Spectre
Contributor
Today was my first 3 AOW dives. We had been planning to dive at Back Beach on Cape Ann, but we decided instead to go for Nubble Lighthouse [Cape Neddick] in York Maine. The plan: Underwater Navigator, Search and Recovery, and Night.
Underwater Navigator
Upon descent, while waiting for everyone to come down and group up, I found a Sea Raven that also found me. He stared, moved a little closer, stared some more, moved closer, stared some more, moved a little closer [probably about 3 feet from my face] and finally decided he had enough of me. Once again, another wish for a camera!
We head off to set the surface bouy anchor, and the instructor runs the reel out 100 ft. I count my kicks out while my buddy times his swim out. I time back while he counts back. I realized halfway out that I was actually counting my breaths, not my kicks, so I'm a little concerned. I had 21. I time _and_ count my kicks back [with the current] and come up with 18. While I'm coming back, I realized that while I was counting my breathing, I was concentrating on the kicks, and was breathing with my kicks, one breath cycle for each kick cycle... oh well, whatever works right?
I got a little confused next, because as I was writing down my kick cycles and time, my instructor sets the bezel on my compass. He says swim out 10 kick cycles and then back. I'm a little confused because I thought we were going to swim the reel out, he was going to pull it, and we were going to use natural nav back... (I realized he wouldn't have been able to do that because there was 5 students, and that would have been a lot of waiting in 42 degree water!) We were doing the compass swim while the next group was doing their counting. So we started heading out on a 60 degree bearing for 10 kick cycles. After 5 1/2, we found the wall... can't really do 10 kick cycles! So after a little "what do we do", I signal head back. So we head back and 5 1/2 kick cycles later, we're back at the anchor.
Next is the box pattern. We head out for our 10 kick cycles down the line. I get to 9 and I notice my buddy is missing. I look back and he's pointing at the 50 foot knot in the line and indicating we're supposed to be going 50 ft. I try to explain that we need to go the measured 10, or we won't know how far back to travel when we're not on the line]. After waving my hands around wildly, in perfect tune with the thoughts running through my mind, he amazingly understands and we head to the point I was at. We turn 90 degrees, and start swimming out 10 kick cycles to the left. And sure enough, we find that damn wall! So we turn and swim along the wall. The "Wall of Annoyance" decides to not be helpful and isn't actually parallel with the line, so we head off at a different angle. Since I didn't review my trigonometry before the dive, I wasn't entirely sure how we were going to get back! So we swam about 9 kick cycles along the wall, and saw something! Well, we didn't _do_ any natural navigation, but I decided to use some and cheat. What I found was a broken up lobster pot that I had seen on that compass bearing swim. So I set my compass for 300 degrees, and set off for my 5 1/2 kick cycles to a perfect landing on the anchor, meeting with applause from my instructor. He sends us back and up.
Search and Recovery
We head back out for our second dive. Once again it's comfortable at 42 degrees. First skill, searching for "Barney's Nads" with a reel and a circle pattern. Barney's Nads are two golf balls, painted purple with little gold speckles on them. So I'm searching first and my buddy is running the reel. We decide to set the search pattern start due north. Go out 5 feet, start running clockwise, and I realize there's going to be an anchor line issue. I move the line over the anchorline, not thinking that my buddy might be doing the same. Turns out he went the other direction. I started swimming and realized I was hung up. Instructor comes over and frees us. I couldn't quite figure out what happened, so I come up with a better idea. I hit due north from the anchor line, and my buddy gives 3 tugs and gives me 5 feet. I decide I'm going to try and explain something to him. I get back to the anchor line "issue". Give him two tugs. "You ok?" He answers with his two tug "yep". I turn around and start heading back. I know he's gotta be confused at this point. I do the second half of the circle at that distance, get back to the anchor line, and give him 3 tugs. He gives me more line, and I turn around and start going the other way Lesson: if I realized that he could have figured out to unwrap the reel around the anchor line, it wouldn't have been necessary!. I run the 15 ft. circle, get to the anchor line, give 3 tugs, get my next 5 feet, and start going again. Around, 25 ft, head back. Just out of reach I see Barney's first nad. I need about 3 more feet, temporarily, to reach it Lesson: Put _down_ the rope!. I give 3 tugs and he [most likely confusedly] gives me some line. I grab the ball, throw it in my sleeve, and try and figure out how to tell him to take that line back. It ends up being a strong tug, and he starts reeling in and coming to me. Argh! I [with my amazing signalling capabilities, which is probably just my buddies telepathy] tell him I only have one, and I need to continue my search. He reels back out, and I continue my search... stupidly, the other direction. Lesson: trust your buddy has figured out the pattern now, and will tell _you_ when you hit the anchor line and give you your line. 30 ft now has me in a little problem... yes, the return of the "Wall of Annoyance". After a little tug-of-war with my buddy, I realize there ain't no way I'm going to be able to tell him to "take up some line until I tell you to give me it back", so I wrap the line around my hand/elbow, swim the wall, and continue. Get another 5 feet, turn around. Wrap up for the wall, start unwrapping. The line is strangely limp, so I figure I must have lost my bearings and wasn't swimming a proper circle, so I start swimming along the wall to take up the slack. After the fact, my buddy explains that the line got tangled, and he let some out to try and fix it, while I was taking all that line. So I'm probably 50 ft out or so by now [but I didn't know]! I'm swimming along and I check my watch... 15 minutes... and we're only 1/4 of the way done w/ the first skill!
I swim a little farther and I come across another sea raven. By this point I'm pretty frustrated and I pop the nicorette out of my cheek and chew frantically for a bit. As the nicotine buzz kicks in, I ask the sea raven if he's seen Barney's other nad. He introduces himself as "Randy", and tells me that he's not going to help me cheat. I accuse him of swallowing Barneys nad and reach for my knife to begin an in-water dissection to recover the damn ball at this point, and he tells me "Ok Ok Ok... you missed it". Arghhh!! So I finish my circle, get my line [he probably didn't actually give me any] and head back. I get to the wall, wrap the miles of extra line up around my arm, hit the sand and I hear something behind me. There's instructor. I look at him and shrug in utter frustration. He tells me to swim. I realize he said if we miss it, he'll move it. So I swim up over the rock and past him, and there's the g*d d**m m**her f**king p**ce of s**t ball! [Yea, I'm frustrated!].
We reel in and switch. My buddy writes on his slate "Sorry, My fault". Which I don't totally understand [he was referring to the whole 'too much line' thing]. By now it's been 20 minutes. I write on my slate the search pattern using the anchor line as the point. He understands, swims out, runs his 5 feet, gets the anchor line, I give 'em 3 tugs and 5 feet, and he heads back. Barney nad one, Barney nad two. [Bastard got it easy!].
Big lesson learned: Have the searcher run the reel, and the pivot diver just tell you when you've finished your circle!
Next skill. U pattern search for a weight belt, in buddy group. I'm running compass, he's counting kicks. We head out 5 feet, I go to get the compass bearing. I'm about 10 degrees off, so I turn about 5 degrees, and the compass flops 20 degrees! I turn back about 5 degrees, and flop, 20 degrees the other way! I try this 3 or 4 times, and I finally look at my buddy and tell him to navigate, and I'll count. He says ok and we head off. After 5 kicks he taps me and says it's time to turn. Ok... he turned his telepathy off, but it's a damn good thing we can swim in a straight line! I explain again for him to navigate, and I'll count. He gets the picture. We head back, turn, move 10 feet, turn, start heading for our 3rd pass, and we see it about 6 feet to our right.
I give him the rope while I unwind the bag. He ties it on, I grab my alternate. Puff, Puff... the bag is standing up. Puff... I check if it's positive. Nope. I go for the 4th puff... puuuuuuffffffffffffffff. My buddy indicates small puffs, as I try to explain "freeflow". Screw it. I let go and lunge out from under. I asked people afterwards how high out of the water I launched the weight belt! We surface, bring it over to the basket and I go to lift it in. I'm taking to my buddy and my instructor during all this [read... no snorkel, no reg]. Lesson: When lifting a 10 lb weight belt into a basket on the surface, remember to inflate your BC as much as possible, and stick your reg in your mouth just in case!
Night Dive
After dinner the night dive came. A miserable experience getting the wetsuit back on as it's dropped 15 degrees or so!. We head in, swim due north, douse the lights and look for the bioluminescence that isn't there, I glance at my buddy to get some indication how he feels, because I'm FRIGGIN COLD!. It's amazing the difference 3 degrees makes... water temp was 39. Instructor asks if we want to turn around... "YES!" [I think I might have actually screamed yes!]. We head back on the same course, but the compass screwing aliens have returned. I realize something is wrong as we pass a pipe we passed perpendicular to, and we were running parallel. Oh well "Always trust your compass because it's smarter than you". Guess what. Yep, you guessed it... the "Wall of Annoyance!" We surface and the instructor is scratching his head. "I told you the compasses are all screwed up here". We take a bearing from the surface and head back in. Lesson: Don't always trust your compass. Lesson: >40 is fine < 40 is absolutely, distractingly, miserable!
Of course, my buddy may completely disagree with all the above and tell you it's all a pack of lies, but that's his dive log, not mine! I originally thought we were doing Deep and Wreck tomorrow [well, today now], but the instructor wanted to make sure we were competent before he scheduled the boat, so we're actually doing that next Saturday. Wreck on the Chester Poling, and Deep at Paddock Rock.
I'm thinking of turning this into an un-titled poll... with a yes and no answer. "Did you actually make it to this point?". Maybe even a more complecated poll... "How many times did you fall asleep reading the above trip report!"
Underwater Navigator
Upon descent, while waiting for everyone to come down and group up, I found a Sea Raven that also found me. He stared, moved a little closer, stared some more, moved closer, stared some more, moved a little closer [probably about 3 feet from my face] and finally decided he had enough of me. Once again, another wish for a camera!
We head off to set the surface bouy anchor, and the instructor runs the reel out 100 ft. I count my kicks out while my buddy times his swim out. I time back while he counts back. I realized halfway out that I was actually counting my breaths, not my kicks, so I'm a little concerned. I had 21. I time _and_ count my kicks back [with the current] and come up with 18. While I'm coming back, I realized that while I was counting my breathing, I was concentrating on the kicks, and was breathing with my kicks, one breath cycle for each kick cycle... oh well, whatever works right?
I got a little confused next, because as I was writing down my kick cycles and time, my instructor sets the bezel on my compass. He says swim out 10 kick cycles and then back. I'm a little confused because I thought we were going to swim the reel out, he was going to pull it, and we were going to use natural nav back... (I realized he wouldn't have been able to do that because there was 5 students, and that would have been a lot of waiting in 42 degree water!) We were doing the compass swim while the next group was doing their counting. So we started heading out on a 60 degree bearing for 10 kick cycles. After 5 1/2, we found the wall... can't really do 10 kick cycles! So after a little "what do we do", I signal head back. So we head back and 5 1/2 kick cycles later, we're back at the anchor.
Next is the box pattern. We head out for our 10 kick cycles down the line. I get to 9 and I notice my buddy is missing. I look back and he's pointing at the 50 foot knot in the line and indicating we're supposed to be going 50 ft. I try to explain that we need to go the measured 10, or we won't know how far back to travel when we're not on the line]. After waving my hands around wildly, in perfect tune with the thoughts running through my mind, he amazingly understands and we head to the point I was at. We turn 90 degrees, and start swimming out 10 kick cycles to the left. And sure enough, we find that damn wall! So we turn and swim along the wall. The "Wall of Annoyance" decides to not be helpful and isn't actually parallel with the line, so we head off at a different angle. Since I didn't review my trigonometry before the dive, I wasn't entirely sure how we were going to get back! So we swam about 9 kick cycles along the wall, and saw something! Well, we didn't _do_ any natural navigation, but I decided to use some and cheat. What I found was a broken up lobster pot that I had seen on that compass bearing swim. So I set my compass for 300 degrees, and set off for my 5 1/2 kick cycles to a perfect landing on the anchor, meeting with applause from my instructor. He sends us back and up.
Search and Recovery
We head back out for our second dive. Once again it's comfortable at 42 degrees. First skill, searching for "Barney's Nads" with a reel and a circle pattern. Barney's Nads are two golf balls, painted purple with little gold speckles on them. So I'm searching first and my buddy is running the reel. We decide to set the search pattern start due north. Go out 5 feet, start running clockwise, and I realize there's going to be an anchor line issue. I move the line over the anchorline, not thinking that my buddy might be doing the same. Turns out he went the other direction. I started swimming and realized I was hung up. Instructor comes over and frees us. I couldn't quite figure out what happened, so I come up with a better idea. I hit due north from the anchor line, and my buddy gives 3 tugs and gives me 5 feet. I decide I'm going to try and explain something to him. I get back to the anchor line "issue". Give him two tugs. "You ok?" He answers with his two tug "yep". I turn around and start heading back. I know he's gotta be confused at this point. I do the second half of the circle at that distance, get back to the anchor line, and give him 3 tugs. He gives me more line, and I turn around and start going the other way Lesson: if I realized that he could have figured out to unwrap the reel around the anchor line, it wouldn't have been necessary!. I run the 15 ft. circle, get to the anchor line, give 3 tugs, get my next 5 feet, and start going again. Around, 25 ft, head back. Just out of reach I see Barney's first nad. I need about 3 more feet, temporarily, to reach it Lesson: Put _down_ the rope!. I give 3 tugs and he [most likely confusedly] gives me some line. I grab the ball, throw it in my sleeve, and try and figure out how to tell him to take that line back. It ends up being a strong tug, and he starts reeling in and coming to me. Argh! I [with my amazing signalling capabilities, which is probably just my buddies telepathy] tell him I only have one, and I need to continue my search. He reels back out, and I continue my search... stupidly, the other direction. Lesson: trust your buddy has figured out the pattern now, and will tell _you_ when you hit the anchor line and give you your line. 30 ft now has me in a little problem... yes, the return of the "Wall of Annoyance". After a little tug-of-war with my buddy, I realize there ain't no way I'm going to be able to tell him to "take up some line until I tell you to give me it back", so I wrap the line around my hand/elbow, swim the wall, and continue. Get another 5 feet, turn around. Wrap up for the wall, start unwrapping. The line is strangely limp, so I figure I must have lost my bearings and wasn't swimming a proper circle, so I start swimming along the wall to take up the slack. After the fact, my buddy explains that the line got tangled, and he let some out to try and fix it, while I was taking all that line. So I'm probably 50 ft out or so by now [but I didn't know]! I'm swimming along and I check my watch... 15 minutes... and we're only 1/4 of the way done w/ the first skill!
I swim a little farther and I come across another sea raven. By this point I'm pretty frustrated and I pop the nicorette out of my cheek and chew frantically for a bit. As the nicotine buzz kicks in, I ask the sea raven if he's seen Barney's other nad. He introduces himself as "Randy", and tells me that he's not going to help me cheat. I accuse him of swallowing Barneys nad and reach for my knife to begin an in-water dissection to recover the damn ball at this point, and he tells me "Ok Ok Ok... you missed it". Arghhh!! So I finish my circle, get my line [he probably didn't actually give me any] and head back. I get to the wall, wrap the miles of extra line up around my arm, hit the sand and I hear something behind me. There's instructor. I look at him and shrug in utter frustration. He tells me to swim. I realize he said if we miss it, he'll move it. So I swim up over the rock and past him, and there's the g*d d**m m**her f**king p**ce of s**t ball! [Yea, I'm frustrated!].
We reel in and switch. My buddy writes on his slate "Sorry, My fault". Which I don't totally understand [he was referring to the whole 'too much line' thing]. By now it's been 20 minutes. I write on my slate the search pattern using the anchor line as the point. He understands, swims out, runs his 5 feet, gets the anchor line, I give 'em 3 tugs and 5 feet, and he heads back. Barney nad one, Barney nad two. [Bastard got it easy!].
Big lesson learned: Have the searcher run the reel, and the pivot diver just tell you when you've finished your circle!
Next skill. U pattern search for a weight belt, in buddy group. I'm running compass, he's counting kicks. We head out 5 feet, I go to get the compass bearing. I'm about 10 degrees off, so I turn about 5 degrees, and the compass flops 20 degrees! I turn back about 5 degrees, and flop, 20 degrees the other way! I try this 3 or 4 times, and I finally look at my buddy and tell him to navigate, and I'll count. He says ok and we head off. After 5 kicks he taps me and says it's time to turn. Ok... he turned his telepathy off, but it's a damn good thing we can swim in a straight line! I explain again for him to navigate, and I'll count. He gets the picture. We head back, turn, move 10 feet, turn, start heading for our 3rd pass, and we see it about 6 feet to our right.
I give him the rope while I unwind the bag. He ties it on, I grab my alternate. Puff, Puff... the bag is standing up. Puff... I check if it's positive. Nope. I go for the 4th puff... puuuuuuffffffffffffffff. My buddy indicates small puffs, as I try to explain "freeflow". Screw it. I let go and lunge out from under. I asked people afterwards how high out of the water I launched the weight belt! We surface, bring it over to the basket and I go to lift it in. I'm taking to my buddy and my instructor during all this [read... no snorkel, no reg]. Lesson: When lifting a 10 lb weight belt into a basket on the surface, remember to inflate your BC as much as possible, and stick your reg in your mouth just in case!
Night Dive
After dinner the night dive came. A miserable experience getting the wetsuit back on as it's dropped 15 degrees or so!. We head in, swim due north, douse the lights and look for the bioluminescence that isn't there, I glance at my buddy to get some indication how he feels, because I'm FRIGGIN COLD!. It's amazing the difference 3 degrees makes... water temp was 39. Instructor asks if we want to turn around... "YES!" [I think I might have actually screamed yes!]. We head back on the same course, but the compass screwing aliens have returned. I realize something is wrong as we pass a pipe we passed perpendicular to, and we were running parallel. Oh well "Always trust your compass because it's smarter than you". Guess what. Yep, you guessed it... the "Wall of Annoyance!" We surface and the instructor is scratching his head. "I told you the compasses are all screwed up here". We take a bearing from the surface and head back in. Lesson: Don't always trust your compass
. Lesson: >40 is fine < 40 is absolutely, distractingly, miserable!Of course, my buddy may completely disagree with all the above and tell you it's all a pack of lies, but that's his dive log, not mine! I originally thought we were doing Deep and Wreck tomorrow [well, today now], but the instructor wanted to make sure we were competent before he scheduled the boat, so we're actually doing that next Saturday. Wreck on the Chester Poling, and Deep at Paddock Rock.
I'm thinking of turning this into an un-titled poll... with a yes and no answer. "Did you actually make it to this point?". Maybe even a more complecated poll... "How many times did you fall asleep reading the above trip report!"
