Diving — Page 15

Black Forest, dive 25

December 1, 2008

Dive: 25
Cayman Dive: 1
Date: 12/1/08
Site: Black Forest, North Wall, Grand Cayman
Avg/Max Depth: 59/115
Temp: 79
TBT/CBT: 0:37/20:21
Buddies: Nick, Kristen, Curtis, Ted

Our first Grand Cayman dive went off without a hitch. The shuttle arrived at noon, this time to actually pick us up. We made a quick stop at the dive shop to fill out paperwork before the quick drive to the marina. We waited on the boat for a little bit, first for our divemaster Jon (swoon) to arrive, then for Melissa, a videographer.

The boat ride to the dive site was about 25 minutes. It was overcast which made the splashes of water feel a bit chilly. Jon explained the terrain and our plan. Hearing that the wall dropped off to 6,000 feet was pretty cool. Our limit for the dive was 100. Getting in was easy enough. No wetsuits (for Nick and I anyway). We just sat down and put on our flippers and mask, let Jon throw our BC on our back and rolled forward into the sea.

Much warmer than back home.

The coral seemed the same as what we saw in Belize. Most notably the purple fan coral and the bright green coral that looks like cacti. There were some parrot fish that caught my eye, as well as giant lobster, but other than that not much exciting for marine life. I bought a new wide angle lens for my underwater camera, but it blocked part of my flash so I pulled it off half way through the dive.

(note the funky flash)

The deepest I got to was 115. I don’t think I was narced up, but I did feel a little dizzy at one point before I realized how deep I had went. I think it was because I descended quickly from about 60 feet and not from the nitrogen.

After the “official” portion of the dive was over we were able to swim around the reef until our computers told us to ascend. It was nice to be able to go deep enough for a long enough amount of time to see how my computer reacted with things like warning beeps and safety stops. I used my safety stop as an opportunity to practice air rings, but they weren’t very good.

The boat, or should I say double wide pontoon?, was much easier to climb into than the small boats in Belize. And since the the bottom was flat and spacious the surface interval didn’t feel so confining.

PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III, dive 24

September 30, 2008

Dive: 24
Season Dive: 9
Date: 9/28/08
Site: PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III
Max Depth: 34
Temp: 63
TBT/CBT: 1:12/19:44
Buddies: Curtis, Ted, Mike, Adam

Ahh, PADI #79… always my favorite place to suit up. Spacious with a large shallow entry point. Honestly, it’s December 1st right now and I don’t remember much of this dive. Rock bass. I’m pretty sure there were rock bass. And I found a chip hanging from a tree. Actually, I saw the chip then immediately realized that Adam had already been going for the chip, so technically he found it. Oh well, at least I saw what a chip underwater looks like. It was a nice dive. If I remember correctly, maybe we miscalculated our return path (???). I don’t know. It was fun. A nice way to wrap up Dive Fest 2008!!

Snowshoe, dive 23

September 30, 2008

Dive: 23
Season Dive: 8
Date: 9/27/08
Site: Snowshoe
Avg/Max Depth: 28/42
Temp: 57
TBT/CBT: 0:50/18:32
Buddies: Curtis, Ted, Mike, Adam

Snowshoe was a nice place to dive. We swam along a wall with a lot of interesting nooks and crannies. I could tell I was breathing heavily. Partly because I was sick and fatigued by the swimming, partly because I was hoping we’d (secretly I’d) find the metal before Mark’s group, and partly because it was exhilarating to look under things. With all the imaginary mine pit creatures my head conjured up, I had to tell myself they wouldn’t jump out at me. Throughout the dive I kept thinking how comforting it was that we were in MN and not in the ocean where so many dangerous creatures could be lurking around corners and under rocks, waiting to take a bite out of me. It was right about then that Curtis pointed out a giant snapping turtle swimming about. Hmmm, a false sense of comfort. I spent the remainder of the dive not peering head first into the little hiding spots.

I was so busy looking around that I forgot to look at my air. I glanced down at my computer only to see that I was at 750, right on the red. What a dumbheaded move that was. I looked around to find the closest diver. Adam was the only one near me, of course… great way to make a first impression. I swam over to him and showed him my predicament. Since we were around 20 feet we surfaced. The exit was less than 100 feet away, so we descended and made the remaining swim underwater.

The path back to the parking lot was irritating. It definitely lived up to the medallion clue, “you have to be fit to get out of this pit.” Not that it was all that steep (nothing like Feigh), but it was long and I was breathless even getting out of the water.

Feigh Downaway, Feigh, dive 22

September 30, 2008

Dive: 22
Season Dive: 7
Date: 9/26/08 (Happy Birthday to Me)
Site: Feigh Downaway, Feigh
Max Depth: 38
TBT: 1:01
CBT: 17:42

Once I decided to dive I suited up as quickly as possible. Since I didn’t have my swimmer on it took me a bit longer than usual. Also, since I was trying to hurry it seemed like I was fumbling around a lot… or maybe it just felt that way. My main concern in rushing was that it was extremely hot outside and I didn’t want to make the poor boys stand around in their suits longer than necessary. As curtis so eloquently put it, the weather was “thick.”

feigh

The trip down the hill wasn’t as bad as I had expected. It was steep and the ground was silty, but I easily slid down most of the way on the side of my leg. The water felt great for how hot it was outside. Once we were all in the water, Mike pointed out a mother and small child a few hundred feet away at the waters edge. WTF. How did they get there? We decided to span out in different depths in order to find the medallion. My ears were taking a bit longer to equalize because of the sickness, and I tried my hardest to stay at the same depth during the dive.

Diving sick is exhausting. I felt winded and tired the entire time, and the cold dry air was not easy on my throat, sore from the persistant cough for the past two days. Coughing under the water wasn’t so bad, I made sure to hold my reg securly so it wouldn’t fly out of my mouth. Clearing my mask, on the other hand, wasn’t as fun. You know how when you’re wearing a mask and have to breathe from your mouth you get all phlegmy in the nose? Pair that with being previously congested and it makes for a disgusting situation. Clearing my mask was basically the equivalent of blowing my nose into it. Fortunately most of the time it left with the initial clearing. But gross nonetheless.

There was a neat beaver dam that we hung out at to observe fishes for awhile, but other than that the dive was pretty uneventful. No medallion. Ted found a tire to bring to fill a garbage back with for an additional raffle ticket. I’m not quite sure how he managed to get it up the hill.

I was the first one to scale the hill, already weakened from the dive… it made it probably more difficult than necessary. That and I’m wimpy in general. I mostly crawled up on my hands and knees, destroying the path for everyone else. I was so caked with mud by the time I got to the top it was more disgusting than the nose blowing. I decided it would be easier to rinse off if I didn’t take everything off and haul it to the pit across the street, so I left all my gear on and waddled across the street, across the parking lot, down the boat launch and back into the water. It’s probably the most exhausted I’ve ever felt in my short diving career. And hot too. I rinsed myself off, caught my breath and trudged back to the vehicle.

Of course, we later found out there was a nice staircase where we saw the mother and child.

PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III, dive 21

August 19, 2008

Dive: 21
Season Dive: 6
Date: 8/17/08
Site: PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III
Max Depth: 48 feet
TBT: 73 minutes
CBT: 16 hours, 41 minutes

On Sunday morning Curtis and I did a one tank dive. Nick and Kristen preferred to stay at the cabin and relax. We were on the road around 7:15. Still early, but late enough that the sun wasn’t too blinding through the filmy Explorer windshield.

We stopped to investigate a couple of dive sites before deciding on PADI #79 again. One of the sites had a treacherous entrance point, the other was mostly in the shade. Since we dove this site twice the previous weekend, we decided to dive the shaded half in order to see something new.

Shortly after descending we came upon a wall. It was probably the most wall like wall I’ve seen in my short 10 months of diving. At almost 50 feet it was ~~quite chilly~~ down right cold (although not as cold as last October) and in the shade visibility wasn’t all that good. Sure there were trees, but fishes don’t hang out in the cold dark water so there wasn’t anything too interesting to look at down there.

As we made our way up to warmer tempuratures we were greeted by many curious fishes (I refer to everything as fishes because unless it’s a northern or a rock bass I have no idea what kind of fishes they are) in a brush filled area. We deflated and sat on the sand trying to snap good pictures. I like it when the fishes come up all close and peek in my mask. Curtis says they do that to make us go cross eyed. I think they like it. Little devils.

We stayed around 15′ on the swim back. We were in the midst of a mad dash at the end for a well needed pit stop when we came across another platform. A couple shrugged shoulders and we headed over to practice air rings. I had to pee too bad to concentrate and couldn’t be bothered with them after a couple attempts. I also discovered I prefer to blow them on my knees rather than lying on my back (sounds dirty).

It was a really fun dive. I was shocked to find out the dive was 73 minutes. It didn’t even feel like half as long as the dive the day before. Probably because I wasn’t plagued with problems. Or maybe it was the place. I’m liking this PADI #79 business.