mikemill
Contributor
So yesterday mikemikethepike and I hit up Breakwater. Going into this dive there were three firsts: first dive post Lasik, first dive on doubles, and first dive with the new scooter. It was also a day where more than three bad things happened but I'm still glad we went out 
First bad thing was that as I was moving gear from my apartment to the car I slipped on some mud and landed on my butt with doubles on my back and a scooter in my hands. Fortunately nothing broke so I brought the rest of the gear out and let Mike finish the loading while I changed my pants.
We arrived to a dead calm ocean, did a quick dive plan discussion, and then started setting up our gear. The plan was to go out to the metridum fields, play there a bit, then cut east towards the barge. I've never been to the barge and only had a general idea of its location so I wasn't really expecting to hit it. The second bad thing was that I forgot my buckle for the can light. And of course as I'm going over to Glenn's we got rained on heavily for a few minutes. The third bad thing was realizing I forgot the wrist mount computer; fortunately I have a bottom timer / depth gauge on the scooter. Now this is three bad things so I should have called it. But I didn't
We got our gear together, dry suits on, and then staged our scooters on the beach. We then went back up and grabbed our gear and put it on. Got out to the water and kicked just far enough to have it deep enough to drop (like 8 feet or so). We then started scootering out until I found the pipe and then we turned to follow it. Saw some great stuff on our way out. A couple minutes later and we are at the field (btw for anyone who doesn't know, just keep the same heading after the pipe disappears and you'll run into the field). We explore it and I take some time to check buoyancy and trim with the doubles. We move from patch to patch and even circled some of them a few times. Looked at the nettles and were having a great time.
At this time we learned our first lesson: It really is dang easy to separate on scooters. After the minute or so of searching (and being able to hear each other's scooters) we both did our slow safe ascent and came up at about the same time. We joined back up and did a quick discussion on if we were done there or not. We dropped back down and as we were dropping I started getting the heading.
This is when bad thing #4 happened as Ben V possessed my body and I ran face first into the tentacles of a nettle. I got hit right across the lip and cheek. After the initial freak out I got myself settled on the bottom and had Mike confirm that I didn't have anything on my face. I then took a some time to get my breathing and heart rate back under control. Realizing that the pain was just in the hot sauce level I waved off Mike's question of calling the dive and we proceeded on.
I got the heading dialed back in and we take off. At this point the paranoia was high and I gave those nettles a wide berth. I am surprised by how much of nothing there is out there and how kinda cool that nothingness is. At some point Mike's computer started complaining so we turned it in towards the shallow. Which was probably a good thing cause we hit the breakwater wall (so if we had kept going we'd probably have ended up in the marina area).
As we came in we did our stops and I was surprised by how well I was able to hold them with only the gauge on the scooter for a depth reading. As we came in more we started dodging students and got separated again. On the surface I decided to call it as the burning as getting to me. We decided to drop back down and scoot towards the exit. I had some fun playing solemn through the kelp. We got up on some rocks and had to get out of that but once we got on the sandy part it wasn't bad.
Get out to a nice sunny sky, drop the scooters (I did mine on the beach and he took his up to the first landing on the steps) and hiked our gear back to the tables. Drop gear and then got the scooters. At this time I learned of my last bad thing: One of the prop blades broke off.
After that we loaded up, ran over to Aquarius to fill the tanks and went home. Fortunately I had enough bad things that fate decided to not have the swarm of CHP pull me over.
With everything that happened I still think it was a great day and a great dive. I'm never kicking out to Met Fields again. I was awed by the size of the field and by how much ground you can cover with the scooter. I loved doing on long dive and really the weight of the extra tank wasn't that much. I do need to play with trimming out the doubles though.
I did take away some important lessons about awareness, buddy communication, navigation, and even about watching the NDLs and such.
First bad thing was that as I was moving gear from my apartment to the car I slipped on some mud and landed on my butt with doubles on my back and a scooter in my hands. Fortunately nothing broke so I brought the rest of the gear out and let Mike finish the loading while I changed my pants.We arrived to a dead calm ocean, did a quick dive plan discussion, and then started setting up our gear. The plan was to go out to the metridum fields, play there a bit, then cut east towards the barge. I've never been to the barge and only had a general idea of its location so I wasn't really expecting to hit it. The second bad thing was that I forgot my buckle for the can light. And of course as I'm going over to Glenn's we got rained on heavily for a few minutes. The third bad thing was realizing I forgot the wrist mount computer; fortunately I have a bottom timer / depth gauge on the scooter. Now this is three bad things so I should have called it. But I didn't
We got our gear together, dry suits on, and then staged our scooters on the beach. We then went back up and grabbed our gear and put it on. Got out to the water and kicked just far enough to have it deep enough to drop (like 8 feet or so
). We then started scootering out until I found the pipe and then we turned to follow it. Saw some great stuff on our way out. A couple minutes later and we are at the field (btw for anyone who doesn't know, just keep the same heading after the pipe disappears and you'll run into the field). We explore it and I take some time to check buoyancy and trim with the doubles. We move from patch to patch and even circled some of them a few times. Looked at the nettles and were having a great time.At this time we learned our first lesson: It really is dang easy to separate on scooters. After the minute or so of searching (and being able to hear each other's scooters) we both did our slow safe ascent and came up at about the same time. We joined back up and did a quick discussion on if we were done there or not. We dropped back down and as we were dropping I started getting the heading.
This is when bad thing #4 happened as Ben V possessed my body and I ran face first into the tentacles of a nettle. I got hit right across the lip and cheek. After the initial freak out I got myself settled on the bottom and had Mike confirm that I didn't have anything on my face. I then took a some time to get my breathing and heart rate back under control. Realizing that the pain was just in the hot sauce level I waved off Mike's question of calling the dive and we proceeded on.
I got the heading dialed back in and we take off. At this point the paranoia was high and I gave those nettles a wide berth. I am surprised by how much of nothing there is out there and how kinda cool that nothingness is. At some point Mike's computer started complaining so we turned it in towards the shallow. Which was probably a good thing cause we hit the breakwater wall (so if we had kept going we'd probably have ended up in the marina area).
As we came in we did our stops and I was surprised by how well I was able to hold them with only the gauge on the scooter for a depth reading. As we came in more we started dodging students and got separated again. On the surface I decided to call it as the burning as getting to me. We decided to drop back down and scoot towards the exit. I had some fun playing solemn through the kelp. We got up on some rocks and had to get out of that but once we got on the sandy part it wasn't bad.
Get out to a nice sunny sky, drop the scooters (I did mine on the beach and he took his up to the first landing on the steps) and hiked our gear back to the tables. Drop gear and then got the scooters. At this time I learned of my last bad thing: One of the prop blades broke off.
After that we loaded up, ran over to Aquarius to fill the tanks and went home. Fortunately I had enough bad things that fate decided to not have the swarm of CHP pull me over.
With everything that happened I still think it was a great day and a great dive. I'm never kicking out to Met Fields again. I was awed by the size of the field and by how much ground you can cover with the scooter. I loved doing on long dive and really the weight of the extra tank wasn't that much. I do need to play with trimming out the doubles though.
I did take away some important lessons about awareness, buddy communication, navigation, and even about watching the NDLs and such.
