joe8mofo
Contributor
It was a great weekend for diving. Tina (my spouse) and I arrived at 10:30 AM at the boat ramp. It was sunny outside and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We geared up with 5mm suits and hooded vests and jumped in. Visibility ranged from 10 ft to 30 ft depending on where you were. It became chilly at depth at around 60-61 degrees. We saw several bass on the boat ramp as we made our way to the lines which led to the massive training platforms. At the boat which is beyond the trampoline frame I got in the wheelchair and Tina tried to push me around, it didn't work very well. We saw lots of interesting structure and had a couple of really good dives.
Dive 1:
IN: 11:28 AM
Max depth: 66'
Dive Time: 58 minutes
Coldest temp: 61 degrees
Surface Temp: 75 degrees
At the end of dive 1 Tina decided to do a weight check with 600 PSI in her steel 95, and it turns out she was overweighted by 6 lbs, she needed 0 lbs of weight with her steel backplate to descend with 600 PSI in a steel tank.
Dive 2:
In: 14:31
Max depth: 113'
Dive time: 58 minutes
Coldest temp: 52 degrees
Surface temp: 75 degrees
Went to visit the boats and then went to the treeline to check it out; spent the end of the dive along shore in 10' of water checking out the bass hiding in the trees against the shore.
6-20-10
This trip was with Cliff, Nina, Glenn, and myself. We arrived at the boat ramp at 9:30 AM. I brought my 7mm suit today because of the plan for a deep dive. Glenn had a 5mm and Nina and Cliff had a 7mm.
Dive 1:
Time in: 10:29 AM
Max depth: 89'
Dive time: 1:06
Coldest Temp: 57 degrees
Surface Temp: 74 degrees
Mix: 32% EAN
This dive was done with Glenn and myself and Nina part of the time as Cliff had a couple of OW students. We went down to the bones family and then down to the toliet and then to the airplane wing. We then made our way to the trampoline and took Nina to the 30 ft platform so she could ascend. Glenn and I then continued to explore the area, ending our dive in 10 ft of water searching for bass in the shallows, we saw 3 of them which were 2 lbs or larger.
1:30 surface interval.
Dive 2:
Time IN: 13:46
Max Depth: 127'
Dive Time: 36 minutes
Coldest Temp: 48 degrees
Surface Temp: 74 degrees
Mix: Air for myself and 28-29% for everyone else
The open water students had finished up; so it was time for our deep dive. The dive plan was to take the line down through the tree-line to 120'. Cliff and Nina were a buddy pair and Glenn and I were a buddy pair. I had specifically requested to do this dive on AIR because I wanted to see how I handled narcosis at 120' while on air. Everyone else was on Nitrox. Glenn and I previously discussed how we would handle the situation if I went into deco as well as the signal for deco. We made our way down the line and around 90' someone had an issue with their gloves and inflater house, so it took 3 minutes to sort it out. Once sorted out we proceeded into the forest. It was surreal, floating in the forest; it was as if time had stopped the many years ago when Jocassee had been filled. Well we entered the forest and my computer told me I had 4 minutes remaining of NDL. We pushed onward through the forest following the leading buddy pair and I watched as my computer went from 4 minutes to 00:00 and then into DECO, it told me to go to 10 feet for 4 minutes. I know enough to know that heading to 10 feet for 4 minutes of deco is not the correct response to the situation, I just needed to reach a depth where the deco'd tissue compartment could offgas. I checked and I had 2200 PSI left in the tank; plenty of air for this situation. I signaled deco to Glenn and to the other buddy group, we then headed West towards the shore. After about 3 minutes and still below 115 feet Glenn and I started a gradual ascent to 90 feet and then 80 and then 70 then 60 then 50 in open water all the while following the bubble trail of the leading buddy group heading west towards shore (as well as verifying our direction via compass). After 3 minutes at 50 feet we gradually ascended to 35 feet and noted we were now at the shoreline, and my computer was now out of deco mode. We met up with Cliff and Nina at the guardrail at 25 feet and stayed horizontal for 4 minutes of off-gassing. We made our way to 15 feet and did a 3 minute safety stop, then took another 3 minutes to reach the surface. All in all a good dive.
I do have a gripe with my computer telling me to go to 10' for 4 minutes; that could be dangerous in open water with no reference point, not to mention boats overhead. I can see a clueless diver following the advice of the computer and missing their deco stop at 10'. Clearly the deep stop at 50' provided the tissue compartment which went into deco the opportunity to offgas to the point of being out of deco; so why not set the ceiling to 50' with a deco time of 4 minutes, it is definitely a depth where a new diver would have better buoyancy control and would be less likely to shoot to the surface as easily as if they were at 10'.
We packed up and went to a mexican restaurant for a nice hot meal before heading back home to Atlanta.
It is warming up and the boat ramp offers some great diving within 2 hours of Atlanta.
Dive 1:
IN: 11:28 AM
Max depth: 66'
Dive Time: 58 minutes
Coldest temp: 61 degrees
Surface Temp: 75 degrees
At the end of dive 1 Tina decided to do a weight check with 600 PSI in her steel 95, and it turns out she was overweighted by 6 lbs, she needed 0 lbs of weight with her steel backplate to descend with 600 PSI in a steel tank.
Dive 2:
In: 14:31
Max depth: 113'
Dive time: 58 minutes
Coldest temp: 52 degrees
Surface temp: 75 degrees
Went to visit the boats and then went to the treeline to check it out; spent the end of the dive along shore in 10' of water checking out the bass hiding in the trees against the shore.
6-20-10
This trip was with Cliff, Nina, Glenn, and myself. We arrived at the boat ramp at 9:30 AM. I brought my 7mm suit today because of the plan for a deep dive. Glenn had a 5mm and Nina and Cliff had a 7mm.
Dive 1:
Time in: 10:29 AM
Max depth: 89'
Dive time: 1:06
Coldest Temp: 57 degrees
Surface Temp: 74 degrees
Mix: 32% EAN
This dive was done with Glenn and myself and Nina part of the time as Cliff had a couple of OW students. We went down to the bones family and then down to the toliet and then to the airplane wing. We then made our way to the trampoline and took Nina to the 30 ft platform so she could ascend. Glenn and I then continued to explore the area, ending our dive in 10 ft of water searching for bass in the shallows, we saw 3 of them which were 2 lbs or larger.
1:30 surface interval.
Dive 2:
Time IN: 13:46
Max Depth: 127'
Dive Time: 36 minutes
Coldest Temp: 48 degrees
Surface Temp: 74 degrees
Mix: Air for myself and 28-29% for everyone else
The open water students had finished up; so it was time for our deep dive. The dive plan was to take the line down through the tree-line to 120'. Cliff and Nina were a buddy pair and Glenn and I were a buddy pair. I had specifically requested to do this dive on AIR because I wanted to see how I handled narcosis at 120' while on air. Everyone else was on Nitrox. Glenn and I previously discussed how we would handle the situation if I went into deco as well as the signal for deco. We made our way down the line and around 90' someone had an issue with their gloves and inflater house, so it took 3 minutes to sort it out. Once sorted out we proceeded into the forest. It was surreal, floating in the forest; it was as if time had stopped the many years ago when Jocassee had been filled. Well we entered the forest and my computer told me I had 4 minutes remaining of NDL. We pushed onward through the forest following the leading buddy pair and I watched as my computer went from 4 minutes to 00:00 and then into DECO, it told me to go to 10 feet for 4 minutes. I know enough to know that heading to 10 feet for 4 minutes of deco is not the correct response to the situation, I just needed to reach a depth where the deco'd tissue compartment could offgas. I checked and I had 2200 PSI left in the tank; plenty of air for this situation. I signaled deco to Glenn and to the other buddy group, we then headed West towards the shore. After about 3 minutes and still below 115 feet Glenn and I started a gradual ascent to 90 feet and then 80 and then 70 then 60 then 50 in open water all the while following the bubble trail of the leading buddy group heading west towards shore (as well as verifying our direction via compass). After 3 minutes at 50 feet we gradually ascended to 35 feet and noted we were now at the shoreline, and my computer was now out of deco mode. We met up with Cliff and Nina at the guardrail at 25 feet and stayed horizontal for 4 minutes of off-gassing. We made our way to 15 feet and did a 3 minute safety stop, then took another 3 minutes to reach the surface. All in all a good dive.
I do have a gripe with my computer telling me to go to 10' for 4 minutes; that could be dangerous in open water with no reference point, not to mention boats overhead. I can see a clueless diver following the advice of the computer and missing their deco stop at 10'. Clearly the deep stop at 50' provided the tissue compartment which went into deco the opportunity to offgas to the point of being out of deco; so why not set the ceiling to 50' with a deco time of 4 minutes, it is definitely a depth where a new diver would have better buoyancy control and would be less likely to shoot to the surface as easily as if they were at 10'.
We packed up and went to a mexican restaurant for a nice hot meal before heading back home to Atlanta.
It is warming up and the boat ramp offers some great diving within 2 hours of Atlanta.
