The Kaboom Dive

The day's excitement began as I escorted PADI Patty to Willow Springs Park for the Chilli Dive. Patty, acting more like a beagle than a local celebrity, was hanging out the car window waving and whistling at every guy we passed. Even I was surprised when she began calling people by their names, but that was only when we passed the police department. The plan was to swim to the railroad tracks and shoot Patty to the surface outside the swim area where the polar bears were assembling for their plunge. The plan broke down early and often. Gerhard and Tim Burrows headed out with plans to meet me, Colin, and Kulp at the Quest. While still on the dock, one of my low pressure hoses exploded with a loud kaboom. Someone shut off my left tank and Bud Bracken provided a quick replacement hose. That could be a major problem under water; glad it happened before I splashed. I thanked my lucky stars – too soon. Colin, Kulp, and I were hanging out at the bow of the Quest waiting for GM and Tim when – another kaboom. Kulp shut off my left tank and handed me the blown hose. With some residual air gurgling over my shoulder, the next 10-20 seconds were a little confusing. I made a quick inventory of what was still working. (I wanted to ask Kulp if he turned off my left tank or my isolator valve, but I had no idea how to frame the question. I assumed he turned off the left post – and moved on). Either way, I would lose suit inflation, but for a worrisome 10 seconds I incorrectly thought the lp inflator to my wings wasn't working. I knew that didn't make sense, so I rechecked the wings. OK, I had buoyancy control, but my air pressure gauge read zero. That made sense, b/c my SPG comes from the left post. Let's see - my air pressure was a shade above 2800 only 2 minutes early; it was probably not much lower now. I should be good to go – home. I unclipped PADI Patty and gave her to Kulp who was prepared to return to the dock with me. Get your priorities straight man! Shoot PADI Patty; I'll go home. So while I headed back to the dock in a brisk 8 minutes, Colin and Kulp sent Patty to the surface and tied her off to the bow cleat of the Quest.

JameZ is going to check out the reg, but early indications are a leaky high pressure seat in the 1st stage of the Mares Abyss. Normally this would trigger a free flow in the necklace reg, but I had the 2nd stage shut off with an isolator valve. An isolator valve is great on a charged stage bottle, but on a necklace reg or octo, it can create a larger problem than it was intended to solve. I love the Mares Abyss reg, but they are prone to free flowing at the surface and the high pressure seat in those units is problematic. Today, the pressure built in the hoses until one of them exploded. The hoses were new and the reg was serviced about a month a go – but stuff happens. I’ll probably take the belt and suspenders approach: Remove the isolator valve and install an overpressure valve on the first stage. Given all of the excitement, the stats for the dive weren't bad. RT=32 with a SAC of 0.53 due mostly to hanging instead of swimming and using "pull & glide" fast exit to get home. Bottom temp = 45; Max depth=40 ffw.

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