Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Archives for May 2008

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Matt’s Adventure

Matt could not make Inner Space due to some prior commitments but he could come in after Inner Space so I sacrificed and agreed to stay in Grand Cayman for a few extra days so he could finish his Normoxic/Trimix CCR course.  We got is some fantastic dives, taking full advantage of the line we had set two weeks ago during our Expedition Trimix course. 

 

Robert Hew, a friend from Jamaica, joined us on several of our dives.  We even did one dive off Lighthouse Point finding a wall full of life and untouched coral stands including several large stands of black coral.  Of course Robert and I had more fun on some of these dives since Matt still had some skills to complete during these dives.  

 

We had some great dives and it was a lot of fun staying and diving more after Inner Space.  Thanks Matt for the excuse and congratulations on completing your CCR Trimix Diver program!

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Inner Space

Who would have thought five years ago when we were talking to Nancy about getting Buzz Aldren to come to Grand Cayman for an even sixty that we termed a dive into Inner Space, would still be a successful event going into its fifth year.  Even though Buzz Aldren was unable to make it to the first event, Inner Space has blossomed into the premier rebreather event in the world, hosting as many as rebreather divers from open water to trimix.

 

There were about eight of us from that original event still coming to it every year.  We have come from being CCR open water divers to CCR trimix divers and CCR trimix instructors.  Looking at the participant guide for the first year, most of he people were recreational divers limited to 130 feet.  At this years event, most of the people were Trimix certified limited to 330 feet.  Imagine 2 boats full of Trimix divers all in one place.

 

During this year’s event, Jess Stark, and Harvy Sisco came down to work on their Normoxic Trimix ratings.  Dave Snyder also joined me to finish getting his hours so he can get his Meg Instructor rating. 

 

Our primary destinations were the beautiful walls on the North side of Grand Cayman.  The visibility was down probably due to the early arrival of the summer algae bloom.  This also accounted for a great deal of algae on the walls.  Of course, the reduced visibility made Ghost Mountain more of a mysterious dive because you could not see the pinnacle until you swam towards it suddenly emerging from the mist.

 

On two separate occasions, the hot weather was abated by Robert Hew who brought his favorite treat – Italian Gelato and cookies.  You simply can’t imagine how refreshing cold ice cream is after a long dive.  No wonder Susan always seems to work on the boat Robert is assigned to.

 

Inner Space is a fun event for rebreather divers of all levels.  As Nancy says…Inner Space, deep down you want to be here.

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Deeper than ever!

I can’t believe that I talked Dive Mom into letting me go to the Red Sea for training, Lebanon for a diving expedition and take an Expedition Trimix Instructor Course in Grand Cayman, all but the Lebanon trip within 3 months.  But here I am in sunny Grand Cayman at my home away from home, Cobalt Coast diving with Nancy and the fine folks at DiveTech.

 

In order to participate in the September Expedition, Tom wanted us to complete an Expedition Trimix course.  In talking with Tom, I was able to combine it with an instructor Evaluation clinic so I would be in a position to teach it in the future. There were a number of us in this course – Peri Blum, Georges Galowski, Jeff Jones, Nat Rob, Randy Terrill, and Dave Snyder.

 

Our plate during this course was full and Nancy constantly wondered when we were planning on getting in the water.  We had lectures, presentations and discussions until midnight each evening, discussions continuing at breakfast at 9:00 am and equipment preparation during the day.  We eventually got some water time each afternoon, swimming out to the mini wall along a line we had to lay for some drills and eventually out to the main wall for some more drills – we had to run the line all the way out to the wall and down to 200’

 

The last dive of the course was a 400’ dive using paired safety divers at various depths.  Like one of our previous dives, this one turned into more of a learning experience than we planned for with Tom having a rebreather issue and one of the other divers having another issue.  The problems fell within things a diver at this level is trained to handle but it did show that things can and do go wrong even on carefully planned dives.  Nat and I had a very long deco on this dive so it was a good thing the snack king had in fact brought along some mini snickers bars and a few juice packs.

 

This was an excellent course and one that I learned a lot from that I can take into my other, shallower dives.  I think we all gained a new respect for the sea and what a difference the extra 70 feet can make.  400 feet is a long way down!