Monday 6-8-2020 Forecast and tides looks good

[AfterDark]

Monday looks to be a nice day for diving in Newport WNW winds 5-10mph 2'-4' seas out on the RI sound, that usually means easy diving and "good" vis.

Kings Beach if I get a buddy diver if not then solo kayak diving either Green Bridge or Gooseberry Island or as I call it the "Island of Magic". Of course if anyone has and wants to use a kayak you are welcome to come.

Splash time if rock hopping 10:15am if yak diving same splash time but an early launch time to get the site before high ebb at 10:30AM.

I may also do a solo dive at FTW over the weekend just to make sure I can still walk with my gear on, that was an issue last time. Got my gear reconfigured to get the weight off my hips which I hope cures that issue.

 

[AfterDark]

Dive 2088 solo Monday 6-8-2020 Kings Beach Newport RI

First dive of 2020 7 months since my last dive.
A sunny clear day light NNW winds no swells, chop or white caps.
Started at 10:15AM Max depth 24FSW bot temp 58F vis 10-15' only saw small fish. end time 11:00AM

 

[TuckerIdaho]

Kings only small fish? Must have been the front.

 

[AfterDark]

Kings only small fish? Must have been the front.

There were 2 speros there also, one went to Prices Neck and said he saw some legal size togs and schoole bass the other went on the East side of the second set rocks on the East side of Kings and saw some schoolies also. Neither had fish. I stayed west of the East side rocks and only went as far East as the point of the same rocks. Though I didn't surface until getting back to the landing, I know the bottom there like my living room and am very sure of where I was during the dive and where I turned.

 

[AfterDark]

Since this is my thread I'm going to hi-jack it!

A few notes on the gear I used. I used my old Seaquest jacket BCD instead of the B/P wing. I must say that the jacket was much more comfortable surface swimming and I didn't find any notable difference in trim underwater. Using the wing I can't comfortably surface swim face down, it tends to drive my head down and floods the snorkel. On a dive like Monday's being able to surface swim enhances the experience, by that I mean with 15' vis one can see a lot from the surface and save air for deeper water; of course one can always submerge if something of interest is seen from the surface.

I also used a harness for the weight belt. A BIG improvement that is going to be incorporated into my every dive gear.
I now have 2 weight belts one with 20lb the other with 12lb. The heavier is for use with the jacket the other with the B/P. I do need to find a better way to add more ditch able weight when using the jacket, at least until I no longer need the hooded vest and gloves.
I need to wear the belt lower with the jacket and higher with the B/P something I found out Monday.

I am glad to report I was able to walk from my car to the water without any hip pain the same post dive. A distance 2x's longer than I walked on my last aborted dive attempt.

So I think I'm able to stay in the game a little longer! PTL!!

 

[CT-Rich]

Heresy! You are not allowed to EVER speak of BP/W in any terms other than superlatives, worse yet, you said something good about a Jacket BCD. Your membership in the Pub is officially being suspended.

Glad to here you are feeling better. Mike and I did a dry suit dive at FTW on Sunday. Visibility was “meh”. Water was 54F. We did see a few taug and a striper. We skipped the second dive, not seeing crap for 52 minutes was enough for one day

 

[AfterDark]

Heresy! You are not allowed to EVER speak of BP/W in any terms other than superlatives, worse yet, you said something good about a Jacket BCD. Your membership in the Pub is officially being suspended.

Glad to here you are feeling better. Mike and I did a dry suit dive at FTW on Sunday. Visibility was “meh”. Water was 54F. We did see a few taug and a striper. We skipped the second dive, not seeing crap for 52 minutes was enough for one day

An old jacket no less, from 1987 with no weight pouches or other improvements and dodads.
Some weight pouches would be nice however. It has BIG pockets but too big for ditchable weights, I can't reach the weights so they ain't ditchable!

I'm thinking about putting some pockets on the weight belt harness shoulder straps, those I could reach and pull the weight out, like the ones on my B/P waist belt harness.

I could dump the belt but that's 20lb, more than I'd like to release.

It "felt" more like a early May dive. I'm going to check some fishing reports to find out how much and big the fish being caught now. The water temps are a month behind, maybe that's keeping things slow?

 

[CT-Rich]

I have the DUI harness. It has has two ditchable plates. Replacing them isn’t cheap. I’ve seen some ditchable systems where the lead is the only thing you lose, but those are usually built into a BCD. Personally, ditching weight is almost always on the surface and pretty rare. Losing the lead and a $15 belt is cheaper than spending $50 to make it so you only lose the lead....

 

[AfterDark]

I have the DUI harness. It has has two ditchable plates. Replacing them isn’t cheap. I’ve seen some ditchable systems where the lead is the only thing you lose, but those are usually built into a BCD. Personally, ditching weight is almost always on the surface and pretty rare. Losing the lead and a $15 belt is cheaper than spending $50 to make it so you only lose the lead....

+1 that's why I'll be using the same "system" I use on my harness, weight pockets that hold regular or soft lead weights that can be removed by hand from the pocket. You know me spend no money!

Heck even my harness is nothing but spare weight belts and buckles configured into a harness.

At the surface or submerged I wouldn't need to drop the whole belt just enough lead to make me buoyant, pockets will enable that.