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Dive Logs for Vance Stevens PADI open water scuba instructor #64181 Dive 399 and 400 June 14-15, 2001 Abu Dhabi: Ludwig

Diving with:Greg Heindricks
Dive buddies: Erik Kleiss and Ed Chaffin
Others in dive party: Greg Heindricks and his guys
Conditions: mild with enough of a chop to cause seasickness
Visibility: not good for the Ludwig, maybe 5 meters
Wetsuit combo: lycra skin
Weight: 6 kg
Diving from: Greg's boat

My 399th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Ludwig
Training conducted: Erik Kleiss's Advanced Open Water Deep Dive

Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 10:00
Max depth: 27.2 meters
Time started up from chart: 28 min.
Dive time from computer: 38 min.
Min Temp: 31 degrees C (comfortably warm)
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 200
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar

Pressure group out, from wheel: We did a 28 meter (18 min) 20 meter (10 min) multilevel

Description of dive:

Nice time explaining diving to my cave mentor Erik on the 2 hour boat ride. We went over the wheel and calculating surface intervals so as to have a cognitive task to perform at depth. We planned a 28 meter dive since it was the minimum depth to give us 20 meters on the 2nd level, which in turn was the minimum depth we would need.

Erik had to return after starting his descent to pick up a weight which confused Ed and I because we lost him in the poor visibility but we reascended and met him coming back down. We pulled ourselves down the line, finding relief from the current only on reaching the upper decks of the wreck. Being familiar with the wreck and thinking I'd know the blue rope we went down on, I didn't mark carefully enough exactly where the line had grappled the boat and this caused us to miss it coming up.

We dropped down over the wheelhouse to the sand and worked our way to the bow, swimming out in the sand to join the barracuda milling there. We checked carefully under the bow for rays but found none. We paused in the sand there to do our exercises and compare depth guages, which were about a meter out of synch. At that point we had timed out at that depth so we followed the hull up to the topdeck on its side and made our way up the rigging. On the way, we found a turtle. We poked around admiring all the fish until time to head up and I led up the rope I thought we had come in on. It was blue, but there the similarity ended. It had held a buoy, since departed, so the rope as we trailed it into the current ended a good ten meters from the surface. Not wishing to drift away in the current and figuring the rope had most likely reached the surface at one point, I had us all grip it and fin to the surface. Knowing also that our arc would carry us more or less directly over the wreck, this should also bring us out at our boat. These assumptions turned out to be correct and after holding our position for 3 min at 5 meters, we surfaced only meters from our boat.

An interesting thing that happened at that point was that a tern flew down onto the water, landing a meter from me. He poked his head in the water and I looked under at him, worried almost that he was going to strike me with his beak. He didn't fly away but even let me reach out and stroke his feathers. I was surprised he let me do that, but thought he might be hindered with a coat of oil.

Surface interval:1 hrs and 26 min.
Pressure Group in: B

My 400th Logged Dive since 1991

Dive site: Ludwig
Training conducted: Erik fulfilled requirements for multilevel and wreck dive; will use whichever needed at end of course

Data from dive computer:

Time down on dive computer: 12:11
Max depth: 27.7 meters
Time started up from chart: 00:23
Dive time from computer: 26 min.
Min Temp: 31 degrees C (comfortably warm)
Nitrox 21% (normal air), no deco

PSI/Bar in: 200
PSI/Bar out: 50 bar

Pressure group out, from wheel:

Description of dive:

Erik calculated our dive profile. Figuring we'd be B divers 1:20 min after leaving the wheelhouse on the last dive, we delayed going in the water. At the anchor line, I realized I didn't have my dive light. Remembering that I'd left it near the edge of the boat where I'd kitted up, I finned to the stern and climbed up the platform with my kit on, reached over the side and plucked it off the deck.

We went down the anchor line again and this time I made particular note of how it draped near the big wheel jutting out from the wheelhouse. Our objective now was to visit the stern and look for the ray that had been sighted there, and which I'd seen on previous trips. It was a good thing I'd got the light because I had to crawl in under the propeller and shine the light way back to pick up the glow of his eyes. He was visible only a bit at a time as the beam swept his body. I called the others on my clacker. In the poor vis Erik wasn't able to see the ray, but Ed was.

Then we moved along the hull side of the wreck. In the sand were hundreds of nudibrachs, the white kind this time (last time there were black nudibranchs, and these were on the opposite side of the wreck). Erik was keeping track of depth and time and when we reached the bow he signalled up right on cue. At that point we essentially repeated the gradual ascent of our previous dive, except this time we went up the correct rope off the wreck, did our safety stop, and emerged right at our boat.

Pressure group out, from wheel: I had 11 min on my computer at depth, so we were fine