I missed the cut off time to register for this blog page last night, after finishing my first dive, so I’ll begin our Aquarius saga starting yesterday, after being delayed for a day-and-a-half due to TS Alberto.
Our first day began with 4 to 6 foot seas as we headed out to the Life Support Buoy (LSB) to begin the saturation mission. When we arrived on the site, the habitat technicians James and Tim had Aquarius up and running and were waiting for us. The other three and myself grabbed our 13 cubic foot pony bottles and jumped in. We swam down almost 8 bone-crushing fathoms to enter the wet porch and meet up with James and immediately began our safety briefing. After getting settled in, we dressed up our first two MK-16 divers and splashed them for a 3 hour dive. Dave and I made sure we prepared ourselves for our 3 hour dives next by eatting, mostly alot of snacks. During my 3 hour excursion it was very obvious the potential benefits of using rebreathers while studying marine life, it’s almost as if the fish can’t see you or think you are one of them. That was the ending to our long first day, I think everyone slept pretty soundly that night.
Day 2 began with hot coffee and breakfast burritos, not a bad life. I’m still trying to get used to have all the ammenities that are available (i.e. microwave, phone, Internet, and hot water). Our second day started pretty much the same way as yesterday afternoon, preparing for MK 16 dives. While diving the MK 16 you not only notice the fish getting closer to you, but also the sounds underwater. With no exhaust bubbles you can actually hear a lot more. We are keeping ourselves weighted heavy so we can help perform some underwater work around the habitat in preparation for the hurricane season. We left one of the 28 turn-buckles uncovered because of a large, very green moray eel happened to live right next to it. He had about a foot of his body out of his hole, half of that was his mouth, and he didn’t look too happy. Looking forward to a relaxing night and another day of diving tomorrow.
Slept better last night than I had in years, it could have been an Ambien commercial! Waking up in the middle of the night with a 200 lb Goliath Grouper staring at you through the back lit view port was a new experience for me. The sea really came to life after the sun went down, and it was really quite something to witness the hunt. Out of the rack this morning at 0630, Masterdiver was already awake and had made fresh coffee with the French Press coffee maker, or “Liberty Press” if you prefer. Ate breakfast and set off to prediving the rigs for the first excursion. This morning Cory and I would again be the first two out for a three hour dive. Our first task was to tighten up the turnbuckles on Aquarius and its flask rack that fasten them to the sea floor. We worked together and made quick work of it. Then after taking a break to admire an eel that we had apparently disturbed from his slumber, we went back to work scrubbing the habitat valving with wire brushes. The support boat was on station earlier this morning than most, it arrived around 1030 with an eager crew. The pot runs commenced and we sent up one of our rigs, as it will not be used anymore this mission. Cory and I finished up our dive at 1100 and each enjoyed a wonderful lunch of freeze dried food. Weturned both rigs around and had the next two divers out in the water by 1300 without even breaking a sweat. Loving life down here. More to follow
Jeremy Mullis
TS Alberto did finally get into a position that we felt that it wasn’t a threat to us, so this morning we were able to get out. When we left Key Largo the seas were pretty calm, but by the time we reached the LSB (Life Support Bouy), the seas had climbed to 4 to 6 foot swells. We moored up and dove down to the Aquarius in no time, where James and Tim were waiting for us and gave us our initial briefings. The next hour was spent doing pot runs and setting up two MK-16 for dives, Corry and I made the first dive out for 180 minutes. The visibility was pretty poor with a lot of silt & settiment, but lots of animal life to admire and watch without the disturbance that is usually associated with the bubbles exhausted with SCUBA. After returning to the wet porch, turn around time was quick and the XO and MDV were out in the water in no time. The view down here is unbelievable. Looking forward to getting some work done. More to follow.
The first day, delayed by T.S. Alberto started with a quick scuba dive in 4-6 ft seas and 20 ft visibility. The habitat is comfortable and well designed for research and observation. After setting up our personal space we set up for our first 3 hour dive in dry suit and rebreather. While outside the habitat the dive went without rig problems for myself. My drysuit leaked quite a bit more than I expected. The fish here are conditioned to people that are not aggressive or predatory.
Suit and rig shake down. I dove the Bear crushed neoprene drysuit with MK-16 Mod 1 rebreather. Left hip weight pouch ripped on dress out and weight was a constance annoyance the entire dive- it hung down between my legs and flopped around getting in the way. The suit was comfortable and performed nicely. The rig breathed fine and breathing resistance was minimal. EGS whip was stretched full 150′ length and switch-over block was tripped to go on EGS for a functional check at full whip length. Gas supply was sufficent with sufficent delivery pressure (more so than the MK-16 at 60 FSW). The EGS gas had a strange taste- stale or mildew. The visability was poor due to kicked up sediment from the tropical storm. The large fish groups held close to the habitat it seemed. The large Goliath Grouper hung out under the gazebo. No work was done during this dive. Dive time: 3 hours.