scububa
September 23rd, 2007, 12:36 PM
This is the sequel to my post on Bull Shoals Spear fishing trip...
After a day of spear fishing at Bull Shoals and returning to Table Rock...
I had picked up some parts for assembling my own set of doubles (after having used a set of SLIM's for a while). I was going to dive with Roger, so while he went out to work the morning dive shop trip for the State Park Marina, I assembled my doubles. SLIM had ordered some parts in for me. In fact, I thought he had ordered too many parts, as I had already bought a set of used bands. But, when I got into putting them together, I saw that the bands SLIM ordered were far superior quality than the ones I had, so I used the better ones. Got them together, took them down to start filling them and sprayed a little soapy water on the fittings to make sure no leaking. Everything looked fine.
Then I took Roger's duck boat to the gas dock to fill it up. He wanted to run down to the MO/AR line to see if the vis was good enough to try a little spear fishing. Ed went with us. It was not too far a run from the State Park Marina to the line, but as expected the vis was down. The first spot (out of the morning sun) that we tried was too limited to bother. We tried another spot in full sun and we all did a short run (20 min). Limited vis. maybe 6' between 12' and 20', below 25' it dropped off and got black fast. Above 10' you had about 4' of vis. I shot at one carp abut missed. So, we had an nice little late morning boat ride.
Roger and I planned on doing a deep dive. (Spoonbill Bluff) He wanted to touch a new depth for him. We also planned on doing some skill drills. Shooting a bag, hose deploying, etc. Plan was to go to 40' do a bubble check (we knew vis was too poor in the 20' area.) Then go to 80' and hover briefly, repeat at 100' and at 130' before deciding to go any further. I was in a new set of doubles, was back in my dry suit for the first time in almost two months and we were going deeper, so we wanted to take it slow and make sure everything was on track equipment and state of mind wise.
We suited up, checked each others hose routing and hit the water. The dive went pretty well. The balance of these doubles is a little different than SLIM's 85s. At the 40' stop, bubble check went well. Rechecked hoses. Some how I had fouled my light cord. Roger freed it. Then practice long hose deployment. We lost bouyancy control. We were on a slope and once you lost the bottom and got into the muck zone, you have no reference. I lost 15 ' before I regained control. I saw Roger right above me and knew he was okay, but he kept going. I decided to use my computer to go back to 40' and see if I had kept my position other than depth and see if I could negotiate having no other reference. I came right back to were we started and decided to wait one minute for Roger or ascend. Here comes Roger's light, dropping down on my bubbles. Hover, all is well, continue with plan. The only other thing that we criticed is that coming down as steep a slope as we continued, we were making way too much of a mess. I think we were both guilty. I pointed this out to Roger and we got a little better, but both were not happy with this aspect of the dive. Slow acsent, stopping at planned levels and shooting a bag at 60'. THis was Roger's first attempt. We had talked about it pre-dive and I went over what SLIM had taught me and the practice I had done with theskull. Emphasis on maintaining bouyancy and trim. After the mess with the long hose skill, I was not real optimistic about our outcome. But, it went very well. Roger watched my shoot my bag. Then he shot his after I gave him an indication that he had his reel line deployed clean. He was quite impressed with how the ascent goes with a reference line as we had planned practice stops at 30, 20 and 10.
Not a bad dive. We had a detailed plan and stuck to it. We communicated well with our lights, we observed both the good and bad execution during the dive, and got some good practice. We think that the long hose drill issue was due to rushing things and the bag drill went well because we took our time. Maybe we thought the long hose drill was so basic we could hurry. Maybe the bag drill was better because I knew Roger was watching me and it was his first attempt (also, maybe we were already unhappy with ourselves from the long hose mess.) I know he did much better his first time with the bag than I did my first time!
I headed back home Saturday afternoon.
After a day of spear fishing at Bull Shoals and returning to Table Rock...
I had picked up some parts for assembling my own set of doubles (after having used a set of SLIM's for a while). I was going to dive with Roger, so while he went out to work the morning dive shop trip for the State Park Marina, I assembled my doubles. SLIM had ordered some parts in for me. In fact, I thought he had ordered too many parts, as I had already bought a set of used bands. But, when I got into putting them together, I saw that the bands SLIM ordered were far superior quality than the ones I had, so I used the better ones. Got them together, took them down to start filling them and sprayed a little soapy water on the fittings to make sure no leaking. Everything looked fine.
Then I took Roger's duck boat to the gas dock to fill it up. He wanted to run down to the MO/AR line to see if the vis was good enough to try a little spear fishing. Ed went with us. It was not too far a run from the State Park Marina to the line, but as expected the vis was down. The first spot (out of the morning sun) that we tried was too limited to bother. We tried another spot in full sun and we all did a short run (20 min). Limited vis. maybe 6' between 12' and 20', below 25' it dropped off and got black fast. Above 10' you had about 4' of vis. I shot at one carp abut missed. So, we had an nice little late morning boat ride.
Roger and I planned on doing a deep dive. (Spoonbill Bluff) He wanted to touch a new depth for him. We also planned on doing some skill drills. Shooting a bag, hose deploying, etc. Plan was to go to 40' do a bubble check (we knew vis was too poor in the 20' area.) Then go to 80' and hover briefly, repeat at 100' and at 130' before deciding to go any further. I was in a new set of doubles, was back in my dry suit for the first time in almost two months and we were going deeper, so we wanted to take it slow and make sure everything was on track equipment and state of mind wise.
We suited up, checked each others hose routing and hit the water. The dive went pretty well. The balance of these doubles is a little different than SLIM's 85s. At the 40' stop, bubble check went well. Rechecked hoses. Some how I had fouled my light cord. Roger freed it. Then practice long hose deployment. We lost bouyancy control. We were on a slope and once you lost the bottom and got into the muck zone, you have no reference. I lost 15 ' before I regained control. I saw Roger right above me and knew he was okay, but he kept going. I decided to use my computer to go back to 40' and see if I had kept my position other than depth and see if I could negotiate having no other reference. I came right back to were we started and decided to wait one minute for Roger or ascend. Here comes Roger's light, dropping down on my bubbles. Hover, all is well, continue with plan. The only other thing that we criticed is that coming down as steep a slope as we continued, we were making way too much of a mess. I think we were both guilty. I pointed this out to Roger and we got a little better, but both were not happy with this aspect of the dive. Slow acsent, stopping at planned levels and shooting a bag at 60'. THis was Roger's first attempt. We had talked about it pre-dive and I went over what SLIM had taught me and the practice I had done with theskull. Emphasis on maintaining bouyancy and trim. After the mess with the long hose skill, I was not real optimistic about our outcome. But, it went very well. Roger watched my shoot my bag. Then he shot his after I gave him an indication that he had his reel line deployed clean. He was quite impressed with how the ascent goes with a reference line as we had planned practice stops at 30, 20 and 10.
Not a bad dive. We had a detailed plan and stuck to it. We communicated well with our lights, we observed both the good and bad execution during the dive, and got some good practice. We think that the long hose drill issue was due to rushing things and the bag drill went well because we took our time. Maybe we thought the long hose drill was so basic we could hurry. Maybe the bag drill was better because I knew Roger was watching me and it was his first attempt (also, maybe we were already unhappy with ourselves from the long hose mess.) I know he did much better his first time with the bag than I did my first time!
I headed back home Saturday afternoon.