Called my first dive...

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PvtStash

Contributor
Messages
758
Reaction score
9
Location
Toledo, Ohio
# of dives
200 - 499
I dont think I've Ever called a dive in the 3 yrs/292 dives I been diving.... , but I called one today....

We (Wolver an I) dove out of Port Sanilac off of Bruno's Great Lakes Diver this morning... left Toledo at 4am and when we arrived dockside it was 6:38am, and Windy...

You could see intermittent spray over the harbour walls and 2 of the very small crowd of adventurers decided to give it a pass... (the 2 that hadnt drove 2ana half hours to Get there)...

That left jus' Wolver an I with what amounted to a privately chartered boat as we were the only ones on it except for Capt. Tim and DM Kevin...

Where'd we wanna dive that day?... Northstar? New York? Col. Williams?...

We settled on the New York first as it was the deepest (120' back by the screws)...

Wind is really blowing we're getting some serious wave action (5-7')... get out to the GPS location but cant find the buoy, finally Wolver spots it... (thank God its Orange, Never woulda seen it if it were white with all that whitecap action going on out there)...

Wave action makes hooking the rope harder... multiple tries.... finally we get it and do out final gearing up... we're both diving wet, he's got a farmer john, an HP 130, and a 50cf pony; I have a &mm full with a 7mm shorty over it, an LP 121, and a 40cf pony...

looked like I was going to have a hard time clearing the ladder with my giant stride as the boat was heaving constantly and the ladder was all over the place, I did a giant-stride-fall to the left of the ladder and made final mask adjustments, mask back on face and now I gotta swim back to the boat as I've already drifted 10 yds or so... soon as I get back to the boat I drop, I see Kevin down about 25' or so waiting for us, we swim at about 25'-30' to the descent line... when I got to the descent line a Ton of the stress I'd been dealing with went away..., and I'd also burned about 500psi just getting to the line... down, down... down... 3 different computers, Wolver was using a 25 yr old dacor microbrain (one of the first computers that was wristmounted) and a digital watch as redundant bottom timer, I had a Nitek Duo and I'm not sure what Kevin had... Wolver's microbrain ran out of bottom time when mine said we still had 5 minutes... we turned the dive not quite a minute later... max depth 114' , 47 degrees, 22 min. bottom time. I was back on the boat with a lil' over 1100 psi, Wolver about 1000psi.

did a two minute deepstop at 60'

the 3min safety at 20' was done between 15'-25' due to the wave action, but getting my fins off and then back up that ladder in these waves was very difficult and was nauseous for a bit after getting back on the boat... (Wolver a lil' more so :) ) ...

So I said "I'm Done" and scrapped the 2nd dive , Wolver was feeling much the same way and although Kevin was quite willing and suggested we see if the waves were lighter closer to shore (2nd dive was to be the Col. Williams)... the waves Were a lil' lighter closer but there will still some Big ones... my butt caught some airtime (a full second) when we hit a wave that was close to 10'.

I dont feel badly about it, I was feeling like crap and I'd gained alot of experience in that first dive, I was good to go.

I hope to go back about a month from now... hopefully with much smaller waves...


:)
 
We went a couple of weeks ago. We dove on the Regina and the Sport. We dove Sat. so Fri. we stayed at the Last chance motel about a block away from Port Sanilac on road 46. No frills but clean with bath and shower. Only cost 53.00 dollars a night. Nice to have a good night sleep than dive the next day. FYI
 
Good discernment PVt on the second dive call; i'm proud of ya'. But I would probably have deep-sixed the first dive too. Trying to get back on the boat in that kind of wave action could really be a hazard. One misjudgment trying to hold onto that ladder and remove fins, then trying to time it just right to get secured to that ladder to exit really takes concentration and agility. So many bad things can happen at that time. Glad you all made it.
 
What Denny said.

Some of us from Dayton went up to Sanilac back in June. First day was great diving. Second morning was about the way yours sounded. We didn't load the boat.

I've been kicked off a ladder exiting the water once, in calmer waves than you report (about 4-6' in Lake Erie). Just think if someone is under you when you fall back in. That tank can hurt.


Ken

Good discernment PVt on the second dive call; i'm proud of ya'. But I would probably have deep-sixed the first dive too. Trying to get back on the boat in that kind of wave action could really be a hazard. One misjudgment trying to hold onto that ladder and remove fins, then trying to time it just right to get secured to that ladder to exit really takes concentration and agility. So many bad things can happen at that time. Glad you all made it.
 
I've called a few FIRST dives, and some more second dives when it's really blowing off of Jersey. The wrecks are always going to be there, I own all my own gear. For the cost of Nitrox, Gasoline and maybe a hotel room (if you are traveling far), it's not worth it. I always give my buddy a look, and he shoots one right back at me. We know our sixth senth is working, and there are no questions asked................
 
IMHO one of the bigggest growing spurts a diver can take is when they call that first dive. It is the hardest thing to learn, especially after travelling so far, driving, hotel etc.

I am really surprised that the captain chose to go out... that was probably not a cool call to even go out. Not knowing the captain I won't second guess him, but 5'-7' waves in anything under 100ft long is a bit of a stretch. There is a reason those shipwrecks are down there for us to look at in the first place :D

Glad you are back safe,

Rich
 
I was surprised we went out as well. I do have some experience diving in rough conditions in the ocean so I was comfortable making the 1st dive. I would have probably completed the second dive until I decided to chum the water a little. Surprised the dramamine did not work, I really dont know if it was from seasickness or over exertion. Was fine in about 20 minutes, even before we got to the docks. Overall, my first true wreck dive and first great lake dive was very cool and I am looking forward to seeing some more of these in the future.
 
Sounds like it was an exciting dive and glad everyone was safe. One things for sure... Diving "The Great Lakes Diver" is always an experience! :D

Hopefully I will be on next month when you are back on the boat!
 
I dont think I've Ever called a dive in the 3 yrs/292 dives I been diving.... , but I called one today....

We (Wolver an I) dove out of Port Sanilac off of Bruno's Great Lakes Diver this morning... left Toledo at 4am and when we arrived dockside it was 6:38am, and Windy...

You could see intermittent spray over the harbour walls and 2 of the very small crowd of adventurers decided to give it a pass... (the 2 that hadnt drove 2ana half hours to Get there)...

That left jus' Wolver an I with what amounted to a privately chartered boat as we were the only ones on it except for Capt. Tim and DM Kevin...

Where'd we wanna dive that day?... Northstar? New York? Col. Williams?...

We settled on the New York first as it was the deepest (120' back by the screws)...

Wind is really blowing we're getting some serious wave action (5-7')... get out to the GPS location but cant find the buoy, finally Wolver spots it... (thank God its Orange, Never woulda seen it if it were white with all that whitecap action going on out there)...

Wave action makes hooking the rope harder... multiple tries.... finally we get it and do out final gearing up... we're both diving wet, he's got a farmer john, an HP 130, and a 50cf pony; I have a &mm full with a 7mm shorty over it, an LP 121, and a 40cf pony...

looked like I was going to have a hard time clearing the ladder with my giant stride as the boat was heaving constantly and the ladder was all over the place, I did a giant-stride-fall to the left of the ladder and made final mask adjustments, mask back on face and now I gotta swim back to the boat as I've already drifted 10 yds or so... soon as I get back to the boat I drop, I see Kevin down about 25' or so waiting for us, we swim at about 25'-30' to the descent line... when I got to the descent line a Ton of the stress I'd been dealing with went away..., and I'd also burned about 500psi just getting to the line... down, down... down... 3 different computers, Wolver was using a 25 yr old dacor microbrain (one of the first computers that was wristmounted) and a digital watch as redundant bottom timer, I had a Nitek Duo and I'm not sure what Kevin had... Wolver's microbrain ran out of bottom time when mine said we still had 5 minutes... we turned the dive not quite a minute later... max depth 114' , 47 degrees, 22 min. bottom time. I was back on the boat with a lil' over 1100 psi, Wolver about 1000psi.

did a two minute deepstop at 60'

the 3min safety at 20' was done between 15'-25' due to the wave action, but getting my fins off and then back up that ladder in these waves was very difficult and was nauseous for a bit after getting back on the boat... (Wolver a lil' more so :) ) ...

So I said "I'm Done" and scrapped the 2nd dive , Wolver was feeling much the same way and although Kevin was quite willing and suggested we see if the waves were lighter closer to shore (2nd dive was to be the Col. Williams)... the waves Were a lil' lighter closer but there will still some Big ones... my butt caught some airtime (a full second) when we hit a wave that was close to 10'.

I dont feel badly about it, I was feeling like crap and I'd gained alot of experience in that first dive, I was good to go.

I hope to go back about a month from now... hopefully with much smaller waves...


:)

I would like to think that most experianced divers would had called it a day and not even attempted the dives at all. Maybe after some more experiance you will realize that it isnt worth hurting yourself or others. Knowing what you know now, would you had called the dives???
 

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