Sorry, wrong poster for that reply
Help to find dive buddies for shore diving in Bonaire in Sep
- Thread starter zanoscuba
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Sorry, wrong poster for that reply
BonaireDiver
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I dove the Mari Bahn several years ago. I hear she is broken up due to the recent close trek of hurricanes/surge, to bad that was a dive worth the extra effort to do. I did the dive with a local girl who is an excellent diver and a man from the north east who is one of those extreme technical divers, I was a tad out of my league when I did the dive but that just gave me incentive to further my diving knowledge. We did it on air, talk about narced. I hit 202 fsw, my deepest dive at the time. I wouldn't do it on air again, really pushing the limits on PPO and safety. I used two 80's (still had 1200 psi left between the two tanks) and a small pony bottle with Nitrox. The EAN 33 really helped decrease the deco time in the shallows. Thank goodness BON has a slopping profile to the shore, so you are not just hanging in the water column.
The first time I dove the Windjammer was in 1981. I dove the wreck with four other divers: a PADI Instructor from Capt. Don's (and his friend from the Marine Research Center) and 2 other PADI Instructors vacationing from New York. I used an over charged 80 cu ft bottle (air) and was on the 210 ft table. I had just previously completing an advanced course (brought them with me from Canada), so I had two buddy teams of safety divers (each with two extra cylinders) at 100 ft and two others at the 30 ft decompression stop.
We carefully checked the horizon for supertankers (they will pull you up into the propellors if your less than 150 deep) and as it was all clear, we entered the water. It was a great dive, up until the time near the end of the dive when one of the NY instructors ran out of air and the second became totally narced and couldn't look after himself. Neither should have been on the dive!!
After sharing air with the guy who had ran out (who didn't want to move from the 180 ft mark and who was hyperventilating), I left the two of them with the locals (who had double 80's). I got to the first set of safety divers with about 600 psi left. When I surfaced I was really ticked!
Before we descended, it was understood that everyone was on their own and not to expect help from the other divers at depth. I planned the dive well, got lots of rest the night before, refraining from alcohol (while others partied). I felt mentally well-prepared for the dive (I had completed several deep dives on air and knew that once I was over 200 ft, I would be approaching my mental limits with breathing air).
It seems like this is turning into a lessons learned posting, so I'll change direction... Sorry!
It's a shame to hear that the Windjammer has been damaged by the storm. I would have thought it deep enough to escape the effects of the storm. Take care.
I totally agree with you Jetwrench. You don't need deep air experience to have the Instructor title. In-fact an openwater diver with the experience may be far more capable than an Instructor without it. When it comes to deep diving physical fitness, body fat, knowledge, planning, experience and sound judgement are variable factors. A plastic card in the pocketbook doesn't affect narcosis or gas absorption.
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