DUE Dive the Cuvier - A rather eventful day

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by Dr T

i still havent figured out how those things work .... any ideas ?

a

Maybe Chasey will post a picky or two

Glad you all had a good day.

Si.................you muppet.............nuff said.

[Captain Deco]

Stupid photos of MY porthole

One day I will get one!!

Anyway - Thanks to the usual suspects for making the drive to Dover worthwhile. I had a great day even though the end of the dive was a tad thrilling to say the least.

I am off to bleach my eyes now as punishment for seeing Mark's special "little mark's underwater wee wee device". I actually thought it was some weirdo pervert sex toy at first.

[Paul Oliver]

Originally Posted by scubajay

I am off to bleach my eyes now as punishment for seeing Mark's special "little mark's underwater wee wee device". I actually thought it was some weirdo pervert sex toy at first.

You are spending too much time in the wrong type of bars/clubs

[trebor]

Nice porthole Paul where did you find that...?

[warmwaterdiver]

Originally Posted by trebor

Nice porthole Paul where did you find that...?

apparently it was just sitting there

[Paul Oliver]

Well Jay had it first apparently, but turned his back and then there it was - gone

I was a bit worried carrying it up to my car as it was covered in Jay's drool by then

[keith_henson]

*sigh*

I work too much - time to rectify that problem after a planned 100 hour week. *sniff*

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by keith_henson

*sigh*

I work too much -

You've still got a long way to go to make up for the years as a student

[Mark Chase]

Ooooohhh shut up winging :d

In between Scuba gas banks complaints about having "wrenched it free" and Trebors "i saw it first" and my "oh bugger i forgot my lift bag" the fact is the bloke who risked loosing his lift bag is the bloke who gets the prize. And what a lovely port hole it is too. The back side and the little opening ring look quite unique. I cant wait to see it all done up.

Well from my perspective having spent most of Saturday trying to weld the delicate multiple 0.2mm diameter cables back into my Shear Water Fischer connector armed with a Bunsen burner and a couple of old brazing rods I was expecting to miss the dive.

The result wasn't pretty but it seemed to work

I spent most of Sunday freezing my arse of in a cue and then trying not to look bored in the First Emperors exhibition. This was followed swiftly by diner to celebrate Dads birthday and home at 9pm.

Just a quick check on my unit before i load the car annnnnnnnd yes cell 2 reads zero Fan frigging tastic. Having inspected and tested the head and Fischer connector i discover its a cell failure sort it out with an old cell and load the car just in time for the clock to hit midnight.

Then i realize i haven't changed the clock yet and actually its 1am.


Alarm goes off five hours later and I am on my way. Andyp has had to can due to a faulty unit so Paul was looking after me. He was willing to lay the line because i needed to keep a close eye on my rig following my DIY work.

I am ready to go and Paul's not so I decide that five Min's at the bottom of the shot just staring at my hand set would be a good idea. I jump in alone and descend.

Once down i am quietly watching at the PP02 numbers and checking with spikes and flushes when Trebor flashes me and points to a lovely big lobster.

Fantastic. My first lobby of 08 He was arse in a bowl and claws forward but I was desperate so I just stuck my hand in and grabbed it by the claws.
Holding my trophy aloft I edged back to the shot to wait for Paul. I was bagging up the prize when I suddenly noticed i wasn't moving much. Sure enough i had someones line wrapped round me.

I couldn't get to it easily so I decided to sit and wait for Paul. In the end someone else untangled me. I thought it was Garry but i wasn't sure.

Paul arrives and we set about exploring

I found another lobster and grabbed it for Paul (he was busy with the line) but it was in berry so I had to let it go. Paul turned back for the shot and then set off again to the bow stopping near where I had caught the first lobster. He was scratching at bits of metal trying to find brass when i noticed some glass. Port hole glass. Said porthole was free and easily lift-able but I had no bag with me. I saw an OC diver heading my way so I flashed him and showed it to him hoping he might lift it but he didn't want it or didn't understand.

Then Paul produced a lift bag, which was a nice surprise so I past over the trophy to him. A minor problem with the lift bag was he had no rope on it to tie to the spidge. So I donated my john line and proceeded to do a very professional job (thank you Paul) of half hitch triple bow line granny not with twist. How any one could have doubted the integrity of that knot, I have no idea

Paul gassed the bag and but for a minor snag with a fishing net it all went well.

Paul thumbed the dive and I felt happy enough with what we had achieved to go as well, so we headed back. I then spotted a large crab which I grabbed for Paul and he helped me bag it with the lobby.

20mins of deco to do which was cool but as I ascended I noticed divers below on a long hose air share. I had a 7of 18/45 and a 11 of 50% I didn't need so I hung about a bit to see what was happening.

Then amid a flurry of activity there was a switch to deco gas for Big Si with a very intent looking ScubaJ looking on.

The J man did an excellent job of explaining to me that they were both out of back gas. Then he hit me with the bad news that there were three of them and there was only us on the line.

Big Si looked very much like a man contemplating life the universe and everything and ScubaJ looked very much like a man in control of the situation so I held off on a watching brief. It was crowded at 6 so being on the most flexible deco package I descended to 8 and did my stops there. I looked down for bubbles but there were none to be seen. With the vis we had it would be pointless going back for a look.

Every now and then I checked the lads above and when the line cleared I went above them and kept watch from there. Not much for me to do rely as there was excellent communication coming from ScubaJ and he looked very much on top of the situation.

My deco was long gone but i had spare gas so I staid around for the duration. At one point the sound of a massive prop nearby had me wishing I didn't have to

Eventually Big Si signaled 3mins and with 1min to go I told ScubaJ Id go up and get out of the way on the lift.

The lads followed soon after and there wasn't much more to do but help them dekit.

Fortunately the third man of the teem was safe and well and had blobbed off having lost the line back to the shot. So having breathed a big sigh of relief we all set about the far more serious business of arguing about who saw the porthole first.

Apparently it went like this.

Trebor saw it, ScubaJ manhandled it free, I showed it to Paul and Paul sent it up on the bag

GUE eat your heart out, who said a four man team doesn't work

In the end Paul rightly got the spidge i got the lobster, Trebor got the Crab and ScubaJ got a big hug off of Big Si


All in all a cracking day out, thanks Paul. Thanks also to Garry for the never ending supply of Chocolate.


Id like to add my congratulations to Big Si and ScubaJ for a job well done. We no doubt all have trained for an OOA bit doing it for real and getting it right is another matter.

Big Si did a great job of getting on the gas which takes a cool head when your moments away from copping the farm, and ScubaJ did a great job of everything from there on in.

Respect is due to both of them.

ATB

Mark

[Sixsquid]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Then amid a flurry of activity there was a switch to deco gas for Big Si with a very intent looking ScubaJ looking on.

The J man did an excellent job of explaining to me that they were both out of back gas. Then he hit me with the bad news that there were three of them and there was only us on the line.

Big Si looked very much like a man contemplating life the universe and everything and ScubaJ looked very much like a man in control of the situation so I held off on a watching brief. It was crowded at 6 so being on the most flexible deco package I descended to 8 and did my stops there. I looked down for bubbles but there were none to be seen. With the vis we had it would be pointless going back for a look.

Every now and then I checked the lads above and when the line cleared I went above them and kept watch from there. Not much for me to do rely as there was excellent communication coming from ScubaJ and he looked very much on top of the situation.

My deco was long gone but i had spare gas so I staid around for the duration. At one point the sound of a massive prop nearby had me wishing I didn't have to

Eventually Big Si signaled 3mins and with 1min to go I told ScubaJ Id go up and get out of the way on the lift.

The lads followed soon after and there wasn't much more to do but help them dekit.

Fortunately the third man of the teem was safe and well and had blobbed off having lost the line back to the shot. So having breathed a big sigh of relief we all set about the far more serious business of arguing about who saw the porthole first.

Id like to add my congratulations to Big Si and ScubaJ for a job well done. We no doubt all have trained for an OOA bit doing it for real and getting it right is another matter.

Big Si did a great job of getting on the gas which takes a cool head when your moments away from copping the farm, and ScubaJ did a great job of everything from there on in.

Respect is due to both of them.

ATB

Mark

Nuf said