SHARKS ALIVE! - GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 4

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - Part 4 – Sharks Alive!

“A shark just chased me out of the water!  I’m thinking there was no genuine threat, but a grey reef shark dropped its pectoral fins, waggled its tail and swam at me at full speed!

I expected it to veer at the last minute, but it didn’t and kept coming until it ran into my strobe arm.

I left the water quite quickly.”

 

 – my notes after diving at ‘Amazing’, Holmes Reef.

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 3

Okay, here it is – the long-awaited third instalment of my Great Barrier Reef trip report.

 

In case you missed Parts 1 & 2:

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 1

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 2

 

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 3

 

We sailed from Cairns on the Thursday afternoon and headed east for Holmes Reef.  Spoilsport rode comfortably through the night with only an unfortunate few succumbing to mal de mer.

Friday morning opened fine and clear [nautical terminology that; it means it was a nice day].  Our first dive was at Nonkie Bombie.  Like the first dive of most trips, the crew were checking out the divers to see who needed hand-holding and who was safe to roam.

THE BENDS - MY STORY

THE BENDS - MY STORY

Last week I gained membership to a club I didn’t want to join. 

I got bent.

As a diver, decompression illness, or ‘the bends’, is something that happens to someone else and if you do everything right you don’t have to worry about it.  Right?  Wrong!  Even if a diver does all the right things, follows all the guidelines and adds extra conservancy, it’s still possible to get bent.  I knew all this, so when it happened to me, I accepted what it was and sought treatment.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  There should be no permanent problem, but it’s an experience I’m happy not to repeat.

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 2

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - Part 2

I'm back from the most amazing dive trip.  The week on Spoilsport went so far beyond what I expected, I'm having trouble grasping the magnificence of it all.

Where to start?  How about a checklist:

• Comfortable boat with everything a diver could want.
• Fantastic crew for whom the word 'No' doesn't exist.
• Awesome bunch of divers from all over the world.
• Perfect weather.

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 1

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 1

It's happening.  Almost two years in the pipeline and now it's here...  I'm en route, in the air, on the way.  The Great Barrier Reef, here I come!

23 months ago (to the day), I turned 40.  My beautiful wife gave me a piece of paper with a coded message.  Crack the code, discover your present.  I admit, I needed some (big) hints, but eventually worked it out...

Dive the Great Barrier Reef on Spoilsport, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions premiere liveaboard!

Now here I am, bound for Cairns...

HOBART’S DERWENT RIVER - WHAT LIES BENEATH

I did a night dive in Hobart's Derwent River, a few night's ago.  This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the logistics seemed too hard.  When I heard the Tas Uni Dive Club had an event planned, I joined them for this unique opportunity.

For those of you not familiar with the Derwent, it's a victim of industrial pollution.  For many years considered a nasty, toxic place, there's been a great improvement in the health of the estuary in recent years; thanks to an increased community awareness of the environment.

HOBART’S DERWENT RIVER - WHAT LIES BENEATH...

It’s a Tuesday night in Hobart.  The rush hour is over and diners are enjoying their restaurants.  It might be early spring, but it’s still too chilly for many people to be out and about.  Those who are, huddle against the cold, hurrying to their destinations.  Lined up on the end of a wharf are seven divers.  One at a time, they step off, splashing into the river.  The dark waters close over and they disappear from sight.  Underwater lightning surrounds the photographers and bubbles give a clue, but from the surface, their whereabouts is uncertain.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND – NOW WHAT?

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND – NOW WHAT?

No posts for a while, but plenty going on… in my head, at least:

A couple of months ago, I finished a Trimix course (TRIMIX COURSE - PART 1).  I learned more over that couple of days than I had for years.  It was bloody hard work and by the end, I felt like I really earned my certificate.  But I gained more than just another qualification because somewhere along the way, I rediscovered my passion for diving.

For the last few years, the majority of my diving was in shallow water.  I mostly shore dived to take photos of the pretty fish and reefs.  I did deeper dives, but for a few reasons, I didn’t really push myself.  The result: I was getting stale.

The good news: my diving enthusiasm is more than rekindled – it’s blazing.  The conundrum: what to do next?

DECO DIVING THE WRECK OF THE SS NORD

As the SS Nord sailed down Tasmania’s east coast, Capt Maurice Mackay set a course close to the Tasman Peninsula. With the ship pushing into rough weather, he consulted his navigation chart; it was only a year old and showed deep water between the Hippolyte Rocks. He altered the heading to pass between the islets, expecting some shelter from the seas. But the Nord hit an uncharted rock (now known as the Needle), tearing a hole in the ship.

CONVICT RUINS AND EXPENSIVE BUBBLES - TRIMIX COURSE - PART 3

It’s taken me a few weeks to finish this, but here it is: the final instalment of my Trimix course report. 

Last weekend I did two days of solid diving, including putting much of what I learned into action.  But, I’ll tell you about that weekend, later... for now, enjoy!

In case you missed them:

Trimix Course Part 1

Trimix Course Part 2

TRIMIX COURSE - PART 3

DAY 1 (CONT.) 

Our Day 1 dives were done, but the day was far from over.  We were in for a fine session of gas mixing and dive planning, not to mention Rubens’s critique of our

TRIMIX COURSE - PART 2

I am a Trimix diver.

Wow, what a course.  Everyone asks me if I had fun… the thing is... I’m not sure I did! 

Although I finished a few days ago, it’s taken me this long to get my head sorted out.  This was easily the most challenging course I’ve ever done, and because of this, the most rewarding.  I thrive on a challenge, so I certainly enjoyed myself, but ‘fun’ never entered into it.

I went into the course expecting to go beyond my comfort zone.  At this level of diving, the course is as much about testing the diver’s mental abilities as physical skills.  Task-loading and simulated problems add to the stress level and test the diver’s ability to cope.  I knew all this, and at times still found myself questioning whether I should be there. 

In many ways, we are our own harshest critics.  It was only when I reminded myself that I did achieve what was asked, that I felt better.

 

DIVE 1 45M TRIMIX 18/35

TRIMIX COURSE - PART 1

The last few days slipped by in a blur.  Home from work, assemble new tanks, get packed for Trimix course, collect family from airport, drive to course site… and here I am.

THE TITANIC AND AVOIDING THE EVIL TWINS

Just seven days to go until the start of my Trimix cert course…  I just realised it will be the day after the 100^th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking.  I’ll use my wreck fascination to interpret this as a good omen!

My spare time is full of revision… gas laws, deco schedules, emergency procedures… oxygen toxicity, nitrogen narcosis, decompression illness…  And the abbreviations: EAD, HPNS, OTU…alphabet soup for divers.  It’s all come back, but it needed work.

I’m planning numerous dive scenarios, considering gas mixes, calculating oxygen exposures and allowing for contingencies.  I usually do all this stuff with a spreadsheet and software, but I find running through longhand brings it to the front of my mind.

I still enjoy ‘playing’ with dive plans, which is a good thing… it’s not unusual for planning of a technical dive to take longer than the dive! 

Warning - the theory that follows is a bit dry…

IDEAL GAS MIX, OXYGEN TOXICITY, EQUIVALENT AIR DEPTH

Avoiding deep-diving’s evil twins, oxygen toxicity and nitrogen narcosis, is the whole point of Trimix.

Why I Do What I Do (Part 2)

In Why I Do What I Do (Part 1) , I talked about how I started and the three things that influence my diving.  I continue that discussion here...

SOLO DIVING

I live close to one of the planet’s best diving regions, Bicheno.  On Tasmania’s east coast, the colours and diversity of the marine life are spectacular and Bicheno is the jewel in the crown.  Despite this, I struggled to find someone to dive with.  Most divers work during the week and dive on weekends.  I like to spend my weekends with my family, who are at school during the week, so I found myself diving on my own.

Why I Do What I Do (Part 1)

When I started diving, I expected more.  Others have spoken of their first breath underwater as life changing.  It didn’t do that for me. 

I grew up on the water.  I sailed dinghies as a kid and later moved into offshore yacht racing.  I’m a decent swimmer and did lots of snorkelling, so the underwater world was known to me.  As a young adult, I started competing in triathlons.

What is this Voodoo Gas Called Trimix?

Trimix is a mixture of helium, oxygen and nitrogen.  Divers use Trimix for deep diving to depths where the effect of nitrogen narcosis is no longer acceptable and normal oxygen concentrations are toxic.

Air is mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%).  Humans don’t use any of the nitrogen we breathe; biologically speaking, it’s an inert gas.  We need oxygen to live, but at high pressures, it causes seizures and unconsciousness.

And so it begins...

I started diving in 1998.  My then-fiancée (now wife), Sandra, worked at a gym in Launceston and one of the guys in her classes was a dive instructor.  She suggested we do an open water diver course with him, before our honeymoon.  After the course, our first dives were on the coral reefs of Samoa!  Simplicity is: diving in the tropics with nothing but a BC and bathers.