Under Pressure

Sunday July 23/07/2006

Adventures of Bawbag Divers Club(Aka www.cusac.org)

After a conversation with Stewart on Friday night at the caves (after two pleasant dives) I decided to join Stewart (master Diver & Branch Safety Officer), Fran (sport Diver) & Davey Muir (BDO & BI) on the B200 Quest.

Stewart downloaded the plan of the B200 dive from http://www.congeralley.com/sites/furnace.htm and we brought an O2 Kit our dive emergency Cards (Dan and IDEC).

We had Surface cover (thanks Jane!) & had informed Jane if she seen a yellow and red DSMB to call for help cause something was wrong.

Stewart had all the relevant emergency phone numbers with him.

The B200 sits in 42-46 Metres of Water just a short fin from the wooden pier.

My adjusted SAC is currently sitting at a rather healthy 16.5LPM, Stewart is better than mine at around 12LPM, Davey Muir and Fran didn’t really have an accurate figure however they are both experienced divers.

We created a dive plan based on an adjust SAC of 25 LPM which gave us 7 Minutes descent, 7 Minutes wreck time, and a slow ascent with 3 minutes at 5 metres and 1 minute at 3 metres.

I dived the Twins on the freshly bolted on Transpac harness (the one piece webbing is a PITA if you ask me).

I had air in one cylinder and Nitrox 32 in the other with my Vytec set with both mixes.

All other divers on air.

A pre dive brief in the very busy Furnace car park, double checked all hand signals and agreed buddy pairs & dive plans with a rigorous buddy check.

I check I am on my air cylinder, reg & check SPG. Good to go.

We descended to 12 Metres after a brilliant jump entry from the pier, (you don’t get as much hang time with a twin set!) bubble check and just make sure everybody is settled.

All divers give the Ok and down we go, Davey & I staying close to Stewart & Fran.

The wreck appears out of the darkness right in front of us exactly where it is meant to be and dead on schedule.

It’s bigger than I thought it was going to be and although dark the visibility is really good with my torch illuminating the wrecks hull and the internals nicely.

At 42 Metres this is the deepest I have ever been and I am relaxed, the breathing off the Mares proton Ice & V32 is effortless.

After a few Minutes pottering around the wreck I am aware of my vision closing in and Narcosis coming on, I check with Davey and give the signal to ascend to shallower waters (as agreed).
Davey gives me the OK and we gently fin towards the front of the wreck and the gentle slope of the reef.

Stewart & Fran come with us and we all make a slow ascent, when I get to 32 Metres I give the signal that I am gas switching and I change to my Scubapro S600/MK16 EAN32 cylinder. After I change regulators (with 7 Minutes ascent time on the Vytec) I press the buttons to inform the Vytec I am now on EAN32.

Almost instantly (within two to three breathes) I feel my head clearing and my vision returning to a wonderful wide angle with good clear waters.

We continue to ascent slowly and at 20 metres my deco commitment has cleared.

At around 10 Metres I wonder what is going on as a still Mackerel sails right in front of me wide open mouth, I think wtf! Again another one comes flying towards me. I look around and see Stewart throwing dead mackerel at me like spears!

Those bloody fishermen on the pier must have thrown the catch over the side and into the depths.

I manage to pick up a rather large solid mackerel and jab it towards Stewart, he picks one up and we begin to re-enact the great obi wan vs. Vader lightsaber battle from – Star Wars, a new hope. (Que: Light saber noises)

After we get bored and I manage to chuckle a dozen or so lungfuls of EAN32 out my regs we ascent to the 6 Metre mark where I have no deco commitment at all and Stewart diving the same profile with the same computer but on air has 8 minutes of deco stops.

Oh the benefits of Nitrox are clear….

We complete a safety stop at 5-6 metres until Stewarts commitment is cleared, then we start a gentle and slow ascent to 3 metres for an additional minute of safety.

A great dive and good fun. Profile Attached.

B200 Dive Profile

Davie.