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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens PADI open water scuba instructor #64181 Dives 381-382 March 2, 2001 Abu Dhabi offshore: The Ludwig and Lion City

Diving with:ADSAC
Dive sites: Ludwig and Lion City
Dive buddy: Ron, even older than I am (I think)
Others in dive party: Richard and Mary, Andy and Wendy
Conditions: calm seas, cool air, warm sun
Water Temp: 20 degrees C on dive computer
Visibility: 5-7 meters,
Wetsuit combo: typhoon top and farmer john inside
Weight:10 kg
Diving from: Sapphire on its maiden dive voyage

Training conducted: none, just fun, a great day out on two of the best wrecks off Abu Dhabi

Dive 381

Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 10:46
Max depth: 26.7 meters
Time started up from chart: 00:37
Dive time from computer: 42 min.
Min Temp: 20 degrees C (a little chilly)
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

Pressure group out, from tables: not relevant

PSI/Bar in: 205
PSI/Bar out: 40

Description of dive:

Ron a very friendly partner and competent, relaxed. Also conservative, a good thing, not interested in wreck penetration, which I was prepared to do (two reels). We had tied on to Sun Divers boat which had brought up Scuba Dubai's line off the Ludwig, so we went down that. Vis was not particularly good, and no tuna in evidence, also no schools of baraccuda on top of the wreck, though plenty on the bottom hanging off the stern. We found a nice ray down there, a black one with silver underside. Others saw eagle rays and sea snakes. Ron and I moved up the side of the wreck (the hull side) from about the point where you can get up into the bridge topping out where the missile went through the ship and gashed out the other side. There was one large baraccuda up there. We then moved back and forth through masses of little fish hanging about the deck. We moved first to the bow and had a look around down in the sand there (as you can see, 21 min into the dive) and then we moved back up over the hull bow side and back onto the deck where we parted the schooling fish to let us pass. We poked into passages including one that had a stairway leading down into a chasm, and out to the rigging where the Scuba Dubai line was tied off. Then we had a nice safe ascent topside, taking 5 min for that. Lots of jellies to look at on the way, not at all bothersome.

Surface Interval: 2:16

Dive 382

Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 13:47
Max depth: 28.7 meters
Time started up from chart: 00:33, plus 14 min deco
Dive time from computer: 47 min.
Min Temp: 20 degrees C (cold on deco)
Nitrox 21% (normal air), decompression dive

Pressure group out, from tables: not relevant

PSI/Bar in: 200
PSI/Bar out: 20

Description of dive:

I'd been on the Lion City before but I think in very poor vis so I'd never seen the wreck in its whole as I did on this dive, where vis was not excellent but not bad, maybe 7 meters. Similar to the Ludwig and deeper, it lies on its side as does the Ludwig, and is slightly smaller. It's open in various places, so it would be easy to swim inside. I poked my light in, but not much appeared to be there, not in the beam at any rate. We swam around the bottom first off, deck and hull side, but saw no rays, though the school of baraccuda was there at the stern. Second time around we moved up the deck at 25 meters and I got so engrossed in checking out the wheelhouse that I failed to monitor my computer until I was well into deco. Ron was aware but had not yet become alarmed; however, he seemed glad to have my attention as he motioned us back to the bow where the anchor lay. While we finned back at 22 meters, keeping to the wreck for reference in order to find the anchor line, my deco ran from 3 to 9 minutes at three meters. As we came up I got two ascent alarms, the second right at 9 meters, and that and the way my computer reads (9 m 3:) had me wondering if I was supposed to deco 3 min at 9 meters. So I hung out there a minute or two while I sorted that out in my mind and tried to work out why my CNSO2 reading was showing 5% (and now wondering why it shows 0% in the data), and I think this prolonged my deco which had never exceeded a reading of 9 min but lasted 14. Meanwhile, the anchor line we were holding was bobbing us up and down, partly because the divers still down were moving it out from the wreck. Air was running low but the competent BSACies had anticipated the need for deco and had hung a tank down at 6 meters, which we could see now and again through the gloom. So due to the way in which the dive was organized, we were not in a threatening situation. But as for diving self-contained, we had cut it close due to a lapse on my part. I think the reason for the lapse is that I have come to rely on my computer and that plus the fact that I can't find my wheel I didn't calculate on a traditional reference how much time we should have had at that depth and keep an eye on my computer accordingly. Also we broke the rule about staying shallower the second dive, and this may have affected our deco. Now that I know the depths, next time, Lion City first.

Vance Stevens, vstevens@emirates.net.ae | http://www.vancestevens.com/
Page updated: March 23, 2001 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0