marshallkarp
Contributor
I know that the other thread is going, so mods, if you want to combine this, go ahead. I just thought people might want to see some video.
I got to the quarry at noon Friday and registered at the office. For those of you who have never been there, here are the grounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFa9P-t_eY4
and here is the office/diveshop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJqfiaO6trE
Mike was running around, like usually. He runs a tight ship and seems always on top of things. Talk to Jodie briefly, but sounds like she had laringitis. Next, I registered at the DUI tent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri32yVcYli0
I cannot say enough about the DUI and Dive Shop Staff. I went to DUI Day two years ago and it was the same. These people treat you right, everyone was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable. In my opinion, excellent sales people, great marketing promotion, and I hope they sell lots of dry suits.
My first dive of the day, Blue was the dive guide and Tim and Mike were with us. This was my best dry suit dive as my head and face felt cold, but I was more less comfortable the whole dive. Two years ago, I was never comfortable and had constant buoyancy problems. This time, I had a bit of squeeze, but did not let my feet go up and over. Good dive, down to the helicopter and plane and back, 54 degrees 20 minutes. No way I could have done this wet.
Things went so well my first dive, I felt confident enough to take my video camera with me. I got a Flip Ultra HD last year and just got the housing for it last week. We are going to Belize in July, so I wanted to test everything out. Understand, I do not have the wide angle lens, so the underwater video will seem cramped. More about cramps later, here we are in the water just getting started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1-_b94l700
Here is the boat and my calf cramps started here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCzM1nyhCZA
and the motorcycle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oflp-iCqkTY
Calf cramps hit real bad to the point of I could not even kick anymore. Well, guess what, you can't kick in a drysuit, you can't right yourself with a bouyancy problem. I tried to gut out the dive and thought I was going to finish, but when you start getting shallow, the air starts expanding, and you can't right yourself, well, up you go. Fortunately, it was not a bad ascent, more like a gentle rise, as I did not have that much air in the suit and I probably should have called the dive anyway. Surface swimming in was tough, but got to the dock and just hung on until the cramps let up. Bonnie was the safety person on the dock and signaled the guys that I was okay, as they came up to see what happened to me.
I felt bad to end the dive on that note with my dive buddies. Also, I hate to end a dive day on a bad note because I just think about it until next time. Hope this calf cramp thing was a just fluke from the cold. Never had this problem before. People kept telling me to eat bananas for the potassium. Oh well, some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.
I got to the quarry at noon Friday and registered at the office. For those of you who have never been there, here are the grounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFa9P-t_eY4
and here is the office/diveshop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJqfiaO6trE
Mike was running around, like usually. He runs a tight ship and seems always on top of things. Talk to Jodie briefly, but sounds like she had laringitis. Next, I registered at the DUI tent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri32yVcYli0
I cannot say enough about the DUI and Dive Shop Staff. I went to DUI Day two years ago and it was the same. These people treat you right, everyone was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable. In my opinion, excellent sales people, great marketing promotion, and I hope they sell lots of dry suits.
My first dive of the day, Blue was the dive guide and Tim and Mike were with us. This was my best dry suit dive as my head and face felt cold, but I was more less comfortable the whole dive. Two years ago, I was never comfortable and had constant buoyancy problems. This time, I had a bit of squeeze, but did not let my feet go up and over. Good dive, down to the helicopter and plane and back, 54 degrees 20 minutes. No way I could have done this wet.
Things went so well my first dive, I felt confident enough to take my video camera with me. I got a Flip Ultra HD last year and just got the housing for it last week. We are going to Belize in July, so I wanted to test everything out. Understand, I do not have the wide angle lens, so the underwater video will seem cramped. More about cramps later, here we are in the water just getting started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1-_b94l700
Here is the boat and my calf cramps started here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCzM1nyhCZA
and the motorcycle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oflp-iCqkTY
Calf cramps hit real bad to the point of I could not even kick anymore. Well, guess what, you can't kick in a drysuit, you can't right yourself with a bouyancy problem. I tried to gut out the dive and thought I was going to finish, but when you start getting shallow, the air starts expanding, and you can't right yourself, well, up you go. Fortunately, it was not a bad ascent, more like a gentle rise, as I did not have that much air in the suit and I probably should have called the dive anyway. Surface swimming in was tough, but got to the dock and just hung on until the cramps let up. Bonnie was the safety person on the dock and signaled the guys that I was okay, as they came up to see what happened to me.
I felt bad to end the dive on that note with my dive buddies. Also, I hate to end a dive day on a bad note because I just think about it until next time. Hope this calf cramp thing was a just fluke from the cold. Never had this problem before. People kept telling me to eat bananas for the potassium. Oh well, some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.
Ahhh.... My work is done! 
