Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
Well, here's my *second* lesson learned. As the title says, "hmmm..."
I went to Brockville, ON yesterday. For those who don't know it, we're talking limited visibility, wrecks, current, and a shipping channel. IMO, the "Advanced OW" certification with its single drift dive teaches you to know what kind of trouble you're in when you dive in Brockville, it doesn't qualify you to dive there.
I am still learning to dive safely there, I know I'm somewhere between "oblivious of how much trouble he's in" and "ok if held on a six foot leash."
My other challenge is that I have two very small children and my wife is a diver. So when I sneak off to dive, the rule is "Be safe, have fun, but not TOO MUCH FUN." She does not need to hear that she's missing some of the best diving on this or any continent
Anyhow, I think this contributes to my lesson learned. Toronto is 3 1/2 hours' drive from Brockville, so local dive shops usually do a weekend charter as two dives on Saturday afternoon, camp or hotel stay Saturday night in Brockville, two dives Sunday morning, and drive back Sunday afternoon.
Since I wanted to maximize my fun, instead of going with a local group, I called an operator in Brockville and signed up as a "walk on" for two dives Saturday morning departing at 9:00 and two more dives Saturday afternoon, departing at 2:00, then drove back last night.
So, was I really in my best condition to dive having woken up at 04:45? Was I fully alert on my fourth dive on the same day?
Before we get to the fourth dive, let me tell you about the afternoon charter. There was supposed to be a lesson of some kind run by the charter shop, but it got cancelled leaving myself and two other walk-ons as the only people on the trip. Thus, we're diving as a group of three. Hmmm number one.
One of the other guys is diving dry and doubles, with experience diving the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Canada. He sounded solid, but he had a video camera, which is another hmmm. I will call him "Mr. Doubles."
The other guy announces that he's a fish lover not a wreck lover, so "don't be surprised if I stop to watch a fish and ignore the wreck." Ok, that's not a hmm, but I must admit I envy his subcutaneous insulation: he's diving a short pants, no hood, no gloves. The water is 70F, but this is the first time I've seen anyone that comfortable in it. He's obviously as comfortable as a fish, so I will call him "Pisces." That, and every diving story needs a Bond-type character with a trick nickname.
We're scheduled to do two of the deeper rec dives in the afternoon, the Muscallonge and the Daryaw. It's no issue to the other guys, but ideally I'd have dived the deep ones in the morning and the mid-water wrecks in the afternoon. I don't know if that's a hmmm, I'll let my Suuntu Gecko tell me what's up.
We do the first wreck, and indeed Pisces chases them. Mr. Doubles and I wave our lights at him to try to keep us together, but he doesn't notice us so we end up fighting the current and following him around. He's not the type to look around and see if we're with him. Several times during the dive Mr. Doubles and I look at each other and exchange Gallic shrugs, then chase after him.
On the way up, Mr. Doubles and I do a mid stop together and Pisces goes straight up to the safety stop. We can all see each other on the mooring line, so ok. back on the boat, we have a talk and agree to watch for waving lights, especially because the sky is darkening and the Daryaw is upside down, which means we will have very limited visibility under the wreck.
Pisces suggests I lead, and he will follow. Ok. Mr. Doubles agrees, and points out that he is actually a little low on air, so he may have to bail and leave us to finish as a pair. I suggest that if he decides to bail he will tell us and we will all swim to the mooring line together, then once Pisces and I see him safely ascending, we will continue our dive.
That might be a hmmm, I will defer to wiser minds on that.
So we descend together and assemble on the rudder. They wave me forward and I head down to the deck (the ship is upside-down). When I reach the deck, I turn and see Pisces, no sign of Mr. Doubles. I signal that I don't see him, and Pisces looks around futilely. Damn! He probably bailed, but... We peer around the stern under the wreck with our lights, then I tell Pisces to come with me and we go back to the rudder. No sign of him. We look up the line. No sign of him. What to do?
I figure he's back on the boat, or he's drifted, or he's under the wreck somehow. He didn't pass me, so the only way to get there is to have gone down the other side. It's possible, so I head back under the wreck and we look around. Penetration is possible, but I'm not qualified to do that. Damn! And if he's in there, he's low on air. Double damn!!
Well, we head upstream to the bow without seeing him. I decided that's the best we can do, and we drift back onto the mooring line and return to the boat. On the way up I run into deco according to my computer. It wants me to do a higher stop, but I do three minutes mid water and then five minutes at 15'. It decides I'm clean after four minutes, so I return to the boat after five minutes and, fortunately, Mr. Doubles is waiting.
It turns out he had a camera leak as I headed down (from the rudder, right after flashing us the ok sign). He says he waved his light at Pisces, but no response, and he didn't want to go any deeper to grab me for fear of wrecking his camera(!).
Meanwhile I was not watching intently and didn't know one of us was missing until I reached the deck level. That, and it was my fourth dive, on not enough sleep, and I'm operating at 90'.
Comments? Don't be shy, we can all learn from a good drubbing
I went to Brockville, ON yesterday. For those who don't know it, we're talking limited visibility, wrecks, current, and a shipping channel. IMO, the "Advanced OW" certification with its single drift dive teaches you to know what kind of trouble you're in when you dive in Brockville, it doesn't qualify you to dive there.
I am still learning to dive safely there, I know I'm somewhere between "oblivious of how much trouble he's in" and "ok if held on a six foot leash."
My other challenge is that I have two very small children and my wife is a diver. So when I sneak off to dive, the rule is "Be safe, have fun, but not TOO MUCH FUN." She does not need to hear that she's missing some of the best diving on this or any continent
Anyhow, I think this contributes to my lesson learned. Toronto is 3 1/2 hours' drive from Brockville, so local dive shops usually do a weekend charter as two dives on Saturday afternoon, camp or hotel stay Saturday night in Brockville, two dives Sunday morning, and drive back Sunday afternoon.
Since I wanted to maximize my fun, instead of going with a local group, I called an operator in Brockville and signed up as a "walk on" for two dives Saturday morning departing at 9:00 and two more dives Saturday afternoon, departing at 2:00, then drove back last night.
So, was I really in my best condition to dive having woken up at 04:45? Was I fully alert on my fourth dive on the same day?
Before we get to the fourth dive, let me tell you about the afternoon charter. There was supposed to be a lesson of some kind run by the charter shop, but it got cancelled leaving myself and two other walk-ons as the only people on the trip. Thus, we're diving as a group of three. Hmmm number one.
One of the other guys is diving dry and doubles, with experience diving the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Canada. He sounded solid, but he had a video camera, which is another hmmm. I will call him "Mr. Doubles."
The other guy announces that he's a fish lover not a wreck lover, so "don't be surprised if I stop to watch a fish and ignore the wreck." Ok, that's not a hmm, but I must admit I envy his subcutaneous insulation: he's diving a short pants, no hood, no gloves. The water is 70F, but this is the first time I've seen anyone that comfortable in it. He's obviously as comfortable as a fish, so I will call him "Pisces." That, and every diving story needs a Bond-type character with a trick nickname.
We're scheduled to do two of the deeper rec dives in the afternoon, the Muscallonge and the Daryaw. It's no issue to the other guys, but ideally I'd have dived the deep ones in the morning and the mid-water wrecks in the afternoon. I don't know if that's a hmmm, I'll let my Suuntu Gecko tell me what's up.
We do the first wreck, and indeed Pisces chases them. Mr. Doubles and I wave our lights at him to try to keep us together, but he doesn't notice us so we end up fighting the current and following him around. He's not the type to look around and see if we're with him. Several times during the dive Mr. Doubles and I look at each other and exchange Gallic shrugs, then chase after him.
On the way up, Mr. Doubles and I do a mid stop together and Pisces goes straight up to the safety stop. We can all see each other on the mooring line, so ok. back on the boat, we have a talk and agree to watch for waving lights, especially because the sky is darkening and the Daryaw is upside down, which means we will have very limited visibility under the wreck.
Pisces suggests I lead, and he will follow. Ok. Mr. Doubles agrees, and points out that he is actually a little low on air, so he may have to bail and leave us to finish as a pair. I suggest that if he decides to bail he will tell us and we will all swim to the mooring line together, then once Pisces and I see him safely ascending, we will continue our dive.
That might be a hmmm, I will defer to wiser minds on that.
So we descend together and assemble on the rudder. They wave me forward and I head down to the deck (the ship is upside-down). When I reach the deck, I turn and see Pisces, no sign of Mr. Doubles. I signal that I don't see him, and Pisces looks around futilely. Damn! He probably bailed, but... We peer around the stern under the wreck with our lights, then I tell Pisces to come with me and we go back to the rudder. No sign of him. We look up the line. No sign of him. What to do?
I figure he's back on the boat, or he's drifted, or he's under the wreck somehow. He didn't pass me, so the only way to get there is to have gone down the other side. It's possible, so I head back under the wreck and we look around. Penetration is possible, but I'm not qualified to do that. Damn! And if he's in there, he's low on air. Double damn!!
Well, we head upstream to the bow without seeing him. I decided that's the best we can do, and we drift back onto the mooring line and return to the boat. On the way up I run into deco according to my computer. It wants me to do a higher stop, but I do three minutes mid water and then five minutes at 15'. It decides I'm clean after four minutes, so I return to the boat after five minutes and, fortunately, Mr. Doubles is waiting.
It turns out he had a camera leak as I headed down (from the rudder, right after flashing us the ok sign). He says he waved his light at Pisces, but no response, and he didn't want to go any deeper to grab me for fear of wrecking his camera(!).
Meanwhile I was not watching intently and didn't know one of us was missing until I reached the deck level. That, and it was my fourth dive, on not enough sleep, and I'm operating at 90'.
Comments? Don't be shy, we can all learn from a good drubbing
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