At the Ginnie check in desk, "Have you dove here before?"... "Yes."
Over the past week I've talked with a fellow amputee cave diver referred to me by Hubie (see page the first couple of pages of this thread), who dives dry often as he is in Canada. And I made a number of changes. First I moved my tank bands up three inches from almost at the bottom of the tanks that it was at before. With the goal of pulling my tanks down a little and thus shifting my trim. I also dug out an ankle weight that I had as I was told in the end I am going to have to add some weight to my prosthetic leg as you can't eliminate all the air spaces. Next I rented a set of jet fins, heavier fins means more weight in my legs, which seems a common requirement among drysuit divers. I also decided to add a little weight as I was struggling to get down with full tanks and empty wing/suit. Finally unrelated to drysuit and trim, simply due to Chris keep on pointing at my butt plate and the huge Mares D-ring thingy, and him saying that it has to go. I switched out the Mares thingy and butt plate for a smaller double D from Piranha MFG.
Getting to Ginnie, I was surprised how busy it was for a Monday, quite a few divers with classes and a ton of tubers. I also realized that I forgot to trim my seals. It was too hot to trim the neck, so I just trimmed the wrist seals as that was giving me the most issues from the seal pushing on my nerve on my wrist. I then started the setup process, which probably took about an hour. I needed some help gearing up but that was mostly because I stuck my prosthetic leg down the wrong leg hole. A local instructor on break helped me out, and I was able to don it myself without too many issues. The amputee I mentioned above suggested using a ziploc bag to help glide my leg into the hole, and that worked.
After suiting up I did the usual cooling down, followed by shuttling tanks into the water, and finally putting on my rig. The Jetfins were a little hard to put on my prosthetic side, and I needed someone's help to get them on the first time on that side. My tanks were both hard to clip on and easier at the same time. They were harder in that the shorter leashes meant I had to maneuver the entire tank instead of just the leash, but without the butt plate, it was easier to find the drop D-rings. With the extra 5lbs of weight I added I noticed that it was easier to descend than last time, but it wasn't super easy, which often is what I am looking for. Once I got in, I noticed I was a little feet down, but overall my trim was heaps better than last time. I actually felt confident enough to enter the ballroom.
While inside things went fairly well, except I noticed that my prosthetic side was pulling me up more than other side. So I exited, took my tanks, and ring off; and marched to my car pulling out the ankle weight that I brought. Now I will say that just going to my car without any help was a huge win for me. While I appreciate all the people that helped me shuttling my leg back/forth and otherwise helping me at the dive site, being fully independent is awesome. Now the amputee suggested putting it on the inside, since this is a test, I just strapped it to the outside. Get back in the water in gear up and head back in, now I felt a whole lot more balanced.
Over the next two hours between chatting with folks, I made a number of trips down into the ballroom. I practiced ascents, descents, feeling the squeeze, relieving the squeeze, dumping gas out of my suit, recoveries. Sometimes things didn't go well. One time I let too much gas get into my boots and it felt like it was popping my fins off until I hit the top of the ballroom and I was able to recover. But overall I felt that I was 90% there. I need to fine tune my trim, and once that is fine tuned I would probably look at hose lengths again. I also need to get my tanks down to 700 psi each and do a proper weight check. But I think I am almost there, I was confident enough that I am now a proud owner of a set of Jet Fins, in OD green of course.
After the dive I still needed help getting the zipper the last couple of inches to get out. And my undergarments were pretty damp most likely from sweat as it was all over (except my prosthetic side), though I was dry. I was also quite comfortable despite two to three hours in the water. I've gotten a little better in my process to put it on and take it over without everything getting dirty. I have a broom, a water sprayer, and a Blue H changing mat.
Next week, if I can't get to Ginnie by Friday. I am going to bring my big reel to run a line in the Ginnie basin. To test my buoyancy control by doing some line drills, and running a line into and out of the ballroom. I am also going to bring my GoPro so I can record it and check my trim not just for feel but how it looks from the outside.
Also in an unrelated note I discovered an area of the ballroom that I didn't know existed. I have at least a dozen dives in the ballroom, I thought I knew it pretty well. But not as well as I thought I did.
