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Post by tomcatpc on Jun 3, 2020 17:24:45 GMT -8
Hello, like the title says, my first dive of 2020 is in the dive log. I dove my Healthways Scubair again, it seems like this is my go to vintage single hose regulator. It performed flawless, this one has never let me down, fairly drama free. Also a decent performer contrary to what some people think. Any way I averaged about 40 ft for about 35 or 40 minutes with water temps in the 50's. Not too bad at first, but the last 1/4th of the dive was a bit chilly. I was glad to get back into the relatively warm water near the end. Not much more to say... Mark  102578805_3348078281910761_886328327583825920_o by Mark Lodge, on Flickr |
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Post by SeaRat on Jun 3, 2020 21:35:31 GMT -8
I'm glad someone got wet. Congratulations, Mark.
John
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Post by tomcatpc on Jun 4, 2020 5:48:20 GMT -8
The more I dive with the Cressi Pinocchio mask, the more I like it! And it was really not that expensive either.
I probably should have titled the post better? Of course the dive was a "success", I'm here to write about it! LOL!! Should have wrote something like "it was great to get back into the water".
Mark
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Post by SeaRat on Jun 21, 2020 22:37:48 GMT -8
It looks like I'll get wet tomorrow afternoon. It will be the first dive of the year, with my dive buddy, Marion Fisk.  IMG_2542 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here's Marion on a dive we had two years ago.  Marion getting ready to Dive by John Ratliff, on Flickr The dive was in Yaquina Bay, and we're on the South Jetty, awaiting a boat to pass by, looking toward the North Jetty.  IMG_2522 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here's a photo of a gaper clam syphon I took on that dive. Tomorrow we'll be in fresh water at High Rocks on the Clackamas River, hopefully. John |
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Post by SeaRat on Jun 22, 2020 15:00:34 GMT -8
Well, we scrubbed the dive today. Marion forgot his fins, and the current was ripping pretty good. So we'll try again next week. Both of us had our wet suits on, and were about to get everything else on, when Marion looked around and didn't have his fins.
I told him about scrubbing parascuba jumps, and that one time we went through five different airplanes (HC-130s) before scrubbing a jump. The fifth HC-130 was on the taxiway, reving up its engines, and we thought that finally we could get airbourne, when in broke a hydraulic line and we had hydraulic fluid all over the side of the aircraft. Whenever someone asked "Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane," I tell them this story and then say, "There's no such thing as a 'perfectly good airplane.'" We had to haul our 300 lbs plus of gear from one aircraft to another, and finally back to the PJ Shack and await another day.
Now, have any of you scrubbed a dive? If so, what's the story?
John
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Post by nikeajax on Jun 22, 2020 15:28:49 GMT -8
I'm kinda jealous right now John! (you can't see it but I'm sticking my tongue out at you) It's been so freakin' long for me-- GRRRRRRR!When my wife and I went to dive with Terry, Robert and his son Andrew at the fish ladder, both our regs started free flowing. I had brought my Navy Unit as a backup. We had to crawl over some really big boulders, but I was so tired that when we got maybe five yards out I just couldn't go any further. I pulled the reg from my mouth and yelled, " Terry... Terry... Terry!" "What's up?" he was still on all fours as he turned around. "You go ahead, I'm just too (expletive deleted) exhausted..." "You sure, I can go slow..." "No really, I just can't do this right now," I felt bitterly disappointed, "it wouldn't be safe for me right now..." we were heading for the face of the dam and the current was very strong. "I can wait..." For half a second I thought about it but my fatigue was overriding everything, "No, you go ahead, you don't need to rescue my sorry @$$ at depth..."
JB
EDIT: both regs as it turned out had bad HP seats... |
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Post by scubalawyer on Jun 22, 2020 16:57:16 GMT -8
Now, have any of you scrubbed a dive? If so, what's the story? John My boat partners and I have scrubbed so many dives over the years that our wives call us "The Breakfast Club." We all get on the boat and the conversation goes something like this: Let's go to breakfast because the ocean looks too _______ (rough, bumpy, windy, choppy, not clear, green, polluted, nasty, cold, deep, wet.......)  |
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 11, 2020 7:35:45 GMT -8
Here's my dive log from last Tuesday's dive with Marion Fisk:
Dive/Date #01-2020/July 6, 2020
Locution: High Rocks, Clackamas River
Buddy: Marion Fisk
Weather:
Weather was overcast, with a little bit of drizzle.
Equipment:
I was in my full wetsuit, without gloves. I wore my twin 45s with my Pilot regulator, and my scoop fins. I was also using my Forward Unit for swimming, which was attached to my dive computer. I also had my Para-Sea BCD. I also had my inner tube float with the dive flag. I had gloves inside the float, but did not use them.
Marion wore his twin 72s, with his Aquamaster/Phoenix combination. He did not have a BCD, and was diving strictly “vintage.”
Water conditions:
The river at High Rocks had dropped about 1.5 feet from the week before, but was still fairly high with high currents in areas. Visibility was not good, about 5 feet.
Dive Plan:
We planned to enter at the normal spot just downstream of the little island that had formed as the river dropped. Then go through the rapids, and downstream in the current and on the bottom.
Dive:
The dive started out fine, but quickly deteriorated in the current. My float was a huge problem, as it got caught in the current and pulled me hard. We lost contact, then regained it, and headed across the river to where the current would take us under the rapids. But once under the rapids, the upper current pulled me off Marion, and downstream. I got into a down-current, and went to the bottom without Marion. I had to let out more line, and the float kept me from getting back to Marion. I had indicated that we should surface, but got separated in the process. When I finally surfaced, behind a rock downstream, Marion was not to be seen. After a few rather anxious minutes, Marion surfaced on the far side of the river.
Marion was in a back-current, and he signaled and yelled that he would swim a compass course over to me. I watched as he went underwater, and could not follow his bubbles in the current. Then I saw his bubbles in the center of the river, and he was going downstream. He went past me, so I pushed off on the surface and followed his bubbles. Marion surfaced near the rock wall on the far side of the river a few minutes later. We linked up. I had inflated my BC, and was swimming on the surface with my snorkel.
We talked for a minute or two, then descended and started swimming with the current, as we had initially planned. I noted that we probably went under the foot bridge, as we went into a shadow area, and surfaced a few minutes later to confirm this. Marion was right by my, and he had surfaced earlier. We then swam along the rocks on the river’s edge, staying in about 10-15 feet of water.
As we went by a rock, I looked down and saw what appeared to be bones. I used my hand to swirl the bottom, and uncovered what appeared to be a deer skeleton. I showed this to Marion, then attempted to lift the vertebra out of the mud. As they came up, it was apparent that there was still flesh on the bones, and I set them back into the bottom. We surfaced, and Marion asked what kind of bones those were. I replied, “Probably deer. We’ll leave it on the bottom and let the snails work on it a bit longer.” I really didn’t want to recover them, as that would be pretty smelly after a while.
We submerged again, and swam to our takeout spot, where the rocks angled down into the river and allowed a fairly easy exit. I had great difficulty getting my Mares-modified scoop fins off, as the Mares foot pockets had deformed, and really clung to my foot. Finally, I was able to get them off, and join Marion on the river rocks. We then had a real workout getting up to the trail, then walking further up to the road where our cars were located.
Overall, a great dive, but getting separated was worrisome.
Special Problems and Solutions:
--The separation needs to be addressed. I don’t think I’ll dive this float again with Marion. It’s bad enough when solo, but with the two of us, and me being tugged hard away from Marion, it made buddy diving impossible as we went under the rapids. This needs some re-thinking.
--My Scubapro Pilot regulator performed flawlessly. At one point I had to check to see whether I had placed it into the “Pre-Dive” position (there is a moveable switch that engages a spring to keep the Pilot from free-flowing), and I had.
--This is the last dive for these Scoop Fins, as the foot pocket is distorted and needs a lot of work. I may simply change fins, as the difficulty getting into and out of them is distressing.
--My twin 45s worked really well on this dive. In current, its almost like there’s nothing on my back.
--My snorkel came off my helmet as we were getting ready to dive, but it was easily replaced by that unique Farallon holder, which only requires pushing the snorkel keeper into the receiver (it has little balls that adhere to the keeper).
--I took a GoPro video of this dive, and need to look at it and put together a short video from the footage.
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 18, 2020 17:41:42 GMT -8
I'm kinda jealous right now John! (you can't see it but I'm sticking my tongue out at you) It's been so freakin' long for me-- GRRRRRRR!When my wife and I went to dive with Terry, Robert and his son Andrew at the fish ladder, both our regs started free flowing. I had brought my Navy Unit as a backup. We had to crawl over some really big boulders, but I was so tired that when we got maybe five yards out I just couldn't go any further. I pulled the reg from my mouth and yelled, " Terry... Terry... Terry!" "What's up?" he was still on all fours as he turned around. "You go ahead, I'm just too (expletive deleted) exhausted..." "You sure, I can go slow..." "No really, I just can't do this right now," I felt bitterly disappointed, "it wouldn't be safe for me right now..." we were heading for the face of the dam and the current was very strong. "I can wait..." For half a second I thought about it but my fatigue was overriding everything, "No, you go ahead, you don't need to rescue my sorry @$$ at depth..."
JB
EDIT: both regs as it turned out had bad HP seats... JB, I just had that happen yesterday. I went with a dive buddy, and we were going to dive Pormontory Park on the Clacakamas River for the first time. Everything seemed perfect, until my buddy jumped into the water. Then, much the same as you, he had problems. We aborted the dive. I have a video which I'll share here shortly. John |
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