Scuba Diving

Stripping Luxfer AL80 Scuba Tank (Stage Bottle)

James Garrett

With the spare time I have due to the holiday break (no school or work!), I decided to strip one of my AL80’s that I’ve had sitting around so I can finally stick the MOD decals on it.  I guess I could have just put the MOD stickers on it, but the clear coat put on from the factory was starting to yellow, and just didn’t look good, so I didn’t want to spend any money on stickers for it that would just end up coming off as soon as I had the free time.  A friend recently sold me a cheap Halcyon AL80 stage strap as well, so I guess that helped motivate me…

The Procedure–

  • Purchase paint stripper from Home Depot. (Click here to see what I used)
  • Put an old yoke valve, or something you don’t want on the tank to ensure nothing gets inside it, and you don’t ruin a good valve if you spray any stripper on it.  I had an old OMS H valve that was of no use to me, so I used that.
  • Cover the tank in paint stripper.
  • Use a scraper to get the foam-y paint stripper off the tank. (Wear gloves and do *not* get this stuff on your skin!)
  • Rinse the tank.
  • Scrape off all the paint you can scrape off easily.
  • Coat the remaining painted areas with paint stripper and let it sit for 15 more minutes.
  • Scrape the remaining paint off.
  • Rinse cylinder.
  • Put the new valve on it.
  • You’re DONE!

Pics-

Manatee Springs State Park – p1900 beyond Friedmans Sink

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth–
Avg Depth–
Visibility– 25-30ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:

Met up with Brian Richardson at Extreme Exposure in High Springs around 8am since he needed some Halcyon stuff, and then headed towards Cave Excursions East to get fills.  Talked with Rich about our dive plan, and was given the advice to just scooter through the buoyancy changes that we would encounter in this cave.

Upon arriving at Manatee Springs State Park, we were told by a park visitor that there’s now a courtesy cart that divers may use to carry their gear (it’s a long hike from the parking lot to Catfish Sink).  This is a REALLY nice upgrade since I had dove there last. With 2 stages, deco, and a scooter each, it would have taken several trips with the dolly.  The air was cool, which made the walks back and forth much easier than it typically is during the summer months.

Once in the water, I ran the primary, as you have to go a ways here before reaching gold line. Brian had offered before hand to “tidy up” the line behind me.  Since we had so much crap on us, and the flow really is bothersome at this site, teamwork is the best way to get a primary into this system.

The flow was up, and visibility was down.  This cave is so dark, with this poor of visibility I felt as if I were scootering and blindly following a line in hope that the cave would clear up somewhere and I could actually start to see something.  Because it was cloudy, we couldn’t even see light come through at Sue Sink or Friedmans.  About 1900ft beyond Friedmans, my 21w HID decided to fail!  I swapped to my Halcyon Scout and began the near 4000ft journey back home.  Having trouble keeping my eye on the line due to the particulate reflecting Brian’s light in my face, I had Brian go to his Scout as well, amazing how fast things escalate!

In the end, we exited via Catfish with an uneventful deco.  While packing up, we did get a pleasant surprise, 5 deer decided to visit us in the parking lot!

Devil’s – Hill 400

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth–
Avg Depth–
Visibility– 150+ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:
After diving with Brian in the AM, I had a surface interval and then met Ryan and Sam to do a quick run down Hill400.  This was Sam’s first time off mainline Ginnie, so we covered the dive plan and were in the water.  Sam ran the primary, and had an interesting time due to the fact that the NACD conference visitors had left 5 primaries already in the system, which left very few good tie off spots.  The two of them would lead, and I would scooter along behind them, as I’m still trying to gain scooter hours.  I had a stage bottle that I would breathe, and reserved all of my back gas to ensure that I had enough gas to swim out sharing gas, since scootering out wasn’t an option with only 1 scooter between the 3 of us.

Ginnie Springs -- Devils Ear to Hill 400

Devil’s – To Mainland…or not….

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 101ft
Avg Depth– 85ft
Visibility– 150+ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:
Met with Brian to do a dive to Mainland.  The plan was to double stage on the scooter ride there, dropping the first stage at stage bottle rock (about p1800), and then breathe the second stage all the way to Mainland.  From there we would use limited backgas to see whatever we could, and then head back.  Unfortunately I got a little ambitious, and jumped about 10ft too early into a low, silty, and probably better off side mount passage.  One thing I learned, make the OTHER guy lead in a siphon, a single errant fin kick blitzed the viz, and we were both left on the line for the exit. Once we returned to mainline, viz was about 10-15ft, but still enough to get on the scooters and try to speed up the exit.  Viz cleared around the Insulation Rooms, and by the time we were getting to the Maple Leaf, no evidence of our error was left (whew! I thought we were going to read about ourselves on CDF or TDS!).

Devil’s – To the Scraper

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 104ft
Avg Depth–
Visibility– 150+ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:
Met with Jeff after he got off work at Ginnie and headed to the Devil’s area to gear up.  The plan was a simple scooter mainline dive here, nothing fancy.  We would scooter until it became too small, drop the scooters and start swimming.   We hit our turn pressure around the scraper, all in all a pretty uneventful dive.

Devil’s – To the Insulation Room

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Backgas / 100% Deco
Max Depth–
Avg Depth–
Visibility– 150+ft
Water Temp– 72F
Dive Time:

Notes:
Met up with AJ and Stacey late in the afternoon.  Stacey is quite frankly much better on a scooter than either of us are right now, so we had asked her to give us pointers, and guide us in the right direction to become more proficient on DPV’s.  Since she takes weekly water samples in the Insulation Rooms, we would tag along during this dive.  AJ and I lead during the dive so that Stacey could observe us.  Getting into Devil’s Ear just isn’t fun yet, I’m doing better, but still need work.  We made it to the Insulation Rooms, which was a new experience, as the jump line here is tied off to the ceiling, and scooters are great at floating as well as catching flow at the same time, so once again, as with any new thing in diving, very task loading.  While it’s not the easiest place to run a reel with a safety/stage, please don’t just throw your scooter or stage bottles in the clay where you jump off mainline, the damage is very evident from people doing that at this particular location. Anyways, back to my story….we got the scooters clipped off and headed down the passage, stopping for each of us to cookie the T and then following Stacey to the area where she takes her weekly samples.  On exit, AJ and I had decided to alternate towing each other, which Stacey said we did well.  However, we do need to work on OOA drills, as the additional task loading of the scooter made for a way to eventful drill.  Once again, deco was minimal (I’m starting to love the Gavin for that!).

Troy Springs

James Garrett

Whitney hadn’t been to Troy Springs so we decided to go there since she had the weekend off and I wanted to go diving.  We decided to play with the scooter, and she had some new gear to play with, so Troy Springs was a great place.  One thing that surprised me was that the catfish which used to enjoy hiding under the cavern zone when I came here several years ago were no longer there.  The cave is still pumping as usual, showing off as we look into it frustrated by the fact that it’s all too delicate to explore, with breakdown everywhere.  Steps have also been added, a nice addition for public access, but certainly takes away from the nature of the pristine spring that I was used to seeing.

West Palm with Little Deeper – Dive #2

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Travel (no deco)
Max Depth– 57ft
Avg Depth– 45ft
Visibility– 30ft
Water Temp– 78F
Dive Time: 44min

Notes:
Lots of wildlife out today.  Saw 2 turtles on this dive as well as another large grouper.  The dive boat sent almost 15 divers out with one dive flag, one dive master, I was NOT impressed.

Cow Springs – Mainline to 1400ft

James Garrett

Breathing Gas– 32% Travel / 100% Deco
Max Depth– 103ft
Avg Depth– 70ft
Visibility– 75ft+
Water Temp– 70F
Dive Time: 71min

Notes:
Met Stacey at her place and carpooled over to Dive Outpost to get the key.  Despite a few issues getting in the water, we had a great dive.  Unfortunately my doubles were only at 3100psi, so even with a stage, we only made it about 1400ft.  Running a primary reel while pushing a stage ahead of you isn’t nearly as easy as I’d hope.  For some reason the mainline seems to be run in less than ideal places, sometimes you can swim 5ft off mainline and be in a much larger area where you won’t bang your tanks, something to look out for if you’re backmount like me.

Cow SpringsCow Springs