Megalodon Dive w/Aristakat Charters, Venice Beach FL

[1000RR]

They rock! My daughter and I just got back from a morning dive w/Captain Jamie and Robert (@Aristakat Charters). 6-pack boat. We went with another couple we met when my daughter and I were getting certified. Both are VERY well seasoned divers and dive with Aristakat quite a bit, so they were of great help too. Being Hurricane Irma just came through not too long ago, it was a great time to be out there. For our first time out tooth hunting, we did pretty good. Got one (small) full tooth, and a couple large partials.

I did have a newbie mishap. This was only our 2nd boat dive, 1st carrying a flag... I set the flag reel down to make some adjustments (while we were on the bottom) or whatever and as I was ready to proceed again, I thought to myself - sure seems like I'm missing something. We continued on for a little more then I realized - OH CRAP! I don't have the flag. So my daughter and I make our way to the surface and give the OK sign to Captain Jamie and proceed back to he boat and a little further [past] to pick up the flag. I managed it a LOT better after that.

Visibility wasn't great, but over there it's not awesome by any means anyway. Usually 10' might be normal I understand. I think we had about 4'-6'. We still managed to keep our breathing rates really good it seemed. She had an RMV of 0.29 and I was at 0.35. It was an awesome experience and we will DEFINITELY be back with Aristakat the next time we're diving for teeth again!

 

[1000RR]

Another learning experience during this trip... being new to diving, we seem to learn something every time. I had a small leak in my Inflator/Octo where it appears not to be seating quite right (it was just serviced about 8 dives ago). Not a major leak by any means but just to save air and not risk it getting worse while at the bottom, I unhooked the inflator hose for the dive. My approach was that I left it hooked up for entry to ensure I could add air quickly if needed after entering the water. Then unhooked it for the dive. Since we were on the bottom (literally) the whole time, I knew I wouldn't be needing to inflate down there. Then while at the safety stop I'd reattach just before surfacing or just proceed and manually inflate at the top.

So the learning experience on the drive home was my discussion with my daughter as we reflected on the dives we had just finished. I told her we screwed up before the dive because we didn't review what we would do in an OOA situation had she gone OOA... we'd be sharing one regulator from my setup since my Octo/inflator was unplugged. I know I wouldn't have had time to plug it back in under those circumstances... or at least a very low percentage chance. So she would have been surprised when I pulled the regulator I just gave her, back out of her mouth for me to take a breath (and continue sharing 1 reg). Lesson learned, and without incident leading to the lesson. Always good to reflect on things that went well, the fun that was had, but also what we could have done better/different. Next time, we'll have the discussion before dropping in. Inflator/Octo is going back in to get adjusted, so hopefully we won't have to worry about it.

 

[txgoose]

I have GOT to get my boys out there. They would be pumped up. Thank you for the write up.

 

[1000RR]

I have GOT to get my boys out there. They would be pumped up. Thank you for the write up.

For sure, they'd love it. Max depth was between 28-32', bottom times were great too!

 

[iamrushman]

very nice ...thanks for sharing.