Post by Gary on Jun 13, 2004 16:12:14 GMT -8
Hi y'all, just thought I'd share my vintage experiences this weekend. Took an open water class to Blue Grotto here in Florida for their first two open water dives. I also brought along my recently rebuilt Royal Aquamaster for a test dive. The tank I was using was a 1960 US Divers steel 72 that I stripped and repainted. I had a Dacor valve on the tank that has a 3/8 threaded port for a high pressure gauge and a single tank backpack to keep it all together.
During the surface interval between dives 1 and 2, I left my BC and regulator on the shore and got the tank and backpack. I decided to do a buoyancy check under the floating dock since I wasn't diving with a BC. Turns out I was perfectly neutral wearing a 5mm wetsuit and 12 pounds of lead. I then exhaled to descend to the platform below the dock at 18 feet. I then experimented with several swimming positions to see how well the regulator performed underwater. It seems the easiest inhalation is lying on my back looking at the surface, the reg almost freeflows! However, it does make exhalation harder. I then decided to see how well it performed at depth. My two buddies and I followed the permanent lines to a spot in the cavern called Peace Rock at a depth of 40 feet. The regulator delivered the same amount of air at depth, but I did notice a big change in my buoyancy. I had to swim really hard just to stay off the bottom. Because of this, I decided not to go any deeper so my buddy and the third person in our team continued to the bottom while I explored the upper cavern. I swam back to the dock and surfaced just as another class was entering. It's kind of neat listening to the comments from other divers about the equipment I was wearing. Overall, a real good dive. ;D
During the surface interval between dives 1 and 2, I left my BC and regulator on the shore and got the tank and backpack. I decided to do a buoyancy check under the floating dock since I wasn't diving with a BC. Turns out I was perfectly neutral wearing a 5mm wetsuit and 12 pounds of lead. I then exhaled to descend to the platform below the dock at 18 feet. I then experimented with several swimming positions to see how well the regulator performed underwater. It seems the easiest inhalation is lying on my back looking at the surface, the reg almost freeflows! However, it does make exhalation harder. I then decided to see how well it performed at depth. My two buddies and I followed the permanent lines to a spot in the cavern called Peace Rock at a depth of 40 feet. The regulator delivered the same amount of air at depth, but I did notice a big change in my buoyancy. I had to swim really hard just to stay off the bottom. Because of this, I decided not to go any deeper so my buddy and the third person in our team continued to the bottom while I explored the upper cavern. I swam back to the dock and surfaced just as another class was entering. It's kind of neat listening to the comments from other divers about the equipment I was wearing. Overall, a real good dive. ;D
