Lake Nubble 3/15/09

[reefseal]

I treked out to Nubble this AM with a few of dive buds . The forecast looked perfect for diving. Calm winds from west, Sunny, temps above freezing. When we got there, it was flat, calm and we had it to ourselves.

A couple of the divers dove wet and it was the earliest they dove in the season. Without any wind, lots of sun and temps above freezing, makes all the difference geting suited up and out of gear this time of year. The water temp at depth was 35 to 38 degrees. They were fine under except towards end of the dive, their hands were getting cold.

For many of us, it was a shake down dive to check out gear since annual surfacing. Once all in, and heard nothing pop or fizz, we continued on.

In at 9:32 AM
It was low tide so it we took it easy getting in so as not to slip and fall on our buts. A couple of us slipped gracefully on the wet moss, sea weed.

We went to the point and to other side. Better than usual vis 30 ft? We toured the the other side for about 15 min and turned back. Jim, Walt headed back in and since I was diving doubles, continued north to to follow the mini wall. My max depth was 58 fsw, and bottom time 61 min. I had enough gas for 15 more min but was ready to get out.

This dive, I tried using hand warmers in my dry gloves. They worked fine until got to depth. I suspected that they wouldn't be effective underwater for lack of air. I kept raising my arms to get air in the glove but the gloves would only compress. Sure enough as surfaced, they started warming up again which was nice to have hands start warming up. Will definately use them again for boat dives to warm hands during SI.

Can't wait to get back.

 

[jchaplain]

Brrrrr!

 

[xroirat]

Quote: "I tried using hand warmers in my dry gloves." Hmmm - please expand on your interesting note. I've got a chemical handwarmer that activates by snapping a disc inside the plastic package but that would not need air so you've got my curiosity. BTW - thanks for the dive write-up - helps get the rest of us motivated to start the season early.
Jim

 

[grumpie]

We went diving yesterday in one of our gravel pits. we had two feet of ice, but it was nice. we put a crysler mini van in the pit. cut a hole in front of the van and pushed it in. we had a baby seat in the rear with a small child in it. the water was 35-40 feet deep, so we can train with it all summer. a couple of other SO will use it for training.
grumpie.....

 

[spectrum]

Quote: "I tried using hand warmers in my dry gloves." Hmmm - please expand on your interesting note. I've got a chemical handwarmer that activates by snapping a disc inside the plastic package but that would not need air so you've got my curiosity. BTW - thanks for the dive write-up - helps get the rest of us motivated to start the season early.
Jim

The sodium acetate heat packs with the clicker discs will work fine underwater, at any depth. The process is self contained. We have some cummerbund belts we use with wetsuits that do a great job at keeping kidneys and blood flow toasty with a burn time of a little over an hour.

The smaller sodium acetate packs I have had only burn 20 minutes or so so they are limited. I have a number of styles for non diving use and the burn 7 intensity varies considerably across suppliers.

Do not rig them so they are in direct contact with the skin, they will be too hot, especially before immersion. Use 2-3 mm neoprene as a buffer but do allow warmed water to migrate to the skin.

Modifying gloves to accept these on the back of the hand would be a neat project. Swapping a fresh heat pack in middle dive would not be out of the question. Getting them in the sleeves to warm the blood vessels in the forearm might be a close second in performance.

Pete

 

[Diver0001]

we had a baby seat in the rear with a small child in it.

Would you care to clarify that? It sounds like you rolled a car into the water while a child was strapped in. Is that what you're trying to say?

R..