Why jump in the water and then float around?

[Nemrod]

Rockhound, your dives on the Flower Gardens and Stetson Bank brings back memories. The first time I went out ot the Garden would have been 1980 and the dive boat was an oil field crew boat moonlighting as a dive boat. The drop to the water seemed forever. The re-entry was a climb up a little ladder--on your own. There was quite a bit of current I remember that day and the boat had a Zodiac with Merc to rescue all the surface divers who never made it down because they had to adjust all of their equipment and discuss their dive plans while being swept off the end of the tag line. I have been out there several times since, got to get back there again. N

 

[fairybasslet]

R There was quite a bit of current I remember that day and the boat had a Zodiac with Merc to rescue all the surface divers who never made it down because they had to adjust all of their equipment and discuss their dive plans while being swept off the end of the tag line.

I don't know but I just don't get this need to compose oneself before descending. As soon as I see the pretty fishies and hear my breathing, I am totally in the zone. In fact, I feel much more composed in the water breathing compressed air (or whatever mixture I have that day) than I ever do on land.

 

[Rockhound76]

Nemrod,

I haven't been back to the Gardens in two years, but I've made 15 or 20 trips out there. You are right about the "liveaboards" being remodeled crew boats. The boats and the crews are great, but it is not luxury liveaboard diving, it's more like Texas bunkhouse diving (and Texas bunkhouse food...good tastin but bad fo' ya.). Still, the minimalist setting is a small trade-off for the speed of these thriple screw boats, as it lets you head out Friday night and be diving at sun-up 110 miles offshore.

They now have pretty good stern platforms and ladders that I guess are 20' long. They keep them up during the entries. The drop over the side is pretty darn far, but it's part of the overall "experience" of the trips I guess. Last time I went, they had a big camera table and dunk tanks, and a great system for filling your tank between dives (you just bring one). They now have the diving part down pat and they laugh at the "luxury" tags on other liveaboards.

Btw, I think anyone who hangs around the surface adjusting gear on these dives ends up in Mexico about a week later, but most who go out are warned these are advanced dives. They still have the Zodiacs as chase boats and nary a trip goes by that they don't have to go out on a recovery "mission".

I love the Gardens, tho'. Where else can I see whale sharks, hammerheads, tiger sharks, schooling eagle rays and friendly 12' mantas so close to home? I still remember turning off my light one night to watch a thunderstorm play out on the surface 70' above. I also remember the admonition on a winter trip to "please try to avoid landing on the hammerheads on entry".

I'll be back there soon, now that I'm diving again.

 

[Nemrod]

Yeah, jumping in the water and then floating around working on your gear and composing yourself is sorta like if a pilot took off and decided about 100 feet up and off the end of the runway that would be a good time to figure out where he is going and maybe check the oil and fuel levels! When the tower says your cleared for takeoff that means you better be ready to go, IT'S GO TIME---dive--dive--dive!

Check out the Underwater Journal issue this month. The place known as "The Cave" or more recently "The Hole in the Wall" is an awesome dive. Deep it is with the top of the cave at 130 feet and depths easily to 160 if not carefull. I have been there several times. I hired a boat out and they told me when they pull over the coordinates there would be no fooling around. They gave the three of us a one minute warning, the captain then yelled to the deck hand and to us--dive--dive--dive as he went into neutral! We rolled off the side and there was no time to tarry. The current ripped and if we fooled around gathering ourselves on the surface we would have never made the dive--period. The current swept us as we dropped rapidly to the bottom meeting a long ridge line that loomed out of the blue, I had begun to think we had missed The Cave but then there it was, wow. Read the artical.

N

 

[fairybasslet]

IT'S GO TIME---dive--dive--dive!

It wasn't at the Hole but on a ledge dive out of Jupiter. Ripping current. The capt yells DIVE DIVE DIVE and the jerk on the bench in front of me is still messing with his mask. When they say "Be ready" they mean it. My buddy jumped and was waiting for me on the surface while this idiot is still messing with his mask. I'm screaming at him "GO!!! Fix your mask in the water" Wouldn't you know the dude got blown off the ledge within 5 minutes of splashing.
My buddy and I did meet up at about 30 fsw.

Check out the Underwater Journal issue this month. The place known as "The Cave" or more recently "The Hole in the Wall" is an awesome dive. Deep it is with the top of the cave at 130 feet and depths easily to 160 if not carefull. I have been there several times. I hired a boat out and they told me when they pull over the coordinates there would be no fooling around. They gave the three of us a one minute warning, the captain then yelled to the deck hand and to us--dive--dive--dive as he went into neutral! We rolled off the side and there was no time to tarry. The current ripped and if we fooled around gathering ourselves on the surface we would have never made the dive--period. The current swept us as we dropped rapidly to the bottom meeting a long ridge line that loomed out of the blue, I had begun to think we had missed The Cave but then there it was, wow. Read the artical.

N

Sounds awesome.

 

[Charlie99]

On the boat I popped a bit of air into the wing, it seemed to be working ok but since the wing is on the back I went by sound and it sounded as though it was working. Unfortunately it was leaking out nearly as fast as it went in.

Since the tank was 4 pounds negative, the plate 2 pounds, the STA 2 pounds I probably should have only used about 8-11 pounds but I had sixteen based on previous dives using a 3mm full suit, but it was based on using a full jacket style BCD verse the backplate/wing.

Hindsite and armchairs make for the best second guessing.

Mike

I'm not trying to second guess or ridicule you.

I'm simply trying to point out something that doesn't seem to be widely known or understood ---- a properly weighted diver with a typical 80 or 100 cu ft tank can easily float on the surface with an empty BCD or wing.

What you posted above tends to confirm that, since you say that you had 5 to 8 pounds too much lead.

Were I into ridiculing and 2nd guessing other divers, I wouldn't have posted my own BCD fiasco, where I was already at 60+', on my way to an intended 130' dive on a 200' wall at Molokini before I discovered that a broken pull dump wire on my BCD had lodged beneath the pull dump and the BCD wouldn't hold air.

I floated nicely on the surface before and after the dive, even with no air in the BCD, and this was with two extra pounds of lead since it was the first dive of the season in the 5mm wetsuit.

I suggest that divers, if they have properly adjusted their weighting, should just give it a try on their next dive, and jump into the water with a deflated BCD and find out whether or not they can easily stay on the surface. For most divers, all it takes is to suck in a big lungful of air.

Charlie Allen

 

[Blackwood]

Actually, it needs to be done underwater.

It needs to be done with air-delivering gear underwater, and that can be done at the surface. All it takes is a diver who can lie on his or her back.

In fact, I can think of a specific dive which was saved by doing the bubble check at the surface. Team of 4. One diver had brand new tanks. He went on his back and it was noted that dime sized bubbles were streaming out of his right post. So we re-threaded his first stage and checked again. Still leaking dime sized bubbles. At that point, one team member took off a dry glove, completely disconnected the first stage (leaking diver holding himself far enough out of the water with my help and that of the anchor line), and found brass shavings (from the machining process) on the o-ring. They were preventing a proper seal. He brushed them off, did the same inside the valve, re-attached the reg, and upon checking, the problem was solved.

This was a training dive planned to 120' for 15 minutes with a lot of skills to be performed on ascent. It would have been impossible to properly/safely complete with one diver unable to donate.

So what would have happened if we'd waited to submerge for the check? Well, we'd have seen the bubbles. Leaking diver would have shut down the right post and purged his reg. Bubbles would have stopped. Turning it back on, bubbles would have started. Back off, purge, team member tries to re-seat the reg. Back on, bubbles start. Conclusion? Non-fixable, he can't donate (with a team of four, we'd have been okay, but it certainly would have made those s-drills a bear): call the dive.

 

[Blackwood]

Conclusion? Non-fixable, he can't donate (with a team of four, we'd have been okay, but it certainly would have made those s-drills a bear): call the dive.

Well, at the very least, sandwich him in formation and don't do all the skills as planned.

 

[fairybasslet]

It needs to be done with air-delivering gear underwater, and that can be done at the surface. All it takes is a diver who can lie on his or her back.

In fact, I can think of a specific dive which was saved by doing the bubble check at the surface. Team of 4. One diver had brand new tanks. He went on his back and it was noted that dime sized bubbles were streaming out of his right post. So we re-threaded his first stage and checked again. Still leaking dime sized bubbles. At that point, one team member took off a dry glove, completely disconnected the first stage (leaking diver holding himself far enough out of the water with my help and that of the anchor line), and found brass shavings (from the machining process) on the o-ring. They were preventing a proper seal. He brushed them off, did the same inside the valve, re-attached the reg, and upon checking, the problem was solved.

This was a training dive planned to 120' for 15 minutes with a lot of skills to be performed on ascent. It would have been impossible to properly/safely complete with one diver unable to donate.

So what would have happened if we'd waited to submerge for the check? Well, we'd have seen the bubbles. Leaking diver would have shut down the right post and purged his reg. Bubbles would have stopped. Turning it back on, bubbles would have started. Back off, purge, team member tries to re-seat the reg. Back on, bubbles start. Conclusion? Non-fixable, he can't donate (with a team of four, we'd have been okay, but it certainly would have made those s-drills a bear): call the dive.

Exactly. As much as people love to bash PADI, I have to say that the Peak Performance Buoyancy class was excellent (at least with the instructor I had). I had always tended to overweight myself, but with that class, you started on the surface, full tanks, empty bc, and floated. You descended simply by exhaling.

 

[Walter]

Exactly. As much as people love to bash PADI, I have to say that the Peak Performance Buoyancy class was excellent (at least with the instructor I had). I had always tended to overweight myself, but with that class, you started on the surface, full tanks, empty bc, and floated. You descended simply by exhaling.

The problem isn't what's taught in PPB, the problem is it should be taught in OW.