Blue Hole in December

[amascuba]

Here's some interesting stats for you... Out of 275 logged dives, 100 dives have been in San Solomon Springs at Balmorhea State Park (Balmorhea, TX), and 96 dives have been at the Blue Hole. That leaves 79 dives that have either been in Ute Lake, Lake Greenbelt, Rock Lake, Perch Lake, The Puget Sound, Cozumel, or Turks and Caicos. If I was a WWW then I would only have 61 logged dives between Cozumel and Turks and Caicos.

 

[RonFrank]

I'm approaching 200 dives in just over three years.

I'm not going to pull out my log to look, but I'm thinking 100 or so of those dives have been at the BH, CO lakes, and Perch (mostly BH). The remainder have been tropical, but other than a few difficult wreck dives, and one very low vis reef dives, I think the majority of my skills have been acquired doing low vis, or cold water diving.

Recently my Night diving skills I think have grown considerably. The last few trips down to the BH have involved at least two night dives per trip, and I'm REALLY starting to enjoy those dives. Night diving can be a bit disorienting even if one is familiar with the site. I've now done enough night dives at the Hole where I feel very comfortable at night even when the vis is poor, and I don't have a wall, or bottom as a visual reference. Good Stuff!

 

[RonFrank]

Also, please don't take that the way it sounded after I came back and read it. I just have never went down there to just dive...

No offense taken, at least on my behalf!

If I lived in the Keys, would I still dive BH? Absolutely (assuming I was in the area).

The more I dive the Hole, the more I enjoy it. Sure it's not a sun drenched reef surrounded, and covered with awesome marine life. But it is a unique diving experience, and a great place to enjoy the company of Friends, and to meet other divers.

 

[Divedoggie]

Yes, the tailgating atmosphere, with people excited about diving and talking about diving, makes diving at BH very cool. Also, since there really isn't much to see, the point of every dive there is to work on skills.

I recently conducted some specialty classes at BH and Perch. The Navigation dives were awesome! Students had to navigate patterns at 40 feet, make a mark in the algae, and then continue while maintaining 40 feet. There is no visual awareness of the bottom or the surface. Since viz is about 20 feet, the opposing wall can not be seen either. If they completed their patterns with proper compass use and bouyancy control, they found the marks they made in the algae.

On another note:
In November, we were doing some night dives, and the police came by and told us that the park closes at 5:00, and that night diving was no longer allowed! We went over to the sign at the entrance, and sure enough, a "board" was nailed up over the "old" hours, and the "new" hours say the park closes at 5pm.
This happened at about 8pm, after 2 night dives. We just went over to Josephs and had fun.

 

[RonFrank]

Y
On another note:
In November, we were doing some night dives, and the police came by and told us that the park closes at 5:00, and that night diving was no longer allowed! We went over to the sign at the entrance, and sure enough, a "board" was nailed up over the "old" hours, and the "new" hours say the park closes at 5pm.
This happened at about 8pm, after 2 night dives. We just went over to Josephs and had fun.

This is VERY bad news. I'm going to start a new thread as this is getting off topic, but I wonder if there is anything to be done?

Night dives are an important skill, and I'm very positive the LDS's using the BH will have a lot to say about this.

 

[diverdowndh]

Well, if the trip is a go (still waiting confirmation) I'll be down there next week for some DM candidate type stuff. And, if I get to night dive with you guys, it'll be my first non-training dive at the infamous BH! Man, you guys with around 100 dives at BH, I'm stunned. I guess I've just never heard of anyone "just diving" there... but keep in mind, I was dropped when I was young <grin>.
So, do any of you wear drysuits at BH? What about semi-dry? My instructor loaned me his semi-dry, never used one. BTW, what is a WWW? I have a feeling I may be one, just not sure, ha! I have dove Cozumel 6 times (about to be seven in Feb), Grand Cayman 3 times, Grand Turk, Belize twice, Fiji, and off Key West. I've got lots of dives for just a recreational diver, I've been very fortunate. This will be cool to see some local divers down just because they love the sport, so I hope to meet some of you.

 

[amascuba]

I'm approaching 200 dives in just over three years.

I'm not going to pull out my log to look, but I'm thinking 100 or so of those dives have been at the BH, CO lakes, and Perch (mostly BH). The remainder have been tropical, but other than a few difficult wreck dives, and one very low vis reef dives, I think the majority of my skills have been acquired doing low vis, or cold water diving.

Recently my Night diving skills I think have grown considerably. The last few trips down to the BH have involved at least two night dives per trip, and I'm REALLY starting to enjoy those dives. Night diving can be a bit disorienting even if one is familiar with the site. I've now done enough night dives at the Hole where I feel very comfortable at night even when the vis is poor, and I don't have a wall, or bottom as a visual reference. Good Stuff!

In addition to my paper log and the log that my computer keeps, I also keep generic information (depth, tiime, date, location) on divelogonline.com. It allows me to download the dives in a cvs, which can be used to come up with quick stats.

Yes, the tailgating atmosphere, with people excited about diving and talking about diving, makes diving at BH very cool. Also, since there really isn't much to see, the point of every dive there is to work on skills.

I recently conducted some specialty classes at BH and Perch. The Navigation dives were awesome! Students had to navigate patterns at 40 feet, make a mark in the algae, and then continue while maintaining 40 feet. There is no visual awareness of the bottom or the surface. Since viz is about 20 feet, the opposing wall can not be seen either. If they completed their patterns with proper compass use and bouyancy control, they found the marks they made in the algae.

On another note:
In November, we were doing some night dives, and the police came by and told us that the park closes at 5:00, and that night diving was no longer allowed! We went over to the sign at the entrance, and sure enough, a "board" was nailed up over the "old" hours, and the "new" hours say the park closes at 5pm.
This happened at about 8pm, after 2 night dives. We just went over to Josephs and had fun.

Teaching the navigation dive at Perch Lake is one of my favorite dives when working an AOW class. I usually have them run the navigation patterns off the ledge by the plane and then we'll take a tour of the lake and exit. It's always a fun dive.

It's a bummer about the BH closing at 5PM now...I wonder what's up with that? Time to start asking around.

Well, if the trip is a go (still waiting confirmation) I'll be down there next week for some DM candidate type stuff. And, if I get to night dive with you guys, it'll be my first non-training dive at the infamous BH! Man, you guys with around 100 dives at BH, I'm stunned. I guess I've just never heard of anyone "just diving" there... but keep in mind, I was dropped when I was young <grin>.
So, do any of you wear drysuits at BH? What about semi-dry? My instructor loaned me his semi-dry, never used one. BTW, what is a WWW? I have a feeling I may be one, just not sure, ha! I have dove Cozumel 6 times (about to be seven in Feb), Grand Cayman 3 times, Grand Turk, Belize twice, Fiji, and off Key West. I've got lots of dives for just a recreational diver, I've been very fortunate. This will be cool to see some local divers down just because they love the sport, so I hope to meet some of you.

WWW = Warm Water Wuss.

Not all my dive at the BH are just fun dives. I work classes as a divemaster there for my LDS too. Though, working classes are usually fun... So I typically lump them all into the same category.

Maybe one of these days when I decide to work a normal schedule I will start doing what Kevin does and see if we can get more people from my area out diving for fun once a month.

 

[diverdowndh]

Somehow I *knew* that WWW=me... yup, so far, that is me to a T. Any comments about the semi-dry suit?

 

[amascuba]

I dive in a drysuit, but I've used a Scubamax 7mm semi-dry... It will keep you warm in the water. If it's cooler outside then the surface intervals aren't going to be much fun.

 

[Tjack]

I'm not going to pull out my log to look, but I'm thinking 100 or so of those dives have been at the BH, CO lakes, and Perch (mostly BH).

Hey Ron you mean all those blank pages are from the BH?

Night dives at the Hole are great, sure looks different under divelights. I always assumed the park was closed at night but that they didn't enforce it.

Sounds like a fun weekend, sucks that I can't make it. Taos has awsome snow right now which is some condolence.