markmud
Self Reliant Diver--On All Dives.
Hello All,
Rubicon Point is a 130 fathom wall that is almost dead vertical. Some parts of this wall overhang the Cobalt Blue water of Lake Tahoe--I just effen love it! The vis was about 90'.
Lake Tahoe was spectacular! The water was warm (by Tahoe standards--68°), clear, and beautiful.
I hit the first thermocline at 40 feet, it was a mild decrease in temperature. The next thermocline was at 70 feet. The water temp probably dropped into the 50° range.
I wore my 5 mill Wetwear jumpsuit and 5 mill hood. I did not use gloves. I was comfortable the whole time.
Dive #:
1. I swam around Rubicon point and then descended down the area just before the 200% drop off (vertical drop-off). I was over the 100% slope (45° drop-off). I went down to 100’ and followed schools of silverside bait fish. I found one small German Brown Trout and lots of crawdads. This was a 45 minute dive.
a. Since my goal for this dive was to practice Solo Diver self-rescue skills, I went to an area where there was a somewhat flat bottom. The Bottom was at 70’ with big boulders surrounding me at 47’.
i. I dropped my dive float reel to the bottom as wanted to use it as a reference.
ii. I switched to my pony reg.
iii. I ripped off my mask, secured it, and then retrieved my spare mask and then put it on and cleared it.
iv. I hate that mask, so I swapped-out my crappy mask for my good one.
v. Then I wasted all of the air in my BC. I sank rapidly (yeah, I had 11 lbs of sinkers and was still heavy with all of that rubber on). I inflated my BC manually. It took two breath-cycles from my lungs to gain positive buoyancy. I adjusted my BC at 47’ and became neutral.
vi. Next, I collected my dive-float-reel and performed a slow ascent, with a safety stop, swam west around Rubicon point towards the beach, and surfaced when the water depth hit 10 feet.
vii. I checked my pony tank pressure and it was at 100 PSI. Not bad considering I was using my 6cf pony bottle!
Dive #2:
I went to the same area for dive #2. I dove to 71’ for a very short time. This time I had my 13cf pony and my spare pony reg system (Mares crap—but it worked well! I prefer my Oceanic pony reg system)
a. The goal for this dive was to perform more Solo self-rescue drills, and to include shooting my SMB from depth.
i. Some of the drills from dive #1 were repeated on dive #2.
ii. I shot the SMB using two exhales from my pony’s 2nd stage (the one in my mouth). The thing became super buoyant. I had to exhale completely to remain neutral. It shot to the surface as fast as I could let the thumb spool roll line off the reel. It stood very erect and probably vented excess air at the surface.
iii. I did another safety stop even though Rick (my Solo instructor) taught us to omit the Safety Stop in a real emergency—this, however, was not an emergency. I ended the dive with 1400 PSI in my 13 cf pony.
The air temp was warm but not hot. The shade was cool but not cold. There were no crowds, but the split-tails were everywhere. It was a beautiful day.
For my second dive I did not switch-out my primary tank (PST-100) as I still had more than 1900 psi after the first dive. I finished the second dive with about 750 psi remaining. I love my .5 SAC rate!
Thanks to Obexer’s Marine General Market for my Keith’s Catch sandwich and PBR on draft. I spent about an hour off-gassing at Obexer’s while eating my incredible sandwich and drinking my PBR. In that atmosphere, PBR tastes so good—I am usually a dark beer drinker—not at Tahoe! Divers at Tahoe need to off-gas for a few hours if they are going to cross Donner Pass at 7300'. Getting bent at Donner Pass is not advisable.
Thanks to Sean and Bill at Dolphin SCUBA for overhauling my pony reg (overhauled for preventative maintenance—no issue with it) and for the VIS on my pony bottle. They worked perfectly.
I am now ready for South Beach Miami and Key Largo. I can’t wait for my vacation!
markm
Rubicon Point is a 130 fathom wall that is almost dead vertical. Some parts of this wall overhang the Cobalt Blue water of Lake Tahoe--I just effen love it! The vis was about 90'.
Lake Tahoe was spectacular! The water was warm (by Tahoe standards--68°), clear, and beautiful.
I hit the first thermocline at 40 feet, it was a mild decrease in temperature. The next thermocline was at 70 feet. The water temp probably dropped into the 50° range.
I wore my 5 mill Wetwear jumpsuit and 5 mill hood. I did not use gloves. I was comfortable the whole time.
Dive #:
1. I swam around Rubicon point and then descended down the area just before the 200% drop off (vertical drop-off). I was over the 100% slope (45° drop-off). I went down to 100’ and followed schools of silverside bait fish. I found one small German Brown Trout and lots of crawdads. This was a 45 minute dive.
a. Since my goal for this dive was to practice Solo Diver self-rescue skills, I went to an area where there was a somewhat flat bottom. The Bottom was at 70’ with big boulders surrounding me at 47’.
i. I dropped my dive float reel to the bottom as wanted to use it as a reference.
ii. I switched to my pony reg.
iii. I ripped off my mask, secured it, and then retrieved my spare mask and then put it on and cleared it.
iv. I hate that mask, so I swapped-out my crappy mask for my good one.
v. Then I wasted all of the air in my BC. I sank rapidly (yeah, I had 11 lbs of sinkers and was still heavy with all of that rubber on). I inflated my BC manually. It took two breath-cycles from my lungs to gain positive buoyancy. I adjusted my BC at 47’ and became neutral.
vi. Next, I collected my dive-float-reel and performed a slow ascent, with a safety stop, swam west around Rubicon point towards the beach, and surfaced when the water depth hit 10 feet.
vii. I checked my pony tank pressure and it was at 100 PSI. Not bad considering I was using my 6cf pony bottle!
Dive #2:
I went to the same area for dive #2. I dove to 71’ for a very short time. This time I had my 13cf pony and my spare pony reg system (Mares crap—but it worked well! I prefer my Oceanic pony reg system)
a. The goal for this dive was to perform more Solo self-rescue drills, and to include shooting my SMB from depth.
i. Some of the drills from dive #1 were repeated on dive #2.
ii. I shot the SMB using two exhales from my pony’s 2nd stage (the one in my mouth). The thing became super buoyant. I had to exhale completely to remain neutral. It shot to the surface as fast as I could let the thumb spool roll line off the reel. It stood very erect and probably vented excess air at the surface.
iii. I did another safety stop even though Rick (my Solo instructor) taught us to omit the Safety Stop in a real emergency—this, however, was not an emergency. I ended the dive with 1400 PSI in my 13 cf pony.
The air temp was warm but not hot. The shade was cool but not cold. There were no crowds, but the split-tails were everywhere. It was a beautiful day.
For my second dive I did not switch-out my primary tank (PST-100) as I still had more than 1900 psi after the first dive. I finished the second dive with about 750 psi remaining. I love my .5 SAC rate!
Thanks to Obexer’s Marine General Market for my Keith’s Catch sandwich and PBR on draft. I spent about an hour off-gassing at Obexer’s while eating my incredible sandwich and drinking my PBR. In that atmosphere, PBR tastes so good—I am usually a dark beer drinker—not at Tahoe! Divers at Tahoe need to off-gas for a few hours if they are going to cross Donner Pass at 7300'. Getting bent at Donner Pass is not advisable.
Thanks to Sean and Bill at Dolphin SCUBA for overhauling my pony reg (overhauled for preventative maintenance—no issue with it) and for the VIS on my pony bottle. They worked perfectly.
I am now ready for South Beach Miami and Key Largo. I can’t wait for my vacation!
markm
