I went out to the local quarry today for some diving. It was 38 degrees air temp, 38 degrees water temp, and 38 inches of visibility. A trifecta of diving bliss. Not! LOL
My initial plan to was sort out a tail weight for my rig with my new-to-me Oxycheq 55 wing on the first dive. Then do a second dive to swim over to a boat on the bottom and take some pictures using the wide angle wet lens I got for Christmas. While setting up for the first dive, I realized I could not actually fit my tail weight down into the V between my tanks, so I couldn't get my back plate on with the tail weight in place. I knew from yesterday in the pool that I needed a tail weight or this wing was going to have me constantly doing a nose dive. So, I gave up on the new wing and fell back to Old Blue, my Dive Rite Rec EXP, which does not need a tail weight for me to have proper trim. In the pool, I was dry but not wearing warm undies, so I did not need or use the V weight I have and my trim was fine. For my last dip in the pool, I put on my undies and added my V-weight. That was when I found that it constantly wanted to tip me on my face. But, by then, my pool session time was up, so had to defer further refinement until today*.
I was with 2 buddies. We were all diving dry, with steel doubles. The first dive, we went out and down to the nearest training platform, at 30'. We got combobulated. Lights on. Everyone flow checked valves. That sort of thing. The viz at that point was about 5'. Then we descended under the platform, attempting to follow the anchor line down. By 40', I could not see the anchor line anymore, even using my light. I was still only about 3' from it. At 59', I could only see my Perdix if I held it up about 6" from my face. We had agreed that if we went down and couldn't see each other, we would just ascend back to the platform. At 59', I definitely could not see anyone else's lights, so I headed back up. I was quite pleased that I started right at the corner of the platform and I came back up right at the same corner. I was maybe 2' to the right of where I had started. I have been really working on trying not to have busy feet that run me all over the place, so I took that as a sign that I was reasonably successful in that.
Within 3 minutes of my arrival back at the platform, the other guys appeared. In the meantime, it seemed like clouds of silt were slowly billowing up from the bottom, so the viz at the platform dropped to about 3' by the time we were all back together. Once we re-grouped, we just swam a few laps around the platform, with the occasional stop to do a valve drill or just practice hovering. Finally, one of the guys was ready to pack it in and signaled to shoot bags. We had agreed we would all shoot bags at the end and simulate an ascent to 20', with a stop and gas switch. I stayed with one of the guys, but the 3rd guy managed to drift off into the pea soup while he was getting his bag out and inflated. We all surface within 10' of each other, but I couldn't see the 3rd guy until my head broke the surface.
That dive was enough for me. The other 2 had already done 1 dive before I got there, so they were good, too. We all packed up and headed home.
It was better than not diving. But not by much....
*As I sit here typing this, I have realized how I should/could have attached the tail weight so that it would work and not be a problem with plate fitment. Oh, well. Next time.
My initial plan to was sort out a tail weight for my rig with my new-to-me Oxycheq 55 wing on the first dive. Then do a second dive to swim over to a boat on the bottom and take some pictures using the wide angle wet lens I got for Christmas. While setting up for the first dive, I realized I could not actually fit my tail weight down into the V between my tanks, so I couldn't get my back plate on with the tail weight in place. I knew from yesterday in the pool that I needed a tail weight or this wing was going to have me constantly doing a nose dive. So, I gave up on the new wing and fell back to Old Blue, my Dive Rite Rec EXP, which does not need a tail weight for me to have proper trim. In the pool, I was dry but not wearing warm undies, so I did not need or use the V weight I have and my trim was fine. For my last dip in the pool, I put on my undies and added my V-weight. That was when I found that it constantly wanted to tip me on my face. But, by then, my pool session time was up, so had to defer further refinement until today*.
I was with 2 buddies. We were all diving dry, with steel doubles. The first dive, we went out and down to the nearest training platform, at 30'. We got combobulated. Lights on. Everyone flow checked valves. That sort of thing. The viz at that point was about 5'. Then we descended under the platform, attempting to follow the anchor line down. By 40', I could not see the anchor line anymore, even using my light. I was still only about 3' from it. At 59', I could only see my Perdix if I held it up about 6" from my face. We had agreed that if we went down and couldn't see each other, we would just ascend back to the platform. At 59', I definitely could not see anyone else's lights, so I headed back up. I was quite pleased that I started right at the corner of the platform and I came back up right at the same corner. I was maybe 2' to the right of where I had started. I have been really working on trying not to have busy feet that run me all over the place, so I took that as a sign that I was reasonably successful in that.
Within 3 minutes of my arrival back at the platform, the other guys appeared. In the meantime, it seemed like clouds of silt were slowly billowing up from the bottom, so the viz at the platform dropped to about 3' by the time we were all back together. Once we re-grouped, we just swam a few laps around the platform, with the occasional stop to do a valve drill or just practice hovering. Finally, one of the guys was ready to pack it in and signaled to shoot bags. We had agreed we would all shoot bags at the end and simulate an ascent to 20', with a stop and gas switch. I stayed with one of the guys, but the 3rd guy managed to drift off into the pea soup while he was getting his bag out and inflated. We all surface within 10' of each other, but I couldn't see the 3rd guy until my head broke the surface.
That dive was enough for me. The other 2 had already done 1 dive before I got there, so they were good, too. We all packed up and headed home.
It was better than not diving. But not by much....
*As I sit here typing this, I have realized how I should/could have attached the tail weight so that it would work and not be a problem with plate fitment. Oh, well. Next time.
