California Channel Islands Aug 6-8 on the Sand Dollar

teksimple

Am considering doing the 3 day multi-island trip on the Sand Dollar, August 6-8. Apparently the Sand Dollar now offers rebreather fills and cylinders.

I used to dive the Sand Dollar in the eighties when Bill Johnson was the owner and skipper. A diver's dive boat with a wood hull. Nothing fancy. Good chili. Anyone had any recent experience on the Sand Dollar? Any other recommendations for diving the California Channel Islands with a rebreather?

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"I don't know the percentage of the Internet that's valid, do you? Jesus, it's scary." - Hunter S. Thompson

cys

I dived the Sand Dollar during the Ken Peters era, 2000-05. The new captain has made some improvements to the boat. Sand Dollar was rebreather friendly when I dived it, but I don't have any info on the current status of rebreathers. However, the Second Stage 6-pack out of San Pedro is a very rebreather friendly boat.

teksimple

OK, just spoke to the group who is chartering the whole boat. They are a bunch of (apparently) open-minded GUE/DIR divers who have a few spots open.

The good news is that they have all kinds of helium. The bad news is that the owner of the boat has a rule where no pure O2 is allowed to be transferred on the boat. It is a wooden boat, after all. Has anyone used 80% before? With a KISS, calibrating would be a no brainer. On such a short trip, calibrating my Colkan secondary and Hammerhead beforehand should not be a big deal.

Aren't GUE divers ALWAYS supposed to carry 100% O2 for their deco?

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"I don't know the percentage of the Internet that's valid, do you? Jesus, it's scary." - Hunter S. Thompson

hirudin

If the rule is no transferring O2, why not plumb in a 40 of O2 offboard?

-Jesse-

teksimple

Now that's an idea. Only problem is, I would have to completely redo the plumbing on my Mark 15.5 to do so. The stainless piping and fiberglass rework, etc. is too time consuming to undertake just for this one 3-day dive trip.

My diluent side is already plumbed. Now plugging a 100% O2 on that side for deco above 6m (ala Dave Shaw style) is something I would not have any problem with.

Has anyone else used O2 mixes like 80% for their CCR?

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"I don't know the percentage of the Internet that's valid, do you? Jesus, it's scary." - Hunter S. Thompson

zbskii

I took a 4 day trip on this boat in October with my Sport Kiss. The boat is really nice, but not fancy. Be prepared to sleep in 10X8 room with 10 other people. The crew is awesome, and are very knowledgeable about the local dive sites.

I got pure O2 fills on the boat from him, but they were from a cascade, they don't have a booster, so expect max 2000psi fills. There's also a few spots on the port side with flip down tables for rebreathers. There's only a few so make sure to grab one right when you get on the boat
-Brett