Questions/Advise for Blackbeards trip 9/17
- Thread starter cindy0519
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Wow everyone - thanks for the excellent information!
There will be three of us going on this trip myself, my husband, and my sister. DH and I have about 25 dives thus far and my sister has about 10 total dives (I think this is right- if not she reads the board too and will correct me I'm sure
). We just completed AOW last month (here in the cold quarry :frosty: )and while we have some experience with boat/ocean diving and are definately quite capable of planning our own dive and diving the plan, we still prefer to be with divers who have more experience than we do. Not looking for someone to be "responsible" for us.. just someone who could kind of be another set of eyes, to help point us in the right direction if we stray, discuss the dive with afterward, and maybe provide pointers of what we did that we may need to change. Plus its always nice to dive with and learn from others who have more experience and are willing to tag along with us newbies!
We are only planning on taking the bare minimum in clothing (2 swimsuits, 2 shorts, 1 pant, 3 shirts, raingear and the necessary personal items). I got a couple of microfiber sports towels and we will be taking those along instead of beach towels as they dry faster and won't take up the whole duffle bag
. Also got some spring clips for hanging stuff up to dry. For sun protection, we are taking hats, sunglasses and some eco friendly screen I purchased for a Cancun trip last month that works quite well.
As far as dive gear, we are taking all of our equipment (except of course tanks and weights), as mentioned already myself and my sister will be diving with a full 3mm suit but DH is going to dive with a .5mm suit/skin as he stays much warmer than my sister and I do. We will also be bringing our Oly 5050z camera and housing, and a RoadStor (CD burner type thing to avoid bringing the laptop) for downloading those full memory cards too after the day's diving is done. So hopefully we will have some pictures to go along with the trip report when we return!
Less than a week to go... hoping that the hurricanes take a break and we have nice weather and a smooth ride :biggrin:
There will be three of us going on this trip myself, my husband, and my sister. DH and I have about 25 dives thus far and my sister has about 10 total dives (I think this is right- if not she reads the board too and will correct me I'm sure
). We just completed AOW last month (here in the cold quarry :frosty: )and while we have some experience with boat/ocean diving and are definately quite capable of planning our own dive and diving the plan, we still prefer to be with divers who have more experience than we do. Not looking for someone to be "responsible" for us.. just someone who could kind of be another set of eyes, to help point us in the right direction if we stray, discuss the dive with afterward, and maybe provide pointers of what we did that we may need to change. Plus its always nice to dive with and learn from others who have more experience and are willing to tag along with us newbies! We are only planning on taking the bare minimum in clothing (2 swimsuits, 2 shorts, 1 pant, 3 shirts, raingear and the necessary personal items). I got a couple of microfiber sports towels and we will be taking those along instead of beach towels as they dry faster and won't take up the whole duffle bag
. Also got some spring clips for hanging stuff up to dry. For sun protection, we are taking hats, sunglasses and some eco friendly screen I purchased for a Cancun trip last month that works quite well. As far as dive gear, we are taking all of our equipment (except of course tanks and weights), as mentioned already myself and my sister will be diving with a full 3mm suit but DH is going to dive with a .5mm suit/skin as he stays much warmer than my sister and I do. We will also be bringing our Oly 5050z camera and housing, and a RoadStor (CD burner type thing to avoid bringing the laptop) for downloading those full memory cards too after the day's diving is done. So hopefully we will have some pictures to go along with the trip report when we return!
Less than a week to go... hoping that the hurricanes take a break and we have nice weather and a smooth ride :biggrin:
kernsey and others who may have done a BB's trip...
How was the shark dive at Bull Run? DH is a bit against doing such a dive as he thinks it is not safe. While I on the other hand, am :xyxnervou but would really like to do it. I understand that there is an element of danger as these are live, wild animals but my opinion, if this couldn't be done safely BB's certainly wouldn't take their passengers down to do it. Afterall coming back with a person injured (or worse) by a shark certainly won't sell any trips for them.
Anyway, what was your experience with this dive. Did you do it and if so do you feel it was safely conducted and that a newbie can do this dive safely? Or should we skip it?
How was the shark dive at Bull Run? DH is a bit against doing such a dive as he thinks it is not safe. While I on the other hand, am :xyxnervou but would really like to do it. I understand that there is an element of danger as these are live, wild animals but my opinion, if this couldn't be done safely BB's certainly wouldn't take their passengers down to do it. Afterall coming back with a person injured (or worse) by a shark certainly won't sell any trips for them.
Anyway, what was your experience with this dive. Did you do it and if so do you feel it was safely conducted and that a newbie can do this dive safely? Or should we skip it?
The blackbeards sharkdive at bull run is in my opinion quite tame.
The sharks show up when they feel the dinghy vibration and are used to 2 feedings per day. Basically the pavlovian theory of hear the bell and eat.
The coral is set up as an amphitheatre and you have your backs against the wall. THis way nothing comes from behind.
The dive master will walk you through it and place you in the right position.
To my knowledge there have been no incidents on the shark dive in the time Blackbeards has done this.
After the feeding you will be free to swim with the sharks. Not a bad finish for the first dive.
enjoy.
The sharks show up when they feel the dinghy vibration and are used to 2 feedings per day. Basically the pavlovian theory of hear the bell and eat.
The coral is set up as an amphitheatre and you have your backs against the wall. THis way nothing comes from behind.
The dive master will walk you through it and place you in the right position.
To my knowledge there have been no incidents on the shark dive in the time Blackbeards has done this.
After the feeding you will be free to swim with the sharks. Not a bad finish for the first dive.
enjoy.
SueMermaid
Guest
The shark dive is absolutely not to be missed, it is not a dangerous dive. The sharks are very obviously conditioned to it, and they don't have problems. The DM is very careful in making sure everyone's safe. It's just like being in the middle of a National Geographic special. I do hope you get to do it.
SueMermaid:
Sounds awesome! I REALLY want to do it...but DH is pretty adimat (sp sorry) that is really does not think this is a safe thing to do. So we are at somewhat of a friendly stand off at this point :11ztongue . Once we are on the boat and meet the crew, see how things progress I am sure that he will become more comfortable with the fact that this is well run.. however, until then ... the battle continues :lol2:
Thanks again for all your wonderful input!
MN Lakeman
Contributor
When settling down in Bull run remember to look below. I ended up standing on a nurse shark without realizing it. Fortunately this shark must have had a lot of experience with divers of my caliber.
Major LOL!!! I will bet a $100 that was FIDO! I dove last Nov. w/ BLackbeard, & when my buddy & I finished up viewing the "feeding of the shark-cabob" , we proceded up over a very nice reef that we were leaning against (natural "amphatheather") to finish off the dive. After just a few feet over the reef structure, this nurse shark swims up next to me & procedes to swim between my buddy's fins right up his crotch. I never knew how hard it is to laugh in a reg. This little guy just wouldn't leave Kevin alone - followed him everywhere. Later on board, after recanting our story to the crew, the DM just laughed & said "oh that's FIDO" - & showed us a picture of him "petting" this nurse shark laying on his lap, sitting on the sandy bottom.
Well - one last tip: bring some sea-sick remedy and TAKE IT BEFORE THE CROSSING. I have NEVER gotten sea sick in my life, & though I didn't ralph all over the deck (like half the passengers did), I was "green in the gills" the whole night it took us to get to Bimini.
Major LOL!!! I will bet a $100 that was FIDO! I dove last Nov. w/ BLackbeard, & when my buddy & I finished up viewing the "feeding of the shark-cabob" , we proceded up over a very nice reef that we were leaning against (natural "amphatheather") to finish off the dive. After just a few feet over the reef structure, this nurse shark swims up next to me & procedes to swim between my buddy's fins right up his crotch. I never knew how hard it is to laugh in a reg. This little guy just wouldn't leave Kevin alone - followed him everywhere. Later on board, after recanting our story to the crew, the DM just laughed & said "oh that's FIDO" - & showed us a picture of him "petting" this nurse shark laying on his lap, sitting on the sandy bottom.
Well - one last tip: bring some sea-sick remedy and TAKE IT BEFORE THE CROSSING. I have NEVER gotten sea sick in my life, & though I didn't ralph all over the deck (like half the passengers did), I was "green in the gills" the whole night it took us to get to Bimini.
SueMermaid
Guest
Cindy,cindy0519:
The act of diving itself is about 1000x riskier than being in the vicinity of sharks.
It's risky stepping off a curb or getting behind the wheel of a car. I do hope you an convince your husband otherwise, or at least get to go on your own and tell him what he has missed. The sharks are magnificent creatures.
elease
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we did blackbeard's last summer. i have to agree here with what most others said. regarding the dm going in with you, he will if you want him to. all you need to do is ask. when we went, our dm spent a lot of time with one passenger in particular because she was doing several discovery dives, and no one requested his company
we are also pretty new to diving ourselves, but the dive briefings were really helpful in orienting ourselves to the topography of the site and we had no trouble naigating the sites on our own even though we were on our very first livaboard and unguided dive trip.
i think you'll love it. but remember, the initial crossing can be rough and if i were to go again, i think i would take two regular dramamine, drink a beer, and head down to my bunk to sleep through that crossing. it was horrible. but with that being said, the rest of the trip was spectacular and i will do it again.
enjoy you trip! i've included a link to our photo gallery so that you can get an idea of what the diving will be like. i think you'll have a trip you'll never foget!
http://www.sjusa.net/nGallery
we did blackbeard's last summer. i have to agree here with what most others said. regarding the dm going in with you, he will if you want him to. all you need to do is ask. when we went, our dm spent a lot of time with one passenger in particular because she was doing several discovery dives, and no one requested his company
we are also pretty new to diving ourselves, but the dive briefings were really helpful in orienting ourselves to the topography of the site and we had no trouble naigating the sites on our own even though we were on our very first livaboard and unguided dive trip.
i think you'll love it. but remember, the initial crossing can be rough and if i were to go again, i think i would take two regular dramamine, drink a beer, and head down to my bunk to sleep through that crossing. it was horrible. but with that being said, the rest of the trip was spectacular and i will do it again.
enjoy you trip! i've included a link to our photo gallery so that you can get an idea of what the diving will be like. i think you'll have a trip you'll never foget!
http://www.sjusa.net/nGallery
You got it. That was Fido.
I think at this time they have named all the sharks. Just a regular bunch of guys. (somewhat like attorneys.......no disrepect intended)
I think after the initial dive, your husband will do the dive. Just a matter of getting his diving legs.
I think at this time they have named all the sharks. Just a regular bunch of guys. (somewhat like attorneys.......no disrepect intended)
I think after the initial dive, your husband will do the dive. Just a matter of getting his diving legs.
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