pchelp
Guest
Crystal River, Kings Bay
Dive report, 3/2/03
Weather was cloudy, and it started raining on the boat trip to the spring. We already had our wetsuits on, so it was no problem. Went with a couple of friends (newly certified divers) I had never dove with before. Figured the springs would make an easy refresher dive after a couple of months out of the water. On the drive up we talked about gear configurations, why to plan the night before, etc. Well, we get to the site, and anchor the boat, and all start gearing up. First problem, one of the divers realized they had not brought their weights, that was o.k., because they had brought an extra weight belt for me (trying out a BP/Wing, so my integrated weights wouldn't help). I then noticed, while I had brought extra weight for the thicker wetsuit, I had left my integrated weights in the truck (so I'm 16 lbs. short), but still had 14 lbs. with me, so I figured I could make it (steel tank). Next problem, one of the divers realized that in packing the night before, her regulator was still at home, she wasn't happy. Fortunately, I had brought an extra reg (1st and 2nd), with a depth and pressure guage (didn't think about a LP inflator hose), so she was able to still dive (no octo, so we stayed close), and as a new diver manually inflating her bc was a lot of additional task loading. O.K. now we all get geared up and ready to dive, 2 of us jump in and are waiting for the 3rd diver. New problem, he lost his mask somewhere on the boat, now I had just handed it to him 2 minutes before. So one of us climbed back on the boat and found his mask. O.K. lets try again.
Kings spring was easy to find, water was pretty stirred up, with a couple of classes going on there. I started to get some nice pictures of the schools of mullet, etc. Got a real nice one from inside the opening at the bottom of the spring, school of fish in the opening and my buddy above them. Water clarity in the room at the bottom was perfect, lots of fish.
Next stop was 3 sisters springs, parked the boat, jumped in. About 10 minutes later, one of the divers notices his brand new hugh Titanium Knife, that had been strapped on his leg was missing. Despite an intensive search, his new toy was gone. And on only his third dive (their class only required 2 OW dives). Now trying to get a few more pictures, I notice my camera seams to have reset, and shows no film??? Well, I will check it back at the vehicle, I figure. Well, it flooded nicely, water poured out of the housing, and the camera itself (even the film canister).
Total of 3 dives, my max. depth was 48', each of the dives was 30-40 minutes.
Oh, yea, another mistake I made, had set my O2 % on my wrist computer, but did not finalize the setting. Upon hitting 20' depth, it locked me out for an O2 violation. Good thing my air integrated won't do that (and yes I know, not to rely on an air computer when diving Nitrox), and that they will rot my brain.
It was great to get back underwater, the vis. was wonderful, but I think I still prefer the ocean to fresh water.
Dive report, 3/2/03
Weather was cloudy, and it started raining on the boat trip to the spring. We already had our wetsuits on, so it was no problem. Went with a couple of friends (newly certified divers) I had never dove with before. Figured the springs would make an easy refresher dive after a couple of months out of the water. On the drive up we talked about gear configurations, why to plan the night before, etc. Well, we get to the site, and anchor the boat, and all start gearing up. First problem, one of the divers realized they had not brought their weights, that was o.k., because they had brought an extra weight belt for me (trying out a BP/Wing, so my integrated weights wouldn't help). I then noticed, while I had brought extra weight for the thicker wetsuit, I had left my integrated weights in the truck (so I'm 16 lbs. short), but still had 14 lbs. with me, so I figured I could make it (steel tank). Next problem, one of the divers realized that in packing the night before, her regulator was still at home, she wasn't happy. Fortunately, I had brought an extra reg (1st and 2nd), with a depth and pressure guage (didn't think about a LP inflator hose), so she was able to still dive (no octo, so we stayed close), and as a new diver manually inflating her bc was a lot of additional task loading. O.K. now we all get geared up and ready to dive, 2 of us jump in and are waiting for the 3rd diver. New problem, he lost his mask somewhere on the boat, now I had just handed it to him 2 minutes before. So one of us climbed back on the boat and found his mask. O.K. lets try again.
Kings spring was easy to find, water was pretty stirred up, with a couple of classes going on there. I started to get some nice pictures of the schools of mullet, etc. Got a real nice one from inside the opening at the bottom of the spring, school of fish in the opening and my buddy above them. Water clarity in the room at the bottom was perfect, lots of fish.
Next stop was 3 sisters springs, parked the boat, jumped in. About 10 minutes later, one of the divers notices his brand new hugh Titanium Knife, that had been strapped on his leg was missing. Despite an intensive search, his new toy was gone. And on only his third dive (their class only required 2 OW dives). Now trying to get a few more pictures, I notice my camera seams to have reset, and shows no film??? Well, I will check it back at the vehicle, I figure. Well, it flooded nicely, water poured out of the housing, and the camera itself (even the film canister).
Total of 3 dives, my max. depth was 48', each of the dives was 30-40 minutes.
Oh, yea, another mistake I made, had set my O2 % on my wrist computer, but did not finalize the setting. Upon hitting 20' depth, it locked me out for an O2 violation. Good thing my air integrated won't do that (and yes I know, not to rely on an air computer when diving Nitrox), and that they will rot my brain.
It was great to get back underwater, the vis. was wonderful, but I think I still prefer the ocean to fresh water.
