Daytona Beach Boat Dive, June 19

[simbrooks]

I didnt mean it to be that long, but once my fingers get typing

Kurt in the APB thread wondered if Chuck, Jarred, Pete, Andy, 100-days might want to go (Madeline also asked to be in on the list), i would also be up for that as i am sure most people would, it was a very good day on the water. IF we did this there is a boat booking fee of $500 for a 4-5 hour charter, so that would be about 10 people, but we would have to get in there early to really get that going. There is a price for a full day hire ($900 i think) for 8-10 hours, which i assume is 3-4 tank length and could be one long day. Anyone interested and we can put together some dates. I dont mind putting the booking on my card IF i know there are plenty of people interested and we can agree on a date.

I am now shattered after two 70-90ft dives on air and driving from an early start out and back with little sleep the last few nights, lets hope i can keep it in check during the August extravaganza - that could get a lot of people tired with so many dives in a weekend - i reckon 4-5 on friday 4 deep boat dives on saturday and maybe one or two on sunday - pooped already thinking about it

 

[scubafool]

Here I get home ~ 8:30 P.M., but neither of you have posted a trip report, pictures, notta noda!. Since you guys are too busy posting about next weekend's dives, I guess I am stuck with the dive report gig.

Operation- Sea Dogs (see earlier in this thread for cantact info)
SB divers- Sir Andy the Non-Hurling, Sir SimBrooks the White, & Sir scubafool the Valiant & Brave & Wise & Intrepid, & Dauntless & nowi'moutofadjectivessoaddyourownhere
Location- Off of New Smyrna Beach aprox. 10 miles. The artificail reef/wreck USS Mindinao & the Atlas tug.
Depth, temp, & vis- Mindinao-Cathryn managed to bottom grind 91 feet in the dirt by the rudder, I got 88 feet by staying of the bottom, the deck was around 65-70 feet Temp-Mid 70's at surface, dropped to high 60's around 40 feet Vis-5-10 feet at the surface, 15- 20 feet at the wreck Bottomtime- 35 minutes Dive quality- ***1/2 out of *****, not because of the crew or the boat, as I think that they were the best of all of the boats that I have been on, but because of the vis & the COLD thermocline. Nothing that anyone could have done about, except for myself by learning to deal with it.
Atlas Tug- Around 80 feet at the sand, wreck started around 65 feet. Mid 70's surface temp, low 70's-high high 60's at bottom Vis- My guess would be 20-25 at the surface & the same at the bottom.Dive qaulity- ***1/2 out of *****, but only because I had an on-the-boat secondary freeflow that cost about 300 lbs of gas, so I ended up cutting everyone else's dive short. Except for......... Never mind, I am not about to go there. Bad karma, you see

Overall, I would give the dive strip(oooooops, I mean trip) **** out of *****. If you are not a spearo, you might find the fact that they cater to them a little annoying, but the captain seems to go out of his way to ensure that there is no major conflict between the two underwater interests.

Overall, I had a great time, & I am looking forward to the next time the wife allows me to dive off of New Smyrna.

 

[scubafool]

Ok, simon, so you type faster than I. What of it?. The big moderatorcheeze type guy hasn't checked in yet, and until he does, we have no proof, so haah!!!

 

[simbrooks]

The artificail reef/wreck USS Mindinao & the Atlas tug.
Depth, temp, & vis- Mindinao-Cathryn managed to bottom grind 91 feet in the dirt by the rudder, I got 88 feet by staying of the bottom, the deck was around 65-70 feet Temp-Mid 70's at surface, dropped to high 60's around 40 feet Vis-5-10 feet at the surface, 15- 20 feet at the wreck Bottomtime- 35 minutes Dive quality- ***1/2 out of *****, not because of the crew or the boat, as I think that they were the best of all of the boats that I have been on, but because of the vis & the COLD thermocline. Nothing that anyone could have done about, except for myself by learning to deal with it.

All i can say, is when you have internal heating, you use it I have no idea why you all have famer johns on. If you hit one of those scour holes as Andy did, and then proceeded to practice his turns whilst looking up at me - dropped down to him and read 92ft and we were still a few feet off the bottom - so it was deep enough out there.

Atlas Tug- Around 80 feet at the sand, wreck started around 65 feet. Mid 70's surface temp, low 70's-high high 60's at bottom Vis- My guess would be 20-25 at the surface & the same at the bottom.Dive qaulity- ***1/2 out of *****, but only because I had an on-the-boat secondary freeflow that cost about 300 lbs of gas, so I ended up cutting everyone else's dive short. Except for......... Never mind, I am not about to go there. Bad karma, you see

I thought we didnt do too badly considering you had your 200-300psi freeflow, and Cathryn had a 3700 pumped AL100 and i was on a measily AL80 with a regular fill. I still just nudged under 0.7 cuft/min, so still on the way down. We were around 200psi from the rock bottom i was using for that dive, so you called it a little before i would have.

It was fun diving with all 3 of you.

One thing i forgot to mention, was that there were a few mini-jellies in the water out there, nothing too bad, except that Andy thought he got stung on the lip - so he couldnt kiss his mirror reflection when he got home - shame

 

[_Kurt_]

Thanks for the great report.
Sounds like it would be another good SB get together.

Chuck

Good idea, Chuck. I bet we could fill the boat if we had enough advance notice! Hmmmmm......

 

[simbrooks]

Like i said on the other thread i believe it was $500 to charter the full boat for a half day 4-5 hours, 900 a full day 8-9 hours and there were other prices for going farther out for more tech stuff. So looking at that after tax for a half day, if we had 8=$66pp, 9=58pp, 10=53pp, 11=48pp, 12=44pp, 13=41pp, 14=38pp - it holds up to 16=33pp but that would be quite a boat full. IF we had enough interest and could organize a date i would be happy to put it on my card and deal with it and payments as and when. The prices for the full day charter - which would be a long 3-4 tanker would be almost double those stated above between 119-60pp between 8-16 people.

 

[simbrooks]

Other something i forgot to mention, on the trip over there at 7-8am along I-4 and SR-44 i have never seen so many cops - there were about 6 on I-4 which is a little more than usual, but on SR-44 there was a cop car in every group that went by me in the opposite direction - maybe a dozen in all for that short 20 mile trip. The speed limit varied from 45-65, so not much fear of speeding, but even so, i reckon every deputy and his dog was out there that morning.

 

[scubafool]

That all sounds good, but getting 12 to 16 people to commit & then actually show up would be quite an accomplishment. Not that I don't like the idea, just wondering how practical it is. If there is enough interest, however, I am game. I definitely enjoyed the dives, & will dive off of that boat again in the future.

Oh, so you were the crazy English dude that Volusia County had an APB out for. Now it all starts to make sense......

 

[H2Andy]

excellent reports, simon and david... and a great idea for a get-together; i'd be up
for that.

as for me, i had more than a blast diving with simon, david, and cathryn. it was really
awesome!

this is like the first time in almost two years of boat diving that i did not hurl,
sorry to disapoint. maybe next time!

thanks all, it was superb!

 

[scubafool]

Yeah, & you had me all keyed up about seeing you upchuck. Darn it all!!!