Out of Air at 84 ft

[simbrooks]

Very good points and solid ideas. Will put it back on my dive list. Is it a drysuit dive or a 7 mil wet?

I would consider one or the other, hood and maybe gloves too. When i get my drysuit next week (hopefully) i will feel more at home, i dont like the idea of all that neoprene of a thick wetsuit (5mm i have or 7mm i would prefer not to have in lieu of the DS).

As for crowded, Dutch Spring is almost all water and about 47Ac, thats a lot of room. The shoreline might be a bit busy, but UW there is plenty to see and do - i would like to go there soon, dont know it beyond the website and will let others describe what they think of Dutch.

 

[jonnythan]

It's crowded on the popular weekends, but not so much so that it's not enjoyable. Best bet is to go during the week, or after the weather has started to cool down.

 

[pilot fish]

1. The reason lots are going on and on about prevetion of this ooa is that it should never get to this point. If YOU allow YOURSELF to get into this situation or think you could, you might want to rethink the whole diving thing......OK
2. If you pick a leader before the dive and have a predive planning with your buddy..are we going to be 3' 5' 6' apart??. side by side or heel to mask??.....OK
3. If a buddy leaves you.....then it's YOUR job to follow......85' is not the time to have a conversation about the buddy system......OK
4. If YOU let YOUR buddy get 30ft away......in good vis and no current then that's were you would go...OK
5. Did'nt you do an 50ft underwater breathhold swim in OW??
a 40ft horizontal esa (confined)??
6. Can YOU swim 30ft with gear and fins and no gas? NO, time to rethink scuba then.

Just becuase a DM buddies you with someone does not mean YOU must dive with them....This problem should have been solved long before YOU got in the water...OK

In all honesty, I have not done this. Most times it's, "OK, you are with him, you two are buddies...... blah balh. " No time to chat about things properly. I have followed the DM instructions and gone with whomever they paired me with. I once refused to go with a brand new diver in Coz the DM paired me with [he should have taken this newbie, not me -his responsibility] because I thought/knew the guy was diving over his head. The Dm insisted and I relented. He was the cause of cutting two of my dives short and had no buoynacy or skill of any kind. That night some divers on the boat told me that he might kill me if I dove with him again. Next day I paired with one of them. I shudder now when I look back on stuff I allowed, totally because I thought the DM knew best and I did not have a lot of experience. I know better now, mostly.

Reading this thread I'm struck with how many divers must have desigated buddies because the luck of the draw on dive boats runs the gamut from great divers to dangerous newbies, and in between,- and law of averages dictates that there must be a load of harrowing stories here not told?

 

[mccabejc]

With the absolute minimum of training you can stay underwater for at lease a minute with your lungs empty.

Exhale naturally, then hold breath, right? For at least a minute? Not me. My brain starts telling me "okay, that's enough of that" after about 20 seconds. I'm in pretty good shape (run 3 miles a few times a week), too. I wonder if it's more of a mental thing than a shape thing. I think it's the thing that makes me worry about doing a CESA from any serious depth with empty lungs.

By the way, PilotFish, thanks for starting the thread. Good stuff.

 

[pilot fish]

Exhale naturally, then hold breath, right? For at least a minute? Not me. My brain starts telling me "okay, that's enough of that" after about 20 seconds. I'm in pretty good shape (run 3 miles a few times a week), too. I wonder if it's more of a mental thing than a shape thing. I think it's the thing that makes me worry about doing a CESA from any serious depth with empty lungs.

By the way, PilotFish, thanks for starting the thread. Good stuff.

You are welcomed. I thought it would cover a wide range of responses and gives us all a chance to learn from each other. I was genuinely interested in what you guys would do and had to say. I have held my breath under water, free diving in a pool, and towards the end of my time holding my breath, not moving or swimming, I feel I would have full blown panic if I had to search for air uw and get to the surface from 84 ft.

 

[pilot fish]

It's crowded on the popular weekends, but not so much so that it's not enjoyable. Best bet is to go during the week, or after the weather has started to cool down.

Good/best time is when? Water temp and vis? They have a site that tells all this?

 

[jonnythan]

www.dutchsprings.com

They have a nice calendar, pictures and a map, average water temps (these are surface temps.. at depth it's pretty reliably upper 40's, lower 50's at the end of the summer)

 

[pilot fish]

www.dutchsprings.com

They have a nice calendar, pictures and a map, average water temps (these are surface temps.. at depth it's pretty reliably upper 40's, lower 50's at the end of the summer)

40? Idonthinkso! Too much shrinkage

 

[simbrooks]

40? Idonthinkso! Too much shrinkage

Diving dry with appropriate thermal underwear and you will be sweating in 40F water, no worries about shrinkage

 

[SueMermaid]

I have a great entry in my logbook from one of my AOW checkout dives. This log page contains the word "shrinkage". I believe the water temp that day was 38 degrees in the deep end. It also proclaims that I did five dives that day at Dutch absolutely voluntarily and on purpose.