Trip Report My hasty T&C Aggressor trip report May 12-19 2018

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You mention skin bends as well as a hot shower on the stern. We’re people doing the hot shower immediately after their dives?

Typically they did them a few minutes later after getting out of their BCDs and wetsuits. We were encouraged to make them brief to save water. I know where you are going with this and it is a good question.
 
Typically they did them a few minutes later after getting out of their BCDs and wetsuits. We were encouraged to make them brief to save water. I know where you are going with this and it is a good question.

Few minutes after a dive? How did anyone think that was a good idea?
 
We did not do any UV dives and no one mentioned them so maybe they were not available. Amanda and Rob were off of the boat for training so we had Christy captaining.

I think that explains it. Engineer Robert Smith introduced it to the boat, and he takes divers on the dives in a separate small night diving group ('regular' night divers are in a different group). When I was there they showed a video and educated us about it.

As for the showers, when I was onboard 2 weeks beforehand, it went like this:

1.) Dive.
2.) Climb ladder to exit; hand up fins & camera before getting on the boat.
3.) Walk to your gear station, get out of BCD & take regulator 1st stage off tank to signal ready for refill.
4.) Take off wetsuit and boots.
5.) Walk to back of boat for what amounts to a warm water rinse to get the salt water off.
6.) Step back up the stairs to the main dive deck and a crew member puts a towel on you.

We're not talking about extended soaks in steaming hot water. I'm aware some consider hot tubs or hot baths after diving might increase DCS risk a bit; there is a hot tub on the boat, people can use or not.

Richard.
 
I did a UV dive at Buddy Dive once. It is really cool! I think the brevity of the warm showers on the back deck is not really a DCS threat, no more than being cold. The hot tub on the upper deck could be a bit more problematic but none of the people who did had any problems.
 
Glad you had a good trip! I'm glad I went (last week of April); would've liked to hit French Cay, but I've been blessed with excellent itineraries on my other 2 Aggressor trips, and sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate.

Did you see any tarpon? I didn't see a single tarpon all week my trip; big, dusky jacks with a slight purplish cast (I believe I heard them called Black Jacks) accompanied us on night dives instead, not unlike the tarpon I recall from Bonaire.

Did you do one of Robert Smith's UV-light fluorescence night dives? I didn't, but others spoke well of it.

Richard.
im afraid i was on a security training course in the florida so no fluorescence dives were availble sorry !
we dont get tarpon at all in TCI
but the black light dives are fun!!
 
im afraid i was on a security training course in the florida so no fluorescence dives were availble sorry !
we dont get tarpon at all in TCI
but the black light dives are fun!!

You used to have some tarpons, or else I was mistaking big baracudas for tarpons at night! I suppose that could happen, but I know what a tarpon looks like!

This video on Youtube is from Provo in 2017 and claims to be of both tarpon and baracuda - I can definitely see the baracuda but I am not certain about the tarpon:
 
You used to have some tarpons, or else I was mistaking big baracudas for tarpons at night! I suppose that could happen, but I know what a tarpon looks like!
lol in the 11 years ive lived here i have never seen a tarpon
 
Thanks for the great report, Bruce and the photos are awesome, as usual! Hope to see you in a couple months on Roatan.
 
You used to have some tarpons, or else I was mistaking big baracudas for tarpons at night! I suppose that could happen, but I know what a tarpon looks like!

This video on Youtube is from Provo in 2017 and claims to be of both tarpon and baracuda - I can definitely see the baracuda but I am not certain about the tarpon:
In the first part of the video, those are definitely Tarpon (you can easily tell by the tail shape) - the last solo guy swimming up to the camera is obviusly a Barracuda.
 
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