Dove at Mermet Springs today in my doubles again. Much better this
time. At first I still had a little trouble balancing the tanks, but
started to get the hang by the end of the first dive. My buoyancy
control was much bettert this time. I kept my dives today rather
shallow to allow me to get used to the tanks. We explored the 747 jet,
bus , Cessna & rail car. The second dive was also shallow & we
cruised the quarry perimeter wall. Saw lots of fish including the
elusive paddle fish. A very nice set of dives. These dives really
helped my confidence in doubles.
Well I had a pretty interesting weekend. Saturday July 28th, 2007 I went to Pennyroyal Blue Springs
Scuba Park located in Hopkinsville, KY. I had just had my 2 low pressure steel
85 cu ft air tanks doubled up together. With the tanks, isolator manifold, bands & back
plate I have roughly 90lbs on my back. I met up with a couple of guys form a
local diving web site that have been diving double tanks for a while & have
recently earned their full cave diver certifications. I'm still an open water
diver, but interested in technical diving. The first dive was short &
terrible. We decided that we would descend on a sunken cabin cruiser near our
set up tables that rests at 95ft. I have dove this boat before & it has
never bothered me before. Anyway I geared up & jumped in. As we began to
descend, I became very negatively buoyant & started dropping like a rock. I
was also struggling to balance the tanks to keep them from taking me down on my
back, trying to inflate my wings,
inflate my drysuit & clear my ears all at the same time while making like a
dart to the bottom at 100ft. It was all too much for me to handle at once as I
was also probably suffering from some nitrogen narcosis. As I
neared 90' I finally stopped my free fall, but my breathing had gotten really
rapid & was quickly turning into hyperventilation. Unable to get my breathing under control, I immediately aborted the
dive & started ascending with my buddies who had followed me. They helped me
as best as they could & I finned like crazy. When I reached about 40ft, my
head finally cleared, my breathing slowed & I was able to continue the
ascent without assistance. Once my buddies & I surfaced, we discussed at
length that it was a poor plan to have tried such a deep dive with me diving
twinned tanks, for the first time. It was agreed that the next dive would be in
the shallow end of the quarry. I decided to sit out for a few hours &
collect myself while my buddies went on a deep dive of their own. The second
dive was much better in that I seemed to have better (although still not great)
control of my buoyancy. I found it still to be quite a trick to balance all that
weight on my back. One moment I would start going to my left, then my right,
then feel like I was nose down, then heads up. I must have been quite a sight to
my buddies as I worked to settle myself out. We checked out some of the
attractions in the shallow end & I worked on my hovering & was starting
to get the hang of it a bit. Between the first dive & the second, I sucked
down my tanks pretty good in a short time. I will say it was a lot of work to do
what I did & I was sore & worn out by the end of the day. Now I can't
wait to get the chance to try again (in the shallows for a while, I guess).
Although not a great day of diving, I certainly learned a lot & will work to
perfect the skills I need to handle these beasties on my back
. I guess it's one of the big issues that come with working 12hr swing shifts
. But since it's an excellent paying job for this area, quitting isn't an option. I've been off almost a week & can't seem to get things back in order. I know the routine- sleep from 22:00 or so then wake up between 02:00- 03:00 then can't get back to sleep until about 13:00. I've tried OTC sleep aids & so far all it does for me is give me a bad headache. All's I need is 1 good night's sleep & I'll be back on track. Now if Mr. Sandman will just come along & do his thing...... Oh well, another looooong day.