pdoege
Contributor
Hey All -
I went diving in Lantana Saturday night. Nice dive, some of my companions were a bit loopy.
I dove with the Starfish Enterprise. This is a nice boat to go on. The crew is top notch. The trip was organised by NorthWest Divers.
I drove out and arrived around 5:30. Stowed my gear and off we went. My drysuit/BP/cave light provoked the normal curiosity.
For some reason, a couple of the guys on the boat where having a "my light is bigger" contest. I let them go on for a while and then unpacked the Halcyon Pro6. "It's 13lbs, but only -3 in the water...". :tease:
Some German guys were on the boat with us. They poked some good natured fun at me for being a wimp. After all, they ice dive in 6mm suits in Germany. I agreed that I was wimpy.
Water temp was 70degrees. Air temp was 69 degrees.
First dive went well.
I was put in a foursome. 1 hunter, 2 watchers, and the DM with the float ball.
I was surprised by everyone's air consumption. I was down to 1500 PSI, around the time that I start making plans to turn the dive. We were at 60 feet, so I normally turn at 900 PSI.
The others had so much air that they weren't even bothering to check their gauges. When I got to 1200 PSI, the DM came by and started to frantically give the thumbs up.
No problem, I'd been ready for a while.
Turns out that the others didn't know that they were way low on air. 1 got in the boat with 100PSI or so. I had about 900PSI. The hunter had to STAND ON THE REEF to check his gauges.
utz:
The second dive was more of the same with some interesting wrinkles.
We found a turtle sleeping on the reef. The hunter was having no luck finding bugs, so he had taken to hitting the curious little puffer fish with his tickle stick. Poor puffer fish. Everything else could out run him. Anyway, he looked like he was about to hit the turtle. The DM went after him and waved her finger at him. Seemed to calm him down.
We also found a huge angelfish. About 4 inches wide! Hard to say how long, he was well hidden in the reef.
The others actually checked their gauges on this dive, so end of the dive was uneventful. Sigh.
I had problems dumping all of the air from the drysuit this dive. I had light feet at 15'. So I made the best of it and practiced my light feet drills.
It was a bit colder when we got on the boat. About 11 oclock. Everyone was shivering and desperately trying to shuck their wetsuits. Even the macho Germans. I just stood around, all wimpy and warm! Sweet revenge!
The cave light works really well in open water, btw. The DM calls it "The Sun".
Thanks for reading,
Peter Doege
edit: Grammar fixes. Duh!
I went diving in Lantana Saturday night. Nice dive, some of my companions were a bit loopy.
I dove with the Starfish Enterprise. This is a nice boat to go on. The crew is top notch. The trip was organised by NorthWest Divers.
I drove out and arrived around 5:30. Stowed my gear and off we went. My drysuit/BP/cave light provoked the normal curiosity.
For some reason, a couple of the guys on the boat where having a "my light is bigger" contest. I let them go on for a while and then unpacked the Halcyon Pro6. "It's 13lbs, but only -3 in the water...". :tease:
Some German guys were on the boat with us. They poked some good natured fun at me for being a wimp. After all, they ice dive in 6mm suits in Germany. I agreed that I was wimpy.
Water temp was 70degrees. Air temp was 69 degrees.
First dive went well.
I was put in a foursome. 1 hunter, 2 watchers, and the DM with the float ball.
I was surprised by everyone's air consumption. I was down to 1500 PSI, around the time that I start making plans to turn the dive. We were at 60 feet, so I normally turn at 900 PSI.
The others had so much air that they weren't even bothering to check their gauges. When I got to 1200 PSI, the DM came by and started to frantically give the thumbs up.
No problem, I'd been ready for a while.
Turns out that the others didn't know that they were way low on air. 1 got in the boat with 100PSI or so. I had about 900PSI. The hunter had to STAND ON THE REEF to check his gauges.
utz:The second dive was more of the same with some interesting wrinkles.
We found a turtle sleeping on the reef. The hunter was having no luck finding bugs, so he had taken to hitting the curious little puffer fish with his tickle stick. Poor puffer fish. Everything else could out run him. Anyway, he looked like he was about to hit the turtle. The DM went after him and waved her finger at him. Seemed to calm him down.
We also found a huge angelfish. About 4 inches wide! Hard to say how long, he was well hidden in the reef.
The others actually checked their gauges on this dive, so end of the dive was uneventful. Sigh.
I had problems dumping all of the air from the drysuit this dive. I had light feet at 15'. So I made the best of it and practiced my light feet drills.
It was a bit colder when we got on the boat. About 11 oclock. Everyone was shivering and desperately trying to shuck their wetsuits. Even the macho Germans. I just stood around, all wimpy and warm! Sweet revenge!
The cave light works really well in open water, btw. The DM calls it "The Sun".
Thanks for reading,
Peter Doege
edit: Grammar fixes. Duh!
