Been busy diving

[Johnoly]

I’ll be stopping by Blue Grotto to get weighting set

Just a couple of helpful tips to make life easier/fun at Blue Grotto.
1) At the very end of the narrow stairs that you walk into the water on your left hand side are a series of 6 strong rings on ropes that are mounted to the same floating dock. You can use these rings to clip off your stages/etc so you don't have to keep lugging them back up to your seating area. It just make life a bit easier.

2) I figure you are driving down. Bring your gear wagon you mentioned prior. At Blue Grotto they have double switch back ramps down to the seat setup area and it makes it really easy to make a single trip rather than climbing those stairs multiple times and then across the parking lot to your vehicle.

3) Make sure you visit the "Air Bell" at Blue Grotto. Of course it's cheezy, but if you skip it you'll regret it every time you read about it on line. Bonus points when inside if you scream as loud you can cause it's an echo chamber with fresh air pumped from above.

Have fun in Florida !!

 

[Marie13]

Great tips, thank you! Absolutely bringing my cart! I don’t go to a dive site without it.

 

[Manatee Diver]

2) I figure you are driving down. Bring your gear wagon you mentioned prior. At Blue Grotto they have double switch back ramps down to the seat setup area and it makes it really easy to make a single trip rather than climbing those stairs multiple times and then across the parking lot to your vehicle.

Also useful for visiting Peacock.

 

[Marie13]

Had a good day of diving Saturday at the WI mine once we got past a patch of really slippery road to get there! Had some gear issues. Long hose first stage had a lot of bubbles coming from exhaust tee and mouthpiece when I put tank in the water. Adjusting Venturi knob didn’t do anything. XTX50. Hauled tank out and easily swapped out to a backup Dive Rite second stage. Taking reg to the shop by the office that does my service.

Was going through my gear last night when I realized I had flooded one of my DR CX2 lights. I hadn’t tightened the cap enough where you charge it. I’ve already sent off an email to DR asking if I can return it for repair. I had lost a CX1 light that was on my Hollis SM rig when it was stolen in early October. I have enough backup lights.

Bit the bullet and ordered a DR EX35 can light yesterday. A buddy told me he found a 25% off sale online with a dive shop out east. Sale was only the model with the angled SM cord routing so nice for me. 3-5 days to ship. Hope I have it before the next time I dive at the mine (not this weekend, but the following) and definitely before I leave for FL! Not really necessary at this point, but it will be nice to have. I’ve been using LX20 up to this point.

 

[Marie13]

I always said I didn’t need to rinse my gear much since I’m diving freshwater, but I’ve learned need to rinse my regs at least.

The second stage that was bubbling and I had to swap out? It had a ton of fine silt inside it. The mine where I dive has a very silty bottom in the access pond. We put our tanks in the water before we dive, especially if air temps are very cold as the water is about 50F year round so tanks won’t freeze. Your tanks can be covered with a lot of silt by the time you get in the water to gear up.

Shop only charged me $17.50 for taking the second stage apart and cleaning it. He showed me the cotton swabs he used to clean it out. Pretty brown with dirt. That was my long hose reg.

Yesterday I took my short hose reg and shook the second stage gently out in the bathtub. All sorts of crap came out, some bits of gravel and a bunch of fine silt. I ran water through the mouthpiece (first stage was held higher than second stage) for a couple of minutes until nothing else came out. Yuck.

 

[Jcp2]

I always said I didn’t need to rinse my gear much since I’m diving freshwater, but I’ve learned need to rinse my regs at least.

The second stage that was bubbling and I had to swap out? It had a ton of fine silt inside it. The mine where I dive has a very silty bottom in the access pond. We put our tanks in the water before we dive, especially if air temps are very cold as the water is about 50F year round so tanks won’t freeze. Your tanks can be covered with a lot of silt by the time you get in the water to gear up.

Shop only charged me $17.50 for taking the second stage apart and cleaning it. He showed me the cotton swabs he used to clean it out. Pretty brown with dirt. That was my long hose reg.

Yesterday I took my short hose reg and shook the second stage gently out in the bathtub. All sorts of crap came out, some bits of gravel and a bunch of fine silt. I ran water through the mouthpiece (first stage was held higher than second stage) for a couple of minutes until nothing else came out. Yuck.

Where did the gravel come from if the regulator was on a necklace?

 

[Marie13]

Where did the gravel come from if the regulator was on a necklace?

From when the tanks were in the water. The bottom of the access pond is silt central. Very very mucky, too. They laid gravel and small stones on the bottom at the walk in entrance and on the side where we get geared up otherwise you’re standing in very sucky mud type buttom.

 

[Jcp2]

From when the tanks were in the water. The bottom of the access pond is silt central. Very very mucky, too. They laid gravel and small stones on the bottom at the walk in entrance and on the side where we get geared up otherwise you’re standing in very sucky mud type buttom.

Good thing you didn’t inhale the gravel during the dive then.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Ewwww…. So I can clean them underwater I pulled the pins out of my second stages.

I also sanitize my regs once a year. An 8 hour soak in a double strength steramine solution (1 tablet per gallon).

 

[Marie13]

Good thing you didn’t inhale the gravel during the dive then.

Haha. Yep.