Texoma report Sunday 10/12

[YellowfinKunkfish]

Vis was 0-0 feet, temp was 72 at 35 feet. The first dive was pretty good, we ran into (literally) some interesting stumps, saw a couple of teeny weeny fish. Also found some neat looking rocks. Lost our new buddy Matt towards the end of the dive, but surfaced and found him again, went down, lost him again, surfaced, and decided to just surface swim to the dive flag. After a back breaking trek back up to the cars, we did a surface interval at Jalapeno tree, then headed back out to Eisenhower. Geared up, got all the way down there, and I realized I forgot my mask. Left my BC in the water, and went up to get it. We finally got down, and vis, if it's possible was worse than the first dive, the wind had really picked up, and was stirring up the water pretty good. I lasted about 15 minutes before I'd had enough. Left Matt and Kory to finish their dive, and headed for shore. Trip up the stairs was excruciating. I was thinking I was glad there were people behind me, so they could help pick me up, and call 911 after I collapsed, and rolled all the way back down to the beach. Can you believe people will ask "how heavy is that", and "I bet you'll be winded by the time you get up all those stairs." But they don't offer to carry it?! What's up with that?

We didn't see many fish, found out we weighted down the new dive flag too much, lost our buddy, and couldn't see ANYTHING, but the bottom two inches under my nose. But, we got wet, had fun finding rocks, and learned a few new things about how your mind can play tricks on you in low, really dark vis.

Congrats Matt on your 50th dive! Too bad you couldn't see anything...

Rhonda

 

[Timeliner]

Rhonda......... It sounds like You are begining to be able to see in the dark.
Soon.......Very soon......... The Dark Side of the Force will be with you.

When you become one with the dark there is no turning back........

Those freaking stairs at ESP still really suck !!

I went Dinosaur Bone hunting today and walked for miles alone and have very little to show for my efforts.
'Should have gone diving with ya'll !

 

[Kunk35]

Okay, She is exagerating a bit with the whole 0 to 0 bit. I could see my gauges with my arm fully extended, and I could see the beam of light 6" past my hand with my other arm fully extend, so I'm estimating the viz to be about 3 feet. Fine Texoma swamp diving if you ask me.....

Now as for those damn steps.... They just about beat me.....

Frank, I wanna go back to the easy entry spot on Texoma....

No respectable eagle would be out flying in the wind on the second dive, the waves were whitecappin.

Now I need to go reduce my dive flag weight by at least two pounds.

 

[Kunk35]

Oh yeah, Congrats to ftwdiver14 on dive # 50!!:banana:

Thanks Matt for checking out Texoma with us!

 

[richerso]

** A little off topic ** I hope y'all will entertain **

I recently did a dive somewhere exotic at a site called 'Thousand Steps'. Now, Thousand Steps wasn't really one thousand steps. I actually think it was something like about 80 steps or so, a staircase, winding down the side of a hill. The 80 steps probably descended about 70 ft or so from the roadside entry down to the water.

Is this similar to the ESP steps? I will apologize to the Kunks and company right now for not having attended and dived an ESP event.

 

[YellowfinKunkfish]

Yeah, those thousand steps sound a lot like ESP, I hereby rename the steps at Eisenhower, the thousand steps of pain.

Exaggerating? Okay, maybe it wasn't 0 vis. BUT, my opinion is still that it was very bad. About 10 minutes into our second dive, my right leg kept bumping into something hard. The first time I thought, oh, that must just be a rock. About 8 or 10 feet along, it happened AGAIN. How big is this **** rock?? So, I turn to my right, and shine my light where there should be something, and I see NOTHING but black. Nothing. Whatever this was had to be no more than 12 inches or so away from me, and I could only see blackness. Little bit of anxiety begins to set in. So, I look up, and I see NO ambient light, none. Just 2 minutes earlier there had still been SOME ambient light, not much but some. Above me was just as black as the area to my right. About this time I slam into whatever is on my right with my whole body, not just my leg. I was done. Done, Done, Done. I grabbed Kory, and signaled that I wanted to go up, and NOW. The bad thing is, that I did the same thing on the first dive when it went black, not as bad though, since I didn't run into anything huge, and invisible. So, I'm a little disappointed with myself, bad vis has never bothered me before, and I love night dives. I'm really not sure why I had such a hard time today. I don't know, but that's my example of how the vis was REALLY, REALLY, bad.

Rhonda

 

[thevalkyry]

You are a burlier woman than I, Charlie Brown!!

Fair was fun, but diving would have been fun too...

 

[Timeliner]

Richerso... the ESP Steps from the water to the parking area is about like doing the Missle Silo from the water to the parking area.

Less the snakes of course

 

[Foo]

About 10 minutes into our second dive, my right leg kept bumping into something hard. The first time I thought, oh, that must just be a rock. About 8 or 10 feet along, it happened AGAIN.

This alone would have been enough for me. I would have thumbed immediately, at least you were brave enough to look around!

So, I'm a little disappointed with myself, bad vis has never bothered me before, and I love night dives. I'm really not sure why I had such a hard time today. I don't know, but that's my example of how the vis was REALLY, REALLY, bad. Rhonda

Don't be seeely! It's normal and okay to feel uncomfortable some days, and other days, it is not an issue. I don't like night dives, but low vis dives in the daytime are okay. But I do not want to dive without ambient light, so I can see that I would have been creeped out by the total black. Any time that you feel uncomfortable with a dive, it is time to thumb. Good job! You followed your instincts and your training. Do not be disappointed in yourself. Sheesh, girl, you entered Texoma on scuba- only the bravest of the brave Swampdivers would attempt that feat! I, for one, will take a pass!

 

[Kunk35]

Any time that you feel uncomfortable with a dive, it is time to thumb. Good job! You followed your instincts and your training. Do not be disappointed in yourself.

Rhonda, sound familiar?

Foo, I was telling her the same thing on the trip home. I can totally understand why someone would get a little freaked at Texoma. I was really proud of her. She didn't panic at all, and I really couldn't even tell she was freaked. Her desire to go up coincided with the fact that we had just lost Matt, so I thought she was just following the normal procedure of looking around for a minute, then going up to find him. So she did really good.

I think what was on her mind was the fact that in such dark low viz, it would be possible to enter an overhead environment without knowing it. Once you start thinking about stuff like that, your mind tends to fill in some details. You just have to make sure you watch your compass so you know which way to reverse!