just back from BH this weekend, July 25/26th

[robint]

Interesting weekend at Blue Hole! We were there both yesterday and today and I have NEVER seen so many divers AND so many swimmers/jumpers at the same time. It was a ZOO!!! The vis sucked like I have never seen sucked by the end of yesterday and today wasn't any better. Water was like milk and I would say 20' vis was a stretch. It was impossible not to bump into divers between 20-45' depth! A huge circle J$#@X. If you know what I mean!
Doug(GrumpyOldGuy)was there on Sat diving with his 2 sons. Kevin(ABQdiver) was there teaching class along with 2 dive shops from CO and also my hubby had a large OW class, but there were also lots of other people there just to dive. We chatted with one guy, diving doubles, who was military from DC and just stopping in to see the place and do a few dives! Amazing how many people, divers and non-divers were there at the same time.

I did get my housing and HD camcorder in the water for 2 dives. I will be posting some video in a few days along with pics. Since the vis was so YUCK I didn't get the great stuff I had hoped for, but I was able to get some footage of the bottom and divers, and topside madness.

robin

 

[ABQdiver]

Jeez, you nailed that one!! I felt like the pivot man in the circle jerk.......

 

[amascuba]

I've seen it like that once. I was working a class that weekend. I usually hover a foot or two behind the students on the platform. On this particular weekend, I couldn't see the students on the other side of the platform. Maybe 10ft vis? It was literally like a can of sardines. Divers stacked on top of each other. I actually thought it was dangerous to have that many people in the water. If somebody on the bottom of the stack started having problems, they would have had a hard time ascending in a timely manner.

 

[robint]

Here is the first of the videos I shot with the new HD camcorder.
OW cert class, July 2009 on Vimeo

vis sucked, really bad and milky, but I think I got some decent footage. I will post a video of the entire weekend later on, with shots of the topside madness too along with lots of photos.


robin

 

[ABQdiver]

That video camera does really well! You made that look good!

I love the way the OW students breath..... A continuous stream of bubbles :shocked2:

 

[robint]

A few photos from the weekend:

the crowds

Scott and Kevin

all the photos can be seen here: BLUE HOLE Photos

robin

 

[amascuba]

Scott and Kevin

all the photos can be seen here: BLUE HOLE Photos

robin

Great video and pictures. I had to laugh at Kevin's pose. You almost start to expect him to say something like "yo yo jiggity yo".

 

[Divedoggie]

At least the viz was good topside! Nice pix!
The students still looked like they were having fun and learning.
I think I will schedule my next trip mid-week!
"yo"

 

[ABQdiver]

Yo Dog! Yo yo jiggity yo........

or something like that

 

[skyhawk133]

Robin, I think I actually bumped in to you while you were recording. We were observing Kevin's class (doing our stress and rescue) and kept getting shuffled between the platforms.

What a crazy weekend.