZ400 heated suit. I’ve used a Santi heated vest in conjunction with Fourth Element Arctic Expedition layers for years, but this is definitely better insulated. The heating is almost imperceptible, not hot, but not cold either Two weeks ago I discovered that the 18AH battery will last about 2h. Knew the battery went flat on the second dive with 15 mins to go as it felt colder but not freezing cold.
No question that decompression with that insulation and heater is much more pleasant than the feeling of endurance that my previous underwear layers were.
Yesterday’s solo dive on the UC65 coastal mine laying WW2 U-boat in 45m/150ft was much further out in the Channel with much better visibility of 1.25m to 2.5m (4ft to 8ft). A full "independent" boatload of divers with 5 on open circuit and 7 on rebreathers, meaning those who dive with buddies bring them, those that don’t dive alone.
Have a shiny new Santi drysuit and BZ400 heated undersuit for this season and am still getting used to it. Great in the 10c/50f water, also using the thicker textured dry gloves which, whilst a lot warmer, have the dexterity of boxing gloves.
The wreck is unusual as it’s a coastal U-boat missing the bow and stern, and also split into two pieces just forward of the conning tower. This means that there’s four faces to look into the submarine. One has a door/hatch which is temptingly just too narrow to penetrate with backmount. Always want to dive a sidemount rebreather to be able to clear out the silt in that area which is close to the control room.
The conning tower is more of a tube than a sail. There’s no hatch so you can clearly see inside but it’s too small to penetrate with dive kit. The voice tube is still there. Aft of the tower is the deck gun. Aft of that are the mine laying saddles that all seem to have a lobster or crab in residence including one very gnarly old chap festooned with barnacles who didn’t want to play. Lots of congers in most of the smaller holes. Whilst lifting the shot line out of the sub a large conger poking its head out of a hole kept biting the rebar grapnel hooks, better it biting the anchor than me.
Due to the snotty and pretty poor visibility, it wasn’t possible to jump to the other section of the submarine without lining off. I’d only brought a spool and with the boxing gloves it would have been a pain to use, so didn’t bother making the jump.
Dived for over an hour on the sub, had it to myself for probably half of that. Great diving as there’s lots of nooks and crannies to nose around.
The 65 min decompression was uneventful but surprising how fast the SMB reel drifted away from me. Prefer to leave it bouncing up and down a couple of metres/6ft away from me as a reference rather than hanging on as it is less hassle.
Definitely liking the Santi drysuit and BZ400 heated suit. I’ve used a Santi heated vest in conjunction with Fourth Element Arctic Expedition layers for years, but this is definitely better insulated. The heating is almost imperceptible, not hot, but not cold either Two weeks ago I discovered that the 18AH battery will last about 2h. Knew the battery went flat on the second dive with 15 mins to go as it felt colder but not freezing cold.
No question that decompression with that insulation and heater is much more pleasant than the feeling of endurance that my previous underwear layers were.
happy-diver
Skindiver Just feelin it
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Magnificent!
Yesterday's dive in the English Channel (unknown wreck called "Pip" at 39m/130ft 9NM south-east of Hastings) was interesting.
It's been calm for a few days and when we jumped in the water was completely clear! Wow, visibility, not seen that for a long time. Descending down the shot line to 10m/33ft loomed the "Snotocline", where all the algal bloom had sunk to.
The wreck was large but due to the snot was dark and had about 1m/3ft to 2m/6ft visibility. This makes it hard to make out the best bits, but does make for an up-close dive ferreting around in the nooks and crannies. Eased myself through a hole and looked up to see what looked like the outlines of holes above: glad it's a rebreather so no gas anxiety. Found another way out and continued nosing around. Lots of life, but fish were rather subdued; think they hate snotty "weather" too!
Bagged off (SMB up) at 70 mins and as I started the ascent, realised I was over the triple expansion engine; the low pressure cylinder looking like a large hatch -- too late to stop the ascent!
Deco was interesting. It's easy to stabilise in the snot (green algae clumps) as you've lots of reference points. Moving up through the "snotocline" into the clear water was just plain odd. So used to having a reference all around, it was odd to just use the floating SMB reel.
Enjoyed that 2h dive. Even the sun was shining, teasing us with the hope of another warm summer. Started raining just after we got back in to port!
Was due to dive the previous day. Built my rebreather in the garage and loaded everything in the car, then noticed a large puddle of water in the garage. The damn boiler was leaking. Managed go get the heating guy in and a few hours of draining the system. Lost a dive which I've paid for and now waiting for the quote for the new boiler...
It's been calm for a few days and when we jumped in the water was completely clear! Wow, visibility, not seen that for a long time. Descending down the shot line to 10m/33ft loomed the "Snotocline", where all the algal bloom had sunk to.
The wreck was large but due to the snot was dark and had about 1m/3ft to 2m/6ft visibility. This makes it hard to make out the best bits, but does make for an up-close dive ferreting around in the nooks and crannies. Eased myself through a hole and looked up to see what looked like the outlines of holes above: glad it's a rebreather so no gas anxiety. Found another way out and continued nosing around. Lots of life, but fish were rather subdued; think they hate snotty "weather" too!
Bagged off (SMB up) at 70 mins and as I started the ascent, realised I was over the triple expansion engine; the low pressure cylinder looking like a large hatch -- too late to stop the ascent!
Deco was interesting. It's easy to stabilise in the snot (green algae clumps) as you've lots of reference points. Moving up through the "snotocline" into the clear water was just plain odd. So used to having a reference all around, it was odd to just use the floating SMB reel.
Enjoyed that 2h dive. Even the sun was shining, teasing us with the hope of another warm summer. Started raining just after we got back in to port!
Was due to dive the previous day. Built my rebreather in the garage and loaded everything in the car, then noticed a large puddle of water in the garage. The damn boiler was leaking. Managed go get the heating guy in and a few hours of draining the system. Lost a dive which I've paid for and now waiting for the quote for the new boiler...
I had a nice two hour one minute solo dive off the beach in Dubai this morning,
Found six seahorses, three of which were pregnant males as well as a small ray and a few nudis (all the same species Limenandra fusiformis).
Found six seahorses, three of which were pregnant males as well as a small ray and a few nudis (all the same species Limenandra fusiformis).
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1st "Summer dives" today here in N.S. Water temp. still 39F. For Chreyezzake....It's usually about 43 now.
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