Blue Hole Feb 16th~17

[RonFrank]

Looks like Rick and myself will be planning on yet another trip down to BH on the weekend of Feb 16~17th.

Same bat place, same bat weekend. We will likely leave mid-day on the 15th, do a night dive on the 15th, dive the 16th at BH, and Perch, and do some diving with the ABQ folks on the 17th before leaving around 2:00pm.

I know it's a three day weekend, but I don't have Monday off (they have converted this holiday into a personal day at Verizon). Unless there is a hugely compelling reason to take off Monday, I won't.

So sounds like we have at least two going down from CO, but we could work things out for more.

Anyone interested? :11::11:

 

[Waterskier1]

Sounds good to me Ron. Only nice thing about it being a 3-day holiday weekend for me is I have Monday to do the weekend chores I didn't get done the previous two days

I'm going to try and get some pool time in this weekend with the new drysuit. Depending on how that goes and how I comfortable (control-wise) I feel, I'll but up for a night dive Fri. night. How did you guys do it last time? Did you eat before the night dive or after?

Hope maybe some more folks will join us

 

[RonFrank]

The night dive plans would depend on the weather, and when we get down. Last time we arrived early evening, had dinner, geared up in the hotel, and spent a VERY minimal time pre/post dive gearing up/down. I don't think we spent more than five minutes pre or post dive between stepping out of the car, and getting into the water if you can believe that.

If you want to do your first dry dive at night, we can do so. You just need to make sure you are weighted properly, and comfortable. It maybe best to do that wet for those reasons, but we can discuss it more.

Let's plan on this. Kevin will be there on Sunday, and I think others will join on Sunday if not both days. Dan maybe down as well as he will likely be on his way to S. CA to dive with a stop on the way to join in. I'd actually join him since the March trip looks to be a bust, but there are some things that would make it difficult to coordinate for me.

 

[georoc01]

Yeah, I remember after spending time in the pool, the first time I got in the blue hole wearing the dry suit with the undergarments I was about 6 lbs light, after adding 6 lbs from the pool session. Never did a neoprene suit though, only a tri-lam.

The 16th my company has booked the ski-train up to Winterpark, so it doesn't look good for me.

 

[Waterskier1]

Sounds good Ron. I agree with you on the night dive. I plan to get some pool time on the drysuit first, and depending on how comfortable I feel with it, I can dive wet or dry Friday night. If I want to gain more confidence in the dry suit, I can play around the platforms on the first dive Sat morning.

This suit is so thick and heavy I don't think I'll need to add any air for Blue Hole :11:.

Maybe open the exhaust valve and the the tank provide a/c cooling . Do we know if Stella will be there? My tanks won't last long airconditions my dry suit

 

[Waterskier1]

Yeah, I remember after spending time in the pool, the first time I got in the blue hole wearing the dry suit with the undergarments I was about 6 lbs light, after adding 6 lbs from the pool session. Never did a neoprene suit though, only a tri-lam.

The 16th my company has booked the ski-train up to Winterpark, so it doesn't look good for me.

George, other than the difference in buoyance due to additional undergarments, did you notice any other differences between the pool and o/w? I guess I'm asking could you get a good feel for the dry suit characteritics in the pool, or did it act significantly different below 12 feet? I suspect that I'll wear about the same undergarments in the pool (very minimal) since it's a thick (they say 7mm, looks more like 9mm) suit, and at Blue Hole, I'm insulating myself against the air outside the water! Under water, my single 7mm is fine. But coming out wet, and being wet, in subfreezing temps with wind is not fun.

Sorry you'll miss this trip, but a ski train trip is fun too.

 

[georoc01]

Other than having to manage another bouyancy source, not really. Of course, I did it in a class which is taught to Padi standards which is to use your dry suit for bouancy and not your BCD (I am sure you can find threads on this elsewhere, so this probably isn't the best forum to discuss it). Since then, I prefer to add just enough air to my dry suit to reduce squeeze and then use my BCD for its purpose.

The other thing was since my rental suit had boots that were too large for me, it created another place for air to be trapped, Adding ankle weights helped with this and better distribute my overall weight.

 

[RonFrank]

My experience with witnessing folks (TJack most recently) dive a neo drysuit is that it is much easier to transition vs. a Trilam.

With the trilam, you feel the squeeze the second you get into the water. Air must be added to prevent squeeze in as little as 20 feet of water. The undergarments are much thicker because the suit has no insulating properties.

With Neo, it acts much more like a wetsuit. You can use minimal undergarments. I'd go with light socks, maybe a long sleeve tee, and very light long underwear, or even just shorts.

The squeeze will be there, but the neoprene does not compress nearly as quickly or as much. We can discuss this more on the way down, as we have... ohhh about 6 hours to kill!

Tjack had ZERO issues diving his new Neo drysuit, but he has a few dives on you. I don't think you will have a lot of issues as long as you are not under weighted. I have ankle weights if you find your feet are floaty.

 

[BigBubbaJ]

I am listing myself as a Maybe... I really want to head down there as I havent gotten wet since thanksgiving!

I will be diving wet, so the weather is a serious concern for me also.

More to come.

 

[RonFrank]

I am listing myself as a Maybe... I really want to head down there as I havent gotten wet since thanksgiving!

I will be diving wet, so the weather is a serious concern for me also.

More to come.

I've done the 7mm wet, sub freezing temps, snow, and wind thing. It sucks. However even if it's cold, you can get out of the wetsuit ASAP once out of the water, have some warm clothing in the wings, and your fine. You can also warm up in the hotel.

I'm hoping the temps continue to get better. It's too early to pull weather forecasts, but this week in Santa Rosa, high are in the mid 50's with even a 60F day in there, and lows are right around 30F which is MUCH warmer than it was while we were there in December.

I'm committed to going barring a huge snow storm on the Friday we leave.