Tech / Deep Diving at Mansfield Dam - 22-23

[texdiveguy]

D. I will agree with Andrew on the one instructor I am aware of in Florida doing super training, that being Lesley,,,,if I were interested in Fl. as my adv. training grounds she would be one I would consider....(I have heard from other good things,,I have pers. never visited direct though). NAUI and TDI both have good core Adv. Wreck programs from what I know, but at this point in your training get with an instructor that fully understands your goals. I had to do several interviews with Great Lakes instructors before finding a few good matches....I will be doing a TDI based program.

 

[VinceDS]

D. I will agree with Andrew on the one instructor I am aware of in Florida doing super training, that being Lesley,,,,if I were interested in Fl. as my adv. training grounds she would be one I would consider....(I have heard from other good things,,I have pers. never visited direct though). NAUI and TDI both have good core Adv. Wreck programs from what I know, but at this point in your training get with an instructor that fully understands your goals. I had to do several interviews with Great Lakes instructors before finding a few good matches....I will be doing a TDI based program.

I'll put in a "Third" for Lesley as being a top knotch tec instructor in S. Florida. She is an outstanding teacher and routinely dives with her former students even after you finish her class.

 

[Daylonious]

Well, it seems that forces consipired to keep me out of the water this weekend - had a flat saturday morning and the tire was too bald to patch - payday is friday so no $$$ for a replacement just yet.. grrr.. so no drive to austin -

At least I learned how to rig up a stage bottle using some rope, tubing, couple of boltsnaps and a hoseclamp - so it wasn't a complete loss..

Maybe next weekend -

D.

 

[texdiveguy]

Rick and Rand how did the diving go at Travis this weekend??

 

[Daylonious]

Got this email from Loosebits about the diving this weekend - looks like the viz is still pretty bad past 70':

"Viz was pretty good from 40 - 70. Below 70, it went from bad to worse. Our first dive we headed down the 1st chain (the one furthest away from the point). Never been down that way before; usually go down closer to the point. At around 70' where the chain ended, this viz started to get really bad so I tied in and we headed down to about 95' where we started running into what I'm guessing were Mesquite trees; not the nice tall trees closer to the point but more like brush - branches going all over the place. I decided with the viz as bad as it was (around 1') trying to get through those things was a bad idea so we brought the line back in and headed towards the point at 70'. We were going to try and drop back down but I notice the valve knob on my deco bottle was missing. Bizarre (it was on there when we went down or I wouldn't have been able to charge my reg). So we decided to keep it within NDL; didn't want to deco on backgas. When we were a few minutes from NDL, we turned and ascended to 50' for our swim back.

Our next dive (night dive), we didn't have enough gas left in our tanks for another attempt at a deco dive so we decided to try our new wetsuits. Went down to max depth of 70' and just followed the contour."

Wierd about the deco bottle...

D.

 

[ianr33]

We were going to try and drop back down but I notice the valve knob on my deco bottle was missing. Bizarre (it was on there when we went down or I wouldn't have been able to charge my reg).
D.

I think there is something in the water at Windy Point that eats the knobs on stages. I had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me a couple of months ago.Charged it before the dive,charged it again on the bottom,decided on a NDL dive due to crummy viz,got out of the water,knob missing !!!

Am seriously thinking of taking a small wrench or something with me that will open a valve in this situation. Maybe you could get enough purchase with EMS shears???

 

[ianr33]

Just checked the EMS shears trick and yes,they were quite able to open a knobless valve . Think I might cut a square notch in my knife as well.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I tried to get him to just suck it up and use his teeth but he wimped out.

 

[Willie]

Just checked the EMS shears trick and yes,they were quite able to open a knobless valve . Think I might cut a square notch in my knife as well.

The notch sounds like an excellent idea.

Willie

 

[deepwaterferret]

Lake Travis has had good vis since April of this year. I did a dive down to 135 feet at Mansfield Dam about three weeks ago, right at the dam (the "jail") and vis was good even at that depth, though it was dark, of course,

Vis was really great a month ago. I think it is starting to decline as the water warms but even today I got in a really clear dive at Windy Point Public, clear all the way down to 90 feet. At 70 feet, didn't even need a light. Was about 20 feet. I heard the vis was 20 feet at Mansfield today, too. 20 vis is good for Travis.