 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeArticlesDiving DestinationsLearning Scuba DivingMarine LifeMiscellaneousDiscussion GroupsGeneralScuba EquipmentScuba LocationsAustralian ScubaUK ScubaDirectoryScuba Clubs |
Scuba Forum / General / September 2006Heading to Bonaire
I'm off to Bonaire for a bit of RnR and diving. Trying to decide if packing the pony is worth the extra weight & hassle since TSA now wants the valve off the tank. BTW - Andy, I bought the Uwatech Smart Z. > I'm off to Bonaire for a bit of RnR and diving. Trying to decide if packing > the pony is worth the extra weight & hassle There are donkeys roaming everywhere on the island - you don't need your pony. I would take a big mean dog instead to watch your truck while shore diving. Seriously though, I don't dive that deep there; it's nothing like the NC kind of diving. The best stuff is at 40-60 ft in most places. If you have to ascend because of a problem, you can awim to shore if you need to. all of the diving is close to shore, and there aren't any problematic currents. Have a great trip > I'm off to Bonaire for a bit of RnR and diving. Trying to decide if packing > the pony is worth the extra weight & hassle since TSA now wants the valve > off the tank. > > BTW - Andy, I bought the Uwatech Smart Z. Great Jim. Hope you have a great time. I will be interested to hear your impressioins of the Smart Z. I have a Pro Nitrox as a backup and it crapped out on me in Morehead last week. Actually, my dive buddy's computer crapped out and I offered it to him. As he was learning some of the stuff about it, it crapped out. Even though the battery showed 57%, I think thats was the ultimate problem. Re: the tank. I probably wouldn't take the Pony. Maybe see about renting one for a week while you are down there. Way too much hassle and extra weight. Have some great dives and looking forward to a Trip Report on your return. Andy > I'm off to Bonaire for a bit of RnR and diving. Trying to decide if packing > the pony is worth the extra weight & hassle since TSA now wants the valve > off the tank. My answer is no. No pony. Don't take it. Bonaire is all open, clear water and relatively shallow. You have to look pretty hard to find 100'. You could dive there for years without leaving easy ESA range. > > I'm off to Bonaire for a bit of RnR and diving. Trying to decide if packing > > the pony is worth the extra weight & hassle since TSA now wants the valve [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > water and relatively shallow. You have to look pretty hard to find > 100'. You could dive there for years without leaving easy ESA range. Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from about 30' to 120'. Some even have a second reef that starts there, after a brief flat area of sand. Jim, in 2002, I took a 30 cf pony to Bonaire and was glad I did, as I found interesting stuff on almost every dive at 100' or more. Besides diving solo, so I really wanted my usual redundancy since the repetitive diving builds up high residual nitrogen. Plus, you may get a chance to dive deeper wrecks, such as the barge, which sits in 135', near the desalination plant. I don't know if the Windjammer's available from shore anymore, but that's definitely a safer dive with redundancy, especially if you want to spend extra time on it. HTH. Dave C PURE TALC: Source, supplier of unscented, oil-free, USP grade PURE TALC, ideal for use on drysuit latex seals. If interested, please see my talc offerings on eBay (eBay ID: dave4868). Thank you! > Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive > sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from > about 30' to 120'. Yeah I do mean Bonaire, and you have to look pretty hard to find 100'. Here ya go, knock yourself out: http://www.skin-diver.com/bonaire/divesites_jumplist.html Right off Buddy Dive you can get 120. You can go down there and look at a few mean pieces of wire coral if you want, but there's not much else there. We do it, but ponies don't make it happen or make it possible. >Some even have a second reef that starts there, > after a brief flat area of sand. The sand is mostly 90' between the two reefs. The 2nd reef only doubles the amount of terrain you can dive (for weeks) without leaving easy ESA ranges. That's miles of reef that doesn't go deep unless you cross over and dive the outside of the 2nd reef. From Lake to Red Beryl happens to be our favorite dive area. We frequently dive the outer reef, as well as the sand between. No pony is required. > Jim, in 2002, I took a 30 cf pony to Bonaire and was glad I did, as I > found interesting stuff on almost every dive at 100' or more. Of course you found interesting stuff at 100' or more, how did a pony help? Did it spot stuff for you to look at? What does a pony have to do with 100'? Jim, in 2006 I took no pony to Bonaire and was glad I didn't, as I found interesting stuff on EVERY dive no matter what depth I was at, including 100' or more. > Besides diving solo, so I really wanted my usual redundancy since the > repetitive diving builds up high residual nitrogen. Sounds very technical but it doesn't mean anything. A pony doesn't dispel residual nitrogen or slow its accumulation. Keep em short, shallow and nitrox, eh jim? http://groups.google.com/group/rec.scuba/msg/d584df702eec581f?dmode=source A pony is no help to a solo diver. Most diving deaths result from heart attacks, disorientations, panic and entanglements. Ponies do nothing for any of those, except provide a false sense of security while increasing risk of entanglement and doubling risk of failures. There is no way in hell that a solo diver, even with 20 ponies is as safe as a diver with a buddy....ever. It's pure fantasy. Dive solo all you like; there's nothing wrong with that. Risk is risk and it's your neck. Carrying a pony arguably increases risk. The problem is the pretense of a pony making it safer. It doesn't , > Plus, you may get a chance to dive deeper wrecks, such as the barge, > which sits in 135', near the desalination plant. Again, how does a pony help you dive deeper? Is it the extra weight? (c: > I don't know if the Windjammer's available from shore anymore, but > that's definitely a safer dive with redundancy, especially if you want > to spend extra time on it. Do you run out of air a lot? Are you one of these guys that runs down the whole bottle and then switches to the pony on purpose, and thinks that's OK? I guess I shouldn't even ask. The implication is clear in your remark. Nothing is safer with a pony. You might think it is if you believe regulator failures are common, or frequently kill divers, or that it's "OK" to go OOA, but they aren't, they don't, and it's not. The main reason to take a pony is that you have $500 tied up in piece of kit that you don't need. Just the asking of the question proves it dispensable. Put it on EBay >>Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive >>sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from >>about 30' to 120'. > > Yeah I do mean Bonaire, and you have to look pretty hard to find 100'. As I recall, the "Hilma Hooker" is at 100fsw +/- and it is a fairly easy shore dive. When I dove it, we had a significant current to contend with but by the time we finished the dive, returned to shore and packed up, the current had died down. >>>Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive >>>sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >with but by the time we finished the dive, returned to shore and packed >up, the current had died down. It is a waste of time, the worst dive on the island. >>>>Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive >>>>sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > It is a waste of time, the worst dive on the island. The worst dive of the island is better than a good day at work. >>>>>Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive >>>>>sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >The worst dive of the island is better than a good day at work. I agree with that > Do you run out of air a lot? Are you one of these guys that runs down > the whole bottle and then switches to the pony on purpose, and thinks > that's OK? I guess I shouldn't even ask. The implication is clear in > your remark. Ahh, but if your 'pony' is another AL80 (or at least the same size as you 'main'), it's not quite the same... <grin> Hell, it's not like we want to dive with a Heiser HP190 (47 lbs negative while empty is a bit *much*)... > > Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive > > sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from > > about 30' to 120'. > > Yeah I do mean Bonaire, and you have to look pretty hard to find 100'. YMMV, but I seemed to find sites deeper than 100fsw around 40% of the time. For example, the bottom's around 135 fsw at Calabas Reef, and up at Karpata, its even deeper. > Jim, in 2006 I took no pony to Bonaire and was glad I didn't, as I > found interesting stuff on EVERY dive no matter what depth I was at, > including 100' or more. I've done Bonaire with and without a pony, with and without solo diving. Since I also had no mechanical failures or other dive emegencies, I can claim that it "did nothing". > > Besides diving solo, so I really wanted my usual redundancy since the > > repetitive diving builds up high residual nitrogen. > > Sounds very technical but it doesn't mean anything. A pony doesn't > dispel residual nitrogen or slow its accumulation. But it does give you an extra (unplanned) air supply for when the newfangled dive computer gets offended at mild deco and asks for a 20 minute hang. > A pony is no help to a solo diver. As an absolute statement, this is false. >Most diving deaths result from heart > attacks, disorientations, panic and entanglements. Ponies do nothing > for any of those, except provide a false sense of security while > increasing risk of entanglement and doubling risk of failures. True, but the fallacy is that "most" is not "all". > Carrying a pony arguably increases risk. Because it makes the diver more likely to be willing to dive solo, which is a higher risk than buddied up with a good buddy. In the meantime, having a buddy arguably doubles the risk of heart attacks, panic, entanglement, etc. > The problem is the pretense of a pony making it safer. It doesn't , The problem is the pretense of a buddy automatically making diving safer. It doesn't, unless it can be positively assured that the buddy is of good quality and thus an asset, instead of a real or potential liability. Every coin has two sides, although I prefer the edge ;-) My comment to Jim is that I'd not be inclined to take the pony because of baggage weight restrictions and TSA hassles. But I would be inclined to look at getting a set of straps to rig up with independent twins for those dives where 'more' is warrented: you can find AL63's at some of the dive ops to use. Another alternative is to make a drop tank (weighted) and have a sign on it that says "this tank was put here on purpose at this time by Jim...do not touch!" and leave it in the shallows near your planned exit point...IIRC, Borneo Divers used to do this for their customers. -hh >> Bullshark, I'm not sure if you mean Bonaire, as it has dozens of dive >> sites on the west side, most of which have a reef sloping steeply from [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] > >Put it on EBay Well it is possible he is refering to his Poney Girl dive buddy. That would help make it safer |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.