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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens
PADI open water scuba instructor #64181
Dives 369-371
December 1, 2000
Musandam, ADSAC Dhow Trip

Diving with: ADSAC
Dive sites: Mother of Mouse, a second site, Brenda's Nipple for a night dive
Dive buddy: Bobbi, Dusty, and Wendy's daughter Sarah on the night dive
Others in dive party: ADSAC divers
Conditions: mild
Water Temp: 23-24 degrees C
Visibility: 5, 6, 7 meters
Wetsuit combo: typhoon top and thick farmer johns
Weight: 8 kg
Diving from: Dhow

Training conducted: none

Dive 369, Mother of Mouse, or was Mother the second one ??

Data from dive computer:

Dive buddies: Bobbi and Dusty
Interval from dive the day before: 18:01
Time started down: 10:09
Max depth: 25.7 meters
Time started up from chart: chart not available
Dive time from computer: 00:41
Min Temp: 23 degrees C
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 200 bar
PSI/Bar out: 50+ bar
Pressure group out: using computer, did not calculate

chart not available, computer apparently stores only a limited number of detailed records

Description of dive:

Don't remember this one at all. Bobbi remembers seeing a turtle on one of our dives today.

Surface interval: 2:49 according to dive computer
Pressure group in: diving from computer, did not calculate, but should be an A

Dive 370

Data from dive computer:

Dive buddies: Bobbi and Dusty
Time started down: 13:42
Max depth: 16.5 meters
Time started up from chart: 44 min.
Dive time from computer: 00:45
Min Temp: 24 degrees C
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 200 bar
PSI/Bar out: 50+ bar
Pressure group out: using computer, did not calculate

Description of dive:

Don't recall this one very well either

Surface interval: 4:57 according to dive computer
Pressure group in: diving from computer, did not calculate, but clearly an A

Dive 371 Night Dive at Brenda's Nipple

Data from dive computer:

Dive buddy: Wendy's daughter Sarah, 15 years old
Time started down: 19:32
Max depth: 15.2 meters
Time started up from chart: 34 min
Dive time from computer: 00:37
Min Temp: 24 degrees C
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 180 bar
PSI/Bar out: 90+ bar
Pressure group out: using computer, did not calculate

Description of dive:

Bobbi and Dusty had demurred, and Jim Darwisher, marshalling the dive, had set it with an hour and a half between docking the boat and time of departure, enough time for him to have a couple of beers and those ready to dive to become cold on the boat waiting for the group to form. With those in the crowd doing their first night dive, I would have set departure for dusk so people could kit up in the light and dive at first dark as it were. Having a decent surface interval would not have been a good reason for the delay, because at the dive site Jim declared a 30-min max dive time. After waiting an hour longer than was necessary for the dive to get under way, I was a little peeved that the time for actually diving was cut down to two thirds of what it could have been. Also, it would have been fun to have arrived back at the fire for dinner and a song an hour earlier than we did. As it was, by the time we'd eaten, it was after 11:00, and for myself I was asleep at the fire a quarter hour after that and in my tent before midnight. It would have been jolly to have got the dive out of the way earlier and had a bit of energy for a sing-song.

Also, not being familiar with the site, nor having arrived with enough light to see the lay of the land, none of us followed instructions to swim around Brenda's Nipple. To have done so, we would have to have known where to swim near the surface to get through to the back side of the rock. As it was, we followed our noses, and all of us ended up strewn along the headland.

However, the dive itself was at least entertaining. You will note from the chart that we surfaced midway through the dive due to a buoyancy problem (I wasn't sure what the problem was because Sarah had ear problems on the way down, and I assumed she wanted to surface mid-dive, but as it turned out, that was inadvertent). After ascertaining that all was ok and Sarah wanted to continue the dive, we surfaced straight on to a moray. I played the light over the creature for several minutes with Sarah right behind me. I even delayed to see if another pair of lights behind us wanted to see the moray, but when they didn't approach I moved off. Minutes later I came upon a turtle. I swam carefully over it, illuminating it at all times in the beams of the two lights I was carrying, trying to stay with the turtle, yet not scare it off. This game too I played for several minutes, maneuvering away from the turtle with it still in my headlights, keeping distance so as to keep it stationary. I was surprised on surfacing to discover that Sarah had seen neither turtle nor moray. In any event, she will soon be as competent a diver as her mom as she handled her ear discomfort appropriately and gamely returned to diving after surfacing inadvertently.

Vance Stevens, vstevens@emirates.net.ae | http://www.vancestevens.com/
Page updated December 25, 2000 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0