Sunday July 13th SFL-DIR Afternoon Dive

Mike and Kim took us out on Fish Food. The boat was comfortably full. David was diving with our new member Lee and Keat to get ready for DIR F. Andrea and I were taking the scooters out for another run. I want to get it in the water one more time before taking it deeper. Mike dropped Bob on the tie off and then dropped us in the middle of the rock pile betten the United Caribbean and Sea Emperor. It was perfect, we headed east and hit the Noula Express bow in 3 minutes!

I turned the pitch and just stared at the bow section of the wreck. I was putting it back together in my mind's eye. The new angles are very cool. I love the fact this wreck is right next to the reef line for more fish. We cruised over the cargo area and the submarine. The stern looked really abused. Almost like it turned some. Going around to the rear, the swing thur looked like it had been crushed or collapsed. I wasn't going in there. We drifted down the bottom on the stern enjoying the flow of water water. There was quite a mix between 82 and 77 degree water all over.

We scootered south down the reef and went from patch to patch. We didn't hit the rock pile, but ran right into the culverts of the Sea Emperor. We cruised looking in all the corners. I didn't see the batfish on the South edge of the barge. We floated down the West facing edge. Quite a bit of fish life I never noticed before as all the action for divers is on the East side.

There was no nurse sharks or Goliath under the barge. The swim thru looked big enough to fit thru, but I knew Andrea wouldn't be cool with that. We drifted over the culverts again and headed out for the rock pile. Ther was another dive boat over head and I looked up from the DM making the tie, but I think out bubbles scared them off temporary. Capt. Mike knew our dive plan and probably radioed over.

We passed two divers on the rock pile back to the United Caribbean. The poor goatfish didn't know if we were coming or going. There were cruising to both sides trying to get out of the way.

The UC was all tore up from my last trip. The stern had rolled over on the port side. The cargo walls were broken off and the bow just sat there. We looked for the other team. There were on the starboard side heading for the bow. PERFECT set up, I told the team I would try to surprise them. We went down to the sand and headed around the point of the bow. Keat was in the lead and looking at the wreck as I started to flash him an OOA. He looked back at his team and everything was just fine. Confused he looked forward into the light and saw my open mouth in disbelief. Then he deployed is long hose and went to his back up. He was 5 seconds from a head on collision with the Gavin. Add, "knocking out diver underwater and taking their gas supply" as another scooter benefit! On the boat, we were joking about the Planet Earth Disk 4 diaries showing the hot air balloon crashing into the Balboa tree.

Lee was looking really good in the water and was paying close attention to what was going on. We scootered past and headed to the stern. I couldn't resist scootering down the port side hallway and back out. My new Dive Rite First stages to a full impact at the end as I missed the exit by a few inches. Looking around the rear I wanted to make it up on the Starboard side and did it again, perfectly!

Andrea headed back to the line and we started our ascent. The mixed temp water was going to cause some current up shallow. I adjusted the pitch of my prop and stayed with the line in the current with the scooter. Andrea stopped scootering and went for the line. I kept looking for her and didn't get a problem or issue? Why was she doing things the hard way?

At 40ft the current was up to .5 knot or more and she strained to get the scooter tow cable thru the handle and clipped off to the line so she had two hands to hold on. What the scooter dead? I kept mine live and watched what was going on so that I had the most options if Andrea or the scooter came loose. At the surface, we were tied in bow first with no granny line. The scooter was floating there and Andrea had let go and went back to the stern. The current was ripping and the waves were moving the line.

Staying calm under stress, I held my scooter and the line with one hand. I worked her scooter free and clipped it off to my D ring and get it behind my legs. Now I can drift back to the boat. After letting go, I just got my scooter on to pull me out from hitting the bow of Fishfood.

I grabbed the tag line as I flew past the stern. The small poly line slipped thru my gloves like butter. The current and drag of two scooters was pulling me back. I held on as Kim pulled me in. I handed up Andrea's scooter first. Then got mine up and me back on the boat. Yipes that was not fun!

On the boat I debriefed with Andrea. What was wrong with the scooter? "Nothing" she said. Why did you stop being a scooter diver and grab the line? "Because I don't like current. The scooter was pulling her forward and she couldn't get the prop pitch right. Well she didn't the right thing be not getting behind the up line with the scooter as that would be when it fails. But if she stayed scootering, it would have been a lot easier for both of us. We will work on adjusting speed on the next dive.

We had a full gale storm on and rough seas on the 40 minute trek South to Lighthouse ledge. I stayed in my gear and tried to stay warm in the cold freshwater rinse.

We decided to leave the scooters behind and drift in the nice current with the other team. Andrea and I got into Zen dive mode and tuned into the fish. I missed her signal to see the Long snout butterfly fish right as we got down. I did see the green moray being cleaned by 5 neon gobies and several Spanish Hogfish juveniles.

Not being able to hold back I had to get into the drills with Keat and Lee. Valve drills and S drills were looking good. They had a good command of the basic 5. I blew some bubbles by purging the back up reg to see how the reacted. Lee was right there. Keat developed a new technique of closing both valves at the same time. This really saves gas. I was worried he was going to cause a real OOA so I hovered at his face with my long hose in front of his nose. He stopped and completed a valve drill so he was set back to normal.

At the end of the dive I surfaced first. David was winding up the reel so I pushed the dive flag down to him to make him thing he was coming up. He had a classic look on his face when he was at 5 feet, saw the flag float and then I let go of it to bring him up.

David did a great job of running thru and how's and why's of DIR diving. He also explained the need for the skills dives to get past thinking about the gear and just diving as a team. Andrea said that she is still thinking about the scooter too much and not enjoying the dive yet. She just needs more time, dives, and practice.