Cordova Dive Blog

Sunday, 21 April 2019

Final dive for Mitch and Nicole


Beach parking was scarce along A1A. Martha and I parked behind some handicapped vehicle that took up several feet of our space. Mitch and Nicole managed to get my usual spot by the shower at Tower 17. We geared up and got in the water.

Because we are making the ascents this morning, I wanted to swim on the surface for 20-30 minutes necessary to get to the Eastern Ledge. That way, when we made the ascents no one would have a nitrogen load great enough to create a problem.

We arrived at the Ledge and I descended at 8:25 am. I took the flag line down and tied it off to a rock, then signaled for the others to come down. Mitch got to the bottom first and we performed an alternate air source ascent. I tried to get him to use his breathing to control his buoyancy, but we were going nowhere. I signaled that he should swim up, though, and he did.  Nicole did just fine and seemed to have much better control of her buoyancy.

I suggested that Nicole come down slowly while I more quickly descended to Mitch. He and I then made a CESA to the surface in about 30-35 seconds.  Nicole and I took longer to get up according to the computer graphic.

Once each diver had successfully performed the respective ascent, I untied the flag and we swam back to the beach underwater. Visibility was good and we saw several smaller schools of French and Gray Angelfish.

Dive time was 46 minutes, maximum depth was 33.6 feet and the bottom temperature was 77 degrees. My SAC was 20.71 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.53 cubic feet per minute.