Underwater Wakulla
By RUSTY MILLER
Try new things. Sometimes even old dogs like me need to expand our horizons no matter what age you are, the older the harder it is to do. That is what I am going to talk about today. I am about to embark on a new way of diving, at least for me starting today.
I’ve been diving for several decades using the old standard of having a scuba tank on my back with a BCD in the standard configuration. I am getting ready to take a class on side mount scuba diving.
The first day was spent in the classroom. I learned the history of side mount diving, the mechanics, and then the equipment requirements. The history was pretty interesting and so was the mechanics of it, but the equipment was the most interesting part. The equipment uses all the familiar components of basic scuba diving. You use two regulators instead of one; you use two tanks instead of one, so the tanks I used were aluminum 80’s. Even as my instructor was trying to tell me how different those sides mount diving will be. I never imagined how true that was going to be.
I need to give my instructor a big shout out. She has to be the most patient and honest instructor I have ever met in my over 50 years of scuba diving. I’ll explain as I go on.
The first two dives we did at Peacock 2. It’s part of the Wes Skiles State Park in Live Oak. The spring we used is a fairly large to mid size bowl shape that is about 20 feet at the deepest point. It has a lot of green algae and silt all over it so buoyancy control is everything as well as being able to frog kick correctly. You cannot take students there for open water classes however you can go to Orange Grove Spring which is located in the park. My instructor and I walked down to the spring so she could brief me on what she wanted to accomplish during the two dives. She explained the flow of the springs in the park and how they are all connected via underground tunnels. I was totally fascinated but knew that cave diving was not something I wanted to do.
We walked back to the trucks and she went through again how to rig up the two tanks so they could be connected to the harness. This has to be very precise because if you don’t rig them up correctly then you will have a lot of issues that will get you into trouble later on.
She brought a dolly cart to transport the tanks to the spring; I told you she was very thorough. Now comes the fun part (sarcasm). It was not as easy as it looked when she hooked up the tanks to her harness. Now it was my turn and I failed miserably and had to try it several times before I got my tanks hooked up to the harness.
Oh, but it gets worse for me: remember I said she was very patient, well she did an amazing job of encouraging me through each step and skill I would try. Finally I was in the water with everything rigged up on the harness. I need to tell you this is not your typical BCD – it is far from it, though it does have an inflatable wing that is the only thing that they have in common. It will keep you on the surface and your head above the water.
Next article I will tell you how both dives went. Remember I told you my instructor was very patient and encouraging, you will find out why.
Until then keep making bubbles.
Russell Miller is the manager at Wakulla Diving Center in Medart. NAUI Instructor #59999