West Palm trip on Little Deeper

[deanme]

Below is a link to some pictures from our 3 tank dive trip in West Palm on Little Deeper this past weekend. Captain David runs a great boat. Very relaxed and fun, yet organized. Diving was awesome. Viz was about 60 feet, temperature was 73 degrees top to bottom. Seas were flat. Current was a little strong on the second reef running at about 2 knots. Lunch was provided and was excellent.

We dove two reefs, Juno ledge and Shark alley, both about 80 feet, and one wreck dive at about 70 feet. We saw a 6 foot plus barracuda on the wreck dive. Although I understand it is rare to be attacked by a barracuda, I was duly impressed by one of the female divers who got about 3 feet directly in front of this monster barracuda and started snapping pictures. Mr. Barracuda looked a bit annoyed (“yet another tourist taking pictures of me”), but true to form (barracudas a are very territorial) didn’t yield his position.

Also dove the Captain Dan in Pompano. Viz was about 50 feet, temperature was 71 degrees top to bottom, flat seas and no current. I was surprised the temperature was 2 degrees colder, but I guess the gulf stream cuts closer to the shore at West Palm.

I’m thinking of going again soon and dive the Miller Lite (165 fsw to the sand, 130 to the deck) using sidemount. Although I’m comfortable with diving sidemount once in the water, I’m a little concerned about being able to gear up and walk to the back of the boat, and then also being able to climb up the latter.

If anyone has experience diving off boats with sidemount, I'd be appreciative of advice. Gearing up in the water is not really an option. Too many people and sometimes too much current.

http://picasaweb.google.com/deanme9/09_Jan_West_Palm#

[sskasser]

Hey Dean! Nice report! I understand you got to share the boat with my lil bro! He said y'all had a blast. Dave runs a great trip, I hate I missed that one. Plus, I had to hear all about how Robert nearly maxed out on lobster and how good he was going to be eating! :roll: :smt081

As for sidemounting off a boat, it's not so bad, depending on a few factors. Get them to give you the seat by the ladder, with three tank slots allotted to you if at all possible. For the first few times, have Dave drop you in the last group...less rush, more space. Explain up front to Debi (or whoever the DM/deckhand is) what "help" you want...none to xyz. Most folks on the boats I've SM'd off of haven't seen it, are curious, and aren't sure how to help. Then, just do your thang...it ain't gonna be graceful at first (if ever). I have clips on the necks of my tanks and clip them to D-rings on my harness for the giant-stride entry. You can then move them to the bungies in/under water. Just don't forget to move them back before getting back on the boat (saves wear on the bungies).

Getting on the boat, if there's any kind of wave action, can be challenging. If you definitely don't want to de-gear in the water, just grab the ladder and put that upper body strength to work (no different than coming up in doubles, weight-wise).

Shirley

[tj]

I'm moving this to the Sidemount Forum...

My bottom temperature during yesterday's dive off Boynton Beach was 66F... Brrrr... Should have gone further south.... :)

In regards to Sidemount on a Drift diving boat... You should first see if the boat captain is okay with the idea. Most likely they will be, if already okay with doubles. I've done a few hundred SM dives off boats but still use the (easier to don) doubles at times. You can gear up sitting or kneeling on the floor. Your tanks should be manageable... meaning not so heavy you can't climb back onto the boat. Manifolds are great handles for crew helping you back on wearing doubles, but you are on your own with sidemount. I generally use 85s, but I once tried it with double LP120s... a deco bottle and a scooter.... It was a just a test, and whew, they were heavy... no problem getting down... good thing that ladder was long... but that was just too much tank... :smt102 . The tech crew did help with the scooter and deco bottle..

Like Shirley mentioned, putting clips on my tanks valves might be a good idea. My bungees (old style) would keep falling off when doing a giant stride. Now, I just fall backwards, holding my tank valves close with my arms.

Maneuvering though wrecks isn't any easier than doubles... get used to sideways sidemount... :yawinkle:

I find that I have a bit more drag than backmount, worse on reefs, but current isn't so bad once you get on a wreck.

[deanme]

Yes, Robert was very nice, making me feel at home on a new boat.

Thanks for the input. My tanks are monster 120’s. My SAC rate isn’t the best, and I like having lots of gas for deep (150 to 210 foot) dives, racking up an hour or more of back gas decompression time (about 30 minutes of deco time on deco bottles). I would only use sidemount for tec dives.

I’m thinking I should be able to hand up the tanks after the dive, which would make getting back onto the boat a breeze. I carry my 100% and 50% 40 cubic foot tanks on either side, above my main tanks. I practiced swimming with this configuration at Ginnie and found it a bit cumbersome, requiring that I keep my arms in a strong-man-flexing position. One great thing about cave diving is you leave your 100% bottle at the entrance, and your stage bottle at Hill 400 and continue with just the two tanks.

Getting out of the water and onto the boat, I could unhook the deco bottles, and hand them up, and then maybe unhook the main tanks and hand them up? I guess it depends on the boat. I would think I can manage scrambling up the ladder with both tanks on and then beach myself on the swim step and let the deck hands disassembly me.

I’ve even thought of taking some rope, and tie off the main tanks onto the rope, letting the deck hand pull them in one at a time. I guess we could call this the Senior Dismount Maneuver, or SDM. Maybe as sidemount catches on in the tec boat diving community, dismounting in the water will become common place and an accepted practice. It would sure make that climb up the ladder and the walk back to the bench much easier. Maybe we could offer a SDM certification? :) Maybe SDM friendly boats will have SDM labels, kind of like how all tanks used to have Nitrox labels?

I guess if the seas are rough, I could always inflate the bladder and take the harness off, and tie the whole rig, with the 4 tanks still hooked to the harness, onto the current line. I would think the deck hand(s) would be happy to make an easy $20 to get the gear aboard? If you lack the strength to tec dive, you can always buy strength. I guess this kind of philosophy, buying Tec Diving strength, would not sit well with our GUE friends.

I’m a little concerned about taking off my fins if I don’t take the main tanks off. I practiced at Ginnie, and was not very graceful. Truth is, had it not been only 3 foot, I may have drowned during the exercise. I'm sure I provided much entertainment to those watching from the stairs. :)

[diveconjeff]

With a thought towards placing the rig on a drift line. Most of the boats in my area, Palm Beaches, are typically diving in current. This means there is no static up or down line and all pick ups are live. Most Captains I know would be hesitant to have a line in the water back near the big spinny thing(s) as it might be considered an entanglement hazard

[deanme]

Good point. Thanks for the input. Like Shirley and Tom said, always best to check with the boat captain beforehand.

[BobK]

Yes, Robert was very nice, making me feel at home on a new boat.

Thanks for the input. My tanks are monster 120’s. My SAC rate isn’t the best, and I like having lots of gas for deep (150 to 210 foot) dives, racking up an hour or more of back gas decompression time (about 30 minutes of deco time on deco bottles). I would only use sidemount for tec dives.

I’m thinking I should be able to hand up the tanks after the dive, which would make getting back onto the boat a breeze.

You can definitely take your tanks off and hand them up. My wife Kim has back problems and is not supposed to carry more then 40 lbs. Since she wears a steel 100 she has to take her rig off in the water at the ladder. Little Deeper is very good about this, we've never had a problem. Just be sure to tip appropriately :-)

[deanme]

Very happy to hear that Little Deeper is good with taking tanks off and handing them up. No problem about tipping well. I did mention to SFDH about going sidemount and handing off the tanks when diving the Hydro on one of their Sunday afternoon boats. Currently they are ok with handing up deco bottles. They said they weren’t sure about handing up the main tanks. They seemed kind of confused about the whole side-mount issue. I’m guessing that will be a common response.