No, this isn’t a blog about
submarines, or even submarine movies, although that might be a fun topic to
explore in the future. Today’s blog is about a 3-tank dive my dive club, Bay Area Divers, did on a couple of
offshore rigs yesterday. We BADdies, as we like to call ourselves, stay active
pretty much year round, but more so in the summer. What better way to keep cool
in these dog days of August than taking a dip in a very large swimming pool,
called the Gulf of Mexico.
Unfortunately, diving in Texas
falls into two main categories: lake dives and offshore dives. There really isn’t
a lot of shore diving in Texas, except maybe near Port Aransas. Visibility (“viz”)
in the local lakes is rarely what one would call good, so to find that good viz
you pretty much have to head offshore. That leaves rigs, a wreck or two, and
the Flower Garden Banks for some
true “blue water” diving.
Since Cindy and I love cruising
the Caribbean, we take advantage of the fantastic diving there and have logged
dives from Cozumel to Belize to Grand Turk. The most common dive trips in the
Caribbean, when on a cruise ship stop, is the standard two tank dive. Now,
before I get too far along in my ramblings, let me explain exactly what that
means. Many of my non-diving friends visualize something like Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt, wearing a set
of double tanks when I mention doing a “two tank dive.” That’s not the case
here, though. A two tank dive refers to a dive trip where one will make two
dives, each with a fresh tank. The diver will make a dive, and depending on the
dive operator, will surface when either his/her tank is at a certain minimum pressure,
or his/her dive computer (or dive tables if going “old school”) indicates
he/she is near their no-decompression limit. Normally, it’s the minimum
pressure that limits most recreational divers.
Anyway, after diving that first
tank, the diver will then spend a certain amount of time on the surface, called
a surface interval. Usually about an hour or so, this surface time allows
excess nitrogen to leave the body. After a sufficient surface interval, the
diver then makes another dive on the second tank, hence the term “two tank
dive.”
That’s why I was making it a
point to talk about our three tank dive yesterday. We did two dives on one rig,
and then a third dive on another rig, using the transit time between the two as
part of our surface interval. These rigs were about 37 miles offshore, so we
got to experience some nice “blue water” diving with great viz and abundant
wildlife. We actually had enough members wanting to dive that we chartered not
one, not two, but three, yes three
dive boats! In all, there were about 18 divers, plus three divemasters, diving
yesterday. I took just over 150 photos, most of which came out nicely. There
were several blurry photos and a few who’s composition was not what I had
envisioned that went straight to the electronic recycle bin.
One event made our second dive
truly special. Two of our club members, Jim McConville and Doreen Wells, have
been in a relationship for a few years. Several weeks ago, Jim came to me and
asked if I (along with two others) would help him with a “secret project.”
During one of our dives, he would give us a signal and we would each unfurl a
weighted t-shirt. Mine had “Will” printed on it, another had “you” printed on
it, and the third had “marry” on it. Jim would then unfurl his t-shirt that had
“me” on it. He also had a ring tucked into his exposure suit, which he’d then
present to Doreen. How cool is that,
huh?
So, on dive number two, we
covertly grabbed our respective t-shirts, tucked into a mesh bag, and clipped
them onto our dive gear. After all of us spent some time exploring the rig
underwater, Jim nodded to us and then distracted Doreen. We quickly unfurled
our shirts, and he pointed us out to her. I could see Doreen reading the
shirts, then looking at Jim, who had his shirt unfurled. A vigorous nod from
her let us all know we just shared a very special occasion. I’m most happy for
Jim and Doreen, and feel honored to have been asked to participate in such a
profound moment. Congratulations, you two!
 |
| The newly engaged couple |
The third dive was just as fun as
the previous two, but after what we did on the second dive, it was almost anticlimactic……almost. Hey, it
was a fun dive, what can I say? I wonder if Jim and Doreen will exchange vows
underwater somewhere in the Caribbean. They can find a minister who happens to
be a diver and do the ceremony on the sandy bottom in Cozumel or Bonaire. How
romantic, right?
Oh, come on! Surely this would be
no different than a couple exchanging vows in freefall. I’m not making that up,
either. Some friends of mine actually got married that way. Gary used to
operate a drop zone, for sport skydiving. He and his then fiancé, also a
skydiver, convinced a minister to take lessons so he could marry them while in
freefall. Since the average skydive has about 46 seconds of freefall, most of
the ceremony, except for the actual “I do” part, took place on the ground. The
wedding party then loaded up into the jump plane, climbed to altitude and
jumped out. The minister had them repeat the actual vows in freefall; they
opened their parachutes and landed as a married couple.
Having just read about that
true story, exchanging vows underwater doesn’t seem all that farfetched now,
does it?
Until next time……
