Gold Coast - 2 failures, 1 success, a sad day for manly RB divers.

By Rod Nairne

The night before, we set up for diving helium mixes, Semi-closed Jason using a hyperoxic deco mix from a previous dive, Rod a leftover 45%he mix from before-rebreather (BR) OC dives, Suzie a half filled pony of heliox 13. Jason commented on the lightweight of Suzies deep setup, much less than just the bottom mix tanks used on an OC dive.

The next morning we headed out to the 40m reef east of Southport, in the first break in the weather since Jasons arrival. The seas were still rolling, but the lack of wind made diving possible.

Anchoring at the site, we started to gear up, but it was not long before we all started to feel the effects of the rolling sea. Jason was the most effected, several times feeding the fish. He decided that a full face mask with a non-shutoff mouthpiece was not appropriate for a vomiting diver, so left it up to me and Suzie to dive.

Our rebreathers are incredibly easy to don since I recently installed hawaiin slings, which are ridged shoulder straps that you slide under, and then just do up a simple waist strap. Without this Jason might have had some company, pucking over the side (I hated the bad old days of OC trimix dives, each time you geared up another test of contortion and stamina).

Suzie jumped in 1st, a little nervous to say the least, with her new breather and relatively deep water. Of course we don't dive narcotic mixes, so the depth is not a problem, but this was her 1st dive with heliox. None of us has graduated to any depth *requiring* trimix, around 150msw.

I descended first, keeping a close watch on Suzie, who is still under my care until she gets a few more dives. All was going well when at 15msw I had a squeeze... in my recently worked on tooth. Merde! Both male divers abort their dives. In any case Suzie was able to practice an 02 flushthru, and will be less anxious on her next dive.

Heres hoping my dentist can "get it right" on Monday, as the Phantom (Scott) arrives here on the 8th expecting to see big numbers on his depth guage.

Setup for todays dive:

Rodney 63cf 02, 800psi, 63cf ntx 50, 3300psi, 20cf pony 45%He, 1300psi.
Suzie: 4ltr steel 02, 1500psi, 4ltr air, 2500psi, pony of heliox 13, 1200psi.
Jason: hyperoxic trimix, 02, and ??????? to be added. Semi-closed.

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