My very first rebreather...

[Todd]

Submersible Santa, lol......if he had time to gives us a teaser, he has time to spill his guts, lol.....

Yum, gut-spilling...

This trip was difficult but uneventful. I had two equipment problems–several metal rivets had to be replaced and a wire came loose in the electronics pod. The rivets were replaced with nuts and bolts; the wire will get repaired over the upcoming weekend. I have to get much better at the travel part of rebreather diving.

The diving was cold. Very cold. We did two dives a day for three days. At times, I may not have been even remotely pretty (both in and out of the water ), but I managed to complete all of my assigned tasks. I had a fight with a reel, and won, lost a bag on the ocean floor, and somehow, but not through the mouthpiece, got a little salt water in the loop on the last day.

Now that I am home, I can go back to, for me, square one, and get buoyancy and trim squared away. Everything gets easier from that point forward. I passed on a trip in four weeks to Cozumel because I need more practice in a controlled environment before I go forth, and I do not want to go back to open circuit :froggy: .

It all seems, in a way, very anticlimatic. I now feel as though I have a very basic set of skills that need to be rigorously practiced before much of anything else takes place. And that's where I'm at.

In the end, the class spanned 205 hours over fourteen days, including six pool dives and thirteen open water dives, many of which were at least a hour in duration. The class was an adventure in and of itself, and also the beginning of a much larger adventure. I learned *a lot* from Jeff.

Todd.

 

[caveseeker7]

This trip was difficult but uneventful. I had two equipment problems...
I have to get much better at the travel part of rebreather diving.

Difficult, uneventful, and succesful ! Again, congrats.
It'll take a while to iron all the kinks out of your rig, but by the time you're done you'll really know it. And it'll keep complacency away.
Same for the travel part, you'll get the hang of it. Though the 15s are not the most convinient rigs to travel with ... .

The diving was cold. Very cold. We did two dives a day for three days.
At times, I may not have been even remotely pretty ...

That may well be the reason for all those drysuits out here. I know I don't go without mine. Hope you got a 'fun' dive or two in, while you might not be pretty at all times our uw world is.

... I can go back to, for me, square one, and get buoyancy and trim squared away. Everything gets easier from that point forward. I passed on a trip in four weeks to Cozumel because I need more practice in a controlled environment before I go forth, and I do not want to go back to open circuit :froggy: . ... I now feel as though I have a very basic set of skills that need to be rigorously practiced before much of anything else takes place.

Good move. You should dive CC for a year or so without going OC, to get 'thinking CC' and proficient with all those new skills. Once you got those down all you have to find is shops and bases that support CCRs, and off you go. Back to warm water.

In the end, the class spanned 205 hours over fourteen days, including six pool dives and thirteen open water dives, many of which were at least a hour in duration.

Any extra time you can get in with an instructor as experienced as Jeff is a good thing. Doesn't really matter if it's because you need it or just get a chance to.

Thanks for sharing the remainder of what has been quite an endeavour.
Hope you'll stick around on the board.

Dive safe
Stefan