Dive Dive Dive!

[charleskieffner]

well its 330AM here in good old cave creek, az.(home of THE cave)and my bags are packed.

my mission: to DO BARBADOS UNTA-WATA!

leaving this morning on BIG BOEING SILVERBIRD and just as we finally came down below 100 degrees F.

been a damn hot summer here.

played the craps on this trip with hurry-kanes and WON!

weather presently at grantley adams airport in barbados.....87 degree high 77 degree low chance of rain 20%.

flights are free, apt/w/kitchen $80 bucks a night. balcony pool fence road sand ocean. can throw a rum bottle from room into ocean.

being a landlocked scuppy of the ocean makes it a real PITA to go diving often. being over in ventura last weekend for the car show, i caught myself daydreaming about diving the channal islands. its that addicting!

each and every trip to some place and your bags get lighter. but with ALL my gear and (2) two cameras with strobes............its always big giggles with TSA and changing flights. TSA always loves going thru my 35mm film canisters and has a field day with my spare air bottle despite valve being separated from cylinder and marked as such.

after having a few problems in mexico with rental gear, (ask about the oil in the scuba tank nightmare sometime), i always travel with all of my gear(less tank) and always take white hankerchief to rental dive tank and check for oil residue...learned my lesson!. got it pretty much down to a science now. doing the kona cave dives and doing night dives demands light and that adds weight when you bring large batteried lights. this trip, dont plan on any cave dives so that saved some money from bribing the airline baggage guys. last kona trip i paid $150 bucks in overweight charges!!!! YIKES!

plan on diving the greek cruise ship sunk w/bow 70ft upright, light penetration of hull, old fort dive site where 17th century cannonballs recovered along w/assorted rum bottles from british/french lil spat. brits shelled french fleet there many moons ago. and whatever else is good for pictures.

soooooooo.........its off to barbados and i am stoked! BIG TIME!


will post pics when i get back and i will plant the PELICAN STICKER there in some obnoxiously VISIBLE place that i can think of!


bets are on...............how many porsches in barbados????

i know theres at least (1) concorde jet mothballed there!


ADIOS!

[charleskieffner]

gear list thats REALLY BEEN TESTED AND APPROVED:

zeagle tech B.C. with h.d. bladder and optional pockets and lumbar support. weights integrated.

(2) poseidon cyklon regulators. choice of german navy and u.s. navy. owned them for 33 years.............NEVER A PROBLEM and simple field repairs if something does crap out.

(1) spare air bottle. nuff said.

using 1/2mm scubapro suit this time. unlike one in pic. water wayyy warmer than hawaii. and i sure as hell dont need my drysuit here!

scubapro/uwatec dive computer. VERY SPENDY but worth every penny when you read and finally understand the ungodly amount of information it can give you. mixed gas/nitrox etc. damn near wipes yer butt. and the AUDIBLES ARE DAMN LOUD! can download everydive to computer and build charts of my dives with times ascents/descents etc. wayyyy cool.

scubapro gloves/booties

scubapro mask w/lenses kinda hard to wear glasses untawater!

and u.s. divers big blade fins............TOP SPEED an astonishing 1.2MPH!

nikonos V 35mm with nikonos sb-105 strobe. maintained by southern nikonos repair in houston(plug)

sealife dc-600 digital 6.1 mega-pixiel, with sealife digital strobe. untested as of this trip. first time unda wata is always fun and exciting believe me. flooded cameras makes for a VERY BAD DIVE DAY!

and for taking on "whitey" i opted(weight reasons) out of the bigger than hell, heavier than hell, obnoxious as hell poseidon divemaster knife, and will rely on my gerber b.c. knife for mano to mano hand to hand combat with mr. "whitey"!

here "sharky - sharky" !

[charleskieffner]

pic

[Tim Walsh]

I miss diving. I took a course in college and loved it, haven't had a chance to go again since.

[charleskieffner]

pic of some dreaded nasty killer fish thang copyright c.w. kieffner

[charleskieffner]

killer fish

[charleskieffner]

[Moses]

Great pics!

I have a lightweight Zeagle BC with integrated weights. I love it. I have a U.S. Divers Micra regulator. It is so small and lightweight you don't even feel it.

I've never used SpareAir, but it's certainly a great idea.

My dive computer is getting old. Time to shop for a new one. I'll check the Scubapro.

[VINMAN]

Ive had my Posieden Cyklon for over 24 yrs. There is not a better regulator built. It is bullet proof.

[Joeaksa]

Have not been diving in a few years and really miss it. Take lots of pics and have a good time!

[charleskieffner]

heres what 33 years of doing this crazy sh!! teaches you.............

BUY ALL LIFE SUPPORT(regs/b.c.'s/spare air/computers /drysuits/etc from reputable DEALER! not the internet!

mfg's will not warranty from most internet companies.

sooooooooo should warranty be needed, dive shop will honor warranty. pay a little more but its worth it.

my scubapro/uwatec dive computer DID CRAP OUT in hawaii on night dive. couldnt happen in a crappier time! showed NO AIR SITUATION alarms going nuts! slow ascent from 50 feet with one hand on SPARE AIR! kinda hairy looking back.

took freeking computer back to scuba sciences MAD AS HELL and they sent it back to scubapro. scubapro kissed my A$$ bigtime and gave me all sorts of goodies plus new updated computer. works perfect now.

too be real techy for deep wreck entries or long cave entries i will add my old manual pressure gauge also for redundancy. cant be too safe.

remember taking pictures .................you kinda forget about everything going on except whats in your viewfinder.


standard drill on dive trips is first 2 days cruise all dive shops and pier area checking out shops/equipment/dive boats then pick the shop to go with. not all are the same and some suck quite frankly. have done background check on all of them but really its eyes and ears time as far who runs the best operation.

i have dived off of BONK-A boats and it sucks. big dive platforms, cute dive master chicks and big motors trip my trigger as well as them being camera savvy! nothing worse than cattle call and 25 people stepping on your gear.

my flights at 10:30 am and i am pumped!

[charleskieffner]

another reason i bought scubapro/uwatec computer despite crying "mommy" over cost, big digital readout for guys like me who used to have beyond perfect vision and now thru getting old need GLASSES!

[charleskieffner]

one more pic for the masses of the SCARIEST MOST DEADLY FISH EVER!

[304065]

Chuck, a few "DIR" tips;

Remember no metal-to-metal connections on any gear. For manual pressure gauge, tie a piece of nylon cord around the fitting at the gauge head, then tie nylon to stainless snap swivel. In the event gage becomes entangled nylon cord can be severed.

I use backup reg (NOT "Octopus" or "safe second") on short hose with a piece of surgical tubing run through the exhaust port, surgical tubing goes around my neck. Primary reg has a seven foot hose, looped twice. Why a long hose? So your buddy can use it when he runs out of air during a penetration. Why long hose on the primary? Because that's the one your buddy is going to GRAB OUT OF YOUR MOUTH in a low air situation. You then lower your chin and pick up the backup and begin controlled ascent.

If Crocodile Dundee/Navy SEAL/Jonny Quest knife makes you feel more confident OK, but a pair of EMT snips is a hell of a lot more useful, weighs less and you can't accidentally stick yourself with it.

What's the story with the bad air in Mex?

Man you are going to have a great time, I am looking forward to photos upon your return. Be safe and have fun Chuck!

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by charleskieffner

one more pic for the masses of the SCARIEST MOST DEADLY FISH EVER!

Looks like something in my aquarium.

[charleskieffner]

i ditched the mongo dive knife for weight savings. lil gerber on b.c.

literally cleaning my ears of wax before trip right now. clean ears = HAPPY EARS!

john i like your approach on regs. simple and safe in an out of air panic situation, which we all DREAD and DOES happen sometimes.

since drop dead good looking girlfriend is a NEWBIE, and only certed on last hawaii dive trip, any dives with her will be "kiddie dives"!

she is still real spooked from mask squeeze last time off of maui. MAJOR MASK SQUEEZE from accidental rapid ascent. REAL ******* HAIRY! whites of eyes were blood red and it looked like she had been beat up with both eyes blacked out. it was bad and she was PISSED! we called her "RACCOON" and that didnt help one bit. red eyes and black blue lasted a MONTH!

hairy dives to me include any wreck penetration or cave entries beyond 10ft. thats when i carry an OMS line cutter for any fish line encountered and have OMS line nippers as back up. always used redundancy as my bible. stuff falls or gets knocked loose when wearing gloves.

i will try and post pics from internet cafe there if i can. i brought everything to do so, just remainsd to be seen if i can make it work.


and finally...............the most dangerous living organizm in the ocean................ME!