Rough day back in cold water
It’s our first day back in cold water since Mexico and it was not pretty. The weather was gorgeous. With mixed swells from the North and South, Pt. Lobos was very calm. Visibility was 50′+ and in the cove, you could easily see bottom throughout.
Since we’re taking UTD Tech 1 within a couple of weeks, we thought it prudent to review our basic skills – skills that we know we have and have proven before. The dive plans was simple: skills, fun dive, and the skills with 6 min ascent in blue water.
The week prior, I had added pockets to a used CF200x and was eager to dive it. Both Elissa and I dove the suit before, and it was going to be a keeper for at least one of us. Well, immediately in the water, I start feeling a leak – a big enough leak that I could feel water running down my arms. At this point, I know it’s either the dump valve or the zipper and we continue to do checks and then surface scooter to a suitable drop point.
In the sand channel (big surprise here), we drop. At 20′ I tell Elissa to level off, and she stops. Elissa signals valve drill and proceeds. The initial right post shut down is easy, and then it starts to get rough. Elissa drops 2′ and instead of maintaining my depth, I drop as well. I’m not being a good depth marker for her at all. When she regains 2′ and I do the same, we yo-yo continually while Elissa muscles her way through all the valves. Her usual finesse is gone, it’s a struggle.
When Elissa finally completes here valve drill, it’s my turn. Immediately I have more difficulty reaching my valves compared to my regular suit. All I’m able to get is a finger or a thumb on the valve. With that, I work the valves.
Elissa then asks to repeat her valve drill and this time nails it without issue. No change in depth, no movement in the water, and executed with smooth precision. Looks like things won’t be so bad after all.
So then Elissa throws OOG. I donate my regulator and realize that I improperly routed long hose. After mod-S’s on all dives for the past 3+ years, we didn’t do it today. We had started late, and we just wanted to get in the water. Boneheaded.
With my donation cut short, I go OOG. Elissa offers me her regulator and we’re stable. This is the way that it should feel. Right now, we’re batting 60% on drills. If we’re taking Intro-to-Tech, we’d fail.
Tired of drills, we continue on with our dive. Elissa has never been behind Granite Point wall, and so we scooter over. Under scooter power, bad thoughts of drills quickly wash away. With 50′+ viz, the mass of Granite Point is impressive. Once over top, the floor opens below, and valleys stretch out before us. The water is calm and clean. Elissa and I kick around, exploring the main valley immediately behind the wall.
We hoped to find a leopard shark in the water, but no such luck. Instead, we are greeted with large rock fish of different type. We head south and swim behind the wall until there is a break and head back north. By now, I’m sufficiently wet from the leaky drysuit zipper and I ask to get back on scooters to head home.
Elissa signals ok, and we head towards the end of middle reef. We scooter out into the sand channel away from telltale kelp and begin an ascent. At 20′ I shoot a bag (or attempt to shoot a bag, as it takes me 3 tries to blow it up with my frozen lips), and we conduct a 6 minute ascent.
On the surface, we’re far out. It’s the first time either of us have surfaced at the end of Middle Reef. While others like to surface kick out this far before descending, Elissa and I are too lazy. After oogling at the distance to the cove, we simply decide to surface scooter home.
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