Mark’s Stuff

After only about 18 months of trying to get a on a course I’ve finally managed to find a time where my schedule matches the course schedule, and I’ve started my CDAA Deep Cavern course. After three evenings going through theory and practising some line work in the shop, yesterday was the first pool session with instructor Jane from A.B. Ocean Divers.

Kira, Ed and myself spent the better part of two hours running line between milk crates sitting on the bottom of the pool, whilst Jane did her best at task loading us, including simulated OOA scenarios, simulated zero vis (blindfolds over masks and taking off masks), crossed lines and loose lines.

As this was the first time any of us had dived together, and we didn’t really get much time to discuss communication beforehand, there was some confusion going on, but for the most part I think we managed ok. It also didn’t help things out when our sequence was changed for every exercise. Certainly something to be discussed at length before getting wet at Mt. Gambier next weekend!

I definitely have to say that the GUE Fundamentals course I did last year went a long way to preparing me to be a lot more comfortable and confident with what the rest of this course is no doubt going to bring.

This year’s Cup Weekend dive trip with Ocean Divers was to Jervis Bay just south of Sydney, for three nights aboard Ocean Trek. I managed to squeeze onto the trip at the last minute due to a cancellation (sorry you couldn’t be there with us, Pam). There were a total of 10 dives scheduled, but due to some pretty bad weather, we couldn’t get any dives in on Monday morning.

We did see plenty of Wobbegongs and Port Jacksons (below), as well as a number of cuttlefish and a couple of morays amongst other fishlife. The weather was also kind enough to let us into Spider Cave as the last dive on Sunday, but surge stopped us from getting too far. Pics of the weekend are in my Jervis Bay gallery.

Even though to winds were squalling and the waves pounding outside the heads, Mick and Lyn managed to find a quite spot inside the bay for us to anchor on Sunday night.

On Monday there wasn’t much to do other than sight seeing at the local museum or national park, so a few of us opted for a walk to the cliffs above where we were diving over the previous couple of days, and I took the opportunity to photograph some plantlife.