Arundo - July 13th, 2008

Elite and Blue Water Divers chartered the Gypsy Blood for Sunday, July 13th, and went to the Arundo, which lies about 17 miles offshore at the edge of the mudhole. Rob called my wife and got her permission for me to go. He also called Fiasco (Scubafi) and Stephan (Stfr). I had no drysuit since mine was out for repair, so Rob loaned me his (old) one. I also had the wrong gas, so Rob gave me a set of double 98's with air.

Sea's were 2-3 feet with a few larger swells, but it flattened out as the day went on. I went in and began descending. At about 75 feet, my primary HID canister light went out. At 90 feet or so, my reg. began acting up, breathing like crap and causing me concern. At 100 feet, the nitrogen narcosis kicked in. All three combined caused me (correctly) to turn the dive. I left ScubaFi and Stfr at the top of the wreck and went back up.

My canister light was filled with seawater and my reg. may need some adjusting. Rob loaned me a Dive-Rite 10w LED light to use for dive #2. I played with my regs and tried to get in for the second dive, but I didn't feel 100% confident, so I chose to sit out dive #2.

Rob was able to catch a few bugs and a bunch of scallops. He was nice enough to give me one of his bugs in exchange for the Bender tickle stick.

At home, I flushed my light with fresh water and then placed them in front of a dehumidifier. After an hour, I checked it and it worked perfectly, even the battery that was wet. Now all I need to do is find out where the leak came from. Wish me luck.

Rich Galiano's site, NJScuba.net, has a great write-up on the Arundo: http://njscuba.net/sites/site_mud_hole.html#Arundo

June 30th...I should have stayed home

I was really hoping to get out on the Tolten this season. I've been there once before, but bad weather kept it to one dive. The Independence II had a charter to the Tolten on Monday, June 30th. Richie Kohler was hosting a four day advance wreck diving class on the Independence II dive boat out of Point Pleasant, NJ, and there were a few vacancies on the boat. In addition to Richie Kohler, the dive boat also had well known underwater videographer and photographer Becky Kagan, and NJScuba.net's Rich Galiano.

Divers came from far and wide to take this course under the direction of Richie Kohler. Two divers drove up from Kentucky, and a third came from New Orleans, LA. And I thought my one-hour drive sucked.

As soon as we left the inlet, the seas made me as sick as I have ever been. I don't usually get seasick, but today was just one of those days. It was a miserable 75 minute ride to the dive site. After arriving at the site, I let everyone else get into he water before I slowly began suiting up. When you're seasick, the best place to be is in the water. As soon as I splashed, I felt the seasickness go away, but the water pour in my drysuit. I got no farther than 15 feet down the line when I realized that my neck seal blew. I was not happy, and exited in disappointment.

Maybe next year. Like I said, I should have stayed home, but who knew. But hey, the company was good!