When I'm not busy writing Delphi code, I'm either scuba diving, thinking about it, or cleaning my equipment. Here are my thoughts on, and descriptions of the places I've been, and the diving around here. Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
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Tony and I first learned to dive near Cozumel, where the reefs are incredible! It was in Playa Del Carmen (the mainland ferry departure port for Cozumel) where we first did a Discover Scuba course on our first trip to Mexico. Later the same year, we got our PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications. The classroom work was in the shade of a hut on the beach, and the part of the Open Water course that's generally conducted in a pool we did in a shallow cenote called Casa Del Cenote. For relaxation during training, we got to swim through the roots of the mangrove trees surrounding the cenote. This particular cenote is connected to the ocean by a wide tunnel only a few hundred yards long (we didn't get to swim through it, though), so the salt and fresh water are always present and separated by a thermocline of about 10 degrees.
Since then, we've done quite a bit of diving in Cozumel and off the mainland from as far south as Xcaret to north of Playa Del Carmen. My most recent trip there was in December, 1998. You can read a brief description of it at http://www.stingraydivers.com/whatsnew.html.
Most of our diving in that area has been with a shop called Seafari They have branches in Playa Del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Xpu-Ha and Cozumel. On my most recent trip, we dived with Taraya Divers in Playa Del Carmen. We also visited our friend Eugenio Acevez (who also originally certified us) at Imperiales Ecoresorts. If you make it to the area, I recommend all of them highly!
In December '96, I went diving in Puerto Viallarta, Mexico. That was the first Pacific diving I ever did. The highlight of the trip was actually while I was on the boat! We saw humpback and blue whales galore, dolphins (which swam with the boat on a couple of occasions) and the wing-tips of mantas. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of this stuff under water, but we did hear the whale songs during many of our dives. (The first time I heard it, I had no idea what I was hearing, and couldn't think of what it could be, so I stopped several times and checked all of my equipment! I felt pretty foolish when I got back on the boat and everybody was saying "How about those whale songs!")
In December '97, I spent a week on the Bay Islands Aggressor in Belize. The diving was fantastic. In 5 1/2 days of diving, I did 26 dives and spent a total of 24 1/2 hours under water. Among the highlights of what I saw: a pod of dolphins, 2 sea turtles, a swordfish (no kidding!), an octopus, and (of course) the famed blue hole. My friend Randi lent me her Nikonos; I got a couple of good pictures, and I'll try to post one here soon. She also taught me about underwater photography (and critiqued my work), and I earned a NAUI specialty certification for it.
I made my first of what I hope to be many trips to North Carolina in July 1998. (I have another trip planned for this spring, at the end of May.) What can I say? It was fantastic. In my 5mm wet suit, thin little gloves (changed all the brass clips on my gear to little ones), and hood, I was warm and cozy, yet I was seeing wrecks as good as the ones I see here. Was it paradise, or was it eerie? We spent four days in Beaufort (near Moorhead City), diving with Discovery Diving on the Outrageous V.
Then we spent two days in Hatteras. On the first day we were blown out. Tony and I woke up the second day, and were sure we would be blown out. But the boat went out anyway -- and I am ashamed to say we spent the morning sleeping instead. (I think we needed some rest.) Later in the afternoon, I went parasailing, which turned out to be pretty boring.
Several years ago, we went to York Beach Scuba in beautiful York Beach, Maine and got SSI dry-suit certifications. For Tony (more hardy than I), this just made diving in the cool New York water more comfortable; for me it made it possible -- and what a world it opened up to me! (More on this below.) It was also a great introduction to Northeast ocean diving -- cold, like New York. The visibility ranged (depending on site and conditions) from 30 feet (like New York) to 100 and blue (like Mexico, but a lot colder!).
During an enforced two-month break from diving at the beginning of the '97 season (while I was taking a Saturday afternoon nap, one of my retinas spontaneously detached itself), I got a TDI nitrox certification. (This was supposed to keep me from missing diving so much, but instead it just made the waiting harder to bear.) Almost of my dives since then have been nitrox dives. Not only does the air taste better, I get more bottom time, feel safer and am less tired after diving. I took a NAUI technical nitrox class in '98 and began doing some more serious decompression diving.
Before I started wreck diving, the only diving I'd done near home was in Dutch Springs, near Allentown, PA. This is an old quarry specially reserved for diving with various stuff sunk in the bottom, including old boats, a helicopter, a silo, a small airplane, and so on. In the beginning and end of the season, when it's cool, the visibility there is pretty good, but in the summertime, it can get pretty murky. I really like to go to Dutch Springs to brush up on my skills (it was a great place to get confident with my buoyancy when I first got my drysuit!), try new things and test out new equipment. In the fall of '97, I completed my Rescue Diver certification there with the nice folks from Hoboken Dive Center.
This year, like last year, I plan to go diving frequently with Stingray Divers in Brooklyn. Tony works there, and they're all really nice. Here's their dive schedule. (You'll see me on most of those dives.) Note that I did not update the schedule on my site, since Stingray got its own web site.
The Cavern diving I have done in the Yucatan was such a different experience than reef diving. I finally decided to get Cave certified in the summer of 1998, but it took me several months to get the class scheduled. I completed my GUE Cave 1 certification in March, 1999. I also got an NSS-CDS (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) Intro Cave certification. GUE is a relatively new agency and I felt that the NSS certification would be a good backup in case I go somewhere exotic where they have not heard of GUE. In addition, as an NSS member, I can get discounts on interesting books and cool cave maps.
I thought I would like cave diving, but not enough to want to spend much time at it or get any more advanced certifications. I thought I would feel about it the way I feel about tropical reef diving. I love tropical reef diving, but I would never give up wreck diving here at home in favor of it. It's fun to go to the tropics and dive once or twice a year. I certainly wouldn't want it to be my regular or only diving. I could not have been more wrong. As one of my friends put it, I am hooked! If you want to read all about the class I took, check out my cave page. I am now hoping to go back to Florida to do some cave diving this summer and perhaps I will go for a GUE Cave 2 class at the end of the Northeast season.
One of the main things I enjoy about open water diving is the marine life. I love to observe the fishes going about their daily business in their natural habitat, and it's always a special treat to see something unusual. (Every time I go to Maine, I keep my eyes peeled for a wolf fish, and I was finally rewarded in October 1997 at the wreck of the Empire Knight.) But I also enjoy colorful coral in the tropics and some the soft coral and sponges that can be seen growing on some of our local wrecks.
Shipwreck diving provides a different kind of pleasure. Although most shipwrecks seem to attract a lot of marine life, the diversity -- here in the Northeast -- is somewhat limited. The wrecks themselves (especially here) offer a more challenging diving environment and a sense of adventure and mystery. I can spend quite some time looking in a porthole, trying to see and imagine what lies beyond before I find a bigger opening to venture in. As I look in there, I often imagine what the room looked like before it went under and became encrusted with anemones, mussels and barnacles, and what it was like to look out from inside while riding the open ocean. Reading about a wreck both before and after visiting it really enhances the experience. As I get to know a particular wreck, I start to focus on particular areas of it based on what I have read and what other divers have told me about it.
My cave class helped me to improve a lot of my skills (and certainly highlighted the areas I need to work on). Penetrations into some wrecks that seemed dauntingly difficult last season now seem possible. Going inside a shipwreck is very different from going inside a cave though -- at least based on my very limited cave diving experience. In Florida, the water was warm (68-71 degrees, according to my computer) and the visibility was excellent (virtually unlimited) -- even when we managed to kick up a little silt. The caves themselves were either horizontally large, vertically large or both. (One limitation of our current level of certification is that we're not allowed to go through restrictions.) All the cave passages that we are allowed to go into are marked by permanent line. Most of these qualities are not present in your typical Northeast shipwreck. The water temperature at depth rarely rises above the mid 50's. Excellent visibility is anything greater than about 30 feet depending on the wreck and time of year. Truly outstanding visibility is anything greater than 40 feet. (Average visibility varies from wreck to wreck. On some wrecks, 15 feet is considered excellent visibility. In the summer, when the gulf stream comes in closers to the east coast, average visibility increases by at least 10 feet on most wrecks, and I have seen 80 foot visibility on a few.) Most entrances "beyond the light zone" into a wreck (at least those with which I have experience) are neither horizontally nor vertically large, and it would be difficult or impossible for two divers to enter side-by-side. The entrance itself is typically surrounded by rusty metal with all sorts of edges that are just begging to cut your suit, your line or both. There is no permanent line in a wreck, and any attempts to install it would probably create hazards for other divers. (Not to mention the fact that the combination of the salt water and rusting metal would probably render all those efforts for naught within a short period of time.) So going into a shipwreck in some ways, gives me more of a sense of discovery. Even if someone just finished a dive and told me about some part of the wreck they went into, and I decide to check it out for myself, there is generally no real evidence that anyone else has been there.
Why would anyone want to dive in these conditions? When it comes down to it, I can't really give you a good reason. But it sure is fun. Just thinking about it while adding the above paragraph to this page (at the crack of dawn, March 29th, 1999) makes me itch to get in the water. Luckily, dive season begins on Saturday and you can count on seeing me on a boat.
Once a vacation and warm water diver only, I have become a [nearly] fanatical Northeast Wreck Diver. I can't wait for my next Caribbean vacation -- as long as it doesn't interfere with wreck diving! (Well, maybe if it was free, I wouldn't mind skipping a trip to the mud hole, but I'm not so sure if I'd give up a trip to the San Diego or the Stolt Dagali.) Each day of diving is a little mini-vacation, right here at home.
Here are some of the wrecks I've visited in the New York area:
In North Carolina, where it almost doesn't feel like real wreck diving because the water is so warm:
Some wrecks I have not yet visited which I hope to see this year include:
Some divers are more equipment-happy than others, but of course it's very important to all of us. Here's what I use. Not meant as any kind of advice or guide -- I'm always learning, but if you see me on the Wahoo, Jeanne II or Eagle's Nest, this is how I'll look.) BTW, I used to be a "Northeast-wreck-diving-geek-using-stroke-gear". Now I'm a "Northeast-wreck-diving-geek-formerly-using-stroke-gear."
If you're too impatient to read all the description below, you can look at a picture and try to figure it all out for yourself. (The lovely lady next to me is my mom.) Photo courtesy of Steve Bielenda, taken July 28th before a dive on the San Diego.
My first experiments with doubles were with hp 80's. I banded them with with Dan Berg's (Aqua Explorers) Ultimate Doubles Bands, and dived with them as independents for most of the 1997 season. This worked out well -- it was a no-commitment way of giving it a try and getting used to it. But now that I've gotten used to having a manifold, and understand the myriad of problems associated with not having a manifold, I can't see going back. The constant regulator switching and the two pressure gauges to watch was not the safest or smartest thing in the world.
Check out Jeff Bentley's Stage Bottle for a Hogarthian Rig and his How to Rig a Stage Bottle Regulator to see how mine is set up. There was one piece of information I was unable to glean from all my reading -- where the strap should be in relation to the direction the valve points in. After inspecting my rig, JJ suggested that I should put the strap directly under the opening of the valve so that the valve points towards me when I'm swimming with the bottle. This protects the regulator and also makes it easier for me to bring the regulator around the back of my neck to breathe from.
Last season, I was generally use "Stroke Mix" -- that is 80/20 -- in my stage bottle. Not that I didn't find George Irvine's article on Why you don't use 80/20 -- a (Baker's) dozen reasons compelling, but the fact is, I don't have access to the same decompression software he is using, and without it, the math doesn't seem to work out to my advantage with 100%. Nonetheless, I am going to give the pure O2 thing a good try this season.
For warm clear water, I carry an UK SL4 to bring out the colors at depth and peer into crevices. Even on the brightest day with the best visibility, it really enhances the experience, and it's so easy to tuck into a pocket or clip to your BC. Of course, I could use the Scout, instead.
My primary computer is a Dive Rite Nitek 3. This is a three-gas computer, accepting three nitrox mixes from 21% to 99% O2. It can also be operated in gauge mode for trimix diving. Let me illustrate a dive I did in August to show you why I like this computer.
I spent 52 minutes at the bottom of the Oregon, breathing 28% nitrox. (Average depth varying between about 123 and 127 feet.) I had a 40 cu. ft. sling bottle with 80% O2 in it. When I started ascent, both the Nitek 3 and my backup computer (Uwatec) were showing a first stop at 30 feet for 2 or 3 minutes and a total of about 56 minutes of decompression. Because I ascend very slowly, doing deep stops before I reach my first "real" decompression stop, my 30 foot stop was gone by the time I finished switching to the 80% there. I pressed the button on the Nitek 3 to switch gases, ascended to 20 feet to continue decompressing, and checked both my computers. The Uwatec was showing about 54 minutes of decompression and the Nitek 3 showed 34! Made me feel as though I'd really accomplished something by pressing that little button. I stayed the whole 54 minutes anyway to satisfy my backup computer (so I could do a second dive) and I really felt like superman when I got back on the boat!
My backup computer is a Uwatec Nitrox Pro. I like it because the numbers are big and easy to read, and the wrist strap is really nice. (I know it's dumb to like a computer for its wrist strap, but if you saw how bad the Nitek 3's wrist strap was, maybe you'd understand...) The Uwatec (I have the pre-backlit model) is nearly impossible to read inside a dark wreck or at night, and it only allows for one gas.
A US Divers Matrix was my first computer, and I was using it as a backup to my Uwatec before I got the Nitek 3. It was then that I christened the Matrix "Bend-O-Matic" -- I did a number of decompression dives with the Uwatec in which the Matrix showed no decompression at all. As a matter of fact, by following the Uwatec only, I managed to bend the Matrix only once. Scary.
Read the rant I sent to Scuba Times about "sreamlining" equipment
Drum roll, please...
It took me some time, but I finally began to see the light in early 1998. I realized I needed to dive Hogarthian, also known as DIR. What does this mean? To quote Jarrod Jablonski, "In the simplest of terms, the Hogarthian concept embodies simplicity and functionality. At the heart of this concept is the conviction of minimalism." Read the whole Beyond Hogarthian article. Also stated as "Reduce, Reduce, Reduce" in another version of the same article, entitled The Hogarthian Gear Configuration. which a friend of Tony's xeroxed and gave to him over three years ago. (So, ok, it took us both a while to catch on.)
In practical terms, diving Hogarthian becomes a little more involved, and often, the topic of much heated debate. But before I discuss how I've changed my equipment and the standards I'm trying to adhere to, let me discuss why I changed my mind.
I was very comfortable with all of my dive gear. I loved my my regulators, even my fins, but damn it, I loved my BCD most of all. It fit me (not an easy thing to do), it was comfortable, I could use it with singles or doubles and a variety of different-sized wings -- why change? It even had a great assortment of d-rings so I was never at a loss for a place to clip off a piece of equipment. And the BCD was definitely the biggest part of the fight for me. And it was a Transpac. In case you're not familiar with it, it does not have a backplate.
Yes, I thought that the Hogarthian system had a lot to offer, but I didn't think it was applicable to me. After all I'm certainly not going 18,000 feet back into a cave, 300 feet down! I'm a wreck diver. I thought, perhaps these interesting principles can be applied in moderation to be useful. (Application in moderation meant to add a goodman handle to my light.) Early in 1998, Tony's equipment configuration was pretty well converted to the Hogarthian style. His attempts to convince me fell on deaf ears. Well, not quite -- we had many heated arguments about it.
For a long time, Tony wanted to take a cave diving course. He decided he wanted to take it from Jarrod Jablonski, through his new training organization, GUE (Global Underwater Explorers). So for his birthday, I told him I'd pay for it, and that depending on when he wanted to go, I just might join him. After all, cave diving just might be fun (although at this point, I still can't envision choosing it over wreck diving), and anything I learned could certainly make me a better wreck diver. So I started reading the GUE pages. I was immediately convinced that I would stand to learn a tremendous among from these courses. No guarantees that you will be certified just because you paid and showed up.
With much trepidation, I turned to the Equipment Considerations page. No surprise here, your equipment must be completely Hogarthian, no ifs ands or buts. Lo and behold, I was suddenly convinced. My thinking goes like this. Jarrod Jablonski is one of the world's top cave divers. He's the WKPP's training director. And the WKPP has a perfect safety record. Since he requires Hogarthian equipment for his students, it must really be the best thing to do. Right away I began to make changes.
It took the rest of the 1998 dive season -- and there are still small refinements I need to make. But I was pleased that when I showed up in Florida, I only had to make a couple of very minor modifications -- all the research I did really paid off! Here is a discussion of some of the equipment changes I made in my journey to the Hogarthian configuration, my attempts to finally begin to Do It Right...
Throughout the process, a lot of research on equipment choices and rigging was necessary. I am still making adjustments, and can't imagine that I will ever stop, but hopefully as time goes on, these adjustments will tend to be smaller and less expensive...
Both the Transpacs and both wings have been sold (I had an Original Transpac, too). Now I have a Halcyon backplate and harness. The backplate is steel and weighs six pounds. (This is my secret to "not having to wear any weight" with my doubles.) The harness is made from a single, continuous piece of webbing. The idea here is that the webbing has no failure points. The Transpac has multiple possible failure points in two quick-releases and stitching everywhere. How convinced am I that the Transpac would fail 50 feet inside the San Diego and kill me? Not very. After all, I am not going 18,000 feet back into a cave. But this is the equipment that is required. And -- here's the real kicker -- it's far more comfortable than the Transpac and it fits me better. The backplate distributes my weight better, giving me much better trim in the water. And the harness is more comfortable than the Transpac. Are you surprised? I certainly was! I thought it would be nearly unbearably uncomfortable, and that I would suffer with it and eventually get used to it. About the only downside is that it takes me about two seconds longer to get into and out of the harness than it did when I had quick releases. I think I can live with that!
My only regret is that I didn't make the change sooner! JJ said about my recent conversion from the Transpac: "I will not hold it against you. You were led astray by the great voices of utilitarian comfort <g>"
It did take me some time to finally sell the Transpac. I was afraid (for no good reason) that the backplate and harness would not be comfortable diving tropical reefs with a single tank and wetsuit. So I brought it to Mexico with me (leaving the Transpac at home) to find out. I was not too suprised to discover that it was quite comfortable.
I was pretty unhappy about having to get H1 short head. I figured that I'd probably smash it within 30 seconds of getting in the water here and that it would be a cave-diving-only expense, but so far it has worked out okay for wreck diving, and I do prefer the smaller size. I can't honestly say that I notice a difference in how stuff looks though.
There are lots of great links resources all over the place, and I just can't hope (nor do I have any desire to try) to compete in this category, or even give you a comprehensive list.
The links below are just a few that I visit on a regular basis. I'm hoping to add links to my friends' homepages as they create them -- hint, hint. Drop me a line at mmowens at panix dot com if you've got one you'd like me to include.
Also, if you haven't read the document above, you'll find some commercial links there that may be of interest.
HangTim3's Deco Stop a.k.a. Tony's web page -- "
As much fun as an 1 1/2 hr hang on the San Diego! YEAH!" Has not been updated for a long time.
Randi's scuba page. She's a good friend and was my Nitrox and Technical Nitrox instructor.
DAN. JOIN!
The New York City Sea Gypsies,
the dive club to which I belong. Great speakers every month.
New Jersey Scuba Diving. Although I almost always get on a Long Island boat, the NJ Scuba web site is a great one.
Check out their great Wrecks page, which includes many wrecks visited by both NY and NJ dive boats.
New Jersey Scuba Diver. Includes a wreck map.
The Wahoo -- one of my favorite dive boats, but I've included it because of the interesting and varied links.
Twenty prominent Long Island Shipwrecks. The name is self-explanatory.
Long Island Wreck Diver. Still in progress, but looks great.
Wrolf's Wreck. He has some pretty good links, especially of interest to wreck and technical divers. Be sure to check out his Scuba Slang and Technical Terms.
Scuba Central: so many links, it makes my head spin! I often use this as a starting point if I feel like doing some random surfing.
Yahoo (Companies) and
Yahoo (Recreation), two more great starting points.
Maggie's
Links. I
put this page up for my personal use. Links are currently arranged in no particular order (this may change once I figure out how to alphabetize them -- any perl experts out there?).
GUE Cave 1. Read about my experience taking this class.
Last updated 12/08/04.
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©1996-99 Maggie Owens.
