Toby report

[wetvet]

Few of us went to Tobermory for the long weekend, wanted to do some diving, camping, etc. Water was a balmy 38F, water level was down about a foot, and vis was kinda poor, considering how early it is (estimated at about 20ft).
We tried to book a charter on Sunday, but since the ice went out so late, the only wrecks with bouys on em were King, Whetmore, and Sweepstakes. Even the Niagra had its bouy broken off. The shops said that they expected many of them to be marked this week, but if you are planning on taking the long drive up highway 6, I suggest you call first.

Wetvet

 

[seahunter]

Thanks for the report wetvet.
I found it interesting and reading it brought back many memories of going to Tobermory with new divers for their first dives many years ago.
I started going to Toby in the mid-70's and have taken new divers there pretty much every weekend through every summer without many lapses since then.

I distinctly recall it was matter of pride to be the first group diving in Tobermory. Our first new diver group for certification dives was traditionally on the weekend of May 10. The water was usually in the low 40's but we all had a great time.
Today we don't start until the first weekend of June and even then some divers don't want to go until much later. The scuba gear is better and the suits are warmeer but the divers aren't as adventuresome.

Probably just as well. I don't think the instructors are as hardy today either - or are they smarter?

 

[wetvet]

Hee Hee.....our club is taking our first students up to Toby next weekend.....Talk about a resounding WELCOME to scuba...."hmmm...I'm sorry, but to truly count as a dive, we have to stay down for at least 20 minutes"

Poll question......what shade of blue is too deep for students.....

 

[Boogie711]

who is taking his OW checkout dives in Tobermory THIS WEEKEND! Woo hoo! Adventurous? Heck - if they'd let me, I would have been in the water back in February! Who said you can't ice-dive wet???

I'll be sure to report back on the thermal insulating qualities (or lack thereof) of my Mares Isotherm.

:scared:

 

[wetvet]

Cool, Boogie......I'll see you up there (I'll be the one with the dog)
My drysuit is new, so unless I get a couple of really good dives in today, Ill be diving wet too.

P.S. My wife dives with an Isotherm, so don't worry too much about the cold.....really......it's all in your head

 

[Boogie711]

And as it turns out - Wetvet was one of the staff divers for my Dive Shop. It really is a small world out there.

(And by the way - the Isotherm heats up great. It really is a good suit.)

Dives One and Two (Dave's Bay) were miserable. Ugly, big rocky shoreline entry, with 2 foot wave surges, cold miserable air, in the rain. I'm surprised I didn't kill myself on entry - although I did manage to rip a fin strap clean off as a fell over while trying to get them on. Once we got underwater, at the four minute mark, my reg free-flowed at about 10 feet. Managed to fix that on the surface, get back down and finish the dive. Maximum depth of about 21 feet.

Dive Three (The Tugs) was much more tolerable. Easy entry, max depth of 33 feet... big rocky outcropping, basically. And as we get in, things are fine, until about 5 minutes in - and another reg freeflow, from about 25 feet. This is getting REALLY annoying. Long snorkel back in after we couldn't get it stopped... and just as we reach the shoreline, we get it fixed. Snorkel back out, and complete dive - again.

Dive four (The Lighthouse) was great. Basically, had to twist the reg (an older rental Aqualung Impulse, btw) all the way into the "detuned" end of the spectrum, so it was like sucking air through a clogged straw, but hey - it didn't freeflow. At this point, I was accepting small mercies. Max depth 41 feet, along a cool vertical wall under the Tobermory Lighthouse.

Dive five was to 52 feet, along a vertical wall right behind the lodge we were staying in. I was leading the descent, going real slow because I have problems equalizing. At about forty feet, I realize now I should have been adding more air to the BC, because I was kicking too hard to keep the descent slow. We went through a low-vis silt cloud - just enough for me to lose sight of the rock wall. So I was kicking hard, feeling like I'm falling to the bottom (over 90' there), just lost my visual references, I'm hoovering air like its out of style, and I have to fight to suck in each breath. It felt like I wasn't getting any air. I wanted OUT of there, like, right now.

I was explaining to my wife that for the first time in years, I was actually scared. Not startled, or theoretical scared, but emotionally scared. I wanted to bolt for the surface. I wanted out of the water. At the same time, intellectually, I knew better. And I was getting pissed off at myself for even getting into that state of mind. You want to know something? When your intellectual side gets mad at you for being a wimp, that just makes your emotional side get even wimpier.

I stopped - my buddies (buddy and instructor) were confused, but I just signalled them to stop for a second. I gave them the "not OK" signal, feeling really stupid, and headed over to where I knew the rock wall was going to be. Once I started swimming, I came out of the 3-4 foot vis cloud and into about 14 -18 feet, and could see the rock wall. Somehow, seeing that I was still hovering was better. It's one thing to think "trust your gauges and computer." It's somehow another thing entirely to see a giant rock wall not slip away on you.


My buddy came over and handed my my own inflator hose - that message was pretty clear. I shot some air into my BC, kind of 'came to a hover' and stopped there for a second. Just that sort of act - going through the motions - kind of shook me out of it. Once I started swimming, it felt like about one minute but in real life, it took about 10 seconds to just shake it off, get my crap together, and move on. I turned down the resistance to my reg so I could actually breath. I gave them the big OK sign, we continued our descent, and things went more or less fine. (less, only because we overshot our entry point on the way back and had to double back. Our instructor knew where we were going, it was OK, but it was supposed to be a student-led dive.)

So, all in all, it was a good experience. Humbling, but I got to thinking that humbling is a good thing. Which is why I posted it.

Incidentally, my buddy Rick and I are making plans to go do some shallow (20-30 foot) dives next sunday, just to work on bouyancy control and finning skills. I know practice is a good thing, but to be honest, I just want to be more confident.

So, after all that - am I now banned from coming to Belleville in July?


(Edited to add - for the record, vis was at it's maximum no more than 30 feet, and I recorded a water temp both days of a warm and balmy 37 degrees.)

 

[diver gadget]

So why are you Banned from Bellville in July??

 

[seahunter]

Congratulations Boogie!
You are to be commended for your efforts and success in spite of the almost unbelievable problems you encountered.

I say 'almost' only because I've been taking new divers to Tobermory for over 25 years and have seen many new divers put through similar SNAFU's like your own. If I may pass my own comments, I'm disgusted!!
The first dives for a new diver ought to be the highlight of an exciting and enjoyable entry into this wonderful sport. Reading your account is enough to make ME give up scuba! And dive store owners wonder why the dropout rate is so high.

If an instructor can't virtually guarantee the safety, comfort and enjoyment of a new diver's first dives, he ought not run the dive.
The only factors that are NOT in his control are the weather and water conditions and they must be planned for and compensated.

We had a group of divers in Tobermory for their first dives as well this weekend and I've already received a report that they were all happy, warm (relatively), successful and looking forward to more fun and exciting scuba diving. I will be meeting most of those new divers today and tomorrow and will confirm they enjoyed the experience. If I heard otherwise or if I determined that any of the unpleasantness you describe occurred, there will be some very unhappy staff instructors at S2K. No wonder we get new divers who've never visited Tobermory state that they don't want to go there for their first dives. They must have been talking to friends who had an experience similar to your own.

Everything you've described could have been prevented. Most of it should have been!
Dave's Bay is a popular first dive site but needs careful prep by both the divers and the staff.
How did you fall over if your buddy and staff leader was right beside you?
Why were you on your first dive in 2' waves?
Reg freeflowed but someone 'fixed' it? Or did it just stop freeflowing? Then again on the Tugs? And again on the Lighthouse? Why were you diving with a reg that clearly needed service and why did you continue diving with it after it had problems?
Max depth on Dives 1 & 2 is 40'; Dives 3 & 4 can be up to 60' but there is an assumption the diving conditions are near pefect to reach those maximums - extreme cold, low visibility, waves, lack of a good visual reference, depth, etc would all be considered factors that would effectively reduce those maximums. Less than perfect scuba gear would reduce those maximums to 0'. I've dived the wall off Trail's End hundreds of times and it's very exciting but is NOT the place for new divers.

Do not feel bad because you were frightened and thoughts of 'bolting to the surface' entered your mind. Those thoughts are natural. The only way to avoid them is to avoid dives that create them - dives beyond your capabilities. If those thoughts occur, you should not try to 'control' them. Those thoughts are the clear indication that you're beyonds your limits and training.

I am not criticizing you at all in any of this. Your were taking part in your first dives. The dives and supervision of ALL aspects of those dives is the sole responsibility of the instructor. Every question about the conduct of this dive is his to answer. In this case, you survived and rose above the problems. That's not always the case and it seems to me the credit is entirely yours. If he feels my judgement is harsh, have him call me. I assume that he has an incident report for each of your problems on file now (I count the need for 5 separate reports for you alone!) and I'd be happy to discuss your experiences with him.

Best of luck in the future!!

BTW when is your wife taking the scuba course or is she not interested now?

 

[Boogie711]

I was the one who had 'tuned' the reg all the way to the "open" side. I put it about halfway on the third dive, and at one point it started to give me more air than I needed (not a freeflow, but the begiinnings of one, if that makes sense), so I torqued it all the way to the most resistant level and then brought it off a notch.

When I say "fixed", when we got to the surface, my instructor turned my tank off and we started snorkeling back to the shoreline both times. He was exhaling through it, trying to defrost it I guess, and would occasionally turn the tank back on to see if that worked. It worked eventually, since both times we were able to continue the dive. On the wall dive, another student experienced a freeflow at 50 feet, but managed a nice, slow ascent. I think it shook him up a little, but he was OK.

The waves at Dave's Bay werent consistently in the 2 foot level - it was rough and choppy to be sure, but as wave patterns go, you'll have a bunch of little one footers, and every now and then, a big one will come by. It was one of those 'rogue' big ones. It was definitely a chore to get in and out. In retrospect, I should have probably just waded in and then put my fins on when I was floating or something.

The whole incident at the wall was... just unnerving, more than anything. I've been sailing through the pool sessions, and handling all these minor issues without a big deal. The freeflow stuff and broken finstrap was frustrating more than anything.

The 'wall' incident was humiliating, embarassing and emotionally raw. I was scared. I don't know - maybe it's an inflated ego thing. I'm a 28 year old good husband, strong provider, play on the local softball team, active in my community - that whole picture. To be reduced to wanting to cry like a scared little girl because I was starting to panic was not only a really pissy experience, it was scary in and of itself. I don't know what's worse - to be that close to a panic attack, or to be mad at myself for 'losing control.' Does that make sense?

I eventually surfaced with a strong headache and felt dizzy for a few minutes. I eventually got better, but it was definitely unnerving.

 

[Boogie711]

I'm not going to push her. If she wants to do it, she'll do it, but like any good Dutch woman, she's not going to be persuaded by her big dumb husband into doing something she doesn't want to do.

I would like it if she would, but I'm being totally honest with her and telling her what sucks and what doesn't. She's probably a warm-water-weenie at heart. I could tolerate that - it would at least free me up to spend more money on the sport!