There was once a little boy that lived in Hudson, FL. When he was 7, his family took him to see the manatees at Homosassa Springs. And as they were headed home after a big day of learning about local wildlife and seeing huge sea cows, a brochure in the lobby caught this little boy’s eye. He walked over and picked it up and brought it home with him. This brochure was a brochure of all the wonders that lay below the surface at Ginnie Springs in Homestead, FL. It was about underwater caves. Now, this boy loved caves. He loved to look at caves and had even gotten to crawl around in a few small ones, but when he saw these pictures of underwater caves he was mesmerized by the beauty instantly. Ever since that day, he knew that he wanted to see the inside of those caves in Ginnie Springs, and he wanted to explore, for himself, the underwater world of submerged caves.
I still have that brochure at home. It’s beat up from carrying it around with me and reading it so many times, but it is tucked away with other childhood things, and every once in a while it pops up and reminds me of that little boy that wanted to see what an underwater cave was like so many years ago.
Prevent your death, get certified.
I can’t explain why I latched on to the most dangerous sport in the world at such a young age, but when I visit Ginnie Springs I feel strangely complete. I have yet to obtain the certification to visit the inside of those submerged caves, but perhaps sometime in the future when things settle down in my crazy life, I will get to see the inside of that cave system that has called to me for so many years.
Lisa and I have been discussing equipment configuration and on the list of things we want to try is sidemount diving 100% of the time. That’s right, even in open water! Sounds crazy right? but is it all that crazy? Here’s the reasoning.
First, Lisa has some slight lower back problems and backmount with a single tank is a lot for her as it is. To move to doubles seems like it will kill her. The beauty of sidemounting is that you can walk the heavy gear (like tanks) to the water first. This leaves the, much lighter, harness to put on and walk to the water with. Once in the water you can don the tanks when they are weightless. You can do this in reverse for the outbound side of the dive. This is a real back saver.
Second, sidemount diving is sooooo much more liberating. You don’t have a first stage (or manifold) to dig in to the back of your head. Your valves are right in front of you (instead of awkwardly behind your head). And of coarse, your streamlining makes it even easier to kick through the water with less drag.
Lastly, to have good trim for the whole dive, you would use 2 tanks (one on each side). This means, for open water diving, you are completely self sufficient. You have two of everything. If you use sidemount cave technique to breathe, where you breathe off both tanks during the dive, you have complete redundancy over two boat dives with two tanks. This means that failures and out of air situations should be much easier to handle on your own if need be. Of coarse, I would still advocate diving as a team for ultimate safety reasons, but the idea of having full redunacy on your person throughout the dive makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
I have a Dive Rite Trans Pac and Trek Wing (which was originally designed for sidemount) and I think I’m going to order a buttplate and make some bungees to try this out in the pool. We will update when we have messed with it a bit.
Yesterday I did two dives with some of the UTD (Unified Team Diving) guys down at Point Lobos in Carmel, CA. I had some issues but, in all, it was a good day.
Dive 1
Site:
Hole in the Wall
Max depth:
62 fsw
Dive time:
49 min
Temperature:
47F
Visibility:
15-20 Feet
This dive started out pretty well. We kicked out on the surface to the sand channel. The swim was grueling. The tide was out and there was a ton of kelp on the surface to avoid. Continue reading →
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Yesterday I did two dives off the Silver Prince dive boat. Given the conditions in Monterey, the captain decided to take the charter down to Carmel instead of sticking to the bay. The ride was a bit bumpy and I was starting to feel the sickness coming on but fortunately I was in the water before I turned too green and everyone got to see my breakfast. The trip was planned from 9:30A.M. to ~2:00P.M. but we didn’t get back till after 4:00P.M. I kind of wish someone would have given a heads up to the trip to Carmel and added commute times so I would have known to bring a lunch instead of half of a fluffer-nutter sandwich and a banana. They did serve some oranges and brownies as well as hot chocolate though. The crew was awesome though and really seemed to be knowledgeable about the locations and dive conditions below the surface. Overall, I give the Silver Prince 4 out of 5 stars as a service and would definitely recommend them for a trip or two. They also have the buy 10 trips and get 1 free card so if you like boat diving, you should do that.
Yesterday I did my pool dives for my drysuit class and it was awesome. I was the only person in the class so everything went super quick. After the skills were finished we sat on the bottom and watched underwater hockey for awhile… what a strange sport. Anyway, I made a little video blog for ya. Enjoy.
This sunday I am going to finish up down in Carmel, CA on the Silver Prince so I will have an update after that for you about the class, dives, and the Silver Prince dive boat.
Last week I ordered the El Cheapo II from Oxycheq. It came in the mail yesterday and I immediately ripped it open and got to work.
When I opened the box, I was amazed at how little there was to the whole kit. There was the sensor, a panel meter, a potentiometer, a case, a mono plug, a single resistor, an on/off switch, and some wire. In addition, I ordered the 10-turn pot and a BC LP hose flow regulator. Continue reading →
I have a Dive Rite MLS canister light with the MR16 Halogen light head. The problem is that the batteries were toast and when I pulled them out for replacement I noticed everything was soldered together. So, since I was rebuilding it anyway, I thought I would rebuild it to my needs and make a few alterations to it as well.
I think I’m moving to HOG/Edge regulators at the next chance I get. They do this novel thing… they let a BUY SERVICE KITS! That’s right! You can buy service kits! You can even take a class to learn to service it yourself as a regular Joe! No joke! I currently have Oceanic regs and have been diving the big “O” since I got in to diving in 2002 but their lack of interest in allowing mechanically inclined people (or engineer in this case) get access to service manuals and parts just plain pisses me off. I know that there are resources on the “interwebs” that have service manuals you can download and I have used them… the problem is the parts. When I need a part replaced I have to take the regulator in for service and pay for the entire overhaul when I needed one freaking O-ring. I am so tired of spending money on service at the local dive shops and wondering if they actually did the overhaul or just “replaced parts” and “dropped a kit in”. I am much more comfortable in my own work than others’ work.
I just ordered the Oxycheq El Cheapo II Oxygen Analyzer DIY kit after weeks of mulling it over. If you don’t know what it is here is a quick run down from their site oxycheq.com:
DIY… Build it yourself, save $$$, and learn something!
The OxyCheq El Cheapo II is an oxygen analyzer kit. It takes about 3 hours to complete.
The “El Cheapo II” oxygen analyzer kit works as well as any commercial O2 analyzer.
The “Kit” includes all of the parts necessary to complete your own oxygen analyzer. The “Kit” also includes a brand new Teledyne R-17 Oxygen Sensor in a factory sealed bag. Detailed instructions walk you through step by step from preparing the case to soldering. Warranty does not apply to DIY.
This item is only sold directly from OxyCheq. This kit is the very first product that OxyCheq came out with.
Upgrade to a Ten Turn Pot for Increased accuracy.
Many of our customers are surprised how well the El Cheapo II works. The reason is we put only high quality sensor in our analyzers … even the El Cheapo II. This is the reason it outperforms many analyzers costing much more. Don’t get the wrong sensor, get the best.
I have to admit that I am really excited to put it together when I get it. I ordered the 10 turn potentiometer because I like things to be as exact as possible and I opted to buy the flow restrictor instead of building my own because I’m too lazy and don’t have a workshop (apartment living kinda sucks like that).
Anyway, I will try and remember to take some pictures of the build and post them here.
