Freef

For the first dives of 2005 Martyn and I went to Dosthill, a new site for us. Anna came along to enjoy the view from the car park because she had a cold and couldn’t dive. I was still diving on the remains of a 50.7% fill from the last dives at Stoney on 31st Dec. The calculated tank duration pretty exactly matches the actual duration, with a drop of 130 bar for a total of 101 minutes dive time. No drill practice this dive. vO2 readings still make me think that the sensor may be out. It was calibrated in the car park though, so it should be accurate.

Depth pO2 vO2
19.1 1.24 0.82
22.1 1.40 0.73
22.0 1.45 0.57
20.6 1.42 0.46

The dive was approached with out usual method of diving new sites. Kit up, jump in and wander around aimlessly until we get bored and come up. This method works well for the smaller inland dive sites, but it is not recommended for the sea as you may end up in a different county-or country. We found a few lumps and I found a strangely shaped stone which I collected for later inspection.

The second dive was approached in the same manner. I decided to have a frantic fin to see how the pO2 changed with hard work. The first two figures show the working results, the rest the normal workload levels.

Depth pO2 vO2
20.6 1.24 0.99
21.6 1.40 0.60
13.5 1.06 0.59
14.0 1.11 0.48

Carried out an open circuit bailout swap and a couple of loop flushes. Buoyancy getting better all the time, and I was diving on +5kg over o/c weight. The Vytec was set on 38% for the dive, with 21% & 50% as alternatives.

I enjoyed Dosthill as a site, vis was 10-15 metres and it wasn’t crowded. As the site is quite low lying, like Stoney, the wind wasn’t much of a factor either, although there is no shelter if it is raining. The car park is next to a graveyard, which may put people off. There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of big lumps to look at, but there are several small boats and cars.

__________________
David.

Diving the mahogany rebreather.