Last week, Brownie, Keith, and I started our TDI tech dive training with Chris. We are now done with all the classroom portions, including exams, and we have done 4 of our required 6 training dives. So far so good. But I must admit I was not to sold on the idea after our first two training dives and 2 additional training dives Brownie and I did on our own on a shallow reef. The equipment is heavy, bulky, and did I mention heavy. But yesterday things came around. We headed out to the Spiegel around 2:00 pm. Conditions could not have been more perfect. The water was flat, the visibility was 90+, and there was no current. In other words it was a perfect day to dive the Spiegel.
We headed down to the well deck around 120ft and spent 20 minutes just leisurely exploring the area and then headed to 80 feet. We then performed some valve drills and continued exploring for another 20 minutes. We did the long swim through, stopped to see Snoopy and the over to the starboard side, then out and back along the deck, past the guns, and back to the port side. We then headed to 70 feet and switched to our 50% mix. We stayed long enough to meet our deco obligation and proceeded on a slow ascent, holding and sliding as determined in our dive plan.
After being able to take our time swimming around the Spiegel, with no major concern about available gas, I came to appreciate the beauty of diving twin tanks, and deco bottles.
Today we had another training dive. this time we opted for the deep reef wall out at the Elbow. We did a drift dive, with bags deployed, and all required deco stops in blue water with no natural reference such as the reef or a wreck. We had to adjust our dive plan due to developments but everyone managed beautifully. And that is the trick to diving, being able to adjust based on circumstances for the safety of all involved.
I can't wait for our two remaining training dives and the additional ones to follow for the sheer fun of it. I want to do many more dive on the some of the standard local wrecks such as the Spiegel, Duane, Bibb, and Eagle before trying some of the other more challenging wrecks we have in the area.
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