Had training day yesterday. Most of the team was out on block training, so it was just me, the other FNG and the dive team leader. The leader was tender, and we were in the water.
In front of the training facility, we have a nice set up, with a 5 acre lake that has a buick sunk in 12' of water about 40 yards from the shore marked with a small buoy. Lots of tannic acid and typically next to nothing vis. We had about 3" yesterday.
We started the day with equipment familiarization (this was my 3rd drysuit dive, buddy's first) - buoyancy, trim and inversion/recovery. Everything ok, except my buddy didn't do the inversion/recovery.
Next, we were to swim out to the car take a compass heading back to starting point, descend to the roof, and return underwater. We got out to the car, but my buddy was nervous with the combination of new equipment and black water, so he came back in on the surface. I went down to the car, looked around for a minute or two (staying above the hood level), surfaced and swam back.
When I got back to shore, my buddy was changing into his wetsuit to complete the training day. I waited next to shore and noticed that the team leader was looking hard out toward the car. I turned around, and a smallish (~4') gator had surfaced about 20 yards from the car parallel to shore and was watching us.
We watched him for a while, and it was evident that he was just curious, so we started practicing arc-searching. On our fourth sweep, my buddy made the recovery (.357 training revolver).
After a short break, we set the next plan. To swim back out to the car, perform an exterior search and identification by tag or vin of the car, feel around for hookup spot on the front axle, then proceed to an interior search, surface and return to shore.
While we were gearing up, however, a larger (6-7') gator surfaced next to the car. Unlike the smaller one, this one was perpendicular to us and sitting high in the water. We watched him for around 1/2 an hour, but this guy never moved. The FWC muster was coming out of the training building at this time, so we snagged one who let us know this was an agressive posture for the gator (showing us how big he was), so we called it a day. The FWC guy called in for a couple of tags and will be baiting the gators today, so we should be able to have an uninterrupted training day next month.
Even though it was a short day, I think it was the most productive day for me yet. We were able to work on things that would have bored the vets to tears and get some experience with our new gear in a realistic environment.
In front of the training facility, we have a nice set up, with a 5 acre lake that has a buick sunk in 12' of water about 40 yards from the shore marked with a small buoy. Lots of tannic acid and typically next to nothing vis. We had about 3" yesterday.
We started the day with equipment familiarization (this was my 3rd drysuit dive, buddy's first) - buoyancy, trim and inversion/recovery. Everything ok, except my buddy didn't do the inversion/recovery.
Next, we were to swim out to the car take a compass heading back to starting point, descend to the roof, and return underwater. We got out to the car, but my buddy was nervous with the combination of new equipment and black water, so he came back in on the surface. I went down to the car, looked around for a minute or two (staying above the hood level), surfaced and swam back.
When I got back to shore, my buddy was changing into his wetsuit to complete the training day. I waited next to shore and noticed that the team leader was looking hard out toward the car. I turned around, and a smallish (~4') gator had surfaced about 20 yards from the car parallel to shore and was watching us.
We watched him for a while, and it was evident that he was just curious, so we started practicing arc-searching. On our fourth sweep, my buddy made the recovery (.357 training revolver).
After a short break, we set the next plan. To swim back out to the car, perform an exterior search and identification by tag or vin of the car, feel around for hookup spot on the front axle, then proceed to an interior search, surface and return to shore.
While we were gearing up, however, a larger (6-7') gator surfaced next to the car. Unlike the smaller one, this one was perpendicular to us and sitting high in the water. We watched him for around 1/2 an hour, but this guy never moved. The FWC muster was coming out of the training building at this time, so we snagged one who let us know this was an agressive posture for the gator (showing us how big he was), so we called it a day. The FWC guy called in for a couple of tags and will be baiting the gators today, so we should be able to have an uninterrupted training day next month.
Even though it was a short day, I think it was the most productive day for me yet. We were able to work on things that would have bored the vets to tears and get some experience with our new gear in a realistic environment.
