Mike Boswell
Contributor
I never needed no stinking SMB.
But Katy and I are going to do some drift dives soon, so I ordered a couple of SMB's and finger spools from my LDS. We got them last week and we watched the U-Tube videos of how to set them up and use them. So it was with some anticipation that we looked forward to our next dive so we could practice "shooting a bag".
First dive this morning at Quast Rock off La Jolla. Our friends J and E were with us and J was driving the boat. Water was not too cold and vis was 25 ft. We dropped down to the bottom at 70 feet, swam around a little and worked on Katy's trim. She was feet-heavy, and bending her knees at a 90-degree angle seemed to work really well (Thanks SB!).
On our ascent, we leveled off at 30 feet and with my reg I shot a puff of air in my SMB and it rocketed to the surface much faster than I was expecting. It didn't go very well. I hadnt let all the air out of my wing, so I was a bit too buoyant and a teensy bit out of control, and somehow wound up on the surface, so I swam back down and rejoined Katy for our safety stop. This SMB thing was going to take a little practice.
Motoring over towards La Jolla Cove, we saw a guy in a fishing boat waving at us. We got closer, and he was yelling to us while his friend was messing with something big in the water. Turned out the guys had caught a very large Giant Black Sea Bass (GSB) a protected species - and were trying to send it home, but the fish's air bladder was full and it couldn't descend, and these two guys - bless their hearts - had been trying to push the fish down with a net for an hour and a half.
Im wondering if I have a needle somewhere to poke the fish's air bladder, but Katy says to me "Why don't you just swim him down!" So I gear up as quick as I can and jump in, swim over to the fish and grab him.
The red tide is making the water murky and we are now over the deep part of the canyon, which drops off to a thousand feet. Hugging the fish and swimming down into the cold dark water, I am also trying to clear my ears, watch my computer and depth gauge, and put air in my wing, and doing none of them well. We get down to about 80 feet and the fish is upright now and looking at me but not trying to swim, so I take him deeper. We level off and I grab my gauge and look - 115' - and I figure this better be enough. The GSB now looks more like a fish than a big beach ball, so I let him go and I swear he looks at me and says "Thanks", and he starts slowly swimming away.
I clear my ears and get neutral, and my Cobra computer is telling me I have a ceiling and a 5 minute stop at 15 feet. Only problem is, the boat is up there, drifting away from me, they can't use the prop for fear they will kill me, they have already drifted a hundred yards downwind, and are still drifting.
So I get up to 30 feet, and you guessed it I shoot my bag! Happy ending for all. I LOVE my SMB.
But Katy and I are going to do some drift dives soon, so I ordered a couple of SMB's and finger spools from my LDS. We got them last week and we watched the U-Tube videos of how to set them up and use them. So it was with some anticipation that we looked forward to our next dive so we could practice "shooting a bag".
First dive this morning at Quast Rock off La Jolla. Our friends J and E were with us and J was driving the boat. Water was not too cold and vis was 25 ft. We dropped down to the bottom at 70 feet, swam around a little and worked on Katy's trim. She was feet-heavy, and bending her knees at a 90-degree angle seemed to work really well (Thanks SB!).
On our ascent, we leveled off at 30 feet and with my reg I shot a puff of air in my SMB and it rocketed to the surface much faster than I was expecting. It didn't go very well. I hadnt let all the air out of my wing, so I was a bit too buoyant and a teensy bit out of control, and somehow wound up on the surface, so I swam back down and rejoined Katy for our safety stop. This SMB thing was going to take a little practice.
Motoring over towards La Jolla Cove, we saw a guy in a fishing boat waving at us. We got closer, and he was yelling to us while his friend was messing with something big in the water. Turned out the guys had caught a very large Giant Black Sea Bass (GSB) a protected species - and were trying to send it home, but the fish's air bladder was full and it couldn't descend, and these two guys - bless their hearts - had been trying to push the fish down with a net for an hour and a half.
Im wondering if I have a needle somewhere to poke the fish's air bladder, but Katy says to me "Why don't you just swim him down!" So I gear up as quick as I can and jump in, swim over to the fish and grab him.
The red tide is making the water murky and we are now over the deep part of the canyon, which drops off to a thousand feet. Hugging the fish and swimming down into the cold dark water, I am also trying to clear my ears, watch my computer and depth gauge, and put air in my wing, and doing none of them well. We get down to about 80 feet and the fish is upright now and looking at me but not trying to swim, so I take him deeper. We level off and I grab my gauge and look - 115' - and I figure this better be enough. The GSB now looks more like a fish than a big beach ball, so I let him go and I swear he looks at me and says "Thanks", and he starts slowly swimming away.
I clear my ears and get neutral, and my Cobra computer is telling me I have a ceiling and a 5 minute stop at 15 feet. Only problem is, the boat is up there, drifting away from me, they can't use the prop for fear they will kill me, they have already drifted a hundred yards downwind, and are still drifting.
So I get up to 30 feet, and you guessed it I shoot my bag! Happy ending for all. I LOVE my SMB.
