Logbook Scuba Dive # 280 - Rotomahana
| Logbook Scuba Dive # 280 - Rotomahana |
Good| Cylinder Set #1 | |||
| Cylinder Type: | Cylinder Size: | Working Pressure: | Supply Type: |
| Steel |  12 litres |
232 bar |  Open Circuit (OC) |
| O2: | He: | Min. PPO2: | Max. PPO2: |
| 28% | 0% | - | 1.4 bar |
 EAN 28 |
MOD: | EAD: | END: |
| 39.9 m | 35.5 m | 39.9 m | |
| Start Pressure: | End Pressure: | Diff. Pressure: | |
| 244 bar | 122 bar | 122 bar | |
| Avg. Depth: | SAC Rate: | ||
| - | - | ||
| Cylinder Set #2 | |||
| Cylinder Type: | Cylinder Size: | Working Pressure: | Supply Type: |
| Alumimium |  11 litres |
200 bar | Open Circuit (OC) |
| O2: | He: | Min. PPO2: | Max. PPO2: |
| 50% | - | 0.19 bar | 1.6 bar |
 EAN 50 |
MOD: | EAD: | END: |
| 22.0 m | 10.3 m | - | |
| Start Pressure: | End Pressure: | Diff. Pressure: | |
| - | - | - | |
| Avg. Depth: | SAC Rate: | ||
| - | - | ||
| Avg. Depth: | SAC Rate: | ||
| 23.87 m | 8.65 litres/min | ||
| Gas Mixture: | |||
| Nitrox 28% - Back Nitrox 50% - Stage 1 | |||
| Instructor: Mark Ryan, Aquability Boat Name: Ocean Quest, Dive Victoria, Portsea Third dive of my TDI Advanced Nitrox Diver and TDI Decompression Procedures Diver courses with Mark Ryan as the instructor. Mark and Heather were along to be my dive buddies and practice skills. I had a very different equipment setup. The previous weekend I'd put together an OMS Comfort Harness II with OMS Aluminium Backplate and new OMS 60lb Dual Bladder Wing. Unfortunately there hadn't been an oportunity to test dive this setup. Also left and right leg pockets were added to my wetsuit. In the right pocket was stowed a stainless steel finger spool and AP Valves Buddy self inflating SMB. In the left pocket were my wetnotes, plus backup mask. I now had a Northern Diver Titanium Knife plus an OMS Titanium Line Cutter on the left side of the harness belt. The stage cylinder had been switched over to an 11 litre Catalina aluminium cylinder. I led the dive briefing before we boarded the dive boat. The dive boat was rather crowded with lots of people out to make the most of a sunny winter day. We were scheduled to dive the J2 Submarine, but it was cancelled due to shipping. It was suggested we change to the J5 Submarine which was fine by us. However another group on the boat insisted that wasn't deep enough for them and that they'd only booked to dive the J2 Sub because they needed 39 metres depth. (Mind you I still don't understand why you would NEED 39 metres. And I didn't see any shovels, so I have no idea as to how they figured they were going to get to 39 metres deep on the J2 Submarine.) Anyway, the drive was moved to the Rotomahana. The four of us geared up and waited for the deck to clear, planning on getting in last. While waiting it was announced some divers were back on the surface, but apparently they signalled they were okay and went down again. We eventually made it into the water and followed the shot line down. On reaching the bottom, Mark started to put us through some drills. I was enjoying the dive, comfortable with all of the new kit. Breathing easy and relaxed even through the various drills. Delight of delights, I was able to reach the valve knobs and went through two shutdown drills. Once Mark was happy with the drills we actually took a look at some of the wreck. I stuffed up signalling that it was 2 minutes to our scheduled bottom limit and we ended up leaving the bottom two minutes early. I then stuffed up handling the preparation for switching to the stage cylinders and shooting the SMBs. The result was we left 21 metres late, and I didn't shoot my SMB until 18 metres. The self inflating SMB was a delight to use. As Mark Ryan would say about other things, "It was Cool". Using a finger spool for the first time wasn't so easy. I ended up losing the double ended bolt snap. On arriving back at the surface we were met by Sea Dragon, with our dive boat, Ocean Quest, nowhere to be seen. That's not a good sign. On being picked up we were told that there had been a major incident and one of the other divers on the dive had died. Sea Dragon had come away from the HMAS Canberra dive site to assist and Ocean Quest had rushed those involved in the incident back to Queenscliff. Sea Dragon took us to the Dive Victoria shop at the Queenscliff Marina in case we would be needed for questioning by the authorities. Our dive team proceeded to do its debriefing. Mark and I then started to organise air fills for our second dive in order to stay focused on our diving activities and stop ourselves from focusing on the incident. Eventually Jason Salter arrived at around noon, gathered us all together and briefed us on what had happened and what the arrangements would be from then on. Mark Ryan and I still had a second dive sceduled for 2 pm on the J4 Submarine. It was decided we may as well stay at Queenscliff and be picked up from there. However, later the boat we'd be doing the second dive from came into Queenscliff, so we moved our gear onto that boat and made the crossing over to Portsea. I must say that I was extremely impressed by the way that all of the Dive Victoria staff handled the incident on the day. It couldn't have been easy for them and their complete professionalism shone through. We were fortunate in that we just did our dive together. We didn't come across any other divers during our dive and were totally oblivious to the tragic events unfolding nearby. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of the diver who died. You've got to figure that if he was out diving in winter in Melbourne he had to be doing something he truly loved to do. Also I hope that his dive buddy and those who quickly brought him to the surface are all okay. Finally, I hope all of the divers on the dive boat at the time and saw the incident unfolding before them maintain their love for diving. |
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