We had a pre-trip meeting for our September Truk trip.  We have thirteen divers headed over at the end of August for a week of technical diving on the deep wrecks and then we are teaming up with Matt Reed for another week of wreck diving on a more recreational charter.  Some of the people from the first week will remain for the second week but we also have some new people arriving for this week.

I am excited about returning to Truk.  This will be my sixth trip to Truk Lagoon.  Every time I tell myself, this will be the last trip, I should go somewhere else nest time, I find the lure of these wrecks, the warm water and the people I have met calling me back.  In preparing the trip information sheet for this year’s trip, I looked back through some of the earlier packets as well as the photographs from earlier trips.  A lot of friends have joined me on these trips over the years and it was fun to look back and see some much younger faces peering back at me.

Many of those people moved away and started diving in their new home waters; others like Eric & Patricia Bancroft are busy raising children and find little time for technical diving.  Still, there are a number of the people who remain active divers with us, exploring the hidden wonders in other exotic locations.

As we march steadily toward our twentieth year in business, I suspect we will be looking back at a number of old photographs and remembering trips and friends from the past.  We have trained a lot of divers over those years and have taken thousands of people all over the planet to look under the lapping blue waters.  We have been touched by the many special people we have met in those locations and our outlook on the world will be forever changed.

For our new divers, welcome to the family, for those from all of those past years…why don’t you write?????

Mammoth Lake

When Pete Nawrocky and I were talking recently, he said “when I come down, we need to go over side-mounting and do some dives.”  What was he thinking, I don’t dive technically on open circuit anymore.  Pete even said once you try this you won’t want to put on a set of doubles again.  He is right, I don’t want to put on a set of twins again, I replaced them with a rebreather.  So had he really lost his mind or was he mistaking me for an open circuit diver?  Not really.

When Pete arrived we again talked about the side-mounting.  He has found a lot of interest in this style of diving from technical divers but increasingly from open water divers wanting a way to increase their time underwater without needing twin cylinders.   This increasing interest may be due in part the aging diving population.  By splitting the twin cylinders into two independent bottles, you can carry them separately to the water and done them there or have someone help you carry them to the water, even going so far as handing them to you while you are in the water.

I hear you die-hard doubles divers out there yelling, wait, what about the redundancy afforded by twin cylinders.  Well the answer is you are right and mistaken at the same time.  You are right, the redundancy provided by the manifold cannot be denied, so for a side-mount diver, there has to be a different gas management procedure employed.  That is one of the things you learn in the class.

Pete came in and we rigged up some bottles for diving, configured a Transpac with a Nomad wing and sidemount kit.  A pretty simple rig when you look at it but the truth was in the water.  During the weekend, Dive Rite Tech tour, at Mammoth Lake, we took the assembled harness and headed to the water.  Pete had already taken the bottles down to the water; they were equipped with Dive Rite ADS’ one with a 22” hose on a lanyard, and the other with a 40” hose.  Attaching the bottles to the harness was simple with the top snap put on the bungee and the bottom on the Nomad rail.  It was time to enter the water…easier than doing so with a similar set of twin cylinders.

Diving could not have been easier.  The trim was easy and I just seemed to fall into place – trimmed and ready for the dive.  The set-up was streamlined and easy to propel through the water, even if the water resembled a latte rather than water.  We found some “clearer water” in about 10 to 18 feet near the shore.  Being this shallow sometimes presents buoyancy problems but the rig made easy work of the buoyancy.

I can see why people are attracted to side-mount diving and why there is growing interest in it.  As we worked with people during the weekend I watched divers with various levels of experience slip into the rig and go diving.  It appeared they had fewer problems adjusting to the set-up than a similar experience in a set of twin cylinders.

So, what is the conclusion?  Well, I’m not trading in my rebreathers for a set of side-mount bottles but for those times I need to dive open circuit (yes every once in a while), I believe this a great way to do it.  I also believe it is an effective alternative to twins for Technical diving.  Pete you convinced me!  I think we will be adding this as an option in our training program.

This wasn’t the only thing happing while Pete and Ron Carlo were in town.  Pete came in and gave our Club Aquarious group a very interesting presentation covering diving on the East coast from New York to Florida.  It featured both technical and non-technical dives so there was something of interest for everyone.  Pete had photos of sea life common to these waters and the areas where they live, all synchronized to Pink Floyd.  He followed this up with a discussion of the areas and promoted the idea of diving locally, a very important fact.

The weekend found Pete, Ron, JoLynn as well as Oceanic Ventures staff members, Eric, Ashton, Jordan, and Wade down at Mammoth Lake diving and introducing some curious divers to Dive Rite equipment.  Pete was on-hand to introduce side-mount diving and to take divers on side-mount experiences and yes there were a number of takers.  Most of those who went with Pete were convinced this was a better way.

It was fun showing divers what things were available from Dive Rite including their new lights and computer.  Ron was having fun taking divers out for a rebreather experience, despite the limited visability.  They were even getting more dives for their DiveAroundTexas dives – marching towards San Marcos in September to collect on some way-cool prizes!

Thanks to Pete, Ron and Dive Rite for coming out and showing us the new and old toys as well as a new way to do things.  Diving is only getting better and better!  Thanks for helping keeping it fun!

Why would a destination near Salado be attractive?  Because it is a small Texas town, with a number of bed and breakfast facilities, a collection of small shops featuring the works of some well known and not so well known Texas artists and the famous Stage Coach Inn restaurant.  In other words, it had things for divers and non-divers alike.

On Friday night, Ann and I as well as Steve Brennan, Yulia and Andy Marcer and Wade and Tena Sparks all moved into the Rose Mansion.  The Rose Mansion is a turn of the century Texas mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast.  What makes this property unique is that they have moved a number of other buildings onto the property and converted them into lodging options as well.  This made it the perfect location for our group (Pat and Thersa Croll came up on Saturday morning).  That evening, we had dinner at The Range, another converted property.  It was an old farm house that two Chef’s converted into a fabulous restaurant.

Saturday time to dive.  After a wonderful breakfast at our Mansion we headed to the lake.  Arriving we found others from our group already set-up and diving.  Like everywhere else outside in south and central Texas this weekend, it was HOT!  The water was warm but was certainly cooler than the air temperature.  Ann and I quickly assembled our dive gear and headed to the water with our borrowed Dive Flag and float (yes we forgot to bring ours and the fine for not having one is a little steep).  The first thing we noticed after swimming out to the platform, marked by a small water-bottle was that the visibility was not too impressive, especially for the “second clearest lake in Texas.”  Of course Wade’s students and some of the other divers had been here earlier so Ann and I ventured out and found the visibility better but still not what we had hoped.  Oh well, such is life, we were still diving and enjoying ourselves.  Ann also accomplished her goal of re-acquainting herself with her twins and doing a min-water equipment removal and replacement.

That evening, dinner at the famous Stage Coach Inn complete with their well known hush puppies and some really cold iced-tea.  Of course Wade, who had been diving with students all day,  had a little different order for our waitress “I would like a really cold Bud light, 10 minutes later I would like another and then 10 minutes later, please bring me another.  I’ll have one more after 20 minutes.”  And, like clock-work she took care of him.

Sunday, part of the group headed out for more diving but the remainder, including Ann and me, Theresa, Wade and Tena, all headed out to see what surprises the town of Salado had to offer.  We ran into a lovely lady who runs a store TexMexToGo, who was from Houston and lived near the store.  They had some real treats too.

After a little shopping we all hit the road, Ann keeping up with her Texas History lessons by reading “Why Stop” along the way.  Why Stop is a book originally written by a friend of my Father’s detailing the contents of many of the Texas Historical Markers found along the Texas highways and towns.  It has been updated and added to by his daughter.  Ann just keeps telling me that I am “indoctrinating her into Texas“…you have to know some of the history to live here in God’s Country!

Pam Radford, Terry deWolf, Kelly Plato, Bob Sloan, Dave Snyder and Geoff Streitel, joined me for this wreck diving weekend.  We started diving on Friday with the Hydro Atlantic and ended on Sunday with the R.B. Johnson.  We had some great dives and and saw some big fish.  Terry saw a bull shark on the R.B. Johnson and we all saw a BIG turtle on the Lowrance.

Of course the trip started with a challenge — Capt. Oliver blew an engine and our plan was put into a bit of a tailspin.  But thanks to a little help from some friends (thanks Oliver and Mark), I was able to do a fast shuffle and set-up the diving with another operator.  Jeff and Suzanne rearranged some of their diving and found us boats and let us pick the dive sites.  They helped make the trip a success; and, their large boats were a treat!

We also set-up a few dives with Capt. Conrad who took our group out to the R. B. Johnson. 

The diving in the Ft Lauderdale area is primarily on artificial reefs — i.e. sunken ships.  Florida has been very aggressive in creating artificial reefs for fishing and diving.  The resulting dive sites are varied both in design and depth.  They offer something to almost every diver.  There are also some natural reefs but I have yet to dive them (too much wreck diving).

Thanks everyone for a fun trip and some great dives!