Hey All,
My Dad, Brother and I all got certified last year around May. Brother and I took to the water like fish and have racked up over 100 dives and gone gangbusters in the great lakes and local quarries. Drysuits, reg, tanks, all the gear and are very comfortable in the water.
My Dad is right now around 20-25 dives, 90% warm water. Two trips to the Keys, and a week in the Caymans and maybe 2 dives between Gilboa and Portage. We have a week in Coz coming up in a few weeks. I know he needs some help w/ bouyancy and air cosumption, so for Christmas last year I got him a gift certificate at his LDS to get his AOW & Nitrox. I figured some good quality time w/ an instructor would do him good.
I find out today the dives for his AOW is scheduled the same weekend as DUI Days at Gilboa (Early June) and that the instructors plan is for them to do their deep dive in a drysuit. Let me underscore this - his first drysuit dive will his deep dive. :11:
Dad says they plan on having three instructors/divemasters in the water. Safety diver at the top, a diver at the bottom, and one shutteling students up and down. He didn't know of any pony bottle requirements - but is asking. I'm having him also ask if they will get to try out drysuits in the pool session.
As many times as I've been to Gilboa - I've never dove the deep side. There is nothing over there but some training platforms and a cold dark hole. Last year someone doing a drysuit demo got intermingled with a training class on its way to the deep side and had complications and died. Another diver I know (during his deep training dive) had complications wound up unconcious and ended up taking a chamber ride.
I fail to see why they would take this approach vs. going off the training docks down past the tubes to satisfy the depth requirements vs. subjecting them to a freefall to 120ft. I think I'll talk to Mike about platforms out past the tubes to establish an alternative deep dive scenerio.
For those of you that are familiar w/ Gilboa and/or instructors out there - am I getting worked up over nothing....? What would you do? Either way I told pops he's in for some cold water dives between now and then.
My Dad, Brother and I all got certified last year around May. Brother and I took to the water like fish and have racked up over 100 dives and gone gangbusters in the great lakes and local quarries. Drysuits, reg, tanks, all the gear and are very comfortable in the water.
My Dad is right now around 20-25 dives, 90% warm water. Two trips to the Keys, and a week in the Caymans and maybe 2 dives between Gilboa and Portage. We have a week in Coz coming up in a few weeks. I know he needs some help w/ bouyancy and air cosumption, so for Christmas last year I got him a gift certificate at his LDS to get his AOW & Nitrox. I figured some good quality time w/ an instructor would do him good.
I find out today the dives for his AOW is scheduled the same weekend as DUI Days at Gilboa (Early June) and that the instructors plan is for them to do their deep dive in a drysuit. Let me underscore this - his first drysuit dive will his deep dive. :11:
Dad says they plan on having three instructors/divemasters in the water. Safety diver at the top, a diver at the bottom, and one shutteling students up and down. He didn't know of any pony bottle requirements - but is asking. I'm having him also ask if they will get to try out drysuits in the pool session.
As many times as I've been to Gilboa - I've never dove the deep side. There is nothing over there but some training platforms and a cold dark hole. Last year someone doing a drysuit demo got intermingled with a training class on its way to the deep side and had complications and died. Another diver I know (during his deep training dive) had complications wound up unconcious and ended up taking a chamber ride.
I fail to see why they would take this approach vs. going off the training docks down past the tubes to satisfy the depth requirements vs. subjecting them to a freefall to 120ft. I think I'll talk to Mike about platforms out past the tubes to establish an alternative deep dive scenerio.
For those of you that are familiar w/ Gilboa and/or instructors out there - am I getting worked up over nothing....? What would you do? Either way I told pops he's in for some cold water dives between now and then.
