RAD Diver
Contributor
Went out yesterday with a few divers from the area. We had heard that the weather conditions would be very favorable for us, well as all weather forecasts are around here this 1 was wrong also.
A steady line of 4+ fters fairly close together kept us at a slow pace, but hey we were going diving.
We decided on the Kurn, I had only been there once, & the vis was horrible, but I know there is 2 pieces, the stern which is sitting straight up & the bow which is some 100+ feet away & turtled. But do to the limited vis the 1st time I never made the jump.
So I only had what I've been told to go by, but there would be some penetration opportunities on the bow.
Once on site the conditions were going downhill fast, seas building & starting to white cap. We decided to do a dive & see what happens with all agreeing that if it got much worse we would only do 1 dive.
Another boat of divers were already anchored on the stern, we knew them & I had a chance to dive with them, but they were set to do the Schooner & that wasn't where I wanted to dive. But with the bad conditions & very little to hook they were unsuccessful at that site & changed to the Kurn. They offered to let us tie up on their stern & use their line system to the wreck, but we decided to try to hook the bow, after several unsuccessful attempts we almost decided to take them up on their offer, but we went for 1 more shot & we hooked something.
Andy (Drewski) & I were chosen to be 1st down, which seems to always be the case, but we don't mind. We got geared up & I jumped 1st & waited for Andy. He had the tie-in rope & would be doing the honor. I lead the way & upon hitting the bottom found that we were on a small piece of wreckage, but the hook was solid & this piece was not moving under the pull of the boat so we tied in. While Andy was doing this I looked around for any sign of the Kurn, & not finding any I decided to run a line to search, knowing where the other boat was in relation to us we had a good idea on direction to go. Then the side of my reel broke, so Andy had to run his. I knew mine had a crack in it, but it had worked fine until now of course. I kind of felt bad Andy had to do all the work, but hey I've done it before.
Vis was about 25ft & it took only a minute to find the stern, vis was so good that Andy just left his reel while we explored the stern, then Andy broke out his safety reel & we made the jump to the bow, but we had limited time there & no chance to go inside, but a quick look & then back to the stern. We went to make the jump back to the anchor & I was sure we were at the right spot, but Andy gave me the turn sign, & upon hitting the very rear of the stern I was sure we went the wrong way, so I gave Andy the turn sign & we headed back. Luckily this piece isn't that big & once at the break I dropped to the sand & there was Andy's reel. We followed it back, but left it so the other divers wouldn't have to waste time finding the wreck.
At the 30ft mark Andy stopped & I asked if he had gone to Deco & he said yes 12 minutes. I was fine, my computer is not as strict as his plus I was running 34% as opposed to his 31%. So I went to my 20ft stop, did my 3 minutes & went back to Andy & made sure all was well & to tell him I was going to surface to let the next group jump. We both have the agreement of doing this, & know when each is to surface. We are both very capable & equipped to solo dive.
As I surfaced I heard that all to familiar call to Neptune & was sure someone was losing their breakfast. I boarded & they were all ready to go in their suits so we got Vince up & over, next was Bill, seasick & not wanting to dive, but we assured him he would be much better off in the water so he agreed. I was trying to get him in his rig, which by the way was the 1st time he had tried to dive doubles. He had not even taken them to the pool or quarry. Andy & I both exchanged raised eyebrow looks of non-belief as to this, but he was a DM & was sure he would have no problems.
Then Andy reboarded the boat.
I was having a hard time getting him rigged up, hoses just didn't seem to rout how I am used to seeing them, but finally he was ready & over he went. Then it was his buddy Clarks turn. I just finished TDI Adv. Nitrox/ Deco Procedures with Clark so I knew he would be no problem. As I was hooking him up I told him that he needed to take Bill to the side & show him how to rig his gear & he told me that he had & that Bill put the wrong Regs on the wrong posts of the doubles.
Then Bill re surfaced with problems to his mask, the boat Capt. got that squared away.
Clark was ready & he jumped.
So I started to help Andy out of his gear, next thing Clark & Bill were at the boat ladder & Clark re boarded the boat talking about 5 or 6 Sharks circling under the boat.
I grabbed my camera still in its housing & told them to go take some pictures so we could see them.
They refused.
Then Vince boarded & said he saw them at 20ft & didn't do a safety stop.:shocked2:
We talked for a while as everyone got out of their gear, trying to get a handle on what type of Sharks they could be, Andy thinking Bull, but I'm thinking Dog, but Bill says the biggest was twice the size of the hang tank (an alum 80), maybe I'm wrong. But in either case Andy & I must go back down to un-hook & retrieve his reel. So they start to get the grill fired up for some dogs & Andy suggests that we suit up & do our 2nd dive & eat on the way back in. I'm as always game.:cool2:
Once again I'm leading the way & at 30ft I see the 1st one, a 2ft (maybe) Dog Shark, we hit the bottom & go to the stern section & explore where we hadn't gone on the 1st dive. Andy dropped into 1 hatch, but I stayed topside & tried to take some pictures. Vis was about the same, but it was much darker on the bottom, noting that it was much later in the day & the Sun was on its way down. We made this dive quicker as Andy didn't want to do Deco since we were to pull the anchor on our ascent. No one else planned on doing another (or a dive period)dive.
Our ascent was very uneventful until we got to our 20ft stop & the school of Sharks were back. We had a slight surface current & some surge on the bottom, but in mid-water nothing. So I did my 3 minute stop chasing (or as Andy said Molesting)the Sharks to get some pictures.
We had a beautiful ride in to a setting Sun. Seas had calmed down to almost glass as we passed the Tower.
A steady line of 4+ fters fairly close together kept us at a slow pace, but hey we were going diving.
We decided on the Kurn, I had only been there once, & the vis was horrible, but I know there is 2 pieces, the stern which is sitting straight up & the bow which is some 100+ feet away & turtled. But do to the limited vis the 1st time I never made the jump.
So I only had what I've been told to go by, but there would be some penetration opportunities on the bow.Once on site the conditions were going downhill fast, seas building & starting to white cap. We decided to do a dive & see what happens with all agreeing that if it got much worse we would only do 1 dive.
Another boat of divers were already anchored on the stern, we knew them & I had a chance to dive with them, but they were set to do the Schooner & that wasn't where I wanted to dive. But with the bad conditions & very little to hook they were unsuccessful at that site & changed to the Kurn. They offered to let us tie up on their stern & use their line system to the wreck, but we decided to try to hook the bow, after several unsuccessful attempts we almost decided to take them up on their offer, but we went for 1 more shot & we hooked something.
Andy (Drewski) & I were chosen to be 1st down, which seems to always be the case, but we don't mind. We got geared up & I jumped 1st & waited for Andy. He had the tie-in rope & would be doing the honor. I lead the way & upon hitting the bottom found that we were on a small piece of wreckage, but the hook was solid & this piece was not moving under the pull of the boat so we tied in. While Andy was doing this I looked around for any sign of the Kurn, & not finding any I decided to run a line to search, knowing where the other boat was in relation to us we had a good idea on direction to go. Then the side of my reel broke, so Andy had to run his. I knew mine had a crack in it, but it had worked fine until now of course. I kind of felt bad Andy had to do all the work, but hey I've done it before.
Vis was about 25ft & it took only a minute to find the stern, vis was so good that Andy just left his reel while we explored the stern, then Andy broke out his safety reel & we made the jump to the bow, but we had limited time there & no chance to go inside, but a quick look & then back to the stern. We went to make the jump back to the anchor & I was sure we were at the right spot, but Andy gave me the turn sign, & upon hitting the very rear of the stern I was sure we went the wrong way, so I gave Andy the turn sign & we headed back. Luckily this piece isn't that big & once at the break I dropped to the sand & there was Andy's reel. We followed it back, but left it so the other divers wouldn't have to waste time finding the wreck.
At the 30ft mark Andy stopped & I asked if he had gone to Deco & he said yes 12 minutes. I was fine, my computer is not as strict as his plus I was running 34% as opposed to his 31%. So I went to my 20ft stop, did my 3 minutes & went back to Andy & made sure all was well & to tell him I was going to surface to let the next group jump. We both have the agreement of doing this, & know when each is to surface. We are both very capable & equipped to solo dive.
As I surfaced I heard that all to familiar call to Neptune & was sure someone was losing their breakfast. I boarded & they were all ready to go in their suits so we got Vince up & over, next was Bill, seasick & not wanting to dive, but we assured him he would be much better off in the water so he agreed. I was trying to get him in his rig, which by the way was the 1st time he had tried to dive doubles. He had not even taken them to the pool or quarry. Andy & I both exchanged raised eyebrow looks of non-belief as to this, but he was a DM & was sure he would have no problems.
Then Andy reboarded the boat.I was having a hard time getting him rigged up, hoses just didn't seem to rout how I am used to seeing them, but finally he was ready & over he went. Then it was his buddy Clarks turn. I just finished TDI Adv. Nitrox/ Deco Procedures with Clark so I knew he would be no problem. As I was hooking him up I told him that he needed to take Bill to the side & show him how to rig his gear & he told me that he had & that Bill put the wrong Regs on the wrong posts of the doubles.
Then Bill re surfaced with problems to his mask, the boat Capt. got that squared away.Clark was ready & he jumped.
So I started to help Andy out of his gear, next thing Clark & Bill were at the boat ladder & Clark re boarded the boat talking about 5 or 6 Sharks circling under the boat.
I grabbed my camera still in its housing & told them to go take some pictures so we could see them.
They refused. Then Vince boarded & said he saw them at 20ft & didn't do a safety stop.:shocked2:We talked for a while as everyone got out of their gear, trying to get a handle on what type of Sharks they could be, Andy thinking Bull, but I'm thinking Dog, but Bill says the biggest was twice the size of the hang tank (an alum 80), maybe I'm wrong. But in either case Andy & I must go back down to un-hook & retrieve his reel. So they start to get the grill fired up for some dogs & Andy suggests that we suit up & do our 2nd dive & eat on the way back in. I'm as always game.:cool2:
Once again I'm leading the way & at 30ft I see the 1st one, a 2ft (maybe) Dog Shark, we hit the bottom & go to the stern section & explore where we hadn't gone on the 1st dive. Andy dropped into 1 hatch, but I stayed topside & tried to take some pictures. Vis was about the same, but it was much darker on the bottom, noting that it was much later in the day & the Sun was on its way down. We made this dive quicker as Andy didn't want to do Deco since we were to pull the anchor on our ascent. No one else planned on doing another (or a dive period)dive.
Our ascent was very uneventful until we got to our 20ft stop & the school of Sharks were back. We had a slight surface current & some surge on the bottom, but in mid-water nothing. So I did my 3 minute stop chasing (or as Andy said Molesting)the Sharks to get some pictures.
We had a beautiful ride in to a setting Sun. Seas had calmed down to almost glass as we passed the Tower.
