Shore Diving The Wall/drop Off?
- Thread starter northernone
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Had one of the Fury cats come over us at Paradise. It was freaky like something blocked out the sun.
Interesting thread. I've done quite a few dives out to the "wall" up north to hunt for lionfish. I have not done it from Villa Blanca yet. Of course I "cheated" for gas planning since I took my rebreather. I've had other friends do it with doubles rented from Meridiano 87 and/or HP120 with pony. I do know some people that have done it on an AL80 but you definitely want to make sure your gas consumption is good and your planning is conservative. It's a long swim back..
A lot of people that do such dives tend to keep them on the "down low" for several reasons. If you're diving in the marine park you technically are required to have a marine park guide with you. Most dive operators don't recommend it because it can be a long swim especially if you're not familiar with the area or the current happens to change direction. I would also hazard to guess most dive operators wouldn't really want to rent you tanks if they knew what you're doing.
Based on my logs it was about a 15 minutes swim out to the wall from where I dove. I would not want to do it on the surface at all. Way too much boat traffic and attracts too much attention. Even being under water I get a very uneasy feeling with boats being overhead in only 15ft of water. I basically swam at very fast pace until I got to about 25ft of water.
Caveat emptor....I'm not going to tell anyone not to attempt it but if you do...Try to go with someone that has done it before or get them to give you a very good briefing. If you make it out to wall, swim into current so that you are drifting back when you make your return. USE A COMPASS. A compass really helps if you want to get back or close to your entry point, you may need to compensate for drift. Rule of 1/3s for gas planning or even take a more conservative approach. Your swim back could take longer than your swim out if the current picks up or happens to change directions.
A lot of people that do such dives tend to keep them on the "down low" for several reasons. If you're diving in the marine park you technically are required to have a marine park guide with you. Most dive operators don't recommend it because it can be a long swim especially if you're not familiar with the area or the current happens to change direction. I would also hazard to guess most dive operators wouldn't really want to rent you tanks if they knew what you're doing.
Based on my logs it was about a 15 minutes swim out to the wall from where I dove. I would not want to do it on the surface at all. Way too much boat traffic and attracts too much attention. Even being under water I get a very uneasy feeling with boats being overhead in only 15ft of water. I basically swam at very fast pace until I got to about 25ft of water.
Caveat emptor....I'm not going to tell anyone not to attempt it but if you do...Try to go with someone that has done it before or get them to give you a very good briefing. If you make it out to wall, swim into current so that you are drifting back when you make your return. USE A COMPASS. A compass really helps if you want to get back or close to your entry point, you may need to compensate for drift. Rule of 1/3s for gas planning or even take a more conservative approach. Your swim back could take longer than your swim out if the current picks up or happens to change directions.
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