Sabanist
Contributor
Just got back. We went on a reef wall and wreck dive with Stuart cove in Nassau.
The dive op: great. Nothing left to be said. The boat wasn't crowded at all, guides were friendly and attentive. Overall the shop is pretty efficient.
The locale: what else? Fantastic. About a hundred feet of vis in the beautiful waters of the Bahamas. The water was cold. Well, cold for us warm water wusses. We wore 3 mil suits. The reef wall was a sight to see. The wildlife on the reef was pretty average but the panoramic view if the reef then the drop off into the abyss is pretty awe inspiring. The guide tells me the total depth of the wall goes to 1600' to the next shelf. The drop starts at about 60'
The dive buddies: me, my wife, and newly certified 13 yo.
The dives:
Wall dive: my son made me a bit nervous before we entered the water because he was forgetting how to properly set up his gear. But with a little reminding, he got it done. Once he entered the water he was good to go. My wife had some equalizing issues but eventually descended easily. It's hard to have more than one buddy. Constantly looking back and forth keeping my eye on both. The boy kept hanging in the back of the pack but eventually I herded him up with his mother. I felt really confident in my son when he caught my attention at the top of the wall when we descended past 65'. He pointed to his gauges. I thought he may be at 2000 psi or something and just wanted to let me know. But no, he was pointing out that he wasn't certified to go lower than 65'. I thought "good call". Gave him the ok signal and we hovered right around 70' gazing over the ledge.
Wreck dive: can't recall the name of the wreck but it was awesome and huge. Had this cage like structure with coral growing all over it that housed eel, barracuda, and unfortunately lion fish. One was HUGE. The body was about the size of a football.
Everything went well but 2 things briefly freaked me out.
1. One of the guides was practicing his buoyancy (this I learned after the fact). I was scoping around looking for my son when in the distance see a diver sinking to the sea floor tank down, face up. I thought it looked strange so I quickly swam over, the guys eyes were closed and the reg was OUT OF HIS MOUTH!! I thought "oh sh**!!!". Keep in mind, I am not rescue diver certified but am CPR and a first responder. I was about to grab the guy but he opened his eyes and, shocked to see me, gave me the ok signal. What a relief.
The second wasn't that big of a deal but caught me by surprise. We are nearing the end of the dive, I have about 1000 psi, my wife 1100. My son grabs me and points to his gauge and it reads just below 500 psi. We are at about 50', no big deal. I signaled to my son it was ok and gave him the thumbs up signal to ascend. We did our safety stop and ended a great 2 tank dive.
It's the first dive I've done where I was the most experienced in the group. And I think you learn more by assuming that leadership role where you are constantly checking on other divers.
The dive op: great. Nothing left to be said. The boat wasn't crowded at all, guides were friendly and attentive. Overall the shop is pretty efficient.
The locale: what else? Fantastic. About a hundred feet of vis in the beautiful waters of the Bahamas. The water was cold. Well, cold for us warm water wusses. We wore 3 mil suits. The reef wall was a sight to see. The wildlife on the reef was pretty average but the panoramic view if the reef then the drop off into the abyss is pretty awe inspiring. The guide tells me the total depth of the wall goes to 1600' to the next shelf. The drop starts at about 60'
The dive buddies: me, my wife, and newly certified 13 yo.
The dives:
Wall dive: my son made me a bit nervous before we entered the water because he was forgetting how to properly set up his gear. But with a little reminding, he got it done. Once he entered the water he was good to go. My wife had some equalizing issues but eventually descended easily. It's hard to have more than one buddy. Constantly looking back and forth keeping my eye on both. The boy kept hanging in the back of the pack but eventually I herded him up with his mother. I felt really confident in my son when he caught my attention at the top of the wall when we descended past 65'. He pointed to his gauges. I thought he may be at 2000 psi or something and just wanted to let me know. But no, he was pointing out that he wasn't certified to go lower than 65'. I thought "good call". Gave him the ok signal and we hovered right around 70' gazing over the ledge.
Wreck dive: can't recall the name of the wreck but it was awesome and huge. Had this cage like structure with coral growing all over it that housed eel, barracuda, and unfortunately lion fish. One was HUGE. The body was about the size of a football.
Everything went well but 2 things briefly freaked me out.
1. One of the guides was practicing his buoyancy (this I learned after the fact). I was scoping around looking for my son when in the distance see a diver sinking to the sea floor tank down, face up. I thought it looked strange so I quickly swam over, the guys eyes were closed and the reg was OUT OF HIS MOUTH!! I thought "oh sh**!!!". Keep in mind, I am not rescue diver certified but am CPR and a first responder. I was about to grab the guy but he opened his eyes and, shocked to see me, gave me the ok signal. What a relief.
The second wasn't that big of a deal but caught me by surprise. We are nearing the end of the dive, I have about 1000 psi, my wife 1100. My son grabs me and points to his gauge and it reads just below 500 psi. We are at about 50', no big deal. I signaled to my son it was ok and gave him the thumbs up signal to ascend. We did our safety stop and ended a great 2 tank dive.
It's the first dive I've done where I was the most experienced in the group. And I think you learn more by assuming that leadership role where you are constantly checking on other divers.
