We set off on the Genesis on Saturday morning at 8:00am and headed out across a completely flat Jervis bay. We went out through the heads and turned North to our first dive location- Crocodile.
Brett and Nathalie help Jen to attach the pony bottle in the water. Emma and Nathan on the boat.
Brett was my buddy on all dives for the weekend. On our first Dive I took a pony bottle to get the feel of carrying one and in case Brett or I needed it. I wasn't really prepared for how much the pony bottle affected my buoyancy. We went down the anchor line to 30 M but I could not achieve neutral buoyancy. I may have been suffering slightly from Nitrogen Narcosis as I thought the bladder in my BCD had burst. I kept putting squirt after squirt of air in the BCD but still I was sinking like a stone.
I only carry 3 x 3lb weights, so even though the pony bottle was quite light it added a large % increase to my weight. There were lots of pictures being taken and I think Nathalie may have been feeling the effects of narcosis when she started disco dancing @ 30M.
Nathalie's Saturday Night Fever at 30m, Jen her buddy wonders what's going on?
We looked at the effect on colour at depth as Emma, the dive instructor had brought several pieces of different coloured materials, that all had changed colour at 30M. When we ascended the anchor line I found where all that air I had been pumping into my BCD went! I had to duck dive and dump the air to avoid an uncontrolled ascent.
We surfaced and had some lunch. Unfortunately Nathan was quite sick at about -3M and this continued on the boat. He decided not to dive again this weekend, this was his first dive this year and he may have had a stomach bug. He had not had much sleep the previous night and could have been breath skipping (see my post on CO2 retention) (headache information)
The Second dive was on Point Perpendicular. I took a picture of our boat the "Genesis", not sure if she is named after the bible chapter or the 80's UK rock band? By the look of the 2 Steve's I would say the latter.
We went down to about 20M and found a friendly blue groper looking for a feed. We looked at the effect of pressure on neoprene and how this affects buoyancy at depth and why we feel colder. This was a fairly uneventful dive but we did get to inflate our safety sausages at the end of the dive which was good practice and fun.
Day 2:
We set off even earlier and the advanced diver group with us went on the twin hull Avalon ahead of us but we soon caught them up. It was another perfect morning to be on Jervis Bay.
Advanced Course Group on the Avalon
As we had a picture of the Advanced group we decided to pose for a group photo of the Deep group. Steve obliged us as we headed out of the heads and to the north this time to the Arch.
Brett, Jen, me, Ben, Nathalie and Emma
The Arch is a huge swim through, big enough to drive a submarine through, whose bottom sits in about 38M. Our challenge would be to complete a simple child's maze puzzle whilst under the arch to demonstrate the effect of Nitrogen Narcosis when trying to complete simple tasks. We anchored right on the Arch and there was quite a strong current moving to the south. It took quite a bit of effort to get to the anchor line and a few of the divers needed to be towed by Steve on board to get to the front of the Genesis. The arch is an amazing rock formation and is well worth the effort to go and see, I would recommend this dive to anyone.
Brett completing the maze test under the Arch
I switched the video off to complete my puzzle. It took me 23 seconds and I must admit I was just following the pencil hoping to get through the maze, I wasn't able to look ahead in the maze and plan any sort of preemptive strategy as I would on the surface. My pencil did get to a few dead ends and had to back out which would never happen on the surface. After the puzzle I switched the video on but it was time to get out of there.
Underneath the arch, no time to wait around in 38M
With a bottom time of only 6 mins to ensure we stayed clear of our no decompression limits, there was hardly enough time for both of us to complete the puzzle. We planned to do a 22.5M safety stop for 1 minute as there is a strong school of thought that suggests this is beneficial in reducing nitrogen levels. We headed up to 5M and did an 8 minute safety stop to simulate a no-decompression dive limit breach. We took the opportunity to practice breathing on the pony bottle for 1 minute each to simulate an out of air situation, unfortunately Brett unscrewed the 1st stage instead of turning the Air on and we lost the first stage.
We had some lunch on board and headed back into the bay for what was to be the best dive of the weekend, The Wall.
Emma handling the numb ray
We swam along the wall and Brett and I found this Giant Cuttlefish sitting in a corner. I was trying to hold the camera and my torch as I wanted to avoid the green haze I usually get. The flashes are from Brett's camera.
We ascended the wall, whose top conveniently sits in 5M, where we did our 3 min safety stop before surfacing and being picked up by the Genesis.
Blue Groper and the Wall.
I think I need the underwater photography specialist course next!
Steve on-board, Crocodile cave in the background.
It was a great weekend and there were just too many things that happened to capture in this blog. The pancakes, the BBQ, the snoring, pods of dolphins, poker and a full deep diving knowledge review on Saturday night to name but a few of the highlights. I would highly recommend a trip to Jervis Bay with Abyss for any diver. In fact if your going let me know and I'll come along too :)
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