The Bones Family says hello

Shot taken today of the world famous Bones Family at the Divers Ramp - Lake Jocassee, Upstate South Carolina. Did a couple great Solo dives today with the Standard Gear, and Pony bottle.


Conducted thorough pre-dive check (since solo), and gave me an opportunity to practice running guideline, finning and bouyancy. Carried new Sartek light as blogged previously.

Only highlight of the day was when I was reeling in on Dive Number 1, noticed that I seemed to have something tugging on the other end of my guideline. I thought for a second that maybe I might have caught a fish, but you guessed it, some stroke was trying to pull himself along my line.

Remember the guideline rules of etiquitte:

1. If visibility is good, there is no need to ever touch a guideline.
2. You should never pull or tug on a guideline.
3. The guideline is meant as a directional reference, not a means of propulsion.
4. If visibility is bad, you should circle your index finger and thumb around the line, managing your bouyancy by touch contact on the line.
5. Finally, never remove or cut a guideline that you have not personally placed.

Over 3 dives, max depth was about 80', and bottom temperature 61 degrees F. The Bones Family was in full force today, and asked me to pass along the important message above to the diving community!


Until next time - Dive Safe.


Caribbean Blue.

Diving the "Haunted Forest" - Lake Jocassee

Training dive yesterday at the Divers Boat Ramp at Lake Jocassee.

Equipment for the dive as follows;

• Fred T SS Backplate with STA, Hog webbing
• 100 cuft Worthington HP Steel Tank (31% Nitrox)
• 30 cuft AL Pony (slung left side) - Bailout Bottle
• Mk 20/S600/R190 Long hose configuration
• 7mm Bare Fullsuit with Henderson 3mm Hood
• Salvo 400 foot Primary reel
• Brand New Sartek 10W HID Canister Light - more on this later!
• Scubapro Jet Fins
• Suunto Vyper Computer

Dive profile as follows:

• Depth: Max - 130 feet, Average - 68 feet
• Dive time: 33:40
• Temperature: 68 degrees surface, 52 degrees bottom
• SAC Rate: 0.7 SCFM (a little high)

Buddy and I did a training dive yesterday to practice some of the cavern skills from the NSS-CDS course earlier this year (see blog below for review). We started off in the water with a match check, bubble check, S Drill, then checked gas and calculated turn pressure. I was diving a 100 cuft tank, and buddy was diving a 130 cuft, so my turn pressure ruled. Objective was to do a deep dive into the "Haunted Forest" on the North side of the divers boat ramp, and I was going to practice tie-offs and running the guideline. The Divers Boat Ramp is located in Devil's Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina.

First time diving with the new Sartek 10W Canister light with 2 Lithium Batteries (CBPS4.5LIH10MRFS - burn time 8 hours). The light has a high quality industrial feel to it, and all cords, connections, etc. look like they are made for the long run. I believe this light has the new Brightstar bulb, but have not been able to confirm this fact. A lot of discussion and Pro's and Con's about the Brightstar vs. Welch-Allyn bulbs can be found on the web. The light came with 2 110Volt wall chargers, 2 car chargers, and also a light clip and brass snap-link, but no handle. Instruction sheets are bare bones, and included with each of the components. Would be good if they included a little more instruction for the care and feeding of the Li-Ion batteries. Batteries as delivered were nearly full, so just topped them off and connected them for the dive.

I connected the light directly to my backplate with 2 SS links. The band spacing on the light matched the hole spacing on my backplate, so this worked well. I do not like the metal to metal connection in case I need to hand off or ditch the light, but I will eventually change the canister to belt mount when I get some time to reconfigure. Mounted the canister switch down, and was easily able to reach and turn the light on and off. This light has the newer rotating white on/off switch.

I ended up going with the Dive Rite elastic hand mount handle. It was substantially cheaper than Sartek Goodman handle which is made from milled aluminum (about $18 vs. $65). The clip from the handle to the light head light perfectly, if not just a little bit loose. One disappointment was that the dive Rite handle has two screws attaching the clip to the handle, and when I first attached the head to the handle and rotated the head, the exposed screws scratched the black anodized light head. Oh well - knew it would happen sooner or later.

So how does the light work? I bet you were wondering when I would get to this. The light beam at depth is very bright, with a slight bluish tint. The beam was able to penetrate a considerable distance, and it did not pick up much backscatter from the suspended silt particles. The light has a focusable head, and I tried various settings at depth in the woods, but really didn't see much of a substantial difference. I'm sure at night this would be more obvious.

I have read all the debates about Right hand vs. left for carrying the light head, but used the light head on my right hand for the majority of the dive. Even with deploying my Primary reel also in the right hand using my thumb to control line tension, no issue at all with controlling the reel and light together. As you can imagine, reeling the line in was a little more interesting since I was holding the reel in my left hand, and was reeling in with the right. However, since the Salvo reel is "ambidextrous", I may try reeling in with the left hand just for fun. As a side note, I also have an OMS Safety reel, and I find the reeling action of the Salvo reel substantially smoother.

Weighting - just a short comment about this critical topic. With the Pony on the left, and the canister on the right, weighting balance was about right side to side. I was concerned about this initially, and in the end decided against wearing any ballast to offset. If I am wearing the Pony alone, sometimes I will wear a 2 pound weight on the right side to offset. So, no additional weight on this dive.

After reeling in, I was at turn pressure, and Buddy and I turned the dive. Did a slow ascent, deep stop, and safety stop. Finished the dive with about 700 psi. SAC was a little high as noted above, but considering the task loading, depth, and temperature - was OK. Temperature was a brisk 52 degrees (buddy recorded 50 degrees) at depth, but I was fairly warm with the Bare 7mm Arctic Full suit. I have blogged about this before, but this is a great affordable suit with wrist and calf seals inside the suit to limit the water exchange. I was diving 31% Nitrox, so was limited to about 132 feet at 1.6 PPO2. Don't usually like to dive at 1.6, but as the dive profile indicates, was at this depth for a limited time. At depth, minimum NDL time from going into Decompression was 3 minutes, so didn't push it too close to the limit.

Duke Power formed Lake Jocassee in the early 1970’s as they were creating the nearby Oconee Nuclear Plant, and a considerable amount of land and forests were flooded to create this lake (along with Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell). The tree trunks at depth are a stark contrast against the sepia colored water, and give the dive site an interesting composition where you would expect to see the "Headless Horseman" come riding through at any minute. The remaining tree trunks and branches give the site an eerie other world feeling. This interesting contrast is why I like to call this dive site the "Haunted Forest".

Until next time - Dive Safe.

Caribbean Blue.

Diving Lake Jocassee for the first time in 2007

Been a couple of weeks since the last post. Yes I have been diving, but nothing new to report since most dives were at the "Hot Hole" at Lake Keowee.

So - had the opportunity to dive the "Junk" Wreck for the first time in 2007. Our local Dive Shop has finally moved back to Jocassee since it should be warmer - little did we know! The weather was fantastic outside, and one of the best days so far this year. Air temperature was near 80, and only a few clouds in the sky and little winds. Water level at the lake was -1.1' below full pond, which was very unusual. This made the sites about 20 feet deeper than my last dives here in November/December 2006.

We loaded the students on the boat - who were on their second (and final) day of Open Water Certification. Took the short boat ride over to the Junk Wreck. Tied off the boat, completed the dive briefing, then the group splashed in - 6 students, the instuctor, and I was DM'ing for the dive.

Visibility was suprizingly good at about 20' until the students stirred up the bottom!. Max depth was about 65', water temp a brisk 55 degrees, and a total dive time of 22 minutes. All in all a good dive, and we swam around the wreck several times giving the students a chance to acclimate to the depth (and temperature). Just as we were settling in, a student indicated he only had 1000 psi (turn pressure was stated as 1500 psi in the dive briefing!), so we turned the dive. I gave the thumbs up to all students, and directed them back to the line for the acsent and safety stop. After the students turned, I went back to the wreck and did a final sweep to make sure no one left behind. Students did an excellent slow ascent up the line, and safety stop.

Most students had at least 1500 psi left, so we made the short trip over to the rock wall near the Junk, and did a second dive. Considerably shallower here, and I ended up with Max Depth of 42 feet, water temp 57 degrees, and dive time of 23 minutes. I had about 2100 psi left starting the dive (100 cuft steel tank), and really enjoyed this dive. Since the students were technically certified, they were more or less on their own, and I went in and first check the anchor set, then swam to the wall, starting deep, and worked my way up checking the student groups I passed to make sure they were OK and air was holding. Visibility again was very good at about 20 feet, and this was a very peaceful dive and opportunity to work on frog kick and bouyancy. Bouyancy on this dive was about the best I have had. Turned the dive, and navigated underwater to where I thought the boat was, and unbelievably came up at the boat ladder. Considering the depth, low vis, and dive time, this made a great finish to the dive!

Will be back out again soon with the classes, and hope to see you at the Lake!

Dive Safe,

Caribbean Blue.

Review of NSS-CDS Cavern Diver Course

Just returned last weekend from the NSS-CDS Cavern Diver Course with instructor Johnny Richards (and instructor candidate Teppo) at Ginnie Springs, Florida. There were a total of 6 students in the class from our LDS (a couple of Divemasters, an instructor, and a couple of Public Safety Divers). We traveled to Branford on Thursday, and stayed at the Steamboat Dive Inn. This is a no-frills motel, and with a cheap price you get cheap accommodations. I am not easily bothered by a place to sleep after a long day of diving, but some are, and did not like the way housekeeping and maintenance attended to things. But - you can't complain too much at the price!

Anyway - on to the training. We started at 9:00 on Friday at the Ginnie Springs store and met Johnny, and the course proceeded as follows;

• Friday Morning - moved upstairs to the classroom, and spent the morning discussing Cave diving accident analysis, light signals, hand signal, propulsion techniques, and a discussion about pre-dive safety checks (equipment check, bubble check, S-drill, turn pressure) and cavern hazards - with many sobering examples of cave accidents.


• Friday Afternoon - after a very quick lunch break, we moved outside and set up our gear as if we were ready for a dive. What followed next was a person-by-person critique of our gear set-up for Cave Diving. Very specific evaluation was done of each person's set-up by Johnny and Teppo. Following this, we moved over to the picnic tables where Johnny laid out a guideline course, and discussed the fine points of guideline placement and tie-off, and then line following techniques, and blackout hand signals. We were broken into our two-man teams for land drills that took us until late afternoon.


• Friday Evening - For "homework", we were asked to do a dive with our teams and practice Primary and Secondary tie-offs, Cavern Penetration, and buddy techniques. This proved to be a lesson in task loading, while simultaneously trying to manage the Primary Reel, dive light, buoyancy, and equalize. We took turns running in the reel and trying to find the right tie-off points.


• Saturday Morning - We were asked to start early Saturday since the weekend crowd can stir up the cavern pretty quickly. When my buddy and I got to the spring at about 7:30, we were greeted with 16 degree F temperatures (I thought this was sunny Florida)! My wetsuit was a little damp from the night before, and it actually froze before I could put it on. Luckily, there is a heated shower room close by with hot water, and we actually donned our wetsuits in the hot shower! The morning consisted of swims along an open water guideline course with mask, without mask, and with blackout masks, all while sharing air in buddy teams. Although akward at first, this became easier as you learn to depend on your buddy, and communicate through touch contact and hand signals. Johnny also demonstrated flawless propulsion techniques for the group. After the in-water line drills, we ran several guidelines into the Ginnie Ballroom Cavern in our buddy teams. These started easy, but grew progressively harder with increased complexity and simulated emergencies to test the teams. These exercises lasted until early afternoon when we were given a quick break for tank fills, and meet again at Devils Ear for the "fun dive".


• Saturday Afternoon - The highlight of the training was a Cavern Dive at Devils Ear. After assembling we were broken into 2 groups of 3 divers. Johnny did the hard work and ran a reel and guided a Cavern Dive into the entrance of Devils Ear to where the Grim Reaper sign is present. What was amazing was the flow coming out of the case system - you literally had to climb your way into the Cavern. Then, one-by-one, he took each student into the entrance of the Cave system where two tunnels were present. Each student was asked which way was the correct way out, left or right? Pick the right way, you live, the wrong way, you die. The answer? You have to take the class to find out! Following this great Cavern dive, we re-assembled in the classroom for some basics about Cave Geology, and a review and discussion of the written exam for the course.

Conclusion - I have to compliment Johnny for his patience, the professional manner which he conducted the course, and his grasp of the material. It is evident he has lived the evolution of cave diving in the Florida Springs, and the Cavern course is an excellent introduction to gear configuration, safety techniques in an overhead environment, and a great intro to Cave Formations.

Highly recommended.

Diving the "Hot Hole"

1/14/07 - Dove the "Hot Hole" at Lake Keowee today. So named because this is the outflow from the cooling water from the Oconee Nuclear Reactor. In the winter this spot is popular due to the warmer water conditions (at least 15 degrees) compared to other upstate lakes. We loaded the boat at Warpath Landing, then took the short ride over to the structure. After mooring the boat, the group got ready and splashed in. We navigated around to the edge of the headwall structure underwater, and then literally climbed our way to the middle of the spillway over the rocks at a depth of about 35' in the face of the current.

Water was blasting out of the structure, and this will literally rip the mask off your face if you do not face up current as you are moving to the center of the structure. After you are in the middle of the current, it is simply a matter of letting go, putting a shot or two of air in the BC to get slightly higher in the water column, and turning 180 degrees to let the current take you downstream for the ride!

After a couple minutes, a noticeable thermocline confronts you, where you take a 90 degree turn to the right (150 to 180 degree compass heading) and the eddy currents will take you back around for another ride.

Dive profile/conditions:

Max Depth - 44 feet
Avg Depth - 33 feet
Air Temperature - 70 degrees F
Water Temperature - 68 degrees F
Dive time - 31 minutes (for 3 circuits) - (Also did a second dive of 15 minutes)
Air used - 52 Cubic Feet

Equipment:

SS Backplate & Deep Outdoors 34# wing
100cf HP steel Tank
7 mm Bare Arctic Fullsuit + 3mm Bare Thermal vest with 7mm hood
5mm Instadry Gloves
ScubaPro Jet Fins

Great dive - highly recommended.

Vyper Computer Wrist Mount Review

Test dive yesterday with the new Suunto Vyper wrist mount from Deep Sea Supply (purchased 12/06, $18.00 USD). The mount is similar to the Compass mount in my previous post. Probably the hardest part of the conversion was getting the Vyper out of the old factory wrist band. Since I had already changed the batteries in the Vyper last year, I had some experience with getting the Vyper out of its housing. Once I had the Vyper down to bare bones the installation was really easy into the Deep Sea Supply wrist mount, and the computer sits very securely in the new housing . I really like the fact that the computer actually has a lower profile in the new wrist mount than in the old factory wrist band. As noted with the SK-7 compass mount, the mount allows dual bungee bands (3/16" bungee, 1 on each side), and there are also 2 mounting holes in each corner which allows the computer to be mounted slightly rotated making it easier to view while on the wrist. With the dual bungees, I could eliminate the leash that I used to wear connected to the Suunto wristband in case a pin broke. Also, like the compass mount, the bungee (purchased separately) was a little tight getting over the hand, but was just right in the wrist over my 7mm Bare Artic full suit. After the dive, returned home and downloaded the dive data via the Suunto Dive Manager package. There is a slot in the bottom of the Deep Sea Supply mount that accesses the data connection, and the transfer data went without issue.

Overall very pleased with the mount, and give it 5 out of 5 Seahorses.

Pressure Guage Review

Installed new Scubapro pressure gauge to replace my old Aeris 3 Gauge Console (Pressure, Depth, and Compass). Installed on a 32" hose, and found the length was just right so that it reached my left hip D-ring. Used cave line and bolt snap to finish out the installation.

Worked very well, and the pressure reading was very legible during the dive. Very clean installation.

Only issue was that with 5mm Henderson Insta-Dry gloves the bolt snap was a little hard to operate!

Deep Sea Supply SK-7 Compass Mount Review

Test dive today with the new compass mount. Pictured is the Deep Sea Supply wrist mount for the Suunto SK-7 Compass (Purchased 12/06, $12.00 USD). I had a major problem converting the compass from the factory wrist band to this new mount, and actually destroyed the rotating silver bezel on top. This will have to be replaced, and the new part is on order from my local Aqua Lung dealer (who services Suunto equipment). I may have been able to avoid the damage if I had of soaked the compass in hot water as recommended before I attempted to remove the bezel - who knows!

Also installed some 3/16" bungee cord (purchased separately - note very small size) for the wrist mount, and the mount has 2 redundant straps in case one should break. I found the bungee very tight, and does not give very much when putting the compass on over the hands. Hopefully this will stretch a little more when the bungee gets broken in. The marks on the bungee strap in the photo were made to indicate band sizing without wetsuit, and were used to help me determine length to cut the bungee.

A neat feature of the device is that it has 2 mounting holes on each corner which allows you to offset the mount slightly to orient it closer to your eye without having to bend the arm too far to get the compass aligned properly.

Finish of the mount is fairly clean molded black plastic.

Overall I would rate the wrist mount 4 out of 5 Seahorses. Suggested improvements would be larger holes in the corners so that standard rubber surgical tubing could be used.

New dive gear configuration test tomorrow

Heading to Lake Jocassee tomorrow to test some new equipment configuration as follows;

• Replaced Aeris SPG (with Depth Guage and compass) with Scubapro Guage (no boot) on 32" hose. Have a bolt snap attached to SPG with cave line.


• Moved Suunto Vyper computer and Suunto SP7 compass to bungee wrist mount (from Deep Sea Supply) with dual bungees on each device. Typically mount the computer on left wrist, and compass on right wrist.


• Old computer configuration is shown above - with wrist slate and trusty dive watch. (also note Henderson 5mm Instra-Dry gloves - very warm!)

Expect water Temperature in low to mid 50's, so will be interested to see how the wet suit combination performs (see previous post for 61 degree dive). This is not a major gear change, but want to test the configuration to see how things work. Also plan to deploy my reel and run some line for fun. Looking forward to NSS/CDS Cavern Course inFebruary 2007, and trying to get my gear in shape!

Will post an update afterward to let you know how things worked!

Dive Safe!

Caribbean Blue Logo

I have developed a Series of Logo files for Caribbean Blue. Let me know what you think!