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Dive Report: 16/04/98

P.S. Koputai - Off Bondi Beach, Sydney


20 mins at 78m and 90min run time using Heliox and setpoint of 1. Diver: Scott Leimroth.

Rod and Suzie also dived, read about there dive in forthcoming report.

The weather was overcast and raining however the sea was reasonable and with a bouy on the wreck it was easy to find. There was no current so descending was like free falling straight down the bouy line. When I got to the bottom I was amazed at how clear headed I was due to the hliox. When I got to the bottom I was slightly aprehensive as this was my first real deep dive with the breather however this feeling soon went away, everything was working perfectly. I looked around forward of the boiler untill Dave Apperly and another diver on open circuit joined us. There was a large school of Tassy Trumpeters at the bow. Dave motioned me to follow him and we went aft to look for the porthole he had seen on a previous dive but we couldn't locate it. We looked around the boiler and in the large room beneath the engine which Dave has run a line through. The paddle wheels are covered in small purple and white jewel anenomaes. We saw the helm pedestal beneath the engine.

After 20mins we headed back to the line and I wished in these conditions I had cut tables for a longer dive as I could easily have stayed half an hour. The water was very clear with at least 20m visibility on the bottom and more as we decoed. The breather worked faultlessly and I was glad to finally use it for its intended purpose. During the dive I used only 40bar of diluent from a 3.8ltr tank and only 50 bar of O2 from a 3ltr tank. The cost of this dive on open circuit would have been well over $100 just for gas.

One thing this dive did bring home to me was the effects of narcosis when diving deep air. Dave was on air for the dive (deep air is still common in Australia as mixed gas is still not common or readily available) and looking at him on the bottom was like being confronted by a drunk in the street. Lucky for me Dave is a happy drunk but to me the effects of the narcosis on him were quite obvious. Dave has probably dived this wreck and this deep on air more than many other people so I would hate to see how someone else would be on air this deep. It also made me realise how difficult it would be to deal with a problem underwater when influenced by narcosis.

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