shugar
Contributor
Disclaimer: This is going to be incomplete as i only did 2 of the 3 dives that day.
Disclaimer2: this is long.
Met up with my cousin Jaime and we headed off to Aquaventure to meet up with Carlo, Monique, Chip and Iris for some last minute 2005-type diving.
Our DM for the day was Joey, a 20+ year veteran of Anilao. Despite a last-minute screw-up I actually got to borrow a bp/w rig c/o Halthron :10: .
We got into 2 bancas and headed off to Mainit Point.
Dive 1: Mainit 8:38am
Max: 78 feet
Time: 48 minutes
Avg. Depth: 54 feet
Bottom Temp: 79F
Viz: +/- 20-30ft
Surface as usual was choppy so Joey decided to enter from a little further ahead of the dive site so that the current would swing us onto the good parts and we'd have a longer dive ahead of us.
Saw a very small yellow moray, a solitary King Trevally Jack (but nowhere near as huge as the last one I saw), a school of 2 kinds of trevallies rolling together. Of course small fish all over the place - like it was going out of style!
Chip said he saw a shark. I signed him that I thought it was bovine crap - I got the finger back for my efforts. Darned canuck.
Surface Interval Time: 1:17
We did our SI at a little rock beach on Maricaban Island very near to Sombrero. Gorged down Iris's chips and JellyAce while Spoon slept in the boat. Spent a good 10 minutes discussing the potential and viability of a Camelback being used as an underwater hydration system. Possibly narcosis talking here hahahaha
Dive 2: Beatriz 10:44am
Max: 81 feet
Time: 40 minutes
Avg. Depth: 48 feet
Bottom Temp: 79F
Viz: 40-50ft.
Took us a couple of minutes to position the boats for entry as the current was up. Joey tells us to do a (quick) negative descent and find shelter so the current doesn't throw us all to hell. Did that pretty ok, but I found out later that Jaime got screwed by that entry and almost aborted the dive but got to fix his equalization when the current dissipated a little at 30'.
Had a pretty good drift around the coral mounds. The guys were getting crowded around a medium sized yellow moray - it's a very unusual color - too bad Jaime and I chalked up an earlier yellow one hehehehe.
We also saw this huge lionfish (approx. 1.5 feet long) hiding under a rock. Current then picked up big time and we did all we could to hold on to what we could. Thankfully I brought my reef hook along and found a place to latch on too (no corals damaged or disturbed).
Then we drifted back with the current and when I latched on again Jaime grabbed on to my leg (the freeloader!)... I also find out later on that Chip (again the canuck!) was hanging on to my tank like a remora during that same time - I swear these people!
On the way back I noticed I was running air towards the advice level of 800psi (I had 1200) and that my comp was telling me I had a couple of minutes left at depth (we were at 60-ish). I slowly ascended to add time and looked to grab Iris's attention to tell her to come up with me (she didn't have a comp and was deeper than I was... it was time to reel her in). All of a sudden I look at my comp and it tells me I have a 10ft ceiling and a 5 minute deco stop! DAMNATION! I signal and mouth Joey my situation and we begin to head up.
Then I check my air - 500psi!!! At 40+ feet! AAAAARRRRGGGG!!! (how could I have been so stupid!?)
Well as I slowly try to make my way up the coral mound to shelter myself from the current, the darn comp tells me I now have to make a 7 minute deco. great. At 30ft I have a whopping 100psi left and Joey gives me the octo. I'm also screwed because I'm facing headlong into a raging current and I'm 20ft below my ceiling. Thankfully Spoon comes along and shares air from his endless supply (gotta love them doubles) and eventually detach to do some sort of hovering safety stop.
Exhausted, with an empty tank, sucking off a buddy's long hose, my butt's in the air and I'm doing all I can to keep below 10 feet (my deco ceiling). With a few minutes to spare in my deco I have no choice but to spit out the longhose and flip over into the surface (take note I'm just a couple of feet from the surface).
Well I eventually drag my sorry behind over the banca and we head off back to aquav for lunch. Turns out Jaime comes in at 100psi too and the whole dive whipped everyone. I up-chucked the SI Pringles off the side of the boat and luckily (surprisingly) nobody noticed.
Joey was not worried about the deco violation. His computer was nowhere near deco limits and since I had kicked my Mosquito's conservativeness up a notch I actually had a little more allowance. I monitored myself though for any additional symptoms like joint pains or continued nausea (I had a similar ep in feb, breathing too fast and upping my CO2 level).
Over lunch Jaime and I decided - out of exhaustion - not to do the 3rd dive. Me also since I didn't want to tempt fate or dive with a locked computer (w/c I managed to do thanks to not completing my deco).
What we did though was have a relaxing couple of beers out on the deck, where Bongskee the shop manager suggested I suck 5 minutes worth of pure O2 just as a hedge against any DCS probabilities. I actually felt better after that.
At the end of the day it was a very interesting and exciting way to end the year. It was, as usual, great diving with carlo, monique, chip and iris.
Pictures will follow as soon as chip gets off his duff and posts them.
Jag
Disclaimer2: this is long.
Met up with my cousin Jaime and we headed off to Aquaventure to meet up with Carlo, Monique, Chip and Iris for some last minute 2005-type diving.
Our DM for the day was Joey, a 20+ year veteran of Anilao. Despite a last-minute screw-up I actually got to borrow a bp/w rig c/o Halthron :10: .
We got into 2 bancas and headed off to Mainit Point.
Dive 1: Mainit 8:38am
Max: 78 feet
Time: 48 minutes
Avg. Depth: 54 feet
Bottom Temp: 79F
Viz: +/- 20-30ft
Surface as usual was choppy so Joey decided to enter from a little further ahead of the dive site so that the current would swing us onto the good parts and we'd have a longer dive ahead of us.
Saw a very small yellow moray, a solitary King Trevally Jack (but nowhere near as huge as the last one I saw), a school of 2 kinds of trevallies rolling together. Of course small fish all over the place - like it was going out of style!
Chip said he saw a shark. I signed him that I thought it was bovine crap - I got the finger back for my efforts. Darned canuck.
Surface Interval Time: 1:17
We did our SI at a little rock beach on Maricaban Island very near to Sombrero. Gorged down Iris's chips and JellyAce while Spoon slept in the boat. Spent a good 10 minutes discussing the potential and viability of a Camelback being used as an underwater hydration system. Possibly narcosis talking here hahahaha
Dive 2: Beatriz 10:44am
Max: 81 feet
Time: 40 minutes
Avg. Depth: 48 feet
Bottom Temp: 79F
Viz: 40-50ft.
Took us a couple of minutes to position the boats for entry as the current was up. Joey tells us to do a (quick) negative descent and find shelter so the current doesn't throw us all to hell. Did that pretty ok, but I found out later that Jaime got screwed by that entry and almost aborted the dive but got to fix his equalization when the current dissipated a little at 30'.
Had a pretty good drift around the coral mounds. The guys were getting crowded around a medium sized yellow moray - it's a very unusual color - too bad Jaime and I chalked up an earlier yellow one hehehehe.
We also saw this huge lionfish (approx. 1.5 feet long) hiding under a rock. Current then picked up big time and we did all we could to hold on to what we could. Thankfully I brought my reef hook along and found a place to latch on too (no corals damaged or disturbed).
Then we drifted back with the current and when I latched on again Jaime grabbed on to my leg (the freeloader!)... I also find out later on that Chip (again the canuck!) was hanging on to my tank like a remora during that same time - I swear these people!
On the way back I noticed I was running air towards the advice level of 800psi (I had 1200) and that my comp was telling me I had a couple of minutes left at depth (we were at 60-ish). I slowly ascended to add time and looked to grab Iris's attention to tell her to come up with me (she didn't have a comp and was deeper than I was... it was time to reel her in). All of a sudden I look at my comp and it tells me I have a 10ft ceiling and a 5 minute deco stop! DAMNATION! I signal and mouth Joey my situation and we begin to head up.
Then I check my air - 500psi!!! At 40+ feet! AAAAARRRRGGGG!!! (how could I have been so stupid!?)
Well as I slowly try to make my way up the coral mound to shelter myself from the current, the darn comp tells me I now have to make a 7 minute deco. great. At 30ft I have a whopping 100psi left and Joey gives me the octo. I'm also screwed because I'm facing headlong into a raging current and I'm 20ft below my ceiling. Thankfully Spoon comes along and shares air from his endless supply (gotta love them doubles) and eventually detach to do some sort of hovering safety stop.
Exhausted, with an empty tank, sucking off a buddy's long hose, my butt's in the air and I'm doing all I can to keep below 10 feet (my deco ceiling). With a few minutes to spare in my deco I have no choice but to spit out the longhose and flip over into the surface (take note I'm just a couple of feet from the surface).
Well I eventually drag my sorry behind over the banca and we head off back to aquav for lunch. Turns out Jaime comes in at 100psi too and the whole dive whipped everyone. I up-chucked the SI Pringles off the side of the boat and luckily (surprisingly) nobody noticed.
Joey was not worried about the deco violation. His computer was nowhere near deco limits and since I had kicked my Mosquito's conservativeness up a notch I actually had a little more allowance. I monitored myself though for any additional symptoms like joint pains or continued nausea (I had a similar ep in feb, breathing too fast and upping my CO2 level).
Over lunch Jaime and I decided - out of exhaustion - not to do the 3rd dive. Me also since I didn't want to tempt fate or dive with a locked computer (w/c I managed to do thanks to not completing my deco).
What we did though was have a relaxing couple of beers out on the deck, where Bongskee the shop manager suggested I suck 5 minutes worth of pure O2 just as a hedge against any DCS probabilities. I actually felt better after that.
At the end of the day it was a very interesting and exciting way to end the year. It was, as usual, great diving with carlo, monique, chip and iris.
Pictures will follow as soon as chip gets off his duff and posts them.
Jag
