It was time, not that I am ever lacking for a dive buddy to go diving with. I figured it would be good information and education to add to my skill set. A group of divers took the course in 2016 from Len our resident SDI/TDI instructor I had found out about it after they had finished their training.
I asked Len if he was going to hold a course this year, he said: " if you are asking, I am holding it." Later I was telling Lee that I was taking the Solo course and mention that he wanted to do it too. He too had missed the course last year.
We both signed up for the online course. SDI/TDI had a very good online educational system. Completed the coursework and met Len at the quarry to do our classroom and in water exercises. In short order the classroom work was done, we were in the water being put through our paces both on the surface and underwater. Once we were done Len waved bye-bye, Lee and I swam away on our own paths to explore the lake as solo divers.
I was diving with my 72 cu.ft. sling that I use for tech diving it was way too bulky. Lee had borrowed Tige's 40 cu.ft. pony bottle for his dives. We did two dives to complete the cert. Lee was heading out I asked to borrow Tige's pony bottle for my next dive.
What a difference. It tucked in on my left side and felt the way it should; like it belonged there. Add a 40 to my list of gear I have to purchase. I completed three dives for the day.
Solo Diving is fun to do but when you are used to having a dive buddy it is a little weird, there is nobody to talk to about your experience.
My goal as a Solo Diver is to complete a series of dives then get my Solo/Independent Diver Instructor Cert to add to my skill set and offerings.
Now, what color do I want that 40 cu. ft. pony bottle in...
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VIrginia Scuba
Well here it is the end of the month again, so it must be time for our month dive club outing at the lake. This month we had a good turn out. More divers is always more fun.
The last weekend of the month is Virginia Scuba's monthly dive club outing at the quarry. This month we had a nice turn out. Good people having fun. Finally Carl got his objective met, a sun rise dive. Brian and I join Carl on a in-the-water at 6 AM dive. The sun was just coming up as we started the dive. When we got back on shore the Thornberg's made mountain man breakfast, two dutch ovens worth. A good way to start the day.
Our goal when Ruben and I went to Deerfield Beach back in May was for him to complete both his Boat Diver and Waves, Tides and Currents Certs. Friday's boat ride was a bit bumpy, Ruben decided to sit the second dive out. Leaving him one dive short to complete his boat cert.
Since Lake Phoenix added a boat to there offering of services this year I figured that would be a great way to completed this course for him. We got on site, arranged to use the boat, they provided a divemaster for us, nice touch. We had a minor false start with an equipment issue which we quickly resolved, Did a quick adjustment and rest our plan and off we went.
As expected Ruben did great! Once he completed the first dive of the day he was certified as a Boat diver. Since we were there we did our next dive for fun.
Congratulations Ruben beside getting Boat Diver he now has enough certs and I think enough dives for the Master Diver Cert, need to check when I get back to the dive shop!
Ruben on our 2nd dive of the day.
At DEMA last year, Stuart Cove's was giving away a weekend dive package for three days of morning dives for two people. You had to get there and get your own accommodations—all in all, not a bad deal.
I figured I would ask my daughter Meg if she wants to be my dive buddy for this trip while at dinner one night in January. Naturally, Steven, her husband, had joined us for dinner and said: "I always wanted to learn to dive."
Later that month, we all got together for a family dinner. We told the group our plan. Chris said he wanted to learn to dive. Patti and Robert would be happy to spend the weekend in the Bahamas; I couldn't dive this trip; someone had to hang out with my granddaughter.
There you have it, a family weekend in New Providence.
Worked at finding a place that we could all be together that would not break the bank. Patti had recommended looking at AirBnB. After a bunch of searches, we found a place on the edge of Nassau a block from Junkanoo beach and two blocks from downtown. The shuttle bus from the Stuart Cove's picked up from across the street it could not have worked out better.
The plan: the divers would do two-morning dives; the rest of the group would head to the beach for a morning of fun or find some other adventures to explore. Then we would all get together for lunch and explore Nassau for the rest of day.
Flying in on three different airlines with three different arrival times. Meg and Steven arrived early in the day and spent some time on the beach. Chris and I arrived early and found that Patti and Robert had just cleared customs so we meet them outside of customs.
Our AirBnB host offer to pick us up at the airport with a quick stop at the grocery store. Then our host gave us a tour of the place we were staying.
Once we got the sleeping arrangement sorted and some dinner we reviewed the plan for the following day.
The divers were up and out early Friday morning to meet the dive shop bus. Which took us to the other end of the island to Stuart Cove's. Checked in, found our boat, they have a bunch of them. In short order we setup up our gear, boat captain briefing done, we headed out. A short ride off the to the south west of the island to the wreck of the David Tucker. It sits in 60 ft of water with ledge a short distance away.
Top of the ledge was at ~60 ft the bottom was estimated around 3000 ft.
Hearing there was a ledge that looked into the abyss, Steven and Chris wanted to go there first. After the divemaster briefing, I give our crew an additional briefing about ledges, up-wells, walls and monitoring depth. Since this was their first ocean dive we did not want to go too crazy with first.
Little to no current, good, not great viz. We were moored to the stern of the wreck. Once we all got in the water, weighting sorted out, we headed to the down the line and out to the edge. To be honest diving ledges is in my top five favorite types of dives, there is usually so much to see. Today was me making sure of dive group safety. Everyone did well on the ledge and yes they pushed their depth limits, I stayed below them and told them not one goes deeper than me. I was at 75 feet so they all came to join me at one point so I eased our way back to 60 feet. We found a natural break in the reef and swam back to the top of the reef then did a tour around the wreck. Everyone's air consumption was very good, we reach our dive time completed our safety stop and headed back top side. Ending a great first dive for the weekend and a great ocean dive 1 for Chris and Steven.
Conditions as we are heading back to the dock after our second dive of the day on Friday on Elk Horn Reef
The second dive was to Elk Horn reef a great 25-35 ft shallow dive, great viz and no current. A good healthy reef with a good mix of fish. A nice hour long dive then back to shore.
Oh yeah, I had planned my dives this year so I would hit my 900th dive during this trip. Check another accomplishment off as done, this dive was #900. Next goal Dive #1000 hoping to get it by the end of 2017 but we will see.
The Queen's Staircase Nassau Bahamas
After the bus drive back to Nassau we meet up with the rest of the group. We walked through town and made our way to The Queens Staircase. Since Patti and Robert had recently been to Nassau on a cruise they knew the best way to approach the stairs was from the top and walk down. We did our tour through town so we would end up at the top.
Impressive structure considering it was all cut by manual labor. Lots of old structures and having been a fan of the "Black Sails" series TV I wanted to see downtown Nassau. This is my fourth trip to downtown Nassau but this would be my first time to really walk around town.
I had to walk around a little the first time I was here in 1998 or 1999 just as Atlantis was opening, From what I can remember a lot has changed. Not all of it for the better. There was an old-world island feel to the place, now it is gear toward the cruise ships. I understand progress but it is not the same.
Day 2 the divers head out early hoping for different part of the sea to explore but we ended up on the wreck of the Tucker again. I mention it to the crew and they offered to change the 2nd dive to a different location. That was nice since it was a full boat. Today the guys wanted to do a quick dip off of the ledge then back to the wreck to explore. The David Tucker is the model boat as the Austin Smith further down in the Exuma's. An old coast guard patrol boat, once it was decommissioned it was sunk as part of Nassau’s artificial reef program. The boat is just the right size to explore the exterior at this depth. The was a bit more surface current on this dive then what we had yesterday but no big deal. Another good dive.
The second dive was to the Hollywood Bowl, A sandy spot on the lee side a reef outcropping that creates a bowl shape, and as you would guess this is where just about every underwater movie scene in the Bahamas is shot. Due to the clear water, shallow depth, easy to get to by boat from shore. A very fun dive. You can explore the bowl then work your way back into the shallow breakers, Great shallow dive.
Met up with the rest of the group, they went to the Zoo for the morning and had a great time. We headed back downtown to see the sites. Today we walked the waterfront, all geared toward the cruise ship population.; There were three ships in port today. We figured most of them must have been downtown in the morning because it was not that crowded. Those of legal aged sampled the adult beverages as we strolled. For the record that was not me. heat and adult beverages are not a good mix.
We did stop for lunch at the Pirate Republic. The beer was good, the food was okay but very pricey for what you got. In the end, it is the location. Can't fault anyone for trying to make a buck.
Heading out of Stuart Cove's dock for some more great diving.
Day 3 our last day of diving. One cool thing about today's dive, we were on a flat top boat. Once the boat was secured and you got the all clear to dive you just step to the edge of the deck and did a giant stride in. The crew told us they use this boat when film crews are in town, Allows a lot of people to get in the water quickly.
Today had its challenge and the challenge was the current. My new divers were not expecting it. We had discussed the possibles and options, but when you encounter it, it makes it real. It was a strong two knot for the most part. We were on the wreck BBC and there was another wreck beyond the BBC but we did not make it that far. We got our dive crew to the lee side of this listing tug. I attempted to swim around the bow and head to the other wreck the current was strong enough after about five kick cycles of me going nowhere I let them know we are going to stay here and explore the lee side of the tug, out of the current. We checked out the wheelhouse, the deck, we could get to the screws and rudder but could not get much further. Others from the boat seem to sail past toward the other wreck but my group was content to explore this area Coming up the line and for our safety stop we looked like flags on the line due to the current. It added a level of respect for the power of the sea even at 2 knots for my group. I have done drift dives in a 3-4 knot current, you are basically flying through the water. But fixed location dives are a challenge with the stronger current.
Picture by Patti Yao
Our shore crew spent the morning at the beach. Once we were all together we caught a ferry to Atlantis, we stopped at Margaritaville for lunch then over to Atlantis to walk the grounds and check out the aquarium, we divers wanted to our shore crew to share in some of what we saw diving. They did tell us they saw a lot of fish in the water at the beach as well.
That brought our weekend trip to a close. Monday morning we started flying out. Patti and Robert caught the first flight out. Meg and Steven had a mid-morning flight.
Chris and I had an afternoon fight. We pack up the luggage and put it by the door then headed back downtown to do some last minute gift shopping.
Found our items, went back grabbed our bags, made our way to the airport and our weekend adventure was done. We had a get time!
Now to start planning our next group adventure.
We are getting down to it, our big Bahamas weekend is at the end of the month!
No more time to mess around got to get these two to become certified divers!
Off to the lake we went, could not ask for a better weekend. Top side it was a great spring weekend. In the water, since I was just here on Wednesday doing a Dry Suit class I knew it was 64 degrees. Our dives at the end of the month will be in the high 70 or low 80's so this was a good way to start.
These two are always fun when they get together. Steven was apprehensive, could not figure out why, he did great, look great in the water. He is an athlete so this is another sport for him, with all the sports he does, I expected he would take right to it.
Chris surprised me, we have long history. But he is grown up now, I was more than impressed. after working though some initial equipment issues and the 'everybody is awkward' the first dive and a half. Watching him during dive 4 and 5 this guy is a natural. His is looking like he has been doing this for years. Could not have been prouder.
Next up Bahamas for the group at the end of moth, Can NOT WAIT! This will be a blast.
Jerry just bought a new Waterproof D1 Dry suit and Lee has had a DUI for a while, both needed training. The shop is closed on Wednesday so what better way to spend hump day than diving.
We all got in the shop van early and headed to southern Virginia. Midweek we nearly had the lake to ourselves.
End of May the water is getting warmer 64 degrees 30 feet, not bad for this time of year.
My task was to assist with the class as I am interning to teach Dry Suit instructor with the shop. Tige gave me a few pointer and observations that will help with the next class I assist with.
A couple of dives working on their skills, a few tours around the lake so they could get used to the changes in buoyancy and the effect of pressure at depth. Yeah, they got this. Two more dry suit divers, done.
A good day of diving. A few minor trickles of water in the suits between the four of us. All and all a go way to spend a Wednesday.
Midweek Dry Suit Training.
Lee working his buoyancy
Photos courtesy of Virginia Scuba
This was the second annual trip to the southeast coast of Florida of the new era. During the winter months, the shop runs up to two trips to the Florida Springs area. I am trying to revive the summer time southeast coast trip. The shop used to do this trip twice a season and we would get 6-8 divers per trip. The long weekend trip, arrive on Thursday evening, either fly or drive, dive Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, then leave Sunday afternoon if driving or late Monday morning if flying. Good weekend getaway and great diving.
This year we did the trip in May and it was just Ruben and I. Ruben did his open water cert with me about two years ago. He dives when he can.
Our plan was to dive out of the Deerfield Beach area Friday but conditions in the area where keeping the local boats in port. Started calling around to find out who and better conditions either north or south of Deerfield Beach. Found Florida Scuba Charters out of Palm Beach was going out Friday morning. So we got up early and headed north.
I won't lie the ride out was rocky. Big rollers, some we were at the bottom of the swell and your were looking a good way up at the crest of the wave. They have a smaller boat it a bigger than a six pack, they said they can take 15 but don't normally book more than 10. We were 9 and 10 that day. The captain headed north toward Jupiter Inlet. Our first dive as Area 51. Sun was shining the sea was getting claimer, water a bit cooler then what I am us to for Florida. Great dive, the best part was the tiger shark that came to check out about halfway through the dive. He was much closer on the first pass. Ruben was so excited he almost forgets to turn had Go Pro on. Here is what Ruben recorded from the second pass as the tiger shark swam away. The real highlight of the trip. Also, a dolphin swam with him as he was on the line to get back on the boat. At first, he thought it was the shark returning was glad to see it was a dolphin just take a look to see what he was doing.
The second dive Ruben sat out, the roll of the ocean got to him. We had moved to the Amphitheater dive site good deep drift dive saw a really big Grouper but not much else.
Saturday the weather was perfect the sea was not, no one was going out that I could find. So we spent the day exploring Deerfield Beach.
Sunday's weather was perfect and so water was nearly perfect. We were going diving! Using our favorite the Lady-Go-Diver boat. The boat had about 15 people on it, it can handle up to 29, 15 was just about right. The first dive site was the Sea Emperor, wreck to reef project. One of my favorite 50-60 ft dives in the area always good stuff to see. Although I did not see the resident eel nor did I see the giant grouper. Others said they saw the eel. The grouper is legendary in size and lives in a hollow under the wreck. A great dive with so few people no one was on top of each other plenty of room to spread out and explore.
Second dive site and last one of the trip was a drift dive along the Deerfield Ledge. Good viz just enough current in the 50 ft range to just meander along the bottom. A great way to end the weekend. Lots of fish, a good reef with places to looks for sea life, lots of sponges and critters in the larger sponges to check out. Another great dive.
Ruben completed his Waves Tides and Current cert and started Boat which we will finish when we get together again in June.
Lots of fun looking forward to next years trip in May. We may go here again or we may head to Key Largo, Tige is pushing to change it up. It's Florida diving, I am good either way, both locations are excellent.
Spring is here and divers in this area want to get back in the water. Yeah, the lake is still cold but yeah ya got to go dive!
Drew wanted to complete Virginia Scuba's What's Next?! program. A weekend of diving completing 3 certifications and 6 dives. The week before we did Drew's coursework for Enriched Air Nitrox so he could do all of his dives on Nitrox, While at the lake during surface intervals we would cover the coursework for Navigation and Perfect Buoyancy. Then do the dive for the certs. Great diving, crappy weather rained (poured) most of the time. Lee was also there with Joe doing Joe's Open Water Cert with Jerry as his DM.
Cold and rainy but we made the best of it. Had a lot of fun. Drew did a large Nav around the lake as his final task brought us right back to where we started.
Congratulations Drew! You are now that much closer to your goal of Master Diver!
Or a better title would -
You have a goal for this year. funny so do I!
Carl, this everybody, Everybody this is Carl. Carl received his Open Water Cert during our Florida Spring Trip in 2016 and he was hooked. So hooked within a year he did five specialties and 50 dives which earn him his Master Diver. Then he started his career as Dive Professional currently a Dive Guide and soon to be working on his Dive Master looking to Dive Control Specialist/Assistance Instructor this summer. Yeah, that hook set deep.
We were sitting around the shop last week and he asked me if I was going diving this weekend. I told him not if I don't have to the lake is cold. To which he responded, "going diving this weekend?" I relented, Even though I just did my dry suit cert last weekend I chose to use my wetsuit. Since I could not dive the entire weekend due to other plans on Saturday, we dove on Sunday.
During one of our surface intervals, we got on to the subject of personal dive objective for the year. I started the year diving in the Bahamas with dive number 831. During the course of that dive I remember thinking could I get to dive 1000 this year, what would that take. After doing the math figured, okay, dive 1000 might be a stretch but it could be done, but dive 900 was well within reach. I decided dive 1000 was the overall goal for the year with dive 900 as the short term object. Now how to do it. I needed dive buddies and to make the time.
I explained this to Carl and he said it just so happens he is trying to get to his dive 200 this year, he is currently at dive 58. He as a well has short term goals dive 100 and dive 150 knowing that dive 200 was ways out there.
Since it was Sunday we only did three dives towards our goal. Traffic on 95 North on Sunday afternoon can be real pain Beach traffic north of Richmond, then the entire section between Fredericksburg and Woodbridge where the top speed averages around 10-20 mph after 1 PM you didn't hang around long at the lake after 12 PM if you wanted to make it home at a reasonable hour.
We agreed if either one of us needed a dive buddy to let the other know. Let's see how we do!
I bought my dry suit over a year ago. I have an Aqualung Fusion Sport. The delay in training was Tige and I could not come up with a weekend to do the training. One of us was either teaching or could not get two days together to make it happen. So we decided on April 1 and 2. No other students had signed up for classes, the quarry opens for the season that weekend and the water temp was in the mid-40s. Not great for an Open Water Class but great for Dry Suit.
We started out Saturday in the pool covering the basics. I took my full face mask knowing it would be cold in the open water. A fun class to take. Completly changes your buoyancy, have to lean and work out a new set of skills.
As luck would have it we remember to bring the camera into the pool. At the quarry, we forgot them in the gear bag so no photos from Open Water. It was fun, undergarments are the key, dress for the environment you are going in to. The deeper you go the suit changes it characteristics add a little air to the suit, move it around, life is good in cold water. Buoyancy is going to take several dives to work out the correct amount of weight than to manage the necessary amount of air in the suit. Just a reason to dive more!!!
Chris and Steven did there run through Try Scuba to see if Scuba Diving was for them back in December. Now it was time to step up. Time to get the certification underway. Amanda and Paul joined the class as well for their open water cert. Jerry was the Dive Control Specialist for the class.
All of them did great, they had fun. Now to wait for the quarry to open and the water to warm up a bit to complete the Open Water dives, For Chris and Steven then it is on to the Bahamas!! That is the goal a family trip to Nassau NP Bahama.
My wrap up post for Guys Dive 2016 in Key Largo. Plus additional photos on the http://www.otterventures.com/photo-albums-1/
WOW! What a weekend. My buddy Jim Chaplin stared in November posting notices for a Discover Scuba in January with Virginia Scuba. At one point I think he told me he had 25 ventures/scouts and adults signed up.
In the end we had a total of 18 folks participate, we broke them up into two session one on Saturday morning, the second on Sunday afternoon. This was a mixture of Scouts and Venture Crews from all over the area.
We have had scouts groups before but this was by far the best groups of young boys and girls we have had.
What made this a success; as with any event of this type, was planning. Two instructors, a Divemaster and a Divemaster Candidate. As well we had scouts who were already certified divers help out moving equipment and logistics.
The goal was for the scouts to have fun. We went over the Discover Scuba Flip chart, hopped in the shallow water, went through required skills. Let them splash around the for a few minutes to make sure they where comfortable. Then we hopped out and headed to deep end.
A bit more instruction about decents and ascents and away they went. We all hung out on the bottom for quite some time. Jim Chaplin brought a under water ping pong ball game, we had hula hoops to swim through. The scouts had a great time trying out their new skills.
After they were out of the pool and dried off, we went over the Scuba BSA paper work and they received their Scuba BSA patch to wear on their swim trunks.
Jim was using this event to gather interested in diving as well as planning for his annual Scouting Blackbeard trip. I think he may have several takers.
As well, several of the scouts that could not make this weekend have signed up for our next pool date January 25, at last count we have 9 signed up so far. We can always take more. Come join us!
Dive Equipment Manufactures Association - DEMA held every year alternating between Orlando and Las Vegas. In 2013 it was in Orlando. You have to be involved in the dive industry to have access to the show. For Dive professional you have to be a Divematers or hire. If you run a dive shop you can owner, employee etc you get the ideal.
This was my first time going to DEMA. Since I had never been and I am helping the dive shop get a handle on thier database to be utilize all the features and functions my job was to attend the database provides week long seminars. Since it is an SQL database and I have been working on setting up a different SQL database for my day job I figured this would be double duty.
Lot of stuff to learn on database side. Once that was complete each day hit the show floor to meet and greet. Had a get time., met lots of people. Back to the shop to apply what was learned.
Left out of Manassas to Lake Rawlings before 6:30 to be in the water at Lake Rawling before 10 to start the next two dives in my DSAT Tec40 training.
Was a lot of fun. Rachel made it a challange, as she should. Lots of task loading, to make you think about the "what if" with all of the gear.
Diving is diving - look here, breath here, kick. This adds the option of more bottom time and more depth. I am not so much looking for the depth but the bottom time. That is not to say with some more experience depth won't figure into this. There are several wrecks in south Florida that will put this training to use.
Now on to the real Open Water - the Ocean. I will keep you posted.
Rachel teaching Tec 40. Oct 2013Well it was bound to happen. I have signed up for the PADI Tech 40 class. Spent week reading chapter after chapter, knowledge review after knowledge review to prepare fo this weekend classroom work and configuration secession. Rachel is our instructor. I have been Rachel's student many times over the years. Once she started into tech I kept with recreational.
During the shop's rebuilding phase they continue to increase recreational diving and rebreather diving. But the open circuit tec diving has been hit or miss. Over the few months Rachel has decided to step in and take control of the open circuit tec schedule. This is the second batch of tec classes she has put together in the last month. From what I hear she has classes planned for November and December as well.
Tec 40 is the into course to tec diving. You can go to 130 ft (same a recreational diving) but you can go into deco up to 10 minutes with up to 50 percent oxygen. Beyond Tec 40 is Tec 45 and Tec 50 using PADI's System. It is a building bock system to extend depth and decompression time.
Spent the last part of the class today breaking down several of my regulators and reconfigure them to prepare for next weekends pool and quarry dives.
Will have to see how this goes. I made it to this quarry sessions a couple of years ago but could not complete the open water ocean dives due to schedule conflicts, I am going to miss this classes ocean dives too, similar conflicts. But i will get this done. I want this C-Card. Not sure how much further I will go in Open Circuit Tec but I want to complete this.
Another great open water class, at Millbrook this time. The water was the best conditions we have seen this year. You could actually see across the platform. At the surface was very warm for Millbrook. The really cold water was still at 30 ft and deeper. The students did great. We had a great time. Mpre certified divers in the world, that is a good thing.
Had no plan or thoughts to cobble together a new dive training program. As part of a discussion sitting around the table with the guys at the shop we wanted to have a way divers felt would move them along with their training. knowledge, skill level and confidence. Did not create anything new, just repackage what is already being offered in a way that lets the diver feel accomplish. Just a few months from idea to schedule. We are off to a good start.
Then we figured we needed artwork for a display end cap in the store. About a month to get that all together, just a few years ago this would have cost a small fortune to do. It was not cheap but do-able.
This display will be hanging in the shop this Thursday afternoon. that the next time I can get there. Once it is up I will add a store shot.
Update
on 2013-07-23 23:12 by Otter
And here it is in action. On display to infom all those who walk through the shop. It looks AWESOME. As I was leaving they moved it more towards the front of the shop beacuse they thought it looked awesome too. :-)
This dive season has been challenging at Millbrook this year. As usual the water was it's normal cold back in April in the 40 degree range but it was pretty clear. May was about the same the water temp was not rising like it normally would due the rain, we have had a good bit this year.
From observation, but not by any scientific measurements, the picture you see here is the entrance to Beach one. There is a wooden platform with 5 or 6 steps. Last fall the water level was so low only the last 2 steps were under water. With this weeks past rain the entire platform is underwater and is about 18+ inches above the deck. So that is 7 inches for each step plus the 18+ on top of the deck, that would put the total rise around 30 inches. That is a lot of water considering the size of the quarry.
Somewhere between May and June a cloud of turbidity formed. This is not unusual there is always a layer of turbidity normally just above the thermocline and it is a few inches to foot high in the water column. The density would vary from place to place in the quarry but never really dense.
When I was diving there in June, entering the water I notice something was different the surface water was very warm, warm like you would have in September around 70 degrees. Once we descended I found out why. The turbidity layer started around 12 ft and went about 25 ft and it was like looking though pea soup. Its density was such that sunlight could not penetrate that deep, it was heating up the surface water.
The end of June there was some more rain and divers I know where at the quarry they said the turbidity had seem to thin out. it was still not great but better.
Move a head to today July 13. We had several inches of rain this week. Surface was warm, the descent had good viz down to 12 feet. Then it got ugly! Taking my two open water students to about 20 ft holding a line I could not see them. The both grabbed my hand and pulled up, up we went. They express their concerns about diving in this. This was if you could picture a green cloud in the water. I told there there was a good chance that if we got below it on the training platform it would be clear. I explained my past months experience. PADI standards say you can not leave a student unattended in the water. I explained that if they were willing we could go together in physical contact down line to the platform and see what the conditions looked like. If it was clear we could do the dive. They agreed.
Down we went. I have an Aeris AI dive computer, it is clipped to the chest D-ring on my BCD. It is always about 6-8 inches from my face. The digital display has reasonable size numbers and is easy to read. 16 feet was the last depth I could see. After that I could not see the computer the turbidity was so thick. What was more disturbing as we continue down I swear the cloud turned from green to red. That could be a problem.
After what I thought was red, it became black and we where on the platform. Once my eyes adjusted it was clearer, 3-5 feet of viz, we where below the cloud but the only thing of note I could see was the phosphors glow of our three compasses, to read my computer I had to press the light button.
Dive over, up we went. I still swear the lower few feet of the cloud is red and that should not be.
My divers where troopers, we are working on a plan to go to Lake Rawlings.
Have to see what happens with the quarry. It may have too much water in it. Throwing off the ecosystem. I will keep you posted. May just have to finish out the dive season at Rawlings. It is just such a long ride.
Fun weekend, all together, spread out over a couple of weekends. The viz was REALLY bad at Millbrook the first weekend. After discussing options with Instructor Steve we decided to go Rawlings to complete the NAV course. It was the best choice. Clear and warm down to about 35 ft. Congrats to our first What's Next Divers!!!