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