Ocean Enterprises, United States

Jared Adkins

09/10/22 at 10:04

Dive Buddy: Ryan Vandever Final dive of class: wreck penetration with a line. After recharging with some hot tomato soup (it was hot today hooray!) and gold fish, we were back in the water (after a 45 min surface interval that is). For this dive, we followed pretty much the same path as the previous dive. As soon as we reached the bottom of the mooring, we swam over to an open bulkhead near where we were practicing tying off on the previous dive. Mark went in to observe from the inside while Ryan N hovered outside to direct us. We each took turns tying two points outside the bulkhead and then entering to tie off a third inside with Mark. Ryan N signaled me to proceed first, but then my buddy Ryan must've thought he was signalling him so he cut in front of me just as I finished tying off my two points outside. I hovered to wait above the bulkhead while my buddy completed his penetration, but Ryan N grabbed my fin and directed me to wait closer to my outside tie offs with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry..." My buddy was clearly having difficulty inside as it was taking him a while (he later told me he was simply having trouble seeing the tie off point inside). Ryan N began waving his light inside to tell Mark he needed to hurry or get out since we were on limited air, but he came out soon enough albeit with some trouble recovering his line. Next it was my turn. I swam into the bulkhead smooth making sure to give my tank ample space to clear the frame, gently rolling out my line while keeping it taut and free of the handle so as not to tangle it again. Once I was in, Mark flashed his light at a small knob protruding from the wall to my right. The room was small, only about 10 feet deep, but I had enough room to tie on quickly, show Mark I had good buoyancy, unhitch and get out in probably under 30 seconds. Of course, my reel tangled again on the way out, but I made sure to get clear so John could begin his penetration while I sorted my reel and untied from the outside points (which I managed to do before John returned through the bulkhead). We were done with class! And already at turn pressure again. But Ryan N had one last surprise for us. We followed him down the deck of the ship to the sea floor again, swam into the shadows under a piece of the wreck, and straight up through an unobstructed tunnel to the spot we had just done penetration (through a hole Ryan N had been hovering over right in front of the bulkhead). It was an amazing experience and I only wish I had my camera! We regrouped with buddies, ascended up the mooring to our safety stop (which I felt the most in control of my buoyancy for during the entire class), and then took a piece of Ryan N's advice from the previous dive's debriefing and swam with Mark under the charter boat all the way to the swim step before surfacing (as opposed to surfacing by the bow and swimming to the stern).

Jared Adkins

09/10/22 at 08:41

Dive Buddy: Ryan Vandever Day two of wreck dive training on the Yukon from the Waterhorse charter boat. Today was skills practice, specifically running a line, so no camera on these dives and Ryan N subbed in for Seth to help guide us through it. We also split the class into two groups today, with Ryan N leading me, my buddy Ryan, and John (who buddied up with Mark). Same as yesterday, we headed out from Mission Bay to the Yukon and tied up on the midship mooring. After a quick briefing we were in the water and descending down the line. For the first dive of the day, we practiced running lines on the outside of the ship at its shallowest point right near the mooring. The entire ship is covered in tiny anemones, so I pretty much had to tie around them on a rod (presumably a gun turret at one point) for my initial tie off point. I started running the line to my next tie off point and almost immediately got a loop of my reel caught on the knob handle. It only took me a few seconds to get it free, but in that time the surge was gently knocking me into the side of the deck and I definitely felt silly. But I managed to truck on and quickly attach two more tie offs completing the exercise. Reeling back in went even quicker. All of that took only a few minutes but on those low pressure tanks at that depth we were already at turn pressure. Mark beckoned me and Ryan over to him even though we kept making sure he knew we were at turn pressure and kept descending slowly down the deck to the sea floor again where we hung out for a couple seconds signaling OK to each other and then slowly made our way back up the ship, back up the mooring, and to our safety stop. Ryan kept losing me as we passed other divers up the line even though I frequently looked down and signaled him where I was, but we made it and debriefed back on the boat.