First off, I did see the incident with the unconscious diver this morning. I didn't want to rubberneck, so I kept my distance, but I did hear claps and cheers coming from the rescuers at some point, and confirmed that they successfully revived the diver (thank goodness!). And the paramedics were on the scene within minutes of the initial call...I guess if an incident is going to happen, there aren't many better/more prepared places than the Breakwater!
With that said, I had a great, hour-long dive with UTD's Andrew Georgitsis. Don was taking an OW student out for her final checkout dive, so he paired up Andrew and me (which was a great experience for me, and probably a meh one for him
). Andrew was flying his MC90, which was a really, really slick setup. It took all of 30 seconds to explain the rebreather and differences in air share against normal DIR OC (short story, there's almost none - you signal OOG, the loop goes OC and you get a long hose).
The Breakwater was flat and the sun was out, but the viz was about 12-15 at depth. We scootered out to the Metridium Fields, and then to the end of the Breakwater Wall. IMO, the Met Field has got to be one of my favorite low-viz dive sites. You're focused on boulders no more than 10 feet across, and then easily jump to different patches about 15-20 feet from each other. It really helps keep you in a "macro" mindframe.
There were thousands of sea nettles out, big, medium, small...dodging them is pretty easy, but on a scooter in low viz they come at you FAST! We zigged and zagged so much that I completely lost track of my direction a number of times. Eventually we just hugged the floor, staying 2-3 feet from the bottom where there were fewer.
One big mea culpa: while along the wall, we passed a couple of groups of OW divers. Being a scooter neophyte, I'm pretty sure (as in 100% certain) that I whacked someone really good with my fin as I hit the trigger. So if there's a report about "some $*@&$ doubles/RB divers with scooters cutting off and ramming into people," it was probably me. :doh2:
My camera likes to make green water even more green. Strangely, it makes blue water more blue too. I think they call it "Sony color." Bleh.
With that said, I had a great, hour-long dive with UTD's Andrew Georgitsis. Don was taking an OW student out for her final checkout dive, so he paired up Andrew and me (which was a great experience for me, and probably a meh one for him
). Andrew was flying his MC90, which was a really, really slick setup. It took all of 30 seconds to explain the rebreather and differences in air share against normal DIR OC (short story, there's almost none - you signal OOG, the loop goes OC and you get a long hose). The Breakwater was flat and the sun was out, but the viz was about 12-15 at depth. We scootered out to the Metridium Fields, and then to the end of the Breakwater Wall. IMO, the Met Field has got to be one of my favorite low-viz dive sites. You're focused on boulders no more than 10 feet across, and then easily jump to different patches about 15-20 feet from each other. It really helps keep you in a "macro" mindframe.
There were thousands of sea nettles out, big, medium, small...dodging them is pretty easy, but on a scooter in low viz they come at you FAST! We zigged and zagged so much that I completely lost track of my direction a number of times. Eventually we just hugged the floor, staying 2-3 feet from the bottom where there were fewer.
One big mea culpa: while along the wall, we passed a couple of groups of OW divers. Being a scooter neophyte, I'm pretty sure (as in 100% certain) that I whacked someone really good with my fin as I hit the trigger. So if there's a report about "some $*@&$ doubles/RB divers with scooters cutting off and ramming into people," it was probably me. :doh2:
My camera likes to make green water even more green. Strangely, it makes blue water more blue too. I think they call it "Sony color." Bleh.
