RAD Diver
Contributor
Andy (Drewski) & I went out with Lynnhaven on the Miss Lindsey to the Gulf Hustler an old fishing trawler in what turned out to be 70-75 fsw.
We met Patrick (Bubblehead) & his buddy Jeff also on the trip.
After about an hour trip we were on site & 10 minutes later we were tied in & after a short briefing the pool was open. Patrick & Jeff were the 1st in with Andy & I following closely behind.
Vis was pretty decent at about 30ft, water temp was 70. We did a quick trip around & decided to venture off into the sand. I ran a reel & after a while noticed that the ripples in the sand had changed direction, I should have taken a compass heading, but kept swimming & ran back into the Hustler, the current had swung me in a big circle. We stayed close to the wreck as Andy wanted to shoot something with his speargun, & there were some big Spadefish schooling above the wreck.
I noticed that we were alone except for Bill Ripley on his re-breather, we had Eanx 36 in our tanks which gave us about an hour NDL at 80 fsw. I found a 4-eyed butterfly fish at the anchor line & spent a few minutes watching it. Then I realized that I hadn't seen Andy for a while & went looking for him, when we found each other we had plenty of NDL left, but my computer was flashing 5 minutes left. Must be due to the 500psi left in my tank. I was still safe as I had a 40 cuft slung with a safe mixture for the depth. Andy had a pretty good sized Spade & was ready to go. We did 65 minutes on the bottom so with a slow ascent & 3 minutes on hang bar out total run time was 72 minutes.
Back on board we had a couple cold hot dogs & some chips with a few soft drinks to wash the salt taste away. The DM asked me if we were only doing 1 dive & I said yea just 1 more dive, he wasn't amused & suggested we do a shorter run next time & that we weren't suppose to be doing Deco, which we weren't. Not even close according to my computer.
Everyone was getting ready for their 2nd dive so we switched our tanks out & were ready to go with a short 50 min SI. There was 1 diver left on board & Andy asked why he wasn't going diving, he said something about a sinus squeeze & Andy suggested just staying a bit shallow & hang where he was comfortable. He decided to go & we told the DM we would do a trio, but Andy & I basically dive solo on most wrecks unless we have a planned deco, so I dove with the single diver.
We did a few trips around with me showing the way, pointing out different things such as a toadfish & looking at several shells. All of a sudden he showed me 4 & I thought he was at 4 minutes since we had been down for almost 20 minutes, but he went for the line quick, turns out I found out later that he was down to 400 psi. He was a Navy diver so I figured he could handle the ascent alone.
I went looking for Andy & found him stalking some Spade, but with a empty stringer. I left him & made a few more trips around the wreck, but about 20 ft off into the sand. Vis had dropped to under 20ft, but I could still see the shadow so I was safe, since I had a knot in my reel somehow, I was limited to my scope.
When I made it back to the wreck I found a good sizes 4-eyed butterfly fish, then I found the 1 I had seen earlier, man strange seeing Tropicals around here. I did see a small Tautog & showed Andy, but was too small to hit, there were also some small Cobia in the many thousands of baitfish. Then I spy a small 4-eyed butterfly fish, smaller than a postage stamp, Andy came up to me & I showed it to him, then we made another run at the Spade, but they were spooked, probably by his gun.
We were at 50 minute BT so we decided to call it. We were the only ones down there.
We made our ascent did a 3 minute stop & Andy needed 2 more minutes to clear his computer, mine cleared back to green on nitrogen loading at 3 min, but I hung with him until he gave me the OK & we surfaced for a run time of 59 minutes.
The same DM gave Andy some grief about us doing Deco, & Andy told him we weren't & we weren't & have computers to prove it. He didn't say anything to me & we were never given a time limit. Most of the divers were students on air so their times were limited & we had an optimum mix for depth, which is why we have those certs. We paid for our trip so I had no problems with my decision's to stay at depth.
We had a great time & a couple of great dives.
We met Patrick (Bubblehead) & his buddy Jeff also on the trip.
After about an hour trip we were on site & 10 minutes later we were tied in & after a short briefing the pool was open. Patrick & Jeff were the 1st in with Andy & I following closely behind.
Vis was pretty decent at about 30ft, water temp was 70. We did a quick trip around & decided to venture off into the sand. I ran a reel & after a while noticed that the ripples in the sand had changed direction, I should have taken a compass heading, but kept swimming & ran back into the Hustler, the current had swung me in a big circle. We stayed close to the wreck as Andy wanted to shoot something with his speargun, & there were some big Spadefish schooling above the wreck.
I noticed that we were alone except for Bill Ripley on his re-breather, we had Eanx 36 in our tanks which gave us about an hour NDL at 80 fsw. I found a 4-eyed butterfly fish at the anchor line & spent a few minutes watching it. Then I realized that I hadn't seen Andy for a while & went looking for him, when we found each other we had plenty of NDL left, but my computer was flashing 5 minutes left. Must be due to the 500psi left in my tank. I was still safe as I had a 40 cuft slung with a safe mixture for the depth. Andy had a pretty good sized Spade & was ready to go. We did 65 minutes on the bottom so with a slow ascent & 3 minutes on hang bar out total run time was 72 minutes.
Back on board we had a couple cold hot dogs & some chips with a few soft drinks to wash the salt taste away. The DM asked me if we were only doing 1 dive & I said yea just 1 more dive, he wasn't amused & suggested we do a shorter run next time & that we weren't suppose to be doing Deco, which we weren't. Not even close according to my computer.
Everyone was getting ready for their 2nd dive so we switched our tanks out & were ready to go with a short 50 min SI. There was 1 diver left on board & Andy asked why he wasn't going diving, he said something about a sinus squeeze & Andy suggested just staying a bit shallow & hang where he was comfortable. He decided to go & we told the DM we would do a trio, but Andy & I basically dive solo on most wrecks unless we have a planned deco, so I dove with the single diver.
We did a few trips around with me showing the way, pointing out different things such as a toadfish & looking at several shells. All of a sudden he showed me 4 & I thought he was at 4 minutes since we had been down for almost 20 minutes, but he went for the line quick, turns out I found out later that he was down to 400 psi. He was a Navy diver so I figured he could handle the ascent alone.
I went looking for Andy & found him stalking some Spade, but with a empty stringer. I left him & made a few more trips around the wreck, but about 20 ft off into the sand. Vis had dropped to under 20ft, but I could still see the shadow so I was safe, since I had a knot in my reel somehow, I was limited to my scope.
When I made it back to the wreck I found a good sizes 4-eyed butterfly fish, then I found the 1 I had seen earlier, man strange seeing Tropicals around here. I did see a small Tautog & showed Andy, but was too small to hit, there were also some small Cobia in the many thousands of baitfish. Then I spy a small 4-eyed butterfly fish, smaller than a postage stamp, Andy came up to me & I showed it to him, then we made another run at the Spade, but they were spooked, probably by his gun.
We were at 50 minute BT so we decided to call it. We were the only ones down there.
We made our ascent did a 3 minute stop & Andy needed 2 more minutes to clear his computer, mine cleared back to green on nitrogen loading at 3 min, but I hung with him until he gave me the OK & we surfaced for a run time of 59 minutes.
The same DM gave Andy some grief about us doing Deco, & Andy told him we weren't & we weren't & have computers to prove it. He didn't say anything to me & we were never given a time limit. Most of the divers were students on air so their times were limited & we had an optimum mix for depth, which is why we have those certs. We paid for our trip so I had no problems with my decision's to stay at depth.
We had a great time & a couple of great dives.
. now I just have to get a chance to get in the pool to play with the new toys. I got the rest of my stuff this moring, so now all I dont have is a tank, at least that I can think of right now, so I just want to go try it out and get a feel for it all before I do my cert dives Nov. 10&11.
