First day of diving - the Vandenberg wreck in Key West, FL.
After 8 1/2 years of diving, I had my first (personal) near-emergency dive today. Diving in fairly low viz on the Vandenberg - about 10-15 minutes into the dive, I lost track of my buddy. I wasn't too worried... until I noticed an unusual amount of bubbles hitting my chin. I looked down at my computer to find out I was loosing air pretty fast!!! I scrambled (a bit anxiously) to find my dive buddy (and husband) - Russell. It seemed like a few minutes while I was looking for him, watching my computer - showing my air dissappear and slowly ascending, but it probably was only a minute or less. Thank goodness for my signaling device! Once I spotted Russell, I was able to get his attention (since I was now above him). Once I found him... I knew I'd be okay. I took out my primary reg. & put in my secondary - to see that there was a big leak where it connects... to the hose!!! (I just had it checked out & serviced - BTW!)
Between the time I discovered the leak & the time I made a safe ascent (about 5 minutes) - I lost 1000 psi through that leak!!! (for the non-divers - that is a third of the air that is in a FULL tank... but my tank wasn't full at the time.) The Vandenberg is a fairly deep dive. I believe I was at about 85 feet when I noticed the leak.
During our surface interval, Russell took my regulator apart & managed to clean out the connection & put it back together - this seemed to work. So, even though I was a little nervous - using the same regulator - I went back down for a second dive. That leak didn't happen again, but there were 2 very small leaks in other places - not enough to worry about - but I do plan on getting my regulator worked on, now that I am back. I think I will even get new hoses. So, the second dive on the Vandenberg went well. The current did pick up quite a bit from the first dive though - which made it pretty difficult to get back to the line. But, it was a very good dive.... I even found an octopus on the wreck!
August 8, 2010
Second day of diving (and my B-day) - we just went to some nice shallow reefs in Key Largo.
August 9, 2010
Third day of diving - Key Largo - More reefs, and the Christ statue
August 10, 2010
Forth day of diving - Key Largo - the Spiegel Grove Wreck & the Benwood Wreck
The ocean was pretty rough this day. The waves were 5-6 feet. It was a bit tricky getting my video camera - as the boat was bouncing around. Then it was also a bit of a struggle to pull myself along the line with one hand, as the other kept my camera safe, to get to the buoy line... while the big waves were crashing into me. Once I made it to the buoy line & was able to begin my decent - the dive was awesome! There was even a turtle hanging out inside the wreck. When I stopped to take some video of him - he slowly moved right up to the doorway - to give me a better view. I guess he likes to be a model!
After the Spiegel Grove - we went to the Benwood - which is severely damaged - strewn out in pieces, but still a very interesting dive - with lots of fish. I even spotted a large spotted eagle ray - the ray even made a wide circle around me a couple times! Lucky me!!
