Dive Report: 10/25/03 Devils Eye and Ear at Ginnie Springs
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1026tech1/
Charlie and I slept in on Saturday, had a nice breakfast at Floyd's Dinner and headed over to Ginnie. Charlie's eyes lit up starring into the clear water. We would do a cavern dive into the Eye for a warm up and then I would have Charlie run a reel into the Ear.
Dive 1: Devils Eye
Max Depth: 37ft
Runtime: 22 minutes
Gas 32%
Water Temp: 71
Turn: 2600 PSI
We got into the water at the end of the run and practiced sharing air on the swim down to the eye. The water was undisturbed and Little Devils was clear to the bottom. I should have stopped and shot the photos, but decided to do it on the way out. I wanted to get overhead!
We dropped down and Charlie hovered at the entrance feeling the flow. He tied off to the log and headed in. He was kicking hard to move in and then discovered the pull and glide technique. Every time I dove the Eye, I was in a hurry to see how fast I could tie into the mainline and how far I could get on 500psi of gas. This time I knew we wouldn't go past the daylight zone, so I relaxed and took in the scenery. We went in 75ft or so and Charlie paused over the section and didn't drop down. Natural light was still easy to see.
Charlie turned the dive and I got out the camera. I started practicing my cave photography. On the way out I tried for some cavern shots and nailed two good ones of Charlie. On the way out I counted 6 deco bottles placed in the eye with no line connecting them. "Just Ginnie" complacency is evident. I wanted to shoot some photos of the clear water in the eye. On our way out were attacked by squad of snorkelers going into the cavern on a breath of air. One was a father showing off to his two young kids in the water with him. Yipes! After I surfaced I kept watching for him to come back out.
Dive 2: Devils Ear
Max Depth: 59ft
Runtime: 38 minutes
Gas 32%
Water Temp: 71
Turn: 2100 PSI
SI: 20 minutes
I still clearly remember my first time running a line into the ear. I blew through 500 psi in a set of double 95s just to get tied into the mainline. Charlie said he was up for it, so we descended down into the brown brackish water which turned crystal clear at 10 feet as we could feel the fresh water pouring out. Primary tie was solid on the log, the secondary tie was harder to find. Charlie made one, but it slipped off. The second was tight, but I held on to it as he went into the eye. He got his head dead into the flow, then back out and gave me the turn around sign. The flow caught him and pushed him up and behind me.
He was calm and gave me a big ok. After a minute or two I gave him the "switch" signal and took the reel. I made an new placement on a rock facing up as I went down into the Ear. Inside it is calm and peaceful. I went up to the ceiling where the flow is milder and noticed the mainline. I tied the reel into the mainline and went into the first room up to the hole which connects to the Eye.
The cloudy water and small opening didn't leave much "cavern" area so we only went a little ways in. The slow pace and no pressure to penetrate gave me time to look around without the narrowed perception that comes from a hard working dive at depth. I took some time to look at the ceiling. The walls in Devils are some much more interesting than Peacock. All that water flow must have added to the texture.
My peaceful calm ended when I saw two Openwater divers with one flashlight come into the ear without a reel and start to look around. I untied my reel and moved back to the entrance. They looked around for 5 minutes and then left. Charlie and I went up to a section to the right I had never noticed before. I reached my turn pressure and thumbed Charlie. He headed out first and stopped just outside and was looking at me. I waved him on to go a little further as I had the reel in one hand and only one hand to assist my graceful exit and avoid being "spit out" of the cave.
Like a waterslide I felt myself pick up speed as I made the hard right turn on exit. I stayed low on the floor of the opening and spun around to face the current. I pulled off the placements and reeled in. I'd give myself a 5.4 out of 10 for the dismount. I looked up and was entranced by the mixing of tannin river water and freshwater coming out of the cave. Charlie was wedged in at the tree at 20 feet and I started shooting like crazy to capture the silhouette and the water color. I moved out of the way as a group of four divers headed in. I wedged into the tree and tried to shoot down. I all got was the storm of bubbles created by four divers just inside.
We ascended and Charlie had a big grin on his face. "I have to cave certified, I want to go further in, that was too cool!"
--Matt
Saturday, October 25, 2003
Sunday, October 19, 2003
Dive Report: 10/19/03 Southseas
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/031019mp/
Conditions:
Seas: 1 ft and confused.
Air Temp: 85 degrees
Sunny
Dive 1: Star Trek
Team: Jody S. and Joe T.
Depth: 220ft
Bottom Mix: 15/55
Deco Mix: 50% and 100%
Current: Slight North
Visibility: 80 ft
Temp: 81 degrees top to bottom
Run Time: 90 minutes
Deco: A lot
I drove right over the wreck the first time with the numbers Jody had for the Star Trek. He lined it up again a stopped the boat dead on the numbers to check for current, none. This was going to be a good dive. Charlie ran through the dive plan and times to confirm when we needed to be on the look out for bottles and liftbags. Charlie was a big help getting on the stage and deco bottles donned and ready to go. I got the boat ready for the run, about 500ft away from the mark and they moved to the back platform. These two guys had $150 or so worth of gas on there backs, I didn't want to drop them for a sand dive. Oh the weight of the gear. I stopped the boat dead four feet from the numbers and called out "Dive, Dive, Dive!"
Occasionally, I would make runs back to the numbers and let the boat drift away. At ten minutes a saw a thick diagonal line in the sounder as I ran over the bubble trail of the divers, cool. 26 minutes into the dive about 50 ft off the bow I saw a small surface marker and two spent Aluminum 80s floating in the water. Charlie retrieved them, then he decided to lay down and take a nap. At 45 minutes we started looking for the marker. At 50 minutes into the dive I saw a flick orange in the distance, due East of the boat. I headed over that way, .3 miles from where we were I found 1 foot of a 6 foot sausage sticking out of the water. Looks like it didn't get much gas in it on the 70ft stop.
After an hour and 15 minutes I jumped in on the marker and took some photos while free diving. I got "Ok's" from the team so I new it was all good. 10 minutes later they surfaced and we picked them up. A perfect dive!
Joe never heard of the new Halcyon semi-closed circuit lift bag being called a "BBQ Apron". He tried it on and I think it works quite well.
Dive 2: Southseas and Airplane wreck
Team: Charlie G. and Matt H.
Gas: 33% and 50%
Visibility: 40ft
Current: None
Depth: 82ft
Runtime: 58 minutes
Deco: 50/5 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
Charlie and I have dove a lot of sites off Miami now. One we've not hit yet in our wreck treks was the Southseas which is an old 135ft steel freighter. From there we have the choice of swimming off the bow to the Princess Brittany or heading off the stern to the Airplane wreck. Jody told us to dive and we splashed it. The visibility was 30-40ft, but milky white. I could see the shadow of the wreck and swam to it.
The wreck was nothing by super structure, the top was gone. There was lots of growth and juvenile fish swimming in the steel beams. In the midsection there was some equipment left. To the right I noticed a large green moray having straight up and down. I slowly approached with my camera, snapped a couple of photos and hovered. I moved my camera and light away from it and starred. The moray swam up to within 2 ft of me and starred back. We shared a moment, I went to shoot another photo and it disappeared in the floor.
We worked back and saw some juvenile stripped parrotfish, trumpetfish, numerous grunts and some hogfish. Swimming back on starboard side of the wreck I found a Starlet coral with a Peppermint Goby. This fish is only 1.5 inches long, but you can see the yellow body and blue of the eyes if you look for it in photo. (see photo mp032.jpg) I zigged back over to the port to see the eel again. Then we swam back to the bow. After killing only 25 minutes out of 50 we decided to swim for the Airplane wreck off the stern.
Jody said to swim Southwest and we should hit a big triangle half way between the two. Charlie and I took a "swim of faith" of the stern and headed over the sand. I saw what looked to be rebar in the sand. They pointed to the triangle, cool. We kept going, and right as I was loosing faith, I saw a depression in the sand, we swam over and saw all that was left, the wing. Several Blackfin snapper greeted us as we arrived. I saw some of the largest Grasby Grouper I've ever seen. At the other end I also found a Coney.
Joe gave me a quick lesson on how to shoot the semi closed bag. I got it out and looped up the spool. It was hanging down so I put a couple bubbles in it to get it upright. While trying to get my reg further up into the bag, it purged and started filling the bag. I wrestled with it, kept the gas going in until I couldn't hold it any more and let it fly. It was full on the surface, but I think I could be a little more graceful next time. Charlie and I ran a mock deco schedule with a gas switch at 50ft to 50%. Joe kept reminding us that diving with 50% is a "loaded gun" and we should be careful about oxtox and holding our depth. The deco bottle is getting loaded up with 32% for the first weekend of Tech 1.
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/031019mp/
Conditions:
Seas: 1 ft and confused.
Air Temp: 85 degrees
Sunny
Dive 1: Star Trek
Team: Jody S. and Joe T.
Depth: 220ft
Bottom Mix: 15/55
Deco Mix: 50% and 100%
Current: Slight North
Visibility: 80 ft
Temp: 81 degrees top to bottom
Run Time: 90 minutes
Deco: A lot
I drove right over the wreck the first time with the numbers Jody had for the Star Trek. He lined it up again a stopped the boat dead on the numbers to check for current, none. This was going to be a good dive. Charlie ran through the dive plan and times to confirm when we needed to be on the look out for bottles and liftbags. Charlie was a big help getting on the stage and deco bottles donned and ready to go. I got the boat ready for the run, about 500ft away from the mark and they moved to the back platform. These two guys had $150 or so worth of gas on there backs, I didn't want to drop them for a sand dive. Oh the weight of the gear. I stopped the boat dead four feet from the numbers and called out "Dive, Dive, Dive!"
Occasionally, I would make runs back to the numbers and let the boat drift away. At ten minutes a saw a thick diagonal line in the sounder as I ran over the bubble trail of the divers, cool. 26 minutes into the dive about 50 ft off the bow I saw a small surface marker and two spent Aluminum 80s floating in the water. Charlie retrieved them, then he decided to lay down and take a nap. At 45 minutes we started looking for the marker. At 50 minutes into the dive I saw a flick orange in the distance, due East of the boat. I headed over that way, .3 miles from where we were I found 1 foot of a 6 foot sausage sticking out of the water. Looks like it didn't get much gas in it on the 70ft stop.
After an hour and 15 minutes I jumped in on the marker and took some photos while free diving. I got "Ok's" from the team so I new it was all good. 10 minutes later they surfaced and we picked them up. A perfect dive!
Joe never heard of the new Halcyon semi-closed circuit lift bag being called a "BBQ Apron". He tried it on and I think it works quite well.
Dive 2: Southseas and Airplane wreck
Team: Charlie G. and Matt H.
Gas: 33% and 50%
Visibility: 40ft
Current: None
Depth: 82ft
Runtime: 58 minutes
Deco: 50/5 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
Charlie and I have dove a lot of sites off Miami now. One we've not hit yet in our wreck treks was the Southseas which is an old 135ft steel freighter. From there we have the choice of swimming off the bow to the Princess Brittany or heading off the stern to the Airplane wreck. Jody told us to dive and we splashed it. The visibility was 30-40ft, but milky white. I could see the shadow of the wreck and swam to it.
The wreck was nothing by super structure, the top was gone. There was lots of growth and juvenile fish swimming in the steel beams. In the midsection there was some equipment left. To the right I noticed a large green moray having straight up and down. I slowly approached with my camera, snapped a couple of photos and hovered. I moved my camera and light away from it and starred. The moray swam up to within 2 ft of me and starred back. We shared a moment, I went to shoot another photo and it disappeared in the floor.
We worked back and saw some juvenile stripped parrotfish, trumpetfish, numerous grunts and some hogfish. Swimming back on starboard side of the wreck I found a Starlet coral with a Peppermint Goby. This fish is only 1.5 inches long, but you can see the yellow body and blue of the eyes if you look for it in photo. (see photo mp032.jpg) I zigged back over to the port to see the eel again. Then we swam back to the bow. After killing only 25 minutes out of 50 we decided to swim for the Airplane wreck off the stern.
Jody said to swim Southwest and we should hit a big triangle half way between the two. Charlie and I took a "swim of faith" of the stern and headed over the sand. I saw what looked to be rebar in the sand. They pointed to the triangle, cool. We kept going, and right as I was loosing faith, I saw a depression in the sand, we swam over and saw all that was left, the wing. Several Blackfin snapper greeted us as we arrived. I saw some of the largest Grasby Grouper I've ever seen. At the other end I also found a Coney.
Joe gave me a quick lesson on how to shoot the semi closed bag. I got it out and looped up the spool. It was hanging down so I put a couple bubbles in it to get it upright. While trying to get my reg further up into the bag, it purged and started filling the bag. I wrestled with it, kept the gas going in until I couldn't hold it any more and let it fly. It was full on the surface, but I think I could be a little more graceful next time. Charlie and I ran a mock deco schedule with a gas switch at 50ft to 50%. Joe kept reminding us that diving with 50% is a "loaded gun" and we should be careful about oxtox and holding our depth. The deco bottle is getting loaded up with 32% for the first weekend of Tech 1.
--Matt
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Dive Report: Datura Ave, North Side of 2nd Reef Line
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1018daturan/
Team: Andrea, Charlie, Matt
Conditions
Seas; Flat, building to 1 ft
Air Temp: 82
Water Temp: 82
Sunny
Visibility: 30ft
Current: none
Surge: Minimal
Depth: 17ft
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
We scored a rock star parking spot at 8 AM and headed over to Mulligan's for breakfast.After we fueled up we went back to gear up. Andrea would lead, Charlie would be number 2 and I would be the third guy to practice following. Something I'm not very good at. While we were getting up I watched an instructor prepare a discover scuba student for a beach dive. He explained that if she did well they could got catch some lobster. I bit my tongue. As we performed our equipment checks I watch another two divers head in, one with a Mares pneumatic speargun and the other dragging lobster gear.
The calm seas made for a quick swim out to the snorkel trail. Visibility was great so we found it with ease. The hunting team was hovering around the ballast pile. I assumed the gun was loaded so we hovered slightly away and watched them. He was poking the gun into the holes and I began to wonder, "He's not going to try to shoot anything there, is he?" After all my fish counts, I know there are no game fish except...... "POP!"... I hear the gun go off. Out from a hole swims a 10 inch Red Grouper with a hole in is back. This grouper had lived in the ballast pile for the past 6 months. I turned on the PA system in my regulator, "WTF" I shouted. "Its not NEAR legal size! What are you thinking?" I was enraged!
The lobster buddy was kneeling in the sand in the PADI training position. The spearfisherman reloaded his gun and looked around for the grouper. The buddy just raised his hands at me gesturing "I don't know?" I weighed my options. I wanted to shut his gas off, but if he drown, that would be hard to explain to the judge. There was the James Bond, pull the mask off move, but I didn't want to wrestle with this guy. I hovered, motionless 2ft away and starred this guy down. Charlie was right on my wing doing the same thing. The fish's fate was sealed, if he bagged it, I would swim out and call FWC with his license plate number. They would have been there and waited for him.
The shooter lost the fish and felt my presence. He turned towards me and kept trying to ask me a question. I was motionless. Finally he game me the thumb, which I returned and we surfaced. I asked, "What is the legal length to spear a grouper in the state of Florida?" He responded, "I don't know?" But tried to cover himself by asking, "How did I know it was a Grouper?" I told him it was a 10-12 inch juvenile Red Grouper also known as a Strawberry Grouper for a reddish skin and white dots. There must be 24 inches are greater to shoot, and this one wasn't close. He replied, "I didn't know how big it was, it was hiding in the rocks." New topic, I asked, "How far to you have to be from the beach or pier to spear in the state of FL?" He replied, "I don't know?" I replied, "300 ft, so you need to be out on the second reef line and head South." Last question from me, "Does Ignorance of the law excuse you from following it?" This was the most classic response, "I've been spearfishing for over three years!" Charlie finished up with, "I think you need to put that spear gun in your car until you learn the laws regarding hunting." They humbly thanked us for the information, submerged and swam off with the gun. I floated on the calm surface for 5 minutes to relax and try to get back into the mindset for a happy dive.
We submerged on the trail and I found the grouper panting in a new hole in the rocks. We swam off East to begin our dive. I found a Sharptail Eel out feeding during the day. He swam right next to a crab with his arms up out in the open. They looked cool together, but I couldn't get the photo to capture the moment. We headed North on the second reef line to see the vast amounts of coral up there. We found four patches of Staghorn coral. I've never seen any there before so that was exciting. I found another upside down coral head, but this one had a lot of damage. I flipped it back over, but there isn't much tissue left to recover.
Andrea lead the way with the camera snapping photos of fireworms, juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish also know as Jewelfish and a rough head blenny (look close at photo datura093.jpg). Charlie and I ran some drills, we switched to deco bottles, passed the bottles back and forth, and Charlie ran a valve drill as I purged my reg over head by his ear.
We came right back to the snorkel trail and I saw the Red Grouper out swimming around. He has a serious wound and some skin flapping about. He was shot on the top of his back. At least it wasn't low and in his guts. I'll check back on him in a couple of weeks and see if he is still there.
While watching Andrea shoot a few more photos, I had this urge to take off all my gear and put it back on. Getting it off it easy. Getting back into it, with hoses and cords everywhere is a big pain! I could not have done with out Charlie's assistance. I have not done that since my Dive Master class over two years ago.
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1018daturan/
Team: Andrea, Charlie, Matt
Conditions
Seas; Flat, building to 1 ft
Air Temp: 82
Water Temp: 82
Sunny
Visibility: 30ft
Current: none
Surge: Minimal
Depth: 17ft
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
We scored a rock star parking spot at 8 AM and headed over to Mulligan's for breakfast.After we fueled up we went back to gear up. Andrea would lead, Charlie would be number 2 and I would be the third guy to practice following. Something I'm not very good at. While we were getting up I watched an instructor prepare a discover scuba student for a beach dive. He explained that if she did well they could got catch some lobster. I bit my tongue. As we performed our equipment checks I watch another two divers head in, one with a Mares pneumatic speargun and the other dragging lobster gear.
The calm seas made for a quick swim out to the snorkel trail. Visibility was great so we found it with ease. The hunting team was hovering around the ballast pile. I assumed the gun was loaded so we hovered slightly away and watched them. He was poking the gun into the holes and I began to wonder, "He's not going to try to shoot anything there, is he?" After all my fish counts, I know there are no game fish except...... "POP!"... I hear the gun go off. Out from a hole swims a 10 inch Red Grouper with a hole in is back. This grouper had lived in the ballast pile for the past 6 months. I turned on the PA system in my regulator, "WTF" I shouted. "Its not NEAR legal size! What are you thinking?" I was enraged!
The lobster buddy was kneeling in the sand in the PADI training position. The spearfisherman reloaded his gun and looked around for the grouper. The buddy just raised his hands at me gesturing "I don't know?" I weighed my options. I wanted to shut his gas off, but if he drown, that would be hard to explain to the judge. There was the James Bond, pull the mask off move, but I didn't want to wrestle with this guy. I hovered, motionless 2ft away and starred this guy down. Charlie was right on my wing doing the same thing. The fish's fate was sealed, if he bagged it, I would swim out and call FWC with his license plate number. They would have been there and waited for him.
The shooter lost the fish and felt my presence. He turned towards me and kept trying to ask me a question. I was motionless. Finally he game me the thumb, which I returned and we surfaced. I asked, "What is the legal length to spear a grouper in the state of Florida?" He responded, "I don't know?" But tried to cover himself by asking, "How did I know it was a Grouper?" I told him it was a 10-12 inch juvenile Red Grouper also known as a Strawberry Grouper for a reddish skin and white dots. There must be 24 inches are greater to shoot, and this one wasn't close. He replied, "I didn't know how big it was, it was hiding in the rocks." New topic, I asked, "How far to you have to be from the beach or pier to spear in the state of FL?" He replied, "I don't know?" I replied, "300 ft, so you need to be out on the second reef line and head South." Last question from me, "Does Ignorance of the law excuse you from following it?" This was the most classic response, "I've been spearfishing for over three years!" Charlie finished up with, "I think you need to put that spear gun in your car until you learn the laws regarding hunting." They humbly thanked us for the information, submerged and swam off with the gun. I floated on the calm surface for 5 minutes to relax and try to get back into the mindset for a happy dive.
We submerged on the trail and I found the grouper panting in a new hole in the rocks. We swam off East to begin our dive. I found a Sharptail Eel out feeding during the day. He swam right next to a crab with his arms up out in the open. They looked cool together, but I couldn't get the photo to capture the moment. We headed North on the second reef line to see the vast amounts of coral up there. We found four patches of Staghorn coral. I've never seen any there before so that was exciting. I found another upside down coral head, but this one had a lot of damage. I flipped it back over, but there isn't much tissue left to recover.
Andrea lead the way with the camera snapping photos of fireworms, juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish also know as Jewelfish and a rough head blenny (look close at photo datura093.jpg). Charlie and I ran some drills, we switched to deco bottles, passed the bottles back and forth, and Charlie ran a valve drill as I purged my reg over head by his ear.
We came right back to the snorkel trail and I saw the Red Grouper out swimming around. He has a serious wound and some skin flapping about. He was shot on the top of his back. At least it wasn't low and in his guts. I'll check back on him in a couple of weeks and see if he is still there.
While watching Andrea shoot a few more photos, I had this urge to take off all my gear and put it back on. Getting it off it easy. Getting back into it, with hoses and cords everywhere is a big pain! I could not have done with out Charlie's assistance. I have not done that since my Dive Master class over two years ago.
--Matt
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Dive Report: 10/16/2003 7PM Datura Street Night Dive and T1 Practice
Team: Matt H. (32%), Charlie G. (32%) and Buck B. (36%)
Conditions (sucky)
Show 6:30 PM
Seas: 3ft building to 4-5ft at the end
Low Tide: 6:55 PM
Winds NE 15 knots and gusty
Visibility: 8ft 1st reef and 15 ft 2nd reef.
Depth: 17ft
Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes
We met up at Datura and did the surface check. It was diveable, but it wasn't going to be pretty. We needed the practice, so we decided to go for it. Bad conditions just makes the drills tougher, which is good. The goal on the dive was to work as a three man team, keep our communication tight and run drills to test our team awareness. We were going to rotate through the positions starting with Charlie leading on the way out, I would lead down the second reef line and Buck would bring us home. Run time would be 90 minutes and I would decide if we were to head North or South based on current. We were all carrying an AL40 stage to get some swimming practice in.
We geared up and marched into the water and through the surf. At the snorkel trail we descended and started off. Buck had has 18watt light set to wide so it was hard to see when he was focused on the team or just looking. Charlie couldn't see his beam in the lead. I kept my light beam on Charlie's so he would know I was right there. I stopped to gesture to Buck to focused his beam. Buck would look around then wave his light across my field of view once in a while to let me know he was there. I didn't let him get more than 30 seconds without seeing the light. Finally Buck kept it out in front of me steady. Then I got the flash and turned for an OOA. After getting Buck gas we flagged Charlie down.
At the second reef line I signaled to switch to stage bottles. I deployed my hose and watched Charlie switch. Then I switched, I started coughing and ran an OOA with Charlie, he was right there. In the corner of my eye, during this time, Buck had switched and stowed it back without anyone really looking at him. He switched and stowed again and we headed South down the reef. Once I started off I noticed the lack of lights, turned, and saw Charlie maskless. Buck was right there on the assist for the switch. From there, Charlie kept his light on Buck, but their lights were just in my field of view. I swam in a zig zag fashion to mess up the order. At one point I headed Southwest and turned on the after burners so Buck would have to stop me and tell me to slow down. After I got moving I stopped and in a John Wayne voice I heard, "Is this a Hogfish I see before me?" It was so big, just laying there sleeping. Grrrrr...., "I will eat you one of these days!"
We worked our way South and after 40 minutes I headed west to find the ledge. I tried to swim away from the group and turned North to see if they would notice. All the sudden I saw the gray swipe of tail near my face. I flashed my team, Shark! It was only a nurse about 3-4 ft, but it Seemed 15ft long at night and their teeth get bigger. I watched him swim away. I turned to hand Buck the flag line to return home and he was deploying his backup light. Cool, another failure. Well simulated I assumed, Buck didn't give me the hand signal for malfunctioning equipment, and he kept he light in his hand so drills would be more realistic. I should have asked him it the failure was for real, but who has problems with Halcyon lights?
On the way home I alternated being a good team member, staying next to Charlie and keeping my light on his. Then I would be bad and get behind him, swim next to Buck and become lost (hid my light). The first lost buddy was a quick pick up. Later I hid my light and got no response, Charlie got a head of Buck at one point, so I hovered directly above Charlie as Buck flashed him and asked where was Matt? Charlie did a couple 360s with no luck. I swam over to the side, took my mask off, and started flashing my light. Both of them were right no me and I switched to my back up.
Time was getting on and we had to beat the parking lady back to the cars at 9 PM. I pointed to my compass and signaled "315" for a heading back to Datura. Buck was supposed to be leading, but Charlie and I passed him at one point and he ran another mask loss drill. We each took a side and assisted him in the change. A mask and two spools is quite cramped in the Halcyon zip pocket. I helped Buck get everything back in there. Once his mask was on, his fins were between Charlie and I. Charlie still had a hold of Buck and I flashed him OOA. As the reg came to my mouth, I took off my mask. The reg never made contact. I was flailing around trying to get some attention and some gas. 10 seconds........ 20 seconds........... "Hey I really need to breath?" I'm thinking. Ok, time to go back to my reg. "Ops, where is my reg?" Its usually hanging off the long hose right in front of me. I couldn't find it. The realization that it was gone and the CO2 building the need to breath kicked the panic in and I felt the Adrenalin injection. I stopped my mind, paused, and though, "Where is there always a reg, just for me? Oh yeah, under my chin!" I purged it and put it in, got a nice deep breath, and just relaxed as my heart calmed down. I put my mask on and we swam the rest of the way in, nice and easy with no problems.
Now, before I get a bunch of emails saying that I'm an idiot for training like this, let me just say, we were trying to crank it up on these dives so that the class seems easier. From all the research I've done, masks fly off and people run out of air as they get left behind by their teammates. The tighter we stay together, the less that's going to happen.
The wind picked up and the waves were tackling our knees as we waddled out of the surf zone. After packing up we headed over to Burger King for a quick bite and time to debrief through what had happened. Buck's HID light really did fail :( I hope he can figure out what was wrong before the class?
1 week to the class, excitement builds!
--Matt
Team: Matt H. (32%), Charlie G. (32%) and Buck B. (36%)
Conditions (sucky)
Show 6:30 PM
Seas: 3ft building to 4-5ft at the end
Low Tide: 6:55 PM
Winds NE 15 knots and gusty
Visibility: 8ft 1st reef and 15 ft 2nd reef.
Depth: 17ft
Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes
We met up at Datura and did the surface check. It was diveable, but it wasn't going to be pretty. We needed the practice, so we decided to go for it. Bad conditions just makes the drills tougher, which is good. The goal on the dive was to work as a three man team, keep our communication tight and run drills to test our team awareness. We were going to rotate through the positions starting with Charlie leading on the way out, I would lead down the second reef line and Buck would bring us home. Run time would be 90 minutes and I would decide if we were to head North or South based on current. We were all carrying an AL40 stage to get some swimming practice in.
We geared up and marched into the water and through the surf. At the snorkel trail we descended and started off. Buck had has 18watt light set to wide so it was hard to see when he was focused on the team or just looking. Charlie couldn't see his beam in the lead. I kept my light beam on Charlie's so he would know I was right there. I stopped to gesture to Buck to focused his beam. Buck would look around then wave his light across my field of view once in a while to let me know he was there. I didn't let him get more than 30 seconds without seeing the light. Finally Buck kept it out in front of me steady. Then I got the flash and turned for an OOA. After getting Buck gas we flagged Charlie down.
At the second reef line I signaled to switch to stage bottles. I deployed my hose and watched Charlie switch. Then I switched, I started coughing and ran an OOA with Charlie, he was right there. In the corner of my eye, during this time, Buck had switched and stowed it back without anyone really looking at him. He switched and stowed again and we headed South down the reef. Once I started off I noticed the lack of lights, turned, and saw Charlie maskless. Buck was right there on the assist for the switch. From there, Charlie kept his light on Buck, but their lights were just in my field of view. I swam in a zig zag fashion to mess up the order. At one point I headed Southwest and turned on the after burners so Buck would have to stop me and tell me to slow down. After I got moving I stopped and in a John Wayne voice I heard, "Is this a Hogfish I see before me?" It was so big, just laying there sleeping. Grrrrr...., "I will eat you one of these days!"
We worked our way South and after 40 minutes I headed west to find the ledge. I tried to swim away from the group and turned North to see if they would notice. All the sudden I saw the gray swipe of tail near my face. I flashed my team, Shark! It was only a nurse about 3-4 ft, but it Seemed 15ft long at night and their teeth get bigger. I watched him swim away. I turned to hand Buck the flag line to return home and he was deploying his backup light. Cool, another failure. Well simulated I assumed, Buck didn't give me the hand signal for malfunctioning equipment, and he kept he light in his hand so drills would be more realistic. I should have asked him it the failure was for real, but who has problems with Halcyon lights?
On the way home I alternated being a good team member, staying next to Charlie and keeping my light on his. Then I would be bad and get behind him, swim next to Buck and become lost (hid my light). The first lost buddy was a quick pick up. Later I hid my light and got no response, Charlie got a head of Buck at one point, so I hovered directly above Charlie as Buck flashed him and asked where was Matt? Charlie did a couple 360s with no luck. I swam over to the side, took my mask off, and started flashing my light. Both of them were right no me and I switched to my back up.
Time was getting on and we had to beat the parking lady back to the cars at 9 PM. I pointed to my compass and signaled "315" for a heading back to Datura. Buck was supposed to be leading, but Charlie and I passed him at one point and he ran another mask loss drill. We each took a side and assisted him in the change. A mask and two spools is quite cramped in the Halcyon zip pocket. I helped Buck get everything back in there. Once his mask was on, his fins were between Charlie and I. Charlie still had a hold of Buck and I flashed him OOA. As the reg came to my mouth, I took off my mask. The reg never made contact. I was flailing around trying to get some attention and some gas. 10 seconds........ 20 seconds........... "Hey I really need to breath?" I'm thinking. Ok, time to go back to my reg. "Ops, where is my reg?" Its usually hanging off the long hose right in front of me. I couldn't find it. The realization that it was gone and the CO2 building the need to breath kicked the panic in and I felt the Adrenalin injection. I stopped my mind, paused, and though, "Where is there always a reg, just for me? Oh yeah, under my chin!" I purged it and put it in, got a nice deep breath, and just relaxed as my heart calmed down. I put my mask on and we swam the rest of the way in, nice and easy with no problems.
Now, before I get a bunch of emails saying that I'm an idiot for training like this, let me just say, we were trying to crank it up on these dives so that the class seems easier. From all the research I've done, masks fly off and people run out of air as they get left behind by their teammates. The tighter we stay together, the less that's going to happen.
The wind picked up and the waves were tackling our knees as we waddled out of the surf zone. After packing up we headed over to Burger King for a quick bite and time to debrief through what had happened. Buck's HID light really did fail :( I hope he can figure out what was wrong before the class?
1 week to the class, excitement builds!
--Matt
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Dive Report: 10/12/03 Miami Project dives the Orion and Army Tanks
Photos:
www.geocities.com/tiswango\1012mp\index.htm
Conditions:
Seas: 1 ft
Air Temp: 90 degrees
Sunny
Current: Slight South
Team: Buck Buchanan (21/35), Charlie Gamba (32%), Matt Hoelscher (32%)
Dive 1: Orion
10:12 AM
Depth 96ft
Run Time: 51 minutes
SI: 12 hours 26 minutes
Water: 81 degrees
Visibility: 50ft
Deco: 70/5 (50% switch) 60/1 50/1 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
With a perfect drop of the anchor on the Orion, the beautiful conditions make for some top notch diving. We dropped on the first team who was beginning their exit. Charlie was leading, I was second and Buck was the 3rd guy and in charge of deco. We planned 100ft for 30 minutes, with 5 minutes at 70ft for a gas switch to practice for Tech 1 in 2 weeks.
At the bottom we spread out, as Charlie took off and Buck was slower getting his gear settled in. Buck also was sporting his new 18watt Helios 9, but had the light beam pointed behind him. I pointed mine back in his eyes and then gestured to put his beam out in front of me, which he did.
Now that I had my 2nd guy job of keeping the team together done, Charlie went for a nice slow lap around the outside of the wreck. It was covered in deep water seafans and coated thick with grunts, mostly Tomtates. We also found a free swimming Spotted Eel and at the prop and a favorite fish of mine, the Red Spotted Hawkfish near one of the bollards on deck. We swam from bow to stern. The forward hold was filled with Glassy Sweepers and miscellaneous other fish. We passed the anchor and headed for the stern. I was looking for the Green Moray. In the stern hatch a Squirrelfish posed for a photo in the fan. Charlie picked an exit and as I followed all the grunts came rushing by me to head into the hold. I found the moray under ledge above deck.
Back on deck I found two grunts "Jawing Off" to each other (MP00113). Which ever fish has a bigger jaw wins the show of dominance (just like tech divers on the internet) and the competing fish flakes off. At 26 minutes Charlie shot the exit and we went over to the anchor. The goal is to drop the anchor, upside down in the sand down current for easy, snag free removal. Charlie dug it out of the seafans and placed it up current on the deck of the boat. Then the three of us lifted the chain and anchor to get it off the wreck. It took a while to get everyone coordinated and lifting at once. This was a good lesson on why you use liftbags. We left the deck of the wreck at 80 ft at 33 minutes into the dive. Buck kept the deco the same and we ascended.
At 20ft, since we hadn't run any drills I whipped my mask off and started waving my arms. Charlie touched my elbow, but every time he did, I went for my back up and then he let go. Then I would start waving again. I was holding my stop, but I let go on the line and was drifting off. After three tries I just went for the back up and get it on at 16ft up, then swam back to the line.
Back on the boat we debriefed on the proper procedure and will try it again on the next dive. Charlie was wondering why I was waving my arms so much and telling him to buzz off. We found our co-divers napping on the comfy couch.
Ralph drove us over to the Army Tanks, we dropped anchor again on the nearby freighter as the dive boat Nautilus drove up next to us and deployed their DM to tie off and "claim" the spot. They later apologized on the radio for driving us off. The deck of the boat with all the gear looked like a Halcyon garage sale. Ralph and Mica jumped off for a fun dive. Joe and Jody loaded up with doubles, Al 80 stage, and two AL 40 stages for a tech 2 gear check dive. Holy deco bottles Batman! Since it was calm we handed tanks to them in the water. After 20 minutes we started getting ready for our dive.
Dive 2: Army Tanks
1:15 PM
Depth 49ft
Run Time: 48 min
SI: 2 hours 11 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Visibility: 60 ft
As bubbles approached the stern we started gearing up for round two. The sequence was the same, We would drop down to the freighter and follow the rebar of the bow to the barge, then on to the Army Tanks and limestone rubble reef. I was down to 800 psi in my dubs so Jody kindly loaned me his AL80 stage of the "good stuff" 30/30, what a pal! Charlie staged up a AL80 from last night with 900 psi to start with and then would finish the 1100 PSI in the dubs. Buck has 1500 left of 21/35 and would ascend on his 70ft bottle. Nice gas plan huh?
The freighter was cool and there were a ton more Glassy Sweepers inside the bridge. At the bow Charlie took off and I didn't see any rebar. I looked at Buck who had the same look on his face, "Where is Charlie going?" Back up brains engaged and we stopped Charlie and pointed at some rebar. This lead us to the boring barge and we continued to the Army tanks. Charlie had the BMW Jetfins on and I couldn't stop him. I turned to Buck and ran an OOA. Charlie looked back out of visual range and saw our flashing lights, which brought him back to us. We stuck together much better the rest of the dive.
The back of the army tank emerged and they looked very cool underwater. This is defiantly is a "been there dove that dive site." They were surrounded with fish and the limestone made for a nice reef. We swam over to the other tank. They both were open on the inside. We turned the dive and Charlie switched to back gas. Charlie lead us back, but we ran out of reef again, Buck corrected the heading as we hit the first Army tank again.
As we were looking around I went to the sand and popped the mask off again and waved my light. This time Buck made contact, put my hand on his face with a mask, then held my hand as I deployed my backup. This went very smoothly. From the tank the rebar lead us back to the freighter, I really like these bread crumb rebar trails.
At the stern, by the anchor, we hit our bottom time of 40 minutes and Charlie gave me the thumb"? I replied with the thumb and we headed up. On the way up I noticed Buck got his longhose tucked back between his two tanks. I couldn't get it free. In the middle of his switch off the 70ft bottle I ran another OOA. Buck took the back up reg out of his mouth, dropped the stage reg, unclipped the long hose and passed it to me, then put the back up reg in his mouth. We spent 2 minutes at 10ft sorting his hoses and then I gave him his reg back.
We packed all the gear up and secured all the tanks on the deck for the ride home. Joe and Mica soaked up a little more of the free FL sun. Ralph got to drive through rush hour boat traffic in Government cut. Another A+ day out of the ocean!
--Matt
Photos:
www.geocities.com/tiswango\1012mp\index.htm
Conditions:
Seas: 1 ft
Air Temp: 90 degrees
Sunny
Current: Slight South
Team: Buck Buchanan (21/35), Charlie Gamba (32%), Matt Hoelscher (32%)
Dive 1: Orion
10:12 AM
Depth 96ft
Run Time: 51 minutes
SI: 12 hours 26 minutes
Water: 81 degrees
Visibility: 50ft
Deco: 70/5 (50% switch) 60/1 50/1 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
With a perfect drop of the anchor on the Orion, the beautiful conditions make for some top notch diving. We dropped on the first team who was beginning their exit. Charlie was leading, I was second and Buck was the 3rd guy and in charge of deco. We planned 100ft for 30 minutes, with 5 minutes at 70ft for a gas switch to practice for Tech 1 in 2 weeks.
At the bottom we spread out, as Charlie took off and Buck was slower getting his gear settled in. Buck also was sporting his new 18watt Helios 9, but had the light beam pointed behind him. I pointed mine back in his eyes and then gestured to put his beam out in front of me, which he did.
Now that I had my 2nd guy job of keeping the team together done, Charlie went for a nice slow lap around the outside of the wreck. It was covered in deep water seafans and coated thick with grunts, mostly Tomtates. We also found a free swimming Spotted Eel and at the prop and a favorite fish of mine, the Red Spotted Hawkfish near one of the bollards on deck. We swam from bow to stern. The forward hold was filled with Glassy Sweepers and miscellaneous other fish. We passed the anchor and headed for the stern. I was looking for the Green Moray. In the stern hatch a Squirrelfish posed for a photo in the fan. Charlie picked an exit and as I followed all the grunts came rushing by me to head into the hold. I found the moray under ledge above deck.
Back on deck I found two grunts "Jawing Off" to each other (MP00113). Which ever fish has a bigger jaw wins the show of dominance (just like tech divers on the internet) and the competing fish flakes off. At 26 minutes Charlie shot the exit and we went over to the anchor. The goal is to drop the anchor, upside down in the sand down current for easy, snag free removal. Charlie dug it out of the seafans and placed it up current on the deck of the boat. Then the three of us lifted the chain and anchor to get it off the wreck. It took a while to get everyone coordinated and lifting at once. This was a good lesson on why you use liftbags. We left the deck of the wreck at 80 ft at 33 minutes into the dive. Buck kept the deco the same and we ascended.
At 20ft, since we hadn't run any drills I whipped my mask off and started waving my arms. Charlie touched my elbow, but every time he did, I went for my back up and then he let go. Then I would start waving again. I was holding my stop, but I let go on the line and was drifting off. After three tries I just went for the back up and get it on at 16ft up, then swam back to the line.
Back on the boat we debriefed on the proper procedure and will try it again on the next dive. Charlie was wondering why I was waving my arms so much and telling him to buzz off. We found our co-divers napping on the comfy couch.
Ralph drove us over to the Army Tanks, we dropped anchor again on the nearby freighter as the dive boat Nautilus drove up next to us and deployed their DM to tie off and "claim" the spot. They later apologized on the radio for driving us off. The deck of the boat with all the gear looked like a Halcyon garage sale. Ralph and Mica jumped off for a fun dive. Joe and Jody loaded up with doubles, Al 80 stage, and two AL 40 stages for a tech 2 gear check dive. Holy deco bottles Batman! Since it was calm we handed tanks to them in the water. After 20 minutes we started getting ready for our dive.
Dive 2: Army Tanks
1:15 PM
Depth 49ft
Run Time: 48 min
SI: 2 hours 11 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Visibility: 60 ft
As bubbles approached the stern we started gearing up for round two. The sequence was the same, We would drop down to the freighter and follow the rebar of the bow to the barge, then on to the Army Tanks and limestone rubble reef. I was down to 800 psi in my dubs so Jody kindly loaned me his AL80 stage of the "good stuff" 30/30, what a pal! Charlie staged up a AL80 from last night with 900 psi to start with and then would finish the 1100 PSI in the dubs. Buck has 1500 left of 21/35 and would ascend on his 70ft bottle. Nice gas plan huh?
The freighter was cool and there were a ton more Glassy Sweepers inside the bridge. At the bow Charlie took off and I didn't see any rebar. I looked at Buck who had the same look on his face, "Where is Charlie going?" Back up brains engaged and we stopped Charlie and pointed at some rebar. This lead us to the boring barge and we continued to the Army tanks. Charlie had the BMW Jetfins on and I couldn't stop him. I turned to Buck and ran an OOA. Charlie looked back out of visual range and saw our flashing lights, which brought him back to us. We stuck together much better the rest of the dive.
The back of the army tank emerged and they looked very cool underwater. This is defiantly is a "been there dove that dive site." They were surrounded with fish and the limestone made for a nice reef. We swam over to the other tank. They both were open on the inside. We turned the dive and Charlie switched to back gas. Charlie lead us back, but we ran out of reef again, Buck corrected the heading as we hit the first Army tank again.
As we were looking around I went to the sand and popped the mask off again and waved my light. This time Buck made contact, put my hand on his face with a mask, then held my hand as I deployed my backup. This went very smoothly. From the tank the rebar lead us back to the freighter, I really like these bread crumb rebar trails.
At the stern, by the anchor, we hit our bottom time of 40 minutes and Charlie gave me the thumb"? I replied with the thumb and we headed up. On the way up I noticed Buck got his longhose tucked back between his two tanks. I couldn't get it free. In the middle of his switch off the 70ft bottle I ran another OOA. Buck took the back up reg out of his mouth, dropped the stage reg, unclipped the long hose and passed it to me, then put the back up reg in his mouth. We spent 2 minutes at 10ft sorting his hoses and then I gave him his reg back.
We packed all the gear up and secured all the tanks on the deck for the ride home. Joe and Mica soaked up a little more of the free FL sun. Ralph got to drive through rush hour boat traffic in Government cut. Another A+ day out of the ocean!
--Matt
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Dive Report: 10/11/2003 SFL-DIR Night Datura Ave. Beach Dive
Photos:
www.geocities.com/tiswango\1011datura\index.htm
Team A: Matt H., Andrea V., Mark D.
Following Team: Joe T., and Mica (SP)
Team B: Ralph F., Alex B., Charlie G.
Surface Support and valet parking: Mike W. (sporting his new OMS baseball cap direct from Dema)
Seas: 1ft
Clear Skys
Air Temp: 85 degrees
Current: Slight South
Time: 8:01 PM
Depth: 18ft
Run Time: 1 hour 44 minutes
Water: 82 degrees
SI: 9 hours 10 minutes
As Saturday went on, more and more people came out for the night dive, including the Mark from Fill Express. We filled the wall at Datura with gear. After 4 days at Dema, Joe T. was ready to hit the water. Mike showed up with his OMS hat on (he wouldn't pose for a photo) and decided he would rather go see a movie then dive with us.
I asked Mark, "how much Helium (HE) are you diving today? Mark explained his "used gas" he would be diving. He boosts leftover tanks into his LP 120 all week, tops it off and analyses the mystery mix.
We swam out to the second reef and found lots of creatures to play with including an octopus, green sea turtle, sea urchin, lobsters, and two hogfish big enough to feed the hole dive gang. Eric S., where are you when I need you and I'm hungry? Joe and Mica also get attacked by a school of small Lookdowns. The fish were asleep and swam right into them, too funny.
At 53 minutes we turned the dive at the probe marking Hibiscus Ave. We covered a lot of ground and no one was at turn pressure yet. On the way back Mica and Joe took turns turning off their light and giving me a heart attack as I lead the dive and counted lights to keep track of everyone. When I got too far ahead I shot photos of boxfish for grins.
Swimming across the sand from the first and second reef line, I was down to three lights. I stopped and found Joe and Mica, I tapped my back up light and gestured "turn on Joe". He waved me off as he was enjoying the full moon. I whipped out the wetnotes, "Please, have one light per diver so I don't loose anyone." After the dive, Joe said he was impressed with my politeness in writing. We also found a young Yellow stingray that had a bite taken out of its right side. I also found a flounder while waiting for the team to come back together.
The ocean looked like black oil reflecting the white ripples of moonlight. On the surface swim out, the moon rose out of the water on the horizon as an orange ball. After our rinse and pack we headed to Mulligans for dinner. I was ready to pace out at 11:15 PM since I was up at 5 AM today. Joe and Mica still had desert and we left before Midnight.
--Matt
Photos:
www.geocities.com/tiswango\1011datura\index.htm
Team A: Matt H., Andrea V., Mark D.
Following Team: Joe T., and Mica (SP)
Team B: Ralph F., Alex B., Charlie G.
Surface Support and valet parking: Mike W. (sporting his new OMS baseball cap direct from Dema)
Seas: 1ft
Clear Skys
Air Temp: 85 degrees
Current: Slight South
Time: 8:01 PM
Depth: 18ft
Run Time: 1 hour 44 minutes
Water: 82 degrees
SI: 9 hours 10 minutes
As Saturday went on, more and more people came out for the night dive, including the Mark from Fill Express. We filled the wall at Datura with gear. After 4 days at Dema, Joe T. was ready to hit the water. Mike showed up with his OMS hat on (he wouldn't pose for a photo) and decided he would rather go see a movie then dive with us.
I asked Mark, "how much Helium (HE) are you diving today? Mark explained his "used gas" he would be diving. He boosts leftover tanks into his LP 120 all week, tops it off and analyses the mystery mix.
We swam out to the second reef and found lots of creatures to play with including an octopus, green sea turtle, sea urchin, lobsters, and two hogfish big enough to feed the hole dive gang. Eric S., where are you when I need you and I'm hungry? Joe and Mica also get attacked by a school of small Lookdowns. The fish were asleep and swam right into them, too funny.
At 53 minutes we turned the dive at the probe marking Hibiscus Ave. We covered a lot of ground and no one was at turn pressure yet. On the way back Mica and Joe took turns turning off their light and giving me a heart attack as I lead the dive and counted lights to keep track of everyone. When I got too far ahead I shot photos of boxfish for grins.
Swimming across the sand from the first and second reef line, I was down to three lights. I stopped and found Joe and Mica, I tapped my back up light and gestured "turn on Joe". He waved me off as he was enjoying the full moon. I whipped out the wetnotes, "Please, have one light per diver so I don't loose anyone." After the dive, Joe said he was impressed with my politeness in writing. We also found a young Yellow stingray that had a bite taken out of its right side. I also found a flounder while waiting for the team to come back together.
The ocean looked like black oil reflecting the white ripples of moonlight. On the surface swim out, the moon rose out of the water on the horizon as an orange ball. After our rinse and pack we headed to Mulligans for dinner. I was ready to pace out at 11:15 PM since I was up at 5 AM today. Joe and Mica still had desert and we left before Midnight.
--Matt
Dive Report: 10/11/03 PBCRRT Dives Royal Park and Larsens Valley
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango\1011pbcrrt\index.htm
Friday 10/10/03 AUE Social
Team: Christos, Mike, and Matt
Friday night at 6 PM Christos was nice enough to take Mike and I for a spin to Monty's South Beach in his BMW. What a machine! Christos said we would live as long as he didn't push, "the button" in front of the stick labeled "sport".
Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE) and Michael Barnett was nice enough to reserve some tables with TVs to view his underwater video while talking with fellow divers. There was the Brownies weeknight dive table, the AUE table, the Decostop table and us. It was fun meeting so many friends from the internet live and in person, though everyone seems taller in person. Why is that?
Mike wowed us and other patrons with his video playing on the TV's all around the bar. Too bad he didn't have a sign advertising his new book to everyone there. I stepped up for a copy with autograph, Thanks Mike! Christos picked up a book and some T-shits as well.
After a couple of hours we left. The valet pulled up and I noticed Christos has pushed the button. We took off like a rocket and I said, "Hey you need to u-turn...." I think I blacked out from the G-forces, but there was a blur, then everything shifted. Stopped in the street we dug out the CD's to get a taste of Christos' Greek music collection. That was a ride I'll never forget. Has anyone done 115 mph in a 45? I wonder what the ticket would be like?
Saturday 10/11/03 Palm Beach County Reef Research Team Dive
Team: Matt (32%) and Anita (air)
Dive 1: Royal Park Bridge
8:24 AM
Time: 7 AM
Seas: less 1ft
Winds: 10 knots NE
Visibility: 40ft
Depth: 75
Runtime: 39 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Deco: 50/1 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
Running on 5 hours sleep I was up at 5 AM to get ready and drive to WPB. We loaded up early and waited for Captain Bob to arrive, give the 1 minute safety briefing, and say the line, "I'm so excited, cast off lines and make way for sea!"
We got our dive plan together. Andrea got some great photos of my bald spot and fellow E-divers Wade P. was sporting the new urban diver look. With a full staff of divers and fish counters we could safely spread out over the side. With all the easy to locate fish stations given away, Anita and I would swim 300 ft to a nearby barge/tugboat combo. The barge landed on the tug boat propping it up and making it home to some large fish.
The lack of current made for a rare dive day in WPB. We swam right over to the barge and I was surprised to not see the resident Goliath Grouper. But there were Blacks, Yellowmouths, Gag, and Scamp all over. After my 10 minutes fish count we explored the tug boat and found the biggest Gray snapper I've ever seen duck into the stern deck. The hole was too small for me to pursue him.
Anita was an air sipper so we cruised back over to the rest of the bridge debris and swam around. Large jacks and grunts all over. I couldn't find any of our other marks. I learned latter on the boat, no one could. The mappers will have to replace them.
Dive 2: Larsen's Valley
10:12 AM
Depth 78ft
Run Time: 38 min
SI: 1:09
Water: 83
Deco: 50/3 40/1 30/1 20/6 10/3
After an hour, Anita had 30 minutes at 70ft for the second dive. Larsen's Valley is a 4ft ledge near Royal Park that we use to compare to the artificial reef to see how were doing. Mike the DM placed a ball on the first marker and we all jumped in. I found a group of Yellowheaded Jawfish and some Blue gobies in the sand near the ledge. There were Sunshine fish and Purple Reef fish all over the ledge. One undercut had a group of active Black Margate. Out of the corner of my eye I say a HUGE hogfish bolt by and dive for the ledge. I guess you don't get that big by being stupid, he must have been about 3 ft long. Other divers saw him so I know I wasn't hallucinating.
Our average depth was about 75 ft and Anita's bottom time slipped by. At 25 minutes we started up. She was not Nitrox trained by got the lecture by me and others on the boat. Since there was no current I shot my lift bag and made for a slow ascent. At 20 ft I offered my long hose with 32% for her to breath for 6 minutes.
On the boat she mentioned how the gas tasted different than air. On the way in I had a nice discussion about dive computers with Anita and Joe. Joe just left his Dataplus for a Cobra and was concerned about the lack of bottom time it gave him. I showed him the deco graph on the Dataplus and how the "green" zone was equivalent to the Cobra's time and how the dataplus lets you go into the yellow "caution zone". That was the difference. But hey, its not how long you stay down, its how fast you come up!
Almost everyone went over to the Brass Ring for burger after the dive. Later, one of Andrea's co-works from Templeton came over to show off their new baby. On the way home we hit Fill Express for gas to get ready for the night dive at Datura, see the next report.
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango\1011pbcrrt\index.htm
Friday 10/10/03 AUE Social
Team: Christos, Mike, and Matt
Friday night at 6 PM Christos was nice enough to take Mike and I for a spin to Monty's South Beach in his BMW. What a machine! Christos said we would live as long as he didn't push, "the button" in front of the stick labeled "sport".
Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE) and Michael Barnett was nice enough to reserve some tables with TVs to view his underwater video while talking with fellow divers. There was the Brownies weeknight dive table, the AUE table, the Decostop table and us. It was fun meeting so many friends from the internet live and in person, though everyone seems taller in person. Why is that?
Mike wowed us and other patrons with his video playing on the TV's all around the bar. Too bad he didn't have a sign advertising his new book to everyone there. I stepped up for a copy with autograph, Thanks Mike! Christos picked up a book and some T-shits as well.
After a couple of hours we left. The valet pulled up and I noticed Christos has pushed the button. We took off like a rocket and I said, "Hey you need to u-turn...." I think I blacked out from the G-forces, but there was a blur, then everything shifted. Stopped in the street we dug out the CD's to get a taste of Christos' Greek music collection. That was a ride I'll never forget. Has anyone done 115 mph in a 45? I wonder what the ticket would be like?
Saturday 10/11/03 Palm Beach County Reef Research Team Dive
Team: Matt (32%) and Anita (air)
Dive 1: Royal Park Bridge
8:24 AM
Time: 7 AM
Seas: less 1ft
Winds: 10 knots NE
Visibility: 40ft
Depth: 75
Runtime: 39 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Deco: 50/1 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/3
Running on 5 hours sleep I was up at 5 AM to get ready and drive to WPB. We loaded up early and waited for Captain Bob to arrive, give the 1 minute safety briefing, and say the line, "I'm so excited, cast off lines and make way for sea!"
We got our dive plan together. Andrea got some great photos of my bald spot and fellow E-divers Wade P. was sporting the new urban diver look. With a full staff of divers and fish counters we could safely spread out over the side. With all the easy to locate fish stations given away, Anita and I would swim 300 ft to a nearby barge/tugboat combo. The barge landed on the tug boat propping it up and making it home to some large fish.
The lack of current made for a rare dive day in WPB. We swam right over to the barge and I was surprised to not see the resident Goliath Grouper. But there were Blacks, Yellowmouths, Gag, and Scamp all over. After my 10 minutes fish count we explored the tug boat and found the biggest Gray snapper I've ever seen duck into the stern deck. The hole was too small for me to pursue him.
Anita was an air sipper so we cruised back over to the rest of the bridge debris and swam around. Large jacks and grunts all over. I couldn't find any of our other marks. I learned latter on the boat, no one could. The mappers will have to replace them.
Dive 2: Larsen's Valley
10:12 AM
Depth 78ft
Run Time: 38 min
SI: 1:09
Water: 83
Deco: 50/3 40/1 30/1 20/6 10/3
After an hour, Anita had 30 minutes at 70ft for the second dive. Larsen's Valley is a 4ft ledge near Royal Park that we use to compare to the artificial reef to see how were doing. Mike the DM placed a ball on the first marker and we all jumped in. I found a group of Yellowheaded Jawfish and some Blue gobies in the sand near the ledge. There were Sunshine fish and Purple Reef fish all over the ledge. One undercut had a group of active Black Margate. Out of the corner of my eye I say a HUGE hogfish bolt by and dive for the ledge. I guess you don't get that big by being stupid, he must have been about 3 ft long. Other divers saw him so I know I wasn't hallucinating.
Our average depth was about 75 ft and Anita's bottom time slipped by. At 25 minutes we started up. She was not Nitrox trained by got the lecture by me and others on the boat. Since there was no current I shot my lift bag and made for a slow ascent. At 20 ft I offered my long hose with 32% for her to breath for 6 minutes.
On the boat she mentioned how the gas tasted different than air. On the way in I had a nice discussion about dive computers with Anita and Joe. Joe just left his Dataplus for a Cobra and was concerned about the lack of bottom time it gave him. I showed him the deco graph on the Dataplus and how the "green" zone was equivalent to the Cobra's time and how the dataplus lets you go into the yellow "caution zone". That was the difference. But hey, its not how long you stay down, its how fast you come up!
Almost everyone went over to the Brass Ring for burger after the dive. Later, one of Andrea's co-works from Templeton came over to show off their new baby. On the way home we hit Fill Express for gas to get ready for the night dive at Datura, see the next report.
--Matt
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Dive Report:10/7/2003 Night Beach Dive at Hibiscus
Sorry, no photos...
Team: Matt and Alex B.
Start 7:50 PM
Seas: 3-4
High Tide: 7 PM
Air Temp: 80
Water Temp: 81
Winds: 15 knots NE
Visibility: 10ft 1st reef and 15-20ft 2nd reef
Gas: Matt 32% Alex (21%)
Depth: 17ft
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
The seas were rough, we could have called the dive, but we were there with our gear, lets go! While setting up one of the locals said we were going to be disappointed if we went for a dive. I followed up and asked him if he had been out there diving today, but he walked away.
We checked gear and headed out. The high tide ment the surf zone was closed to shore and it made for a easy entry. Kicking out on our backs was a challenge in the waves. Every third waves was breaking over my head. Gee, it didn't look this bad from shore. Before reaching the buoys I decided I would rather take my chances underwater. We submerged and the water was brown and murky, then at 5 ft in cleared up to a nice 10 ft of vis, not bad.
As we swam over the first reef my mask kept fogging up. I worked out a trade from my Cressi Big Eye for JC's Oceanic Shadow frameless mask. I though JC would have broken it in, but it was getting foggy. I flooded and cleared it, but I could not get all the water out of the nose pocket. I like a dry mask when I dive. With the little bit of water in the mask it made it easy to flip my head and clear the fog. After clearing the first reef line I stopped Alex and switched to my Zeagle Ebon mask. It was a night and day difference. I cleared it completly and was much more comfortable. I'll try the shadow in the pool a couple of times before passing judgment on it.
We swam to the second reef line and the vis was great. I could see to the end of my light which means 15ft plus vis. I hovered over a soft coral to check for current. I was swaying back and forth, but not going anywhere. I choose to head South and explore some more over this new area. I tried to head down the ledge, Alex was all over the place and I was going as slow as possible not to get a head of him. He definitely had his macro dive mode on. I scored a fish BINGO. We found every type of boxfish in the Reef Fish book. I specifically left my camera at home as I didn't like the rough conditions and this way we would see some cool fish. One large Trunkfish swam right up to us and we played with him. Fish get in a weird stoned coma as they float around and sleep. One spot tail pinfish kept swimming into the ledges and corals as it got away. I guess his auto pilot was broken.
We went about 10 minutes South of the probe to my pet coral and checked on it. I picked some small red algae tuff starting to grow on it. We turned at 47 minutes into the dive and headed back North. Along the way I spotted a large slipper lobster. He was walking over everything, including the coral. His legs would press in-between the coral polyps so as not to hurt anything. He would have been tasty, but I didn't want to hold on to him for the swim back. Cardinal fish were all over the place. After about 20 minutes swimming back I saw a large oval in the distance. I kept my light off of it and signaled Alex. We swam up slowly on a beautiful Green Turtle. He hung out for a while, did some circles and then swam away.
Instead of following the reef line, we zigged and zagged back and forth. My internal computer lost track of how far we had gone due to stops and changes in our pace. I saw a tire on the reef that looked familiar. After 30 minutes of going North I signaled Alex asked him where we were? I had not seen the probe on the return. All I got back were shrugged shoulders. We had to be close, and with a southerly surface current it was probably ok if we overshot the mark. We swam West and headed in after 73 minutes.
Now the sand was stirred up and visibility was less than 7 ft on the first reef line. At our max planned dive time of 90 minutes, I used the "gun" hand signal to shoot the exit to mean, its time to go. We don't have to surface, but its time to stop looking around and swim out. I picked up the pace a little and left Alex behind. I signaled him and shot the exit again. By looking at his light He was still looking around and enjoying the dive. I had a plenty of gas left (1100psi) so I relaxed and we slowly worked our way out. I remembered Alex doesn't have any GUE training and this signal isn't in the recreational dive manuals.
After crossing the 1st reef line I saw a bolt and blue line protector, we were next to a swim buoy. I singled and turned us around so I could reel in the flag and avoid entanglement. The vis was terrible over the sand so I thumbed the dive. We were 1/2 a block North of the site and the seas had picked up to 3-5 as predicted.
Alex got away from me, but I could easily see him with his light on. The moonlight glistened atop of the waves as we bounced our way it. The ext was easy and we could see everything even with the street light out. The wind was racing and it was cold getting out. Time to bring back the 2 mil hooded vest for night dives. We broke down quickly and we off by 9:40 PM. I had forgotten a towel so made a quick moon over LBTS as I changed to dry clothes. I put my swim suit on top of the car and forgot about it. I was two miles down I95 when I heard something flapping, then I saw in flapping on the back glass. I pulled over for an emergency stop, I liked that suit! It had fallen off, but I found it 15 feet back from where I stopped. I've already lost one suit by leaving it on the roof, must not be DIR. I'll have to find somewhere else to put a wet swim suit while changing.
--Matt
Sorry, no photos...
Team: Matt and Alex B.
Start 7:50 PM
Seas: 3-4
High Tide: 7 PM
Air Temp: 80
Water Temp: 81
Winds: 15 knots NE
Visibility: 10ft 1st reef and 15-20ft 2nd reef
Gas: Matt 32% Alex (21%)
Depth: 17ft
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
The seas were rough, we could have called the dive, but we were there with our gear, lets go! While setting up one of the locals said we were going to be disappointed if we went for a dive. I followed up and asked him if he had been out there diving today, but he walked away.
We checked gear and headed out. The high tide ment the surf zone was closed to shore and it made for a easy entry. Kicking out on our backs was a challenge in the waves. Every third waves was breaking over my head. Gee, it didn't look this bad from shore. Before reaching the buoys I decided I would rather take my chances underwater. We submerged and the water was brown and murky, then at 5 ft in cleared up to a nice 10 ft of vis, not bad.
As we swam over the first reef my mask kept fogging up. I worked out a trade from my Cressi Big Eye for JC's Oceanic Shadow frameless mask. I though JC would have broken it in, but it was getting foggy. I flooded and cleared it, but I could not get all the water out of the nose pocket. I like a dry mask when I dive. With the little bit of water in the mask it made it easy to flip my head and clear the fog. After clearing the first reef line I stopped Alex and switched to my Zeagle Ebon mask. It was a night and day difference. I cleared it completly and was much more comfortable. I'll try the shadow in the pool a couple of times before passing judgment on it.
We swam to the second reef line and the vis was great. I could see to the end of my light which means 15ft plus vis. I hovered over a soft coral to check for current. I was swaying back and forth, but not going anywhere. I choose to head South and explore some more over this new area. I tried to head down the ledge, Alex was all over the place and I was going as slow as possible not to get a head of him. He definitely had his macro dive mode on. I scored a fish BINGO. We found every type of boxfish in the Reef Fish book. I specifically left my camera at home as I didn't like the rough conditions and this way we would see some cool fish. One large Trunkfish swam right up to us and we played with him. Fish get in a weird stoned coma as they float around and sleep. One spot tail pinfish kept swimming into the ledges and corals as it got away. I guess his auto pilot was broken.
We went about 10 minutes South of the probe to my pet coral and checked on it. I picked some small red algae tuff starting to grow on it. We turned at 47 minutes into the dive and headed back North. Along the way I spotted a large slipper lobster. He was walking over everything, including the coral. His legs would press in-between the coral polyps so as not to hurt anything. He would have been tasty, but I didn't want to hold on to him for the swim back. Cardinal fish were all over the place. After about 20 minutes swimming back I saw a large oval in the distance. I kept my light off of it and signaled Alex. We swam up slowly on a beautiful Green Turtle. He hung out for a while, did some circles and then swam away.
Instead of following the reef line, we zigged and zagged back and forth. My internal computer lost track of how far we had gone due to stops and changes in our pace. I saw a tire on the reef that looked familiar. After 30 minutes of going North I signaled Alex asked him where we were? I had not seen the probe on the return. All I got back were shrugged shoulders. We had to be close, and with a southerly surface current it was probably ok if we overshot the mark. We swam West and headed in after 73 minutes.
Now the sand was stirred up and visibility was less than 7 ft on the first reef line. At our max planned dive time of 90 minutes, I used the "gun" hand signal to shoot the exit to mean, its time to go. We don't have to surface, but its time to stop looking around and swim out. I picked up the pace a little and left Alex behind. I signaled him and shot the exit again. By looking at his light He was still looking around and enjoying the dive. I had a plenty of gas left (1100psi) so I relaxed and we slowly worked our way out. I remembered Alex doesn't have any GUE training and this signal isn't in the recreational dive manuals.
After crossing the 1st reef line I saw a bolt and blue line protector, we were next to a swim buoy. I singled and turned us around so I could reel in the flag and avoid entanglement. The vis was terrible over the sand so I thumbed the dive. We were 1/2 a block North of the site and the seas had picked up to 3-5 as predicted.
Alex got away from me, but I could easily see him with his light on. The moonlight glistened atop of the waves as we bounced our way it. The ext was easy and we could see everything even with the street light out. The wind was racing and it was cold getting out. Time to bring back the 2 mil hooded vest for night dives. We broke down quickly and we off by 9:40 PM. I had forgotten a towel so made a quick moon over LBTS as I changed to dry clothes. I put my swim suit on top of the car and forgot about it. I was two miles down I95 when I heard something flapping, then I saw in flapping on the back glass. I pulled over for an emergency stop, I liked that suit! It had fallen off, but I found it 15 feet back from where I stopped. I've already lost one suit by leaving it on the roof, must not be DIR. I'll have to find somewhere else to put a wet swim suit while changing.
--Matt
Dive Report: 10/5/2003 SFRRT Dives Borrow Pit, Deep, and Shallow research sites
Photos:
Boat: WildKat (26ft center console ProKat Catamaran)
Captain: Dave O'Neal (E-diver)
Team Doubles: Matt Hoelscher and Mike Wright (32%)
Team Singles: David Kaplan (Exec Director) Ralph Figuroa and Andrea Valerioti (32%)
Weather:
Seas: 2-3 building to 3-5
Current: None
Partly Cloudy
I was really looking forward to this trip. The last monitoring 5 weeks ago, David Kaplan couldn't get in the water because of a cold. I tried to do all the tasks without him and turned into Captain Ahab. I forgot about my team in the hopes of collecting all the data (my whale) and broke all the rules I hold so dear to do it. This trip would include an all-star team of experienced divers and I wasn't about to repeat the mistakes of my past! Time to get back on the horse.
On the ride out I was feeling pockets of cool air mixed with the normal thick humid air. There were some interesting clouds off shore and Mike noticed the beginning formation of a water spout. It never really took shape, but I got picture of its small beginnings.
Borrow Pit @ 9:33 AM
Team Dubs
Depth: 93 Ft
Run Time: 22 minutes
Visibility: 90ft
Bottom Time: 10 minutes
Water Temp: 80 Degrees
David O. replaced the rear seats with a set of igloo coolers which where perfect for donning a set of doubles and research gear for the dive. We were comfortable so there was not rush to do our checks and get ready. Dave set us up and we dropped in to the Borrow pit to change out a set of sediment bottles and take a visibility reading. I orientated on the half moon ledge that faces west, swam over a HUGE rough tail stingray and found our bottles 150 ft away in the sand. The excellent visibility made the task a breeze. Mike caught up with his full lobster bag of gear and we went to work.
The narcosis crept in as we had to "think" underwater. All the bottles float so close team work is needed to not loose any of the pieces. Last time it took 17 minutes to change out the bottles, this time we were done in 9 minutes. I snapped a couple quick photos and we lifted off to 60 feet to take the visibility reading, while saving gas swimming at less depth. It was cloudy and we only got about 80ft of vis.
Then we shot a bag and hit the surface with a nice slow ascent. A slow ascent is key to feeling good after a dive, especially with a quick turn around as we would be back in the water at the deep site in 30 minutes.
Deep Site @ 10:34 AM
Team dubs and singles
Depth: 57ft
Run Time: 30 minutes
SI: 37 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Visibility 100ft plus (I ran out of tape on the Secchi Disk)
Mike and I rested on the coolers while everyone else geared up. They dropped in first and tied the flag off on the site. Mike and I didn't have enough gas for a mis-drop, which happened on the last trip with current. This time it was perfect conditions and excellent drop by Dave.
As Mike and I got ready to splash, Ralph surfaced and was looking for a sediment bottle top that had floated off on him. It was only 20 ft away from Ralph. After missing a scoop on the boat, we directed Ralph to it with a slight surface swim. Then Mike and I dropped in with the framer to help out.
The bottles were under control so Dave K. handed Mike and I the secchi disk for another vis check. I swam West and swam and swam some more. Then I was jerked to a stop. I looked under and still saw the disk. I check the tape and saw I was at 100 feet. I reeled half of it up and swam the opposite direction. This time the sun went under a cloud and I got a reading of 80ft like the Borrow Pit. I looked down to find a Nurse shark under the ledge napping.
As everyone else focused on the 20 shot photo mosaic on the bottom I took a fish count. There were grunts galore, Blackbar Soldierfish, Cottonwick Grunts, and I had a hard time separating the Smallmouth from the French grunts in the large schools. This area off of the second reef off Commercial has to be the best ledge in Broward County.
With all our jobs down we slowly drifted off the site. Mike and I surfaced first and the rest of the team took their time. Like a good boxer, Mike went to his corner and stayed suited up for the SI. I doffed my gear and helped the others aboard. Another perfect dive.
Shallow Site @ 11:56 AM
Team dubs and singles
Depth: 44ft
Run time: 37 minutes
SI: 51 minutes
Visibility: 70 ft
I gobbled down a sandwich and a half and chugged some water. Time for the last dive. This time, Andrea and Dave would drop first to find the site. The shallow site lays within the fingers and has a float ball standing 10ft off the bottom. It is still quite hard to find without a good drop. Dave O. placed the team right on the bottles and Andrea tugged the flag to let us know we were good to go.
I helped Ralph and Mike change out the sediment bottles and then Mike and I ran the visibility check again. When we got back they were ready to shoot the photo mosaic on the bottom. The red algae was all over the place. This dive really drove home the importance of David Kaplan's vision to collect long term data on the reefs off Broward County. We now have over 8 years of data to compare the photos of the EXACT same spot in the ocean over many years. Now its easy to show a "before" and "after" photos of the damage this red algae is causing.
Dave K. also found a 8lb out rigger weight ball on the bottom with steel line. Ralph was going to leave it, but Dave added it to the sediment bottle lobster bag. Ralph was smart and pulled out his liftbag to carry the whole bag with the weight.
We slowly drifted off the site in the current surveying the damage. I can only pray for cold water to slow down and hopefully kill off this algae that is infesting our reefs.
Thanks again to David O'Neal for donating his boat and time to take us out and collect this very valuable data. We cruised home and dodged boats coming in port Everglades. The port seems more dangerous now with half the average boats complying with the slow speed rules and the other half still running full speed in and out of the channel. We unloaded our gear at John U Lloyd and headed home for the SFL-DIR 1yr BBQ.
--Matt
Photos:
Boat: WildKat (26ft center console ProKat Catamaran)
Captain: Dave O'Neal (E-diver)
Team Doubles: Matt Hoelscher and Mike Wright (32%)
Team Singles: David Kaplan (Exec Director) Ralph Figuroa and Andrea Valerioti (32%)
Weather:
Seas: 2-3 building to 3-5
Current: None
Partly Cloudy
I was really looking forward to this trip. The last monitoring 5 weeks ago, David Kaplan couldn't get in the water because of a cold. I tried to do all the tasks without him and turned into Captain Ahab. I forgot about my team in the hopes of collecting all the data (my whale) and broke all the rules I hold so dear to do it. This trip would include an all-star team of experienced divers and I wasn't about to repeat the mistakes of my past! Time to get back on the horse.
On the ride out I was feeling pockets of cool air mixed with the normal thick humid air. There were some interesting clouds off shore and Mike noticed the beginning formation of a water spout. It never really took shape, but I got picture of its small beginnings.
Borrow Pit @ 9:33 AM
Team Dubs
Depth: 93 Ft
Run Time: 22 minutes
Visibility: 90ft
Bottom Time: 10 minutes
Water Temp: 80 Degrees
David O. replaced the rear seats with a set of igloo coolers which where perfect for donning a set of doubles and research gear for the dive. We were comfortable so there was not rush to do our checks and get ready. Dave set us up and we dropped in to the Borrow pit to change out a set of sediment bottles and take a visibility reading. I orientated on the half moon ledge that faces west, swam over a HUGE rough tail stingray and found our bottles 150 ft away in the sand. The excellent visibility made the task a breeze. Mike caught up with his full lobster bag of gear and we went to work.
The narcosis crept in as we had to "think" underwater. All the bottles float so close team work is needed to not loose any of the pieces. Last time it took 17 minutes to change out the bottles, this time we were done in 9 minutes. I snapped a couple quick photos and we lifted off to 60 feet to take the visibility reading, while saving gas swimming at less depth. It was cloudy and we only got about 80ft of vis.
Then we shot a bag and hit the surface with a nice slow ascent. A slow ascent is key to feeling good after a dive, especially with a quick turn around as we would be back in the water at the deep site in 30 minutes.
Deep Site @ 10:34 AM
Team dubs and singles
Depth: 57ft
Run Time: 30 minutes
SI: 37 minutes
Water: 83 degrees
Visibility 100ft plus (I ran out of tape on the Secchi Disk)
Mike and I rested on the coolers while everyone else geared up. They dropped in first and tied the flag off on the site. Mike and I didn't have enough gas for a mis-drop, which happened on the last trip with current. This time it was perfect conditions and excellent drop by Dave.
As Mike and I got ready to splash, Ralph surfaced and was looking for a sediment bottle top that had floated off on him. It was only 20 ft away from Ralph. After missing a scoop on the boat, we directed Ralph to it with a slight surface swim. Then Mike and I dropped in with the framer to help out.
The bottles were under control so Dave K. handed Mike and I the secchi disk for another vis check. I swam West and swam and swam some more. Then I was jerked to a stop. I looked under and still saw the disk. I check the tape and saw I was at 100 feet. I reeled half of it up and swam the opposite direction. This time the sun went under a cloud and I got a reading of 80ft like the Borrow Pit. I looked down to find a Nurse shark under the ledge napping.
As everyone else focused on the 20 shot photo mosaic on the bottom I took a fish count. There were grunts galore, Blackbar Soldierfish, Cottonwick Grunts, and I had a hard time separating the Smallmouth from the French grunts in the large schools. This area off of the second reef off Commercial has to be the best ledge in Broward County.
With all our jobs down we slowly drifted off the site. Mike and I surfaced first and the rest of the team took their time. Like a good boxer, Mike went to his corner and stayed suited up for the SI. I doffed my gear and helped the others aboard. Another perfect dive.
Shallow Site @ 11:56 AM
Team dubs and singles
Depth: 44ft
Run time: 37 minutes
SI: 51 minutes
Visibility: 70 ft
I gobbled down a sandwich and a half and chugged some water. Time for the last dive. This time, Andrea and Dave would drop first to find the site. The shallow site lays within the fingers and has a float ball standing 10ft off the bottom. It is still quite hard to find without a good drop. Dave O. placed the team right on the bottles and Andrea tugged the flag to let us know we were good to go.
I helped Ralph and Mike change out the sediment bottles and then Mike and I ran the visibility check again. When we got back they were ready to shoot the photo mosaic on the bottom. The red algae was all over the place. This dive really drove home the importance of David Kaplan's vision to collect long term data on the reefs off Broward County. We now have over 8 years of data to compare the photos of the EXACT same spot in the ocean over many years. Now its easy to show a "before" and "after" photos of the damage this red algae is causing.
Dave K. also found a 8lb out rigger weight ball on the bottom with steel line. Ralph was going to leave it, but Dave added it to the sediment bottle lobster bag. Ralph was smart and pulled out his liftbag to carry the whole bag with the weight.
We slowly drifted off the site in the current surveying the damage. I can only pray for cold water to slow down and hopefully kill off this algae that is infesting our reefs.
Thanks again to David O'Neal for donating his boat and time to take us out and collect this very valuable data. We cruised home and dodged boats coming in port Everglades. The port seems more dangerous now with half the average boats complying with the slow speed rules and the other half still running full speed in and out of the channel. We unloaded our gear at John U Lloyd and headed home for the SFL-DIR 1yr BBQ.
--Matt
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Dive Report: Saturday 10/4/2003 Shore dive at Hibiscus Street, LBTS
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1004hibiscus/
Team: Matt and Ralph Figuroa
Dive Start 12:40 PM
Seas: 3ft
Low Tide at 12:30 PM
Water/Air: 84 degrees
Surge: 1 ft
Visibility: 20ft
Gas 32%
Depth: 19ft
Runtime 1 hour 5 minutes
My morning boat dive out of Miami was cancelled as the owner was not feeling 100%. We thumbed the dive from bed at 7:30 AM. However, I called Ralph and he was up for a shore dive, especially if I loaned him my doubles for a test dive.
At 11 AM Datura was full, so we went South to Hibiscus to find rock star parking down front and broken meter bonus as it read "4 hours" for the whole time we were there, no quarters required. I dive there enough I didn't mind shorting LBTS $4.
We geared up and I ran Ralph through my "How to dive doubles in 5 easy steps" lecture.
1. Roll to far to either side and you loose balance.
2. To balance the gas in the wings, go head up and shake your shoulders a little.
3. To dump gas, the valve is in the middle of the wing on your back, use #2 to vent.
4. You need to add more gas and vent more gas on accent and descent.
5. You will hear the gas moving in the wing, don't freak out. (I forgot to mention this one to him)
When Andrea dove doubles the first time I didn't do the lecture on land, I tried to show her underwater, which didn't work as well. This time Ralph got 1-4 and asked me to add #5.
I also forgot William's classic pre-dive doubles question, "You do know the 5 ways a isolated manifold can kill you, don't you?"
We checked equipment and headed out. On the way to the second reef line we stopped to give Ralph a chance to play with the wing and get used to it. I also shot some video of a Yellow Stingray swimming away from me. I could chase him down with my single tank wing.
On the second reef line I was shocked and pissed. The red algae that has taken over Pompano is now all over Datura Street as well. I found little patched a couple of weeks ago. Now there is a full scale invasion! The ground was covered and the several soft corals had it really bad.
There were squadrons of Surgeonfish feasting on it, but there is way more than could be eaten. I ran into a banded butterfly fish that was friendly and posed for a couple of pictures. Because of time restraints I wanted to keep this dive to on hour, but I also wanted to check back in on the coral I flipped over. We swam down to it and I was happy to see a lot of the bleached tissue was getting color back into it. The water was so clear I took a few scenic shots as well. There is more coral here then probably anywhere else in Florida.
We swam back to the probe that marks Hibiscus and headed back home. On the first reef line I saw a fish net entangled in a softcoral. Ralph assisted with seasnips and I cut it out. The coral was badly mangled, but might make a recovery. At least the net was removed so I wouldn't harm anything else. I went back to swimming and went right by this nurse shark napping with its head under a ledge. I'm glad Ralph stopped me to point him out. The locals always ask, "Are there sharks out there?"
We saw another sick coral and took some photos. This looked like some kind of disease, but I don't know what, yet. I also found a sea urchin. Urchins can vacuum a cubic yard of algae per day. I hope they start munching on this red crap soon!
As we were coming in I notice two divers heading out and one diver crawling out of the ocean like our ancestors did 100 million years ago. The poor guy looked like a sugar coated doughnut, only he was covered in sand. Ralph and I were breaking down our gear as this guy carried up his rig, piece by piece, from the water's edge. His regs were coated with sand and he was rinsing them without the dust cap on the first stage.
Ralph and I struck up a conversation with him. "How was your dive?" He said he didn't get past the surf zone as he couldn't get his fins on. He panicked and waved the others on as he went back to shore. Later we found out he was an Openwater student and the instructor took off with the other student while he crawled back a shore. He looked very sad and disappointed. I got some more details and looked over his rental gear all marked with "TSS". A quick look at the VIP sticker showed he was working with "The Scuba School" off Oakland and A1A. The student was also packed down with 16lbs of lead in his BC!
Considering that a student drown off Pompano several weeks ago in 10 ft of water, I was not happy that an instructor swam off and left a student in the water after they had panicked. Ralph and I gave a pep talk to the student about the joys of diving and told the student that the instructor had not acted in his best self interest and deserved more than he was getting out of the class. I told Ralph we needed to leave as I saw the instructor was getting out of the water with the other student. I didn't want to go G3 on her!
Now that I'm calmer, should I email the owner of the dive shop and share my feeling with him?
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/1004hibiscus/
Team: Matt and Ralph Figuroa
Dive Start 12:40 PM
Seas: 3ft
Low Tide at 12:30 PM
Water/Air: 84 degrees
Surge: 1 ft
Visibility: 20ft
Gas 32%
Depth: 19ft
Runtime 1 hour 5 minutes
My morning boat dive out of Miami was cancelled as the owner was not feeling 100%. We thumbed the dive from bed at 7:30 AM. However, I called Ralph and he was up for a shore dive, especially if I loaned him my doubles for a test dive.
At 11 AM Datura was full, so we went South to Hibiscus to find rock star parking down front and broken meter bonus as it read "4 hours" for the whole time we were there, no quarters required. I dive there enough I didn't mind shorting LBTS $4.
We geared up and I ran Ralph through my "How to dive doubles in 5 easy steps" lecture.
1. Roll to far to either side and you loose balance.
2. To balance the gas in the wings, go head up and shake your shoulders a little.
3. To dump gas, the valve is in the middle of the wing on your back, use #2 to vent.
4. You need to add more gas and vent more gas on accent and descent.
5. You will hear the gas moving in the wing, don't freak out. (I forgot to mention this one to him)
When Andrea dove doubles the first time I didn't do the lecture on land, I tried to show her underwater, which didn't work as well. This time Ralph got 1-4 and asked me to add #5.
I also forgot William's classic pre-dive doubles question, "You do know the 5 ways a isolated manifold can kill you, don't you?"
We checked equipment and headed out. On the way to the second reef line we stopped to give Ralph a chance to play with the wing and get used to it. I also shot some video of a Yellow Stingray swimming away from me. I could chase him down with my single tank wing.
On the second reef line I was shocked and pissed. The red algae that has taken over Pompano is now all over Datura Street as well. I found little patched a couple of weeks ago. Now there is a full scale invasion! The ground was covered and the several soft corals had it really bad.
There were squadrons of Surgeonfish feasting on it, but there is way more than could be eaten. I ran into a banded butterfly fish that was friendly and posed for a couple of pictures. Because of time restraints I wanted to keep this dive to on hour, but I also wanted to check back in on the coral I flipped over. We swam down to it and I was happy to see a lot of the bleached tissue was getting color back into it. The water was so clear I took a few scenic shots as well. There is more coral here then probably anywhere else in Florida.
We swam back to the probe that marks Hibiscus and headed back home. On the first reef line I saw a fish net entangled in a softcoral. Ralph assisted with seasnips and I cut it out. The coral was badly mangled, but might make a recovery. At least the net was removed so I wouldn't harm anything else. I went back to swimming and went right by this nurse shark napping with its head under a ledge. I'm glad Ralph stopped me to point him out. The locals always ask, "Are there sharks out there?"
We saw another sick coral and took some photos. This looked like some kind of disease, but I don't know what, yet. I also found a sea urchin. Urchins can vacuum a cubic yard of algae per day. I hope they start munching on this red crap soon!
As we were coming in I notice two divers heading out and one diver crawling out of the ocean like our ancestors did 100 million years ago. The poor guy looked like a sugar coated doughnut, only he was covered in sand. Ralph and I were breaking down our gear as this guy carried up his rig, piece by piece, from the water's edge. His regs were coated with sand and he was rinsing them without the dust cap on the first stage.
Ralph and I struck up a conversation with him. "How was your dive?" He said he didn't get past the surf zone as he couldn't get his fins on. He panicked and waved the others on as he went back to shore. Later we found out he was an Openwater student and the instructor took off with the other student while he crawled back a shore. He looked very sad and disappointed. I got some more details and looked over his rental gear all marked with "TSS". A quick look at the VIP sticker showed he was working with "The Scuba School" off Oakland and A1A. The student was also packed down with 16lbs of lead in his BC!
Considering that a student drown off Pompano several weeks ago in 10 ft of water, I was not happy that an instructor swam off and left a student in the water after they had panicked. Ralph and I gave a pep talk to the student about the joys of diving and told the student that the instructor had not acted in his best self interest and deserved more than he was getting out of the class. I told Ralph we needed to leave as I saw the instructor was getting out of the water with the other student. I didn't want to go G3 on her!
Now that I'm calmer, should I email the owner of the dive shop and share my feeling with him?
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