The Last Day

For all of my blogs thus far I have spoke about things that we had already done but today I will write about what we will be doing. Today will be our final day of diving. Since we will be flying out tomorrow afternoon we will only be diving for half of the day and will only be getting one dive in. We are scheduled to head out to Q Cove to dive a wreck site. This is a sad day because, though we are excited to be getting home, we just got to spend the past six weeks diving nearly everyday on great dive sites. We got to build wood boxes, put together pipe flanges, climb inside sunken Destroyers and generally have a lifetime experience diving.

Let us look on the bright side though, we are certified divers! We know a lot of knots! We got to see lots of cool animals everyday! We got to eat great fish and chips! We had fun!

*To all you at OCC, we will see you on Monday.

Underwater Dredging

My last official project as a student was underwater dredging. Divesafe has a custom made low power underwater dredger which uses compressed air from their low pressure compressor to create a siphon. With this siphon one can dig trenches, search for lost or buried items, clean out fish pens or a variety of other underwater applications. For our diving operation we needed two divers to operate this dredger. One diver would be maneuvering the underwater dredger and the other diver would be holding down the top of the siphon so that it would not be directly perpendicular with the seabed. This was necessary because if the siphon was perpendicular all the silt and gravel it was pulling up would come showering straight down on top of us.

Our mission was to search for anything of value. I was able to find a calculator and a pair of safety goggles. It is amusing those things someone might find useless and just throw into the ocean becomes a ‘find’ when found underwater. This was a really enjoyable project and I could have stayed under for hours searching my locker (Davie Jones’ Locker).

Blacked Out Knots

This project, like the blacked out flange tree project, was a way of testing our knowledge of knots and knot tieing in a no visibility underwater situation. Divers are often required to rig things for lifting underwater so having a working knowledge of rigging is nessecary to complete lifts in a safe manner. To ensure that we have gained this level of knowledge the instructors once again covered the face plate of the helmet with duct tape and sent us to the bottom to tie 10 knots that they felt we should know. We were required to tie a reef knot, single and double sheet bend, clove hitch, rolling hitch, round turn and two half hitches, bowline, bowline on a bite, figure eight, and a figure eight with an eye.

Blacked Out Flange Tree

The clear water around Campbell River provides for some excellent visibility which can be great but unrealistic. Most of the working dives in our careers as divers will be performed in little to no visibility so the instructors set up projects that mimic working with no visibility. For the blacked out flange tree project the object was to put five pieces of pipe together underwater with duct tape covering the face plate of the helmet. While one diver worked on the project blacked out the other diver would observe with a camera so topside could see what was going on and act as a standby if something went wrong with the diver who couldn't see. The various pipe sections were lowered from the boat on a crane and the diver would have to direct the piece into place and bolt it down with a gasket between each piece. For added difficulty the divers were given just enough bolts, nuts and washers to complete the project and some of the bolts were different sizes meaning that they had to be placed in the right section. The project was completed with all divers taking turns working on the project so it was a big team effort.

DEEP DIVES

As a requirement to get our certification it is necessary for each of us to perform at least one dive in the hat to 100 feet. When going deep it becomes much more important to control buoyancy and have clear communication and planning with topside. When descending to a depth of 100 feet it is imperative to periodically inflate air into the drysuit. As each of us felt, the suit squeeze at 30 feet was much different than 100 feet and if you do not inflate your suit during the descent it will be nearly impossible to move your arms or legs at 100 feet.

For our dives we dropped straight down to nearly 100 feet to a rocky flat. From there we were free to look around and watch the fish. There was what seemed to be a wench from a small tug boat on the seabed and lots of rockfish. Going deep is always a heart pumping experience and I think it is important to learn how to safely push yourself to gain more trust your skills and abilities.

Side Note: Divesafe has uploaded a bunch of pictures from our class. Follow this link if you would like to see: http://www.divesafe.com/photo_gallery.php?gallery_id=43

Emergency Situations

Divers never want to be in an emergency situation but because of the fact that we are underwater and in unknown surrounding we are constantly surrounded by dangers. Even if we know where dangers are located there can always be another unknown danger underwater or something topside can happen which could put the diver at risk. All these things require us to be vigilant with our safety and emergency training.

It is nearly impossible to recreate an emergency situation. That is the emotions, surprise and adrenaline that would be present in a true emergency, but practicing for an emergency, no matter how different, does make us more prepared. For our exercises in the marina we would have one diver go down and entangle his umbilical before calling up with a mock situation. The diver could say he had injured himself, or he was getting a headache and the air tasted bad, he cracked his mask or even say nothing, like he was blacked out. At this point the rack operator would, depending on the situation, attempt further communications with the diver then jump the standby diver. Regulations in British Columbia Canada state that the standby diver needs to be able to be in the water within one minute. This was our challenge each emergency drill. It was difficult but each of us got three tries in each position; the rack operator, standby diver, standby tender and injured diver.

These types of drills are important to experience and practice, they keep us focused and aware. As with any profession with danger complacency is the factor that will take an emergency situation and turn it into a deadly situation.

The Daily Routine

We are now in our 5^th week of class and everything is beginning to fall into place. Each day our diving operations are running smoother and faster. Setting up the boat, dressing in the diver and breaking down after the day are all becoming second nature to each of us in the class. I will duly note that this does not mean we are becoming complacent with our duties on the boat but rather that we are becoming aware and comfortable of what is expected of us.

At the beginning of the day the instructors select one person to act as the dive supervisor. The dive supervisor will then ensure that all the checklists are completed and that we are ready do begin diving before we leave the marina. These checklists include one checklist for each helmet that we will be using and a surface supplied air checklist. The helmet checklists include visual inspections of the helmet as well as setup procedures. The surface supply checklist includes checks and setup procedures for primary and secondary air, the rack manifold, safety harnesses and includes redundant checks for the helmets. This procedure forces us to always have clear communications on the boat as well as ensure that no one person can fall into a routine of performing the same tasks each day.

At the end of the day we all break down the boat storing some of the equipment on the boat as well as brining in the oxygen tanks, helmets and tools from the days projects. At this point the dive supervisor need to ensure that the boat has been properly broken down then the supervisor will need to check each helmet used during the day. The supervisor alone will go over a final checklist cleaning and checking over the helmets before filling out their dive logs. As with everything we do on the boat safety, teamwork and communication are always first on the checklist.