Scuba Trip to bahamas: Lots of pics of fish and corals!

had to pull out the log book for this one! well my total dive time was 24 min.. went to 100 ft for a min just to say I had been down that far.. then went back up to around 80 to where the trenches were. started with 3200 psi and ended with 1400 psi

 

It is good that you actually log your dives How long have you been diving? If you are really into it i suggest looking into taking GUE fundies! After you take that class you will look back and be embarrassed about how you use to look in the water haha! i look back at my diving and it is amazing how much these guys will do to your diving and the way you think and plan a dive.

 

Well i've been diving for a little over a year now. Got my advance divers permit. May be a noob question but what is GUE fundies? My two friends and I took that trip with blackbeards. there were 15 or so of us on the sailboat. Had a chef that cooked some of the best meals i have ever had! lived on the boat for 6 days. definately worth it. I go to the lake in the summer about every weekend at greers ferry, ar. Don't dive much but do every once in awhile. Once you dive in the ocean, makes you never want to get in the lake again!!

 

Hey man if all you got to work with is a lake than dive it till you know every crevice! Then do it again and again! The more time in the water the better you will get and the more fun you will have when you are out in the ocean.

GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) they are a organization that pretty much sets the bar when it comes to technical diving. I see by your name "vetteman" that you are into cars so think of it like this. All the nice technology that is in our road cars comes from technology designed by NASCAR or other something of the like. Then they dumb it down a bit to be used by your everyday person in our luxury road cars. So to make the analogy...PADI is the everyday road car and GUE are the NASCAR guys They offer classes that will take your diving to the next level. The entry level class is the fundamentals class that i mentioned. Dont let the name fool you cause what they call fundamentals is by no means easy! If you actually pass you can do so with two different merits...either recreational or with technical. The difference would be passing the same class with a dry suit in doubles. Check out their site they have a lot of good info on there even if you never step foot in one of their classes you should still read some of the articles on there.
Global Underwater Explorers | Global Underwater Explorers

 

Oh i see. Yeah I tend to have a lot of hobbies. I'm really into cars as I tore down a motor on a 08 Z06 with 4000 miles to add 120 hp! Yeah i really enjoy diving and will definately look into the GUE. My whole perspective on saltwater tanks changed after I went diving in the ocean. Just being down there and seeing all the different organisms is a whole different world. Makes having a saltwater tank a lot more appreciable to me.

 

I once took a 4 or 5 lb. lobster at about 105'. I was down there for less than 7 min's. I have never felt such nitrogen narcosis before. It was very VERY strange. It was like being drunk, as you read from others' experience, but it was unpleasant. Usually an alcohol buzz is associated with a good feeling. This feeling was different. I was narcd, but very aware of how dangerous it could become. I always dive with a buddy, and that was no exception.

I descended upon 3 pretty large mushroom-shaped coral skeletons of base rock, and the lobster was with two fellows under the center one. I caught him without incident and the tail alone was over a pound. What a great catch!

That was about 10 years ago. Good times.

Nice pictures, Vetteman! I'm pretty much strictly a hunter when diving and either have a net and ticklestick, or my speargun.

On the negative side, I have to say it's pretty bumming to see so many pictures; yet so few corals. Nice sponges and fans, but other than that spherical coral (was it a montipora, or maybe a brain?)--there wasn't much to see. I'm afraid that will only get worse as the years go by. The day is drawing nigh, when the most beautiful coral collections will be seen only in aquariums.

 

I love pic 103 of the gray colored brain in the bottom right! Wow!

 

yeah. i didn't take the pics. A guy with us did and we all met up and exchanged pics so all i got was what everyone else took

 

How fun!!! My 13 year old went to the Bahama's the year before last to dive. He was in the Florida Keys last year diving. Not sure where he is going this year. He is one lucky boy. 13 almost 14 years old and been to the Bahama's twice and has more dives then my husband who has been diving for over 15 years.

 

In a way im glad you brought that up cause it is a great example as to why diving to 100ft on just air is very dangerous! By the pics it looks like those are aluminum 80's on your backs which is a pretty standard tank for warm water diving. So lets do an example dive profile using a single AL80 with planned gas consumption being "all useable except minimum gas".

The average diver uses 50psi/minute at the surface or 1 ATA. That means at 100 ft the average diver will use 200psi/minute. Lets assume you reach 100ft and have 3000psi. My deco plans from 100ft will take 7 min to reach the surface so that makes minimum gas = 1300psi. So, 3000psi-1300psi=1700psi.

So now we have some numbers to work with. We have 1700psi that can be used at depth of 100ft. That means 1700psi / (200psi/min) = 8.5 min at 100 ft till you hit 1300psi (min gas) before you gotta start your ascent with your planned deco (7min) so the entire dive is only 15.5 min long! Not that much fun if you ask me....

Now lets assume something goes wrong! Your buddy is narc'd to the gills, has spit out his regulator and it is now free flowing and just like that he/she is out of gas and you are in an airshare situation at 100 ft. So, now you two people breathing off one tank and your 200psi/minute just went to 400psi/minute @100ft. That leaves you with total of 4.25 min to calm the narc'd, panicky diver...get your bearings, and start your ascent. Still takes 7 min to get to the surface with your planned deco.

Now think of how hard it is controlling a really drunk person on land and actually getting them listen to you where you have a lot of control of your body and footing. Now Try to do this underwater where you cant speak to each other, have no ground to really have a footing on and just have to rely on your training and use of your equipment to control this drunk person in order to safely start making an ascent iwhile knowing that in 4 min you are now in the danger zone!

Now i am not trying to rain on anyones parade but i just wanna explain this stuff cause id hate to see this happen to anyone especially when it could have been avoided by planning your dives better and sticking to the old (Plan your dive and DIVE YOUR PLAN!)