Bahamas Trip 3/20/01 - 3/24/01  Air arrangements were made through Delta, land/dive through Murray Dive Shop and Dale Bucy.

Divers - Bill Allbritten and Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten

All pictures were taken on the last 4 dives,  the first four were my certification dives with Carl Trella. and Elizabeth's first ocean dives after certification so we didn't take the camera down.  We stayed at DiveDiveDive  www.divedivedive.com on Nassau and really enjoyed the facility.  The staff were great.  The bungaloes are right at the dock - no long lugging of gear.  The sites were all fairly close in.  We saw several reef sharks the first and second days as well as some barracuda.  Quite a few tropicals.  The seas were rough, about 4 feet, the first two days with 20-30kt winds blowing.  It made for quite a ride and ladder ascent.  Entries were giant stride off the stern of the Sea Dancer.  Pics follow.  Camera was an MX-5 with ASA 400 film

Location Date Current Viz in ft. Water Temp F. Entry Time Max Depth in ft. Length of Dive (off surface to start of ascent)
Cessna 3/21/01 none 50 77 0921 50 42
Will Laurie 3/21/01 none 50 77 1038 53 40
Bahama Mama 3/22/01 none 70 66 0939 43 43
Carib Breeze 3/22/01 light 70 73 1058 50 40
Playground 3/23/01 none 70 75 0944 73 30
Southern Reef 3/23/01 none 60 75 1058 33 39
David Tucker 3/23/01 none 60 73 1446 46 39
School House 3/23/01 light 80 75 1613 17 40

 

A few notes - first dive or two I had to overcome the "all that water" feeling.  Anchor rode descents helped with this but hurt with equalization.  Swimming descents work best for me.  I practiced various clearing techniques after the trip and no longer have a problem.  Actually, the sensory overload and task loading led me to forget just about everything on the first dive or two.  Safety stops were wild the first two days as we held on to the rode - it was swinging up and down with the sea through a four or five foot arc.  I learned to ride it up and down by moving my hands and arms and maintaining a fairly constant depth over most of my body.

The DiveDiveDive folks were great.  The facility is a bit out from Nassau but they run a courtesy bus in several times a day.  We cooked most evening meals at the resort.  They assisted with gear setup and takedown and, for a new diver, were really solicitous.  I liked the way they would remove the BC as soon as I got off the ladder and sat on the stern above the platform.  I was tired from the book exercises and had swallowed some seawater.

The MX-5 is positive at all depths we've tried.  That led to an amusing situation on one dive.  I had the camera, Elizabeth had spotted the Bigeye and was working around the reef with it.  I had some trouble clearing about 15 feet from bottom - she wanted me to drop the camera to her but it was hanging UP on my wrist.  All was not lost as we did get the picture.

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