My Deco procedure/adv nitrox with the one and only Mel
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:27 pm
Soooo hey! Say hello to the newest tech diver in the club!
I emailed Mel in hopes that she may be teaching an OC deco course soon. Much to my surprise she said she was running a class next week, then not again for a year or so! Excellent timing!
Class began with lessons and book work followed by a dive at OO Denny Park in Lake Washington.
Ran valve drills, shooting bags, gas changes, lost mask etc etc. swam around to 70ft came back and ran drills again. Surprisingly good viz in the lake, sharp thermocline around 30ft dropped to 48deg.
Day 2 meet at Madrona Park to do drill and go deeper. 115ffw and 130ffw. Never actually got into deco time but made our way back to the downline and ran “fake”deco both dives. Gas switching to oxygen at 20ft, valve drills, shooting bags, passing bottles etc. Back to Mel's for more classroom time and to fill tanks. We went heavily over dive planning, contingency planning and gas usage and selection etc.
Day 3 was the real deal! Dive plan was 135ffw and 140ffw carrying an al80 of 50% and an al40 of 100%. She wanted us to get the experience of slinging 2 deco tanks. 2 gas switches on the way up. Coming up from 133ft and this is when things got interesting…. Made my first stop at 70ft and went to switch to my 50%. Checked the neck label, confirme with my buddy, turned on the tank, pulled the reg, confirmed with my buddy, ran my hand along the entire hose, wrapped around my neck, switched regs, inhaled and got nothing/water. Woah hello.
That was unexpected. Immediately switched to my back gas purged the reg and handed it to Mel who took a breath from it and gave me the Ok. Back to the 50% and all was good, reg was breathing normally. We finished our deco and made our way back to the surface. Moral of the story, rubber hose bungies were too tight, caused a kink anddd caused that to happen. Lesson learned. I'm also glad I got to experience a moment of real panic in class and resolved the problem smoothly. Finished the day with another 2 dives to 140 and 100, drills, rescue drills and more class work and test.
Mel was an awesome instructor, I learned a shit ton and feel like I got a good education. I look forward to what new adventures and what lies below.
It was one hell of a 3 days, we worked hard, learned even more and now are certified deco divers.
I emailed Mel in hopes that she may be teaching an OC deco course soon. Much to my surprise she said she was running a class next week, then not again for a year or so! Excellent timing!
Class began with lessons and book work followed by a dive at OO Denny Park in Lake Washington.
Ran valve drills, shooting bags, gas changes, lost mask etc etc. swam around to 70ft came back and ran drills again. Surprisingly good viz in the lake, sharp thermocline around 30ft dropped to 48deg.
Day 2 meet at Madrona Park to do drill and go deeper. 115ffw and 130ffw. Never actually got into deco time but made our way back to the downline and ran “fake”deco both dives. Gas switching to oxygen at 20ft, valve drills, shooting bags, passing bottles etc. Back to Mel's for more classroom time and to fill tanks. We went heavily over dive planning, contingency planning and gas usage and selection etc.
Day 3 was the real deal! Dive plan was 135ffw and 140ffw carrying an al80 of 50% and an al40 of 100%. She wanted us to get the experience of slinging 2 deco tanks. 2 gas switches on the way up. Coming up from 133ft and this is when things got interesting…. Made my first stop at 70ft and went to switch to my 50%. Checked the neck label, confirme with my buddy, turned on the tank, pulled the reg, confirmed with my buddy, ran my hand along the entire hose, wrapped around my neck, switched regs, inhaled and got nothing/water. Woah hello.
That was unexpected. Immediately switched to my back gas purged the reg and handed it to Mel who took a breath from it and gave me the Ok. Back to the 50% and all was good, reg was breathing normally. We finished our deco and made our way back to the surface. Moral of the story, rubber hose bungies were too tight, caused a kink anddd caused that to happen. Lesson learned. I'm also glad I got to experience a moment of real panic in class and resolved the problem smoothly. Finished the day with another 2 dives to 140 and 100, drills, rescue drills and more class work and test. Mel was an awesome instructor, I learned a shit ton and feel like I got a good education. I look forward to what new adventures and what lies below.
It was one hell of a 3 days, we worked hard, learned even more and now are certified deco divers.
