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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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My girlfriend and I just got back from 3 weeks of diving on the Kohala coast of the Big Island, Hawaii. (Also did a bunch of caving.)
We did the night manta ray dive off Kona. It was one of the most spectacular dives that I have ever done (and I have 400+ dives on 5 continents, including some cave diving). The diver's lights attract plankton, and the manta rays swoop in to feed on the plankton. With the lights and bubbles and manta rays, it is an utterly surreal and spectacular experience.
Here is an excellent video from youtube showing a manta dive (not my video)
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Holy crap - that video of the dolphin encounter brought tears to my eyes.
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Anastasia
climber
Home
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The air 2 sucks when you do have a panic diver. I had to hit a guy with my regulator to get him to stop grabbing the air 2 out of my mouth and take the dang regulator. Though I do like it as a third option. I also had a spare air tank.
Remember, I use to dive master classes so it was part of my job to help others. It was a very interesting and intense experience. Probably why I can handle bad situations so calmly while the everyday silly stuff can rattle me.
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 7, 2013 - 12:36am PT
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Holy crap - that video of the dolphin encounter brought tears to my eyes.
Yeah... same here and I've watched it a few times with the same result.
Their brain functions in ways I don't believe we can even begin to imagine.
Then there was this one:
http://www.globalanimal.org/2010/11/25/happy-thanksgiving-humpback-whale-gives-thanks-to-divers-for-rescuing-her/24717/
While I was playing around in the pool ton with my camera I had a chance to test drive an aqualung bc with their new i3 system. Not so sure about all the moving parts but the control you get on buoyancy is very very impressive.
next month I'll get a chance to test drive the poseidon rebreather.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Yeah the Air 2 is great until you have a panicked diver. If/when you go the Air2 route get an extra long hose for your primary so you can keep the panicked student/diver a reasonable distance away from you.
That's one of the reasons I went with the Hogarthian philosophy. My primary regulator is on a 7-foot hose. When someone takes the regulator out of my mouth (which is what I plan for) they get plenty of hose with which to work.
(The 7-foot length comes from cave diving, so that you pass single-file through restrictions and still share air.)
My backup is on a short bungee around my neck, where I can always find it. This is the standard setup for all technical divers, and it works perfectly well for recreational diving, too. I like it because I don't have to change my gear or configuration when I move back and forth between rec and tech diving.
A cave diver in Mexico
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Thanks for the advice Mr Rat, it's appreciated.
Ledge Rat said: "Most of my rec/tech dives are solo.
Soloing is not something that you want to get into right away. You've got to have a firm grasp on your solo strategy first. You can have redundant everything except for your brain.
You've also got to be well-versed in managing all of your emergencies solo. Emergency procedures need to be second-nature if you are going below the waves alone.
I have a checklist of emergency drills, and I start every solo dive with a run through my drills. If the drills go poorly, then I just stay at 20 feet and drill. If the drills go well, then I proceed with my dive.
Drills:
1. Flooded mask - remove, replace, clear
2. Lost mask - find and don replacement mask
3. Lost regulator - sweep recovery and neck-touch recovery
4. Valve drills - if I am in doubles then I go through a full valve drill (left/right/isolator). If I am using only a single only my back, then I go through the drill with my stage cylinder, including turning on the valve, deployment of the regulator, then shutting down the stage and stowing the reg. I also make sure that I can reach the valve on my back.
5. Stuck drysuit inflator - quick disconnect of the inflator, and roll recovery (for too much air in the feet)
6. Stuck BC inflator - quick disconnect and dump
If I were to solo in Oregon's cold water, here is what I would do:
-Assume shore diving with a bit of walk to the water, so I would use a single steel cylinder on my back and carry an AL40 stage for back-up, rigged with a redundant 1st and 2nd stage regulator (as opposed to carrying twin steel cylinders on my back)
-Dry suit, which also gives me redundant buoyancy
-Carry a spare mask in my pocket
-Two computer or depth gauges
-Two bottom timers
-Two compasses
-Two cutting devices
-When I am soloing I also use a carbon monoxide meter to check my breathing gas for CO before I go head wet"
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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next month I'll get a chance to test drive the poseidon rebreather.
How are you getting this? I think I would like to do it. Was looking at going back to Divetech, but maybe somewhere else would work.
Here's on of my Scapa Buds suited up. As I age, the lighter equipment becomes more attractive to me. Staggering around the deck with two cans of backgas and a couple of deco in a heavy sea, in a dry suit really sucks the energy out.
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - May 5, 2013 - 06:28pm PT
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John - I missed your question regarding the rebreather.... My local dive shop is doing a demo on this later this month. They have one on hand right now. It's a pretty cool little unit.
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