Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

My deco first stage has BURN MARKS on the inside of it! Pure 02 had to have been igniting a bit inside of the stage, probably while I was opening the valve underwater and/or breathing it. Scary as gently caress. New reg time.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Mar 30, 2012

# ¿ Mar 30, 2012 18:19

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 00:13

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I just use 50% on dives that are less than ~160 feet and I feel a lot safer with it. If I'm carrying 100%, it's my second deco gas and I'm probably heading pretty deep. I really don't know what happened, or when it happened. I noticed some corrosion on that stage before my trip a couple of weeks ago and I replaced an o-ring and did some basic cleaning, but I did not tear it down enough to see this. For all I know that's been there for months. The whole thing was 02 cleaned about a year ago so it has to have been some time between then and now. The thing I'm taking from it is that even though you use deco stages at shallower depths, that's no excuse to retire your old backgas stages to deco unless they are still in fantastic shape. This one was not.

I guess another thing to think about is, 02 tank explosions are always publicized but they're still rare from a standpoint of incidents per 1000 uses or whatever. I'm getting more parinoid with time though, but I have to have pure 02 in many situations so the best thing I can do is have more diligence.

edit: I'll add my what my equipment tech (who knows far more than me about these things) had to say about it:

quote:

I've seen this a time or two before, and I suspect it is some "flash" ignition when 100% oxygen is run through the reg if it is being used as a deco reg. On one hand, this is kind of scary, because it means you are getting some burning inside the reg. The way you can avoid this is to make sure that you open the tank valve SLOWLY when you are using this as a deco reg. It might be good to switch out of the Sherwood for that purpose, also because it can be prone to getting more contaminants on the inside.

So I probably wasn't about to die but this stage is gonna become a pool one, if that.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Mar 30, 2012

# ¿ Mar 30, 2012 18:55

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I've dove in some pretty poor areas of the Bahamas and I can say that just being nice to and hanging out with the locals while spending your delicious tourist dollars is enough. If you want to make some sort of donation to a local school or something, I think it would be best to do it privately, maybe after leaving. People have a lot of pride even in the poorer areas. Unless they're literally starving they don't want you to come in acting superior, etc. Just my experience.

e: I'll add a pic of my first stage. As you can see, it's been completely broken down. The black marks you can see are more "charcoal dust" than burned into the metal. poo poo the more I think about it, I had that hose detached... I either missed something major or this happened when I was diving a couple weeks ago. Triple edit: There's no way I missed that. It had to have happened one of the last few times I used it. Funny thing is, it breathed great for all 7 deco dives I used it on. For the peanut gallery, this poo poo is absolutely not something you need to worry about when doing normal diving.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Mar 31, 2012

# ¿ Mar 31, 2012 06:15

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

BiggerJ posted:

Bishop said that this should be done in private:

I've got a feeling this is the type of thing that should be approached on a case by case basis.

SlicerDicer posted:

Some photos from backside of Lanai by barge harbor and Lighthouse.

More great photos... The lighting and focus on your macro stuff is good as always. One day I'll buy/steal an underwater camera and try to take pics of stuff. Until then, I'll replicate the only photo you always post that I can, the myspace angle of me on an AP rebreather! Not underwater but I'm breathing on the loop damnit.

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Bishop fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Apr 2, 2012

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 06:38

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

rockcity posted:

You clearly haven't looked at what underwater camera gear costs have you? Oh god, please don't look, think of the children!
(I'm a photographer too and this is going to be the death of my wallet)

This gives me an excuse to post a pic of a video rig some guy over at thedecostop has.

That's four, yes four 50 watt HID lights. For reference, one 21 watt HID is a very good primary light for most cave/wreck divers.
http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50188

Kaal posted:

I don't understand, why shouldn't he wear split fins?

Potential huge derail here that eventually leads back to a DIR argument. So to start: use whatever fins you want. None are going to kill you. THAT SAID, I would never use split fins. I like stiff single fins. Jet fins ideally. I think the fine tune control they give you is superb, especially in environments where kicks are super important like overhead. Also I don't buy the argument that some split fins give you more power. I think they just make kicking easier because you aren't moving as much water. Willing to be proven wrong on that second point though.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Apr 2, 2012

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 19:06

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Crunkjuice posted:

100% truth

OK now let's try and start an argument about the value of wearing a snorkel. GO!

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 19:55

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I'm gonna have to wear one during DM training aren't I.

I don't even wear a snorkel when I'm snorkeling.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2012 22:13

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

macado posted:

What's the consensus on what size deco bottles to use? Does it make sense to use AL80s since I have plenty of those or should I purchase an AL40 and use it exclusively for deco?

I would absolutely buy/rent an AL40 for deco. 99% of dives I stage one 40 of 50% and if needed another of 100%. 80s are cumbersome to sling (much easier to sidemount but I doubt that's where you are going) and you aren't going to need that much deco gas for TDIs deco procedures class.

Also it's a good idea to have your initials on your deco tank, as well as the maximum operating depth (MOD) if you plan to only use one gas with it. My 100% bottle has an "OXYGEN 20" decal, but my other deco bottle sometimes carries different poo poo so I put the MOD on it using duct tape and a sharpie depending. Both have my initials. You're only gonna need one deco tank for that class. ZoCrowes is a TDI instructor and may teach it so he might be a good guy to ask too.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Apr 3, 2012

# ¿ Apr 3, 2012 07:07

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Tomberforce posted:

Say, for example you have a sinkhole 80 metres deep. At the bottom of the sinkhole there are caves extending off horizontally. Is the water pressure exerted on the diver in these caves inclusive of the pressure depth of the sinkhole, or is it limited by the enclosed nature of the caves?

Water pressure is water pressure. Water does not compress (much). Think of how hydraulics work. If you branch off of a sinkhole into a cave, the pressure stays the same as if you were in open water. The water above you is exerting the same amount of pressure even if you have branched off from the main artery.

While we are on cave videos. I love this one. This cave is on my bucket list.
http://vimeo.com/37042655

Bishop fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Apr 3, 2012

# ¿ Apr 3, 2012 22:45

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Gromit posted:

I'm strictly easy scuba

Easy SCUBA owns. As much as I post about wreck diving and my inevitable death, there's nothing more relaxing than taking my runabout out, mooring up to a reef where nobody else is, dropping down to the sand at 20-30ft and just hanging out watching the fish pass by.

semicolonsrock posted:

I'd just like to say that I never knew this stereotype existed.

It's been around for as long as I can remember. There's no respawn points in the ocean so I guess it's kind of scary for people on a website that started out as mostly gamers.

SlicerDicer posted:

This is a severe problem with rebreathers is that they do not work the same way as open circuit that its always breathable at the surface. Hence why you can breathe yourself to death.

Go on a boat full of mostly open circuit people, and breathe on the loop for 5 minutes (like you're supposed to) pre-dive. When someone inevitably asks you what you're doing, truthfully respond that it's better to pass out on the boat than in the water and watch the look on their face.

The "recreational rebreathers" are an oxymoron to me. The technology is definitely getting more reliable but regardless of any safety issues, I don't see the point. The people using them are doing dives that can be accomplished with simpler gear. It's going to be a growing market and word on the boats is that AP, Innerspace systems, and the other big boys are looking to put out their own units.

SlicerDicer posted:

Are they going to spend the time needed to verify positive and negative pressure checks? Keep eye on mushroom valves?

What's funny is that during its automatic pre-dive test, the Mark VI (the only recreational 'breather I know of?) does it's own positive/negative pressure test. You don't touch it or anything. Kind of freaks me out.

Also it's getting to be summer. Anybody got trips/training planned yet? I know macado is doing deco procedures which is a good class that opens up a ton of doors. E: I'm personally doing divemaster so I can become a master of the diving and help teach people. Other than that, more of the same. There's lots of wrecks up along the eastern Florida coast that I've never dove and I've finally got a bead on some people that run private charters to them. You gotta hot drop onto a lot of them which is like my favorite thing in the world to do. It does suck if you miss the wreck though.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Apr 11, 2012

# ¿ Apr 11, 2012 01:24

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

rockcity posted:

Not really any big trips per se, but I mentioned before that I'm heading to the Keys around Aug 2nd-5th. Let me know if you end up being down there around that time. I'd love to head out with you off your boat in Key Largo.

I'm almost 100% sure I will be. We can do pretty much whatever type of diving you want. I'm on the north side of key largo and about ~20 minutes away from reefs that shops rarely visit because it's too far out of their way. I'm also 45-50 minutes from the artificial wrecks and I can give some pretty cool tours (outside, inside, or both) that stay well within no deco limits.

That's also a standing offer for anyone that posts in these threads. I don't know exact dates yet but I might simply be down there the entire summer.

Slicer, when I get around to it I'm going to throw some of your pics in the OP if that's cool with you. Also if anyone has suggestions on stuff to add or change, post 'em or PM me.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Apr 11, 2012

# ¿ Apr 11, 2012 15:25

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Tuff Ghost posted:

I got a chance to dive the USS Vandenburg wreck out of Key West a few weeks ago. It was a 2-tank dive with a 45 min surface interval. My max depth was 97' with an average bottom time of about 17 min. Lot's of colorful fish(sorry, didn't pay attention in my water naturalist course) and some barracudas hanging out in the shadows. The best part of this wreck is that the first deck or so are open and easy to navigate. It was my first time penetrating a wreck and it was a great experience. If anyone is ever in the Keys I'd definitely recommend it.

Yeah it's a pretty neat wreck. The satellite dishes give it a distinctive touch. It's also the largest wreck I've ever dove, artificial or otherwise. I spent over an hour on it and still barely got to do a lap and see the major sights. Sand is '150ish, which is also about how deep you have to go to see the rudder, which is pretty impressively large. Only did some minor penetration (no line running) but there were tons of cool looking areas. The only downside is it's a newly sunk wreck so there isn't much growth on it yet. I know this is in the OP but in case you missed it, here's some free divers running around on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU_IF20t2R8

# ¿ Apr 12, 2012 20:15

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

In south Florida a lot of shops will cancel trips for 5-7s. The commercial boat I use in Key Largo will take its tech trips out unless the boat is in literal danger of sinking. Ok that's not quite true because you need near perfect conditions for some of the deeper wrecks. What's funny is the hardcore cave divers who get seasick because they rarely ocean dive. :3:

rockcity, Bishop's dive boat of doom goes out in anything less than a category 4 hurricane. In all honesty though I just got this boat last summer and compared to ones I've had in the past it handles rough seas like a dream (heavy, sharp bow, 27 feet), so if I cancel on you it's definitely for a good reason.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Apr 14, 2012

# ¿ Apr 14, 2012 16:41

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

IM FROM THE FUTURE posted:

That things looks pretty rad.

I need something with a small cutting beam for bad viz and looking in holes deep holes. I just bought a new dinky led light and its usuless with a too-wide wide beam. Is the beam on that light you posted thin?

I'd recommend this. This is the Scubapro model but I've been told that the exact same light is sold by other companies. I carry it as one of my backups, and although I think it's a little more fragile than the halcyon backup I carry (The halcyon scouts are close to indestructible*), this is the light I hand of to someone if they need one. It has a good tight beam and cuts through silt and darkness better than any non canister light I've seen.
http://www.scubastore.com/scuba-diving/scubapro-nova-light-230/6962/p?utm_source=google_products&utm_medium=merchant

Bishop fucked around with this message at 23:57 on May 15, 2012

# ¿ May 15, 2012 23:48

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

*I say the halcyon scouts are more indestructible because of their design. In the attached picture I've taken apart both lights. The Halcyon comes completely apart. If the battery compartment floods nothing really happens. as you can see even the light housing and electrical spring comes apart. The scubapro (which is a longer light despite what the picture shows), uses a double o-ring and is made of metal instead of plastic. The metal needs more maintenance. Also the light housing can not be separated from the battery compartment like on the halcyon model. All that said, I'm just sperging about backup lights so if you are looking for a light with good penetration and a tight beam go for the scubapro one.

e: wait Rockcity: , you said you're going cavern and he wants a primary and two backups. Buy the two lights I just posted as backups, apply the bolt snaps for them, then buy a Halcyon, Light Monkey, or Salvo 21 watt HID can light. by "wrist mounted" he means "goodman handle". Sorry about your checkbook. If you're backing off of doing much cave then ignore this, but light is serious business. I have the Halcyon LED can light but if I had it to do over again I'd go with the HID. I'm not unhappy with my primary but it does not have the same beam tightness as the HIDs. Having good beam tightness cuts through silt but is also VERY important for signaling. It sounds simple in theory but below the surface it is not. Drawing a big "O" within the line of sight of the diver in front of you is saying that you are OK and asking if they are. They respond with the same. A slow back and forth movement in their line of sight is asking for attention. A fast one is signaling an emergency. One of my things that my instructor always hounded me on was that I moved my light around too much, making people in front of me think there might be a problem.

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Bishop fucked around with this message at 01:28 on May 16, 2012

# ¿ May 15, 2012 23:59

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

That's cool then. I personally don't like the wrist straps for smaller lights because if you do move into deeper overhead diving, you aren't going to have them if you need to deploy a backup light. It's good practice to handle a small light without a strap. On the other hand it's far easier to lose one without a strap so buy the light that you are diving for

# ¿ May 16, 2012 06:47

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

IM FROM THE FUTURE posted:

People are quickly using up all the helium we have on earth. Any shortages we see now are just early indicators of our bleak heliumless future.

My thoughts on this: :negative:

Helium costs so much god drat money. I try and block it out but on deeper long open circuit dives I'm approaching $150 dollars on helium alone. A rebreather burns through less helium but still. Ban all Macy's thanksgiving day parades, all children's birthday parties, and using helium for anything else beyond scientific or diving applications.

sheri posted:

Just got back from diving in Belize (Ambergris Caye). If you are ever around those parts, I highly recommend Chuck and Robbies. Their dive operation was great!

I don't know all that much about Belize! Is it mostly shore diving or do you take boats out? Are the reefs deeper with walls or are there a lot of cool things in the shallow range. I'd like to know because a friend moved there to DM and I'm trying to decide if it's worth going down to visit him

Bishop fucked around with this message at 03:59 on May 27, 2012

# ¿ May 27, 2012 03:53

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I don't care if it was a crude drawing in your wet notes (that's the best I could do I have enough expensive diving stuff without touching photography), that is one sweet rear end shark to see when you're still just entering your teens of logged dives. Awesome!

e: don't worry about barracuda. You will get plenty of chances to take pictures of them

They'll also always freak you, ok at least me, out though.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 16:03 on May 31, 2012

# ¿ May 31, 2012 12:37

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

[quote="SlicerDicer" post=""404028154"]

[/quote]This is simply fantastic. Keep shooting away. One day I'm going to stop being lazy and update the OP with you and other goons personal photography. As an aside, tell that dude that looks like he is standing on the reef to learn some buoyancy and trim control before I.... *gets dragged to wherever overhead/GUE crazies need to go*

Bishop fucked around with this message at 12:54 on May 31, 2012

# ¿ May 31, 2012 12:51

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Kaddish posted:

Isn't it a huge pain in the rear end not having a computer though? I'm just now reading through the class books and it seems like it would be a hassle having to plan dives manually. Even if only diving once a year.

Going without a computer is not the end of the world. I used to plan multi gas decompression dives with my cellphone and a bottom timer (still do, as a backup). A bottom timer is little more than a watch and depth gauge, which leads to the problem... Its tough to find a mechanical depth gauge these days so without a computer of some sort you won't know your depth! Don't most shops rent computers these days? Go that route but try to plan and execute your dives with tables For your first 20 or so dives. This gets you into good habits like checking your depth an time frequently. It will also help you develop a "feel" for what a normal no deco time is. Then once you start using more of the computers features, it is a convenience instead of a crutch.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2012 01:43

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Bob Loblaw posted:

I wanted to ask, has anyone on here besides me gotten bent?

I've had minor type 1 decompression sickness before. I was itchy and had a little joint pain. I was going to head to a chamber but it went away. There was also an incident where I ran out of gas and surfaced with 20+ minutes of deco remaining and I did in water decompression with my dive buddy. That could have developed into something real bad but I never experienced symptoms. I've dove the Spiegel Grove a ton of times, at least 50 deco dives. To be frank, your incident was a complete freak accident. Your downtime, breathing gas, and ascent rate were all perfectly within the norm of recreational diving. I've seen people get bent on the Spiegel but your dive should not have put you anywhere near that point.

Finch! posted:

How do you carry it? I'm not entirely sure where it's going to go - the only place I can think of is between two loops of surgical tube at the bottom of my backplate. It's huge even when rolled - too large for any pocket I have.

At least for me, big rear end SMBs go behind your backplate. I carry 2... a 3 foot surface marker which fits in one of my hip pockets and a 60 pound lift bag which goes behind my back plate. I should carry a taller surface marker and I'll probably break down and buy a 6 foot one soon.

E: In-water recompression is serious business and a terrible idea unless there are no other good options. I was asymptomatic, far from a chamber and had a buddy with enough pure o2 left that it seemed like a good option. We went to 15-20 feet and I breathed off of his o2 bottle. Had I developed symptoms, we would have surfaced and called the coast guard.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jun 17, 2012

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 21:40

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

rockcity posted:

Heading out with Silent World in Key Largo for a wreck/reef dive in a few minutes. I'll be bringing my gopro and my still camera with me so I hope to come back with some cool photos and footage. I'll be diving the Vandenberg in Key West on Saturday too and snorkeling Christ of the Abyss tomorrow.

This is the shop I do all of my diving with. I hope you had a good trip. I randomly checked their facebook just now and saw: "Great night dive on the Northern Light last night." Wow, just wow. Open ocean high current 200' deep wreck? gently caress it let's do a night dive. That owns so hard and i'm pretty jealous that I missed it.
Also Slicer, I hate you too

Bishop fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Aug 3, 2012

# ¿ Aug 3, 2012 04:31

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

We get hammerheads in the Keys but usually only when doing drift decos out in the gulf stream. Still it's been a while since I've seen one and god drat that's close.

SlicerDicer posted:

(Open Circus Divers)

This is just so delightfully silly I'm going to use it on a boat as soon as I get the chance. (I still mostly dive OC)

Bishop fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Aug 3, 2012

# ¿ Aug 3, 2012 05:47

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

rockcity posted:

Thanks again for the suggestion, diving with them was great. I was really hoping to do a wreck with them, but we had a really new junior diver so we did two pretty shallow dives. One at the the elbow reef and one at the ledge near the reef and drifted in. Got to practice working with a reel and surface marker which was good. I have to give Chris a big thanks, we had a mishap and my gear fell over and my tank/reg hit the boat and there was a leak. My first stage now a leak, it looks like it's a bit misaligned, but we didn't really have time to troubleshoot it. Thankfully weren't far from shore and he turned the boat and around and grabbed me a spare reg set to borrow.

Should have made that new JR open water diver do the Spiegel :getin:

I'm glad you had a good time, sorry about your reg. Don't tell Chris I said this but he's had to turn the boat around because he forgot some of his own poo poo before

OK to be really honest I forgot my backplate once (FINE, twice) and they had to turn the boat around for me too. I really like all the guys that work there. A lot of them are crazy tech divers but they take care of anybody. Plus you get better service when you're on a smaller boat than you would on one of the many cattle boats that run out of Key Largo.

The Vandenberg is giant. I've only dove it once (I think around 110m runtime?) and I just lapped it once and did a bit of peaking into things. Do they still have the art instillation with pictures of ghosts hanging laundry and such on it?

E: Slicer I put one of your pics in the OP but just so we're clear here, I still hate you

Bishop fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Aug 7, 2012

# ¿ Aug 7, 2012 05:59

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I actually think that there is a lot of merit to the standard jacket style BC. I use a backplate and wing for tech stuff and a normal jacket BC for anything else. I don't think trim is that important on a 30ft reef dive and having the air bladder in the front makes for a better life jacket if you find yourself at the surface in bad shape.

I think anyone in a normal front inflate BC will be just fine unless they are looking to do overhead dives.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2012 07:07

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Crunkjuice posted:

making BCD choices based upon possible rescue scenarios is a bit much. I think the comfort factor of a back inflate trumps a jackets style every time.

I agree with this, but I think that a lot of people are more comfortable with how a jacket floats them on the surface while they're waiting do get back on the boat or whatever. Back inflate or a backplate/wing are definitely better underwater but I don't think the difference is that huge. I still use my jacket BC quite a bit and it doesn't bother me at all.

All told, yeah back inflate is the way to go if you are comfortable with it. I just don't think jacket BCs are a bad purchase.

E: Oh god I just picked up a lot of my gear from it's annual service. Never own a ton of dive gear.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Aug 15, 2012

# ¿ Aug 15, 2012 17:27

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

jackyl posted:

My wife and I are celebrating ten years or marital something in Key West next weekend, and are going diving with Bonsai diving for two days of two tank dives. Looking forward to it! We dove a Kentucky quarry with two tanks a couple weeks ago and.... Ugh. Give me reefs!

Are you driving through the Keys? Key Largo (the first and largest one) has much better reefs than Key West does. If you have an afternoon or whatever to waste you might want to go diving there.

Also since I'm a local, which KY quarry? Joe's? Pennyroyal?

# ¿ Aug 22, 2012 21:29

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Peeing in wetsuit chat is my favorite diving chat. Just pee in your wetsuit. Warms you up on a cold dive. Feels good man.

Sotore posted:

As an experienced diver, how often do you worry about the 'bends'? And what would you recommend to any novice divers like myself about avoiding it?

I do a lot of decompression diving so I worry about it quite a bit. Getting bent is far from an exact science, I've been in situations where I definitely should have been bent but was not, and I know plenty of stories of people who did everything right on simple dives and still got bent. The best you can do is hydrate, follow the rules, and make offerings to Poseidon. E: Ascend slow, really loving slow. During your last 30 feet of ascent, 10 feet per minute is a good mark to go for. The only exception to this is when you've gone real deep and you're still rapidly ongassing until you get back up to 100' or so.

TANZENTURTLE posted:

Great pics, hope you murdered that lionfish

Clicktrack posted:

More great pics

This rules, it's always good to have more people contributing pics because an underwater camera is somewhere after a scooter on my "to buy" list.

TANZENTURTLE posted:

I noticed a while back that some people where talking about having done diving in quarries, im guessing because they live in central US states or similar circumstances. Can anyone elaborate what diving in a good quarry site is like? Do they deliberately hatch sustainable ecosystems to make them attractions?

Most of the quarries I've been in will have catfish and other types of freshwater fish in them. One type of fish comes up and nibbles on you. Dosen't really hurt, it's just annoying. I've been "bitten" more in quarries than in the ocean.

As has been said, most of what you do in a quarry is skills practice and looking at the poo poo they sunk in it. Trucks, boats, planes, helicopters, etc. One of my favorite stories is a quarry owner who had a semi that he wanted to put into the quarry, so he just drove it down the ramp into the water while wearing dive gear. I'm sure the EPA approved of that one...

Bishop fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Aug 28, 2012

# ¿ Aug 28, 2012 17:59

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Crunkjuice posted:

Skip forward to about 2 minutes in this. http://vimeo.com/44831221 I wasn't in this but in lake Travis we sunk a 3 story house boat i rode down to 100 feet. It was a controlled descent with lines from the surface so we didn't kill ourselves but that was an eerie feeling.

Also, don't dive at athens scuba park. Its run by a registered pedophile.

That's still pretty awesome. You got to experience being trapped in a sinking ship without the dying part. From what I've heard about the guy driving the semi into a quarry, he just revved the engine and drove the fucker straight in while alone. It wasn't all that deep though, maybe 30 feet.

Why are all the people that run dive quarries a little "off"?

# ¿ Aug 28, 2012 19:31

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

That link to scuba toys led me to this. Hmmm

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# ¿ Aug 29, 2012 18:50

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Yeah it would be pretty cool for that type of thing. Also (if I ever become suicidal), that would be a useful thing to tow down with you so you could come out of the rest of your rig and fit through extra tight restrictions.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2012 19:36

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

The scuba pro nova 230 is an awesome 3 cell LED light with good brightness and a tight beam. I think I paid 130 for it. It can seriously handle being a primary in many overhead situations, it's that good for the money. I use it as one of my backups (the other being a more robust halcyon scout that is not as bright/tight). Now let me explain to you why you need a HID canister light,

Bishop fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Sep 4, 2012

# ¿ Sep 2, 2012 04:29

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Unless you plan on doing overhead diving don't worry too much about fining techniques beyond "don't kick the reef". Buoyancy and trim is still pretty important. With buoyancy, you want to be able to maintain your depth so you don't sink into the bottom or bolt towards the surface. It also helps you make a controlled ascent. Having good (close to horizontal) trim reduces your drag and makes moving around far easier, which in turn reduces your gas consumption and increases your dive time!

Bishop fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Sep 4, 2012

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 01:32

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 06:30

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

I'm moving to Miami in early October. This should benefit my diving significantly. :parrot:

# ¿ Sep 5, 2012 00:18

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

bluey26 posted:

Hate to bump my own post, but does anyone hear have any info on this?

I'm not sure anybody among our crew dives that area with any frequency...
I'd go look around here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/red-sea/ and post a thread if you don't find what you need.

rockcity posted:

Well now we're definitely going to have to go diving sometime.

drat straight. I'll let you know once I get settled and we can plan some poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2012 17:38

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

In my experience rubbing some toothpaste in with your fingertip then rinsing it works very well as a way to prep your mask before a trip. Also spit in your mask before every dive. I'm bot sure if the toothpaste hurts the mask but it is not something I worry about. I adopt whatever masks people leave in my shed (although I like my primary enough that I will probably replace it with the same model if it goes bad...). Suffice to say I'm not too strict on masks: if they don't leak or fog and you like them, go for it.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2012 03:44

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

Mr.AARP posted:

I had a relatively empty Senior year schedule.

That's one way to deal with senioritis... Good luck and enjoy it! My senior year I just skipped class and smoked weed. (although I got certified when I was 13 :smug:

)

In me news, I am now living in Key Largo for at least the next 3 months. Got my gear, my boat, my favorite shop only 20 minutes away. Life is good. If anyone wants to come down and dive shoot me a PM or post in this thread. We can take my boat and I can even provide gear. I should be free on weekends, but I need some advance heads up because I'll sometimes schedule tech trips a week or two in advance.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Oct 11, 2012

# ¿ Oct 11, 2012 02:18

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

rockcity posted:

Nitrogen builds up faster the deeper you go because the pressure on your body is what causes the nitrogen to dissipate from your body slower.

Well, sorta. The main problem is that you are taking in a much larger volume of gas at depth per breath. If you are at 33ft/10m, you are taking in twice the amount per breath that you would on the surface, 66ft 3 times, and so on. Then you have Henry's law, which for our purposes means that the body's tissues can absorb and hold more nitrogen the deeper we are. So the deeper we go, the more we on-gass. We're also off-gassing nitrogen into our blood stream, which then in turn escapes the body mostly through our lungs when we exhale. If you ascend to fast (or past your decompression ceiling if you're doing a deco dive), you are offgassing faster than you can expell the nitrogen and then those pesky bubbles form. That's a nutshell version of it.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Oct 12, 2012

# ¿ Oct 12, 2012 01:27

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 00:13

Bishop: Aug 15, 2000

6-9 foot seas? No problem let's go loving deco diving. I dive with a group of people that are equally as crazy as me for better or worse.

DreadLlama posted:

someone near me is selling a set of HOG regulators for about $250 (local currency). As I do not currently own regs, this might be good. But I've never heard of HOG before this sell ad was posted, so I don't know if they're a shite brand or not.
...
As far as I can tell, they're primarily for tech diving

A lot of tech divers like the HOG regs because they are pretty cheap and reliable. They became a fad over the past few years and people would laugh at my overpriced scubapro regs and then I'd cry and... anyways. HOG regs seem to be very good impersonations of Apex regs (as Macado said) and they are solid. More importantly they are cheaper and apparently the service kits are easy to get ahold of so you can maintain them yourself if you are so inclined. They would be fine for any type of diving

IM FROM THE FUTURE posted:

Best mask defog tech is burning the lens with a lighter until its covered in soot and then cleaning off. Same thing ad toothpaste only way more effective.

This blows my mind. I'm scared to try it so I'll do it first with a throwaway mask.

rockcity posted:

That as well. I was trying not to get too into the full technical science behind it all and focus on when Nitrox is beneficial.

I figured as much I just wanted to add to it a bit for the nerds out there (and to make sure I remembered it)

macado posted:

Half tempted to come down. I havent been to Keys in about 4 years. Would love to do some tech diving on Spiegel Grove.

Boat and lodging is on me. I don't have extra tech gear but if you flew in I could probably borrow/rent from someone.

pupdive posted:

OOA gas sharing either matters, in which the octopus should be on the left for the OOA diver's benefit (or it should be a left running hose, or an Oceanic Omega/Poseidon type), or the octopus is just something we pay lip service too, and we can mount it on the right because it does not matter that is gets pulled out of the OOA divers mouth in an actual gas sharing situation.

I've got a crazy solution to this one... bungee your backup reg around your neck and have a long hose on your primary. Donate your primary during an emergency and switch to the one around your neck. Learning how to donate your primary and switching to a secondary on your neck is pretty simple and it's not something that should be confined to tech diving.

Like crunkjuice said, having a second stage on your BC inflator hose is another way to do it to.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Oct 14, 2012

# ¿ Oct 13, 2012 22:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask us about SCUBA (and other forms of) diving!

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