Peer Pressure in Chuuk

[Water Monkey]

I'd be interested in how many others there were. Looks like this wreck ranges from 150' to 210' - What was your own maximum depth & time? Did the others all actually get to the wreck or did any of them change their minds? Did any of them have pony bottles? Any problems? Was there only one cylinder tied to the descent line? Who was the dive operator?

Sorry for all the questions, I just like to get facts and opinions in equal measure! And I hope Amy doesn't think the thread is being totally hijacked - we're still on topic, kind of.

As for myself, thank goodness my own consumption is so terrible that I'd never be tempted to dive in this manner... (uh oh, did I say "never"?)

It was about twelve years ago and I don’t remember the name of the operation. It was out of the only resort on the island, and I use the term “resort” loosely. There were seven other people on the boat. Everyone made it to the deck. We all just poked around the fore deck for a while, not long, less than ten minutes. There is a small tank sitting on the deck and a mounted machine gun on the bow. There were a couple of sharks hanging around and lots of other fish. There were four of us with pony bottles. The eighty at the bottom of the decent line was it. I felt like there should have been a few more hanging cylinders given the circumstances but like I have been saying, we all made the decision to make the dive anyway. If you like wreck diving Chuuk is the place to go. All of us had a great time that week.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I never said this was a good plan, in fact I wrote earlier that it was reckless. We all have decisions that we make before we jump in. Everyone on that boat knew what everyone else was diving with. If something were to go wrong then they would need to accept the consequences. In this case I don’t feel that anyone would have the right to "get steamed" as you put it if someone came to them ooa.

One way to interpret these words is to take them as saying that the other people on the boat knew you were being reckless and by doing the dive with you they were tacitly taking responsibility for rescuing you if you went OOA. They were not entitled to "get steamed" because they knew you were down there with an 80 and a pony and a single 80 on a line and if they didn't want to accept the possibility of donating gas to you they should have sat out the dive or taken sufficient gas for themselves, their buddy, and you.

Is that what you meant?

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I'd be interested in how many others there were. Looks like this wreck ranges from 150' to 210'... As for myself, thank goodness my own consumption is so terrible that I'd never be tempted to dive in this manner...

I think it's quite possible to make decisions about whether to dive in this manner quite independently of consumption rate For example, if the boat operator offered me an HP 130 and an AL40 as a pony, I think it would be quite easy for me to run, screaming and gibbering, from the situation even though the extra gas might possibly compensate for the difference in consumption rate.

I hope Amy doesn't think the thread is being totally hijacked - we're still on topic, kind of.

I think we're very on-topic. Having discussed issues that might arise due to a diver's own lack of training, we've moved on to discussing issues arising from the choice of equipment to do the dive and now issues arising from the choices other divers might make that impose a risk on the diver.

So when Amy returns with training and practice under her belt, she might find herself saying Yes, I'm trained to dive to 180' and quite comfortable doing so. But before I say yes I'll do the dive, tell me: Who else will be going down there, what is their dive plan, and how will I be affected if something goes wrong for them?

 

[Kevrumbo]

San Francisco Maru for 25min bottom time at 180'; warm water SAC rate 0.45cf/min; Trimix 20/20; Ratio Deco 1:2 . . .:

Dpth'/Time(min):
180 25
170 0.3
160 0.3
150 0.3
140 0.3
130 0.5 [75% Deep Stop]
120 0.5
110 0.5
100 1.0
90 2.0 [50% Deep Stop]
80 3.0
70 6.0 [Eanx 50 switch]
60 6.0
50 2.0
40 2.0
30 4.0
20 15.0 [Oxygen switch 10min:5min backgas break]
10 3.0 [on O2]
-> 3.0 surface

Total Time: 75min
Double AL80's plus AL40 deco bottle of eanx50, and AL40 of Oxygen
Eanx 50 needed: 26cf
O2 needed: 15cf
Minimum Backgas Reserve: 63cf (1250psi or 83bar remaining pressure)
Amount of usable backgas less Minimum Backgas Reserve: 80cf
Expected backgas consumed at 180' depth: 72cf
Backgas needed with loss of Eanx 50 deco bottle: 140cf

Deepest part of dive would be swim-through into & out of engine room, and exploration of the cargo holds around 185' to 190'; Average depth 170' to 175'; viz 60' with good clarity, water temp 80deg F.

 

[Matt S.]

Amy: congratulations on listening to that little voice. More people should.

All is well that ends well, I guess.

I have found that to be a common misconception.

 

[Mayor]

Great job diving with in your training!

Maybe in a few years after some great training I can make that trip. Still have so much work to do.

 

[drbill]

Absolutely a bad idea... don't ever give in to peer pressure. Let your "peers" kill themselves while you survive.

 

[cal776]

I'd be interested in how many others there were. Looks like this wreck ranges from 150' to 210' - What was your own maximum depth & time? Did the others all actually get to the wreck or did any of them change their minds? Did any of them have pony bottles? Any problems? Was there only one cylinder tied to the descent line? Who was the dive operator?

The San Francisco Maru is dived every week off the Truk Odyssey, after five days of diving the other wrecks in the lagoon. Most divers make this dive using a single steel 108 tank with EAN23. Off the top of my head, on my dive last year, I spent about 16 minutes at bottom (my max depth was 171 FSW), incurred a deco obligation of roughly 24 minutes, and spent 70 minutes total underwater, the balance at 15 feet. A few divers sat it out because they were not comfortable with the dive (choosing instead to dive the Betty bomber), and there was no pressure whatsoever for anybody to go.

AmyDelyla, of course, made the prudent choice to resist the pressure from her fellow diver to undertake a dive for which she was not comfortable.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

The San Francisco Maru is dived every week off the Truk Odyssey, after five days of diving the other wrecks in the lagoon. Most divers make this dive using a single steel 108 tank with EAN23.

Do you have the option of diving doubles and/or access to EAN50 or EAN100 for deco?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Do you have the option of diving doubles and/or access to EAN50 or EAN100 for deco?

Yes . . .I've used both eanx50 and oxygen for deco gases on the Truk Odyssey Liveaboard (although the O2 cost is kind of high at $1/cf).

They have double manifold AL80's for complimentary use and AL30 deco/stage bottles.

The better option now is to use the dive ops at the Truk Stop Hotel, where they have a readily available supply of Helium to blend trimix, along with assorted sizes of deco/stage tanks, AL40's, AL63 & AL80's, as well as double AL80's backgas tanks.