Before SuPrBuGmAn (Mat) and cmufieldhockey8 (Stasia) arrived at JB, I was able to make one dive for the first time using steel 100s (from Cave Adventurers) with my Nomad. I ran the primary into the cavern from open water, and then along the right side of the cavern to the gold line. There was one other line in place that started inside the cavern at around 20 feet. Maybe they did that to prevent some open water swimmer from following the line into the cave?? There were a ton of people on the grounds and in the water. After tying into the gold line, I proceeded up the line while checking out my trim and buoyancy. My plan was just to stay on the gold line and check my trim at different depths, watch my consumption and turn on or before thirds. As it turns out, I was a little foot heavy, so I would need to make an adjustment. I turned at about p600' on the gold line, and proceeded to the cavern to make a 3 minute stop with no deco, and an overall 30 minute dive. On my swim back to the steps, I ran into Mat and Stasia gearing up for their dive. After a few minutes of chatting, Mat and Stasia proceeded into the cave, and I picked up and left to go back to Cave Adventurers and make some gear adjustments.
Since I know Mat has 130s like I do, and because I was going to be working with the 100s this day, I told Mat he could dive the 130s with his Nomad on Saturday, but that I would be diving them on Sunday in Wakulla. So during the SIT, I was going to make some slight adjustments to the position of the cam bands on the 100s, but instead, I bought a pair of DR fins since they are so much lighter than the Scubapro Jets. They are a little longer than the jets, but they are also a little narrower, but mainly lighter. I got my tanks refilled, and Mat and Stasia, after their nice long dive, finally made it back to Cave Adventurers, but due to time considerations, didn't want to make a second dive, so I made a very short second dive to try out the new fins with the 100s and retrieve my primary reel in the cavern. The lighter fins made a huge difference in my trim, alleviating the foot heaviness caused by the Jets with the larger tanks. (I had been using AL80s.) I will be using the 100s diving sidemount off a boat in a wreck diving class I am taking off New Jersey starting next Sunday, so I needed to get squared away on the trim with those tanks.
After the diving, we all met up at Old Mexico, our old standby, post-dive retreat. My favorite is the chicken enchiladas, rice, beans and all the tea I care to drink, after first gorging on the chips and great salsa.
Our day at Wakulla County was awesome, as Mat has in his report. Read it here.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-conch-divers/239814-jackson-blue-6-21-wakulla-county-sinks-6-22-8-dive-reports.htmlThis is a fun bunch and I always enjoy diving with my friends, and look forward to the next ones. I echo Mat's sentiment - too bad the weekend had to end. I know there will be many more.
Dive safe!
