Pinta Trip Report
This past Saturday I was invited on Captain Doug Card’s boat. As this was a new boat and captain for me, I had no idea what to expect other than I knew a couple of the divers who were going to be there. When I arrived I was greeted by Doug who quickly got me settled in with stowing my gear and gave me a quick tour of his boat. Eventually everyone showed up which included Ken with his Optima, Tony with his rEvo, Stephen with his Meg, Dan with his Hammerhead and assorted camera gear, and John who was diving OC.
At 7am we were headed off for the Pinta, which was a freighter that was sunk on May 7th, 1963 by a collision with the SS City of Perth; she now lies on her port side in 90 feet of water. On the way out the ocean was like a calm lake with the sun rising over the horizon; the way the weather has been this winter this was a welcoming sight! By 8:30 Tony had us tied in and we were hitting the water. That’s when the shock hit; it’s freaking cold! After getting adjusted to the cold (if that’s possible) and checking that everything was working correctly I continued my decent down the anchor line. Once I reached the wreck I was greeted by a bottom temperature of 41 degrees and approximately 30 to 40 foot viz. Here is where Curt’s new aluminum gas block that I installed last weekend on my rEvo and the benefit of installing cooper hoses on my rig really made my life easier. After 40 minutes my fingers became numb and pretty much useless; I had no problem reaching for the gas block that I attached to my right chest d-ring and was able to find and hit my O2 button with ease. If you are not familiar with the rEvo rebreather both the Dil and O2 buttons are located on the bottom of the unit and, while for the most part they are pretty easy to get to when conditions are good, as soon as you start adding bailout tanks and reels and numb fingers into the mix it becomes downright frustrating trying to get to the buttons. With the gas block installed I have access to my Dil, O2 and off-board gases on one block which is very easy to get to; the buttons on the bottom are still functional just in case. As for the cooper hoses, I did notice maybe a slight improvement in WOB but what was really noticeable was the lack of condensation build up in the hoses compared to the Ray hoses that I had on there.
After 55 minutes on the bottom I decided to head back up for a total RT of 1:10. Once back on board, I headed for the huge heated cabin for some coffee and munchies. I decided to nix my second dive and just help topside while a couple of the more diehards went in for a second swim around the wreck.
All in all we had a great time! I’m looking forward to next Saturday once again on Lake Atlantic (keeping my fingers crossed) with my camera this time and then off to Dutch on Sunday to de-salt my gear!
At 7am we were headed off for the Pinta, which was a freighter that was sunk on May 7th, 1963 by a collision with the SS City of Perth; she now lies on her port side in 90 feet of water. On the way out the ocean was like a calm lake with the sun rising over the horizon; the way the weather has been this winter this was a welcoming sight! By 8:30 Tony had us tied in and we were hitting the water. That’s when the shock hit; it’s freaking cold! After getting adjusted to the cold (if that’s possible) and checking that everything was working correctly I continued my decent down the anchor line. Once I reached the wreck I was greeted by a bottom temperature of 41 degrees and approximately 30 to 40 foot viz. Here is where Curt’s new aluminum gas block that I installed last weekend on my rEvo and the benefit of installing cooper hoses on my rig really made my life easier. After 40 minutes my fingers became numb and pretty much useless; I had no problem reaching for the gas block that I attached to my right chest d-ring and was able to find and hit my O2 button with ease. If you are not familiar with the rEvo rebreather both the Dil and O2 buttons are located on the bottom of the unit and, while for the most part they are pretty easy to get to when conditions are good, as soon as you start adding bailout tanks and reels and numb fingers into the mix it becomes downright frustrating trying to get to the buttons. With the gas block installed I have access to my Dil, O2 and off-board gases on one block which is very easy to get to; the buttons on the bottom are still functional just in case. As for the cooper hoses, I did notice maybe a slight improvement in WOB but what was really noticeable was the lack of condensation build up in the hoses compared to the Ray hoses that I had on there.
After 55 minutes on the bottom I decided to head back up for a total RT of 1:10. Once back on board, I headed for the huge heated cabin for some coffee and munchies. I decided to nix my second dive and just help topside while a couple of the more diehards went in for a second swim around the wreck.
All in all we had a great time! I’m looking forward to next Saturday once again on Lake Atlantic (keeping my fingers crossed) with my camera this time and then off to Dutch on Sunday to de-salt my gear!
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