Trip Report and Photos

Diving with Ross O. June 3, 2006

The Pipes

Last weekend Ross O., Beth O., and myself, made a run on the Orion to an offshore dive site that Ross refers to as "The Pipes". The pipes are large (12ft) or so concrete pipes that sit in about 150 feet of water.

Both of us wanted to practice for the upcoming Sea Diver trip to Osborne Bank - a place where the scenery starts at about 130ft. Ross wanted to practice with his "doubles". I wanted to practice with my Nikonos V. I haven't had a lot of luck with the housed camera on dark deep dives. I can set the Nikonos up with the 16mm wide angle lens in basically a "point and shoot" mode topside before the dive. If I guess at all of the settings fairly accurately - it should take decent pictures, even if it is very dark on the dive and my brain cells are filled with nitrogen.

This is Ross with his doubles.

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We anchored at the site and began the long trip down the anchor line. About 10 feet into the descent I noticed that Ross had a small leak in the back on a connector near one of his tanks. I pointed at the small stream of bubbles. Ross spun around looking for a passing fish or shark. I tried again with more signals. Ross spun around again. On about the third try I finally got the message across. Ross asked back if it was a "big" leak or a "little" leak. Gee....I don't know anything about doubles - is a little leak a little problem or a big problem? I signaled a little leak. Fingers crossed that I had told him the right thing, we proceeded with the dive.

Shortly past 110 feet or so a large structure came into view. Visibility looking down must have been almost 40 feet. Once we were there, visibility seemed more like 20 feet. The pipes were covered with Metridiums.

During the dive, one of Ross's pressure gauges started to leak.

All too soon, our bottom time was over. We made a slow ascent to the boat. Back on board, Ross fixed his leaks and felt ready for Osborne. I rewound my film and crossed my fingers - I don't know, I think they turned out OK. A lot better than what I had done the previous week on the Moody. Hopefully I'm ready for Osborne too!

Until next time.......