SeaSigns or similar class in south bay

[mikemill]

Practice charades

Some of the non diving specific hand signals I use:

Look: Index and middle fingers pointing at your eyes

Look at: After look signal point the fingers in the direction(s) to look

This way: "chop" motion with a flat vertical hand in the direction to go

Go around: Using the flat vertical hand make an arcing motion that outlines the direction to take to get around (ie: to
go around on the right make a circle going out the right side of the body and curving back in).

Go over/under: Flat horizontal hand doing the same basic gesture as the go around but over/under motion instead of around

I: Tapping your chest a few times with your finger tips.

You: Index finger pointing straight at the person.

Don't care / So-so: Horizontal hand with spread fingers rotating back and forth in a rocking motion

Don't know: Big shrug of the shoulders with bent arms, hands up and kinda cupped.


Of course there are some things that are really fun to try and communicate. IE (and this really happened to me), I'm so-so, my eyes are irritated, you keep an eye on me. I could string together the signs but something got lost in the transmission

 

[eric gundrum]

I knew the Amtrack was at around 25 ft...

I assume you mean the old military half-track deposited in the surf by some drunken sailor so long ago. (Actually, I have no idea how it got there -- just imagining someone having a fun night out. )

When I last dove Del Monte, I couldn't find it in 25' on our first dive. On our second dive we found a wreck of something metal at about 35'. (It was a bit north-east of the tender.) I don't think it was a boat because it looked like it had a large differential (or two?) and some heavy wheels. But we could not discern any particular truck shape, nor did we notice any track elements. Mostly it was just a large pile of metal debris.

After visiting the wreck a bit, we continued on to about 40' where we found the shale beds. Then turned back to shore. That was along swim.

Knowing that the half-track was supposed to be in 20', this gets me wondering... could the tides account for such a difference? Should I be noting the tides in my log if I want to use depth to help me find sites again?

 

[mikemath]

... When I last dove Del Monte, I couldn't find it in 25' on our first dive. On our second dive we found a wreck of something metal at about 35'. (It was a bit north-east of the tender.) ... could the tides account for such a difference? Should I be noting the tides in my log if I want to use depth to help me find sites again?

This is a good point--just looked and tides in Monterey can vary up to 7 feet. For a gradual slope like Del Monte, this means you potentially need to search over a lot of ground. None of the descriptions of the site mention the tide height when the depth was measured.

 

[eric gundrum]

I also noticed today that BAUE identifies it as "Del Monte Amtrack -- An old WWII-era amphibious vehicle sunk in about 25' off of Del Monte beach.": Monterey & Carmel Underwater Maps

With a little more exploring I found pictures at Wikipedia: Landing Vehicle Tracked - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Once again ScubaBoard has taught me something new.

 

[TSandM]

Mike, I wouldn't go get educated in signaling conventions that aren't shared by the vast majority of the divers you will meet.

A huge number of communication needs can be preempted by good dive planning. Many of the rest can be handled by some slow, careful signaling. When that fails, there are wetnotes.

An example: We were a team of three coming out of Carwash (a cave in Mexico). We had run the reel into the mainline, but it took most of the gas we had, so we only got a little way up the line before we had to turn around. Our plan had been to pull the reel out, and go the opposite direction on the second dive. But I thought it made better sense to leave it there, and do the second dive back up the same line. So, when we got to the reel, I signaled to the #2 diver. I patted the reel (best I could come up with for "leave it here") and the second diver signaled, "2 (two fingers) that way (flat palm in the direction from which we had come)". I understood and signed OK. We were on the same wavelength -- leave the reel, do the second dive back the same way. But when we tried to convey this to #3, he didn't get it. So we pulled out the wetnotes and wrote it down. Now, everything was clear to everybody.

Special signs will work if you have an invariable buddy and they train the same way. Otherwise, thorough planning, simple signs sent slowly and emphatically, and wetnotes, will do just about anything.