Trip Planning

All eyes to the southeast as I keep watch over the tropics for storm development. You see, in just two weeks I will be traveling to the womb of hurricanes at the peak of hurricane season.

Yesterday my compass arrived and I installed it in my backup regulator that I will leave on the island.

I want to use my own dive gear while I am there but I am limited to a 50 lb bag at a check price of $25. So if a second bag is necessary I will check that with my travel partner for $25 instead of paying $30 for a second bag.

Divers actually use lead weights to keep the down and to offset buoyancy of air tanks, lungs and wetsuits. I use 14 pounds most of the time. The weights fit in my vest and I want to take them too. I may need to disperse these weights around in my checked and carry on bags.

I am also taking a small cylinder of back up emergency air called by the brand name Spare Air. In order to do this legally the tank must be decompressed and disassembled. I’ll do this and reassemble it down on the island. This also means I will need to take my Spare Air filler which weighs a few pounds.

Hopefully this evening I can get in another practice dive at the quarry.

5 comments:

Ken said...

If security had to carefully and meticulously using gloves and chemical swabs to check my block of African cheese for Phfrankie, their sure as hell gonna check your lead.
They did get a good laugh at the cheese.
Storms have been scarce so far this season, but the ocean has gotten very warm and inviting to feed them. Hope you stay clear.

Phfrankie Bondo said...

...why don't you just scuba all the way there?...

Michael said...

My former boss has a theory. The warmer the waters, the farther north the hurricanes go. This has held true in recent history. Throughout most of the previous century hurricanes mostly passed south of St. Croix. After more then 50 years without a major hit, Hugo devastated the island in 1989. For the next 15-20 years there were several close calls and a couple direct hits. For the past couple years, most of the major storms have passed north of us. During this change, the average water temps have been rising.

This year, we have record high H2O temps, as does the Atlantic off the eastern seaboard. If his theory (actually proposed by his father decades ago) holds true, even with an overly active season we'll be safe down here watchin the bigguns go north.

Re: dive gear. Does this mean you're bringing spare gear for me to bum while you're here (and until you come back) or are you bringing the spares down to use while you're here? ;-)

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

"spare gear for me to bum while you're here and until you come back"

Spare for you to use until further notice. An Oceanic BC with 12 pounds weight and a newly refurbished regulator with a new secondary, new compass. It rig has almost ancient but cool analog gauges that are very accurate. I bought it on Craig's list and had it all serviced.

Michael said...

I made an installment payment to our Dive Instructor yesterday (massage on the beach), and we went over two modules (Boat and Deep Diving), three more to go - Wreck, Night and Navigation.