Difference between gas mixes

[njcommercialdiver]

Boatlode,
i remember once diving the Choapa (200ft) in the mudhole on air (yes back in 1988 before we started diving Trimix), i had the "drums and strobe lights" from the O2 toxicity and being narced even being used to many dives to 180, that extra 20ft really made a difference, then the next year we started diving Trimix and went back to some of the other wrecks we dove previously and what a difference it made .

 

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[Salvor6]

Thanks for that info njcommercialdiver. That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Boatlode]

Boatlode,
i remember once diving the Choapa (200ft) in the mudhole on air (yes back in 1988 before we started diving Trimix), i had the "drums and strobe lights" from the O2 toxicity and being narced even being used to many dives to 180, that extra 20ft really made a difference, then the next year we started diving Trimix and went back to some of the other wrecks we dove previously and what a difference it made .

That's what Chatterton said in Shadow Divers. The trimix really cleared his head up. I don't want to ever hear the jungle drums.

By the way, I learned to dive in NJ. I was born and raised on the shore (Monmouth County). I got my basic scuba cert in 1975 from Professional Divers Inc in Neptune (I was 14). But I never dove any of the offshore wrecks. I used to dive Shark River Inlet, the Allenhurst jetties, and the dual wrecks right off the beach at San Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

small world,
i do alot of shore diving for bottles in Highlands/ water witch / atlantic highlands area, the Keyport pier ruins by the waterfront park plus Lawrence Harbor inlet by Al Catafulmos old dive shop that had the light tower from the Wal 505 lightship that sank in ambrose channel

i dove shark river a couple times off the bulkhead by the little boat launch behind the bar/ resturant on the northern channel west of the 35 bridge , last time there were 100s of dead american eels everywhere, mustve been after the spawn, i dove the inlet and L jetty a couple times. i also dove the rusland and adonis many, many, many times. i have a set of brass ships spikes i pulled off the adonis with roman numurals, they start at 1 and i have up to 20 something with only a few missing in the series. i have all kinds of brass goodies from the rusland, like a set of machine keys still wired together and numbered 1 to 4, an pump oil can, 2 oil lamps, and lots lots more brass and copper stuff. i also recovered a bronze half prop shaft bearing (top one) for the main shaft (abt 18in diameter and abt that long) and one of the quarters that would have been slid under the bottom of the shaft. i dove the Pliny, the Antioch, western world, lizzie brayton and a bunch more of the nameless wrecks along the coast and the Long Branch pier (yes i found sinker heaven,"the old tackle shop" and brought back 50 plus pounds plus of sinkers that were laying on a steel beam , i also recovered props and parts off the 2 boats that wrecked in the pier wreckage. one was called the "Dulciana", i have the bow stem with the nose cleat plate still attached to it and one of the props with the stantion mount, i cant remember what the second one was called and i got a few pieces off that one too

i dove on the Seeker (johns boat) a couple times and dove the Doria once back in 1990 on it on Trimix ( i have a small plate with the Italia logo and a small wine glass engraved with the Italia logo with a piece of the next one stacked with it plus the original packing that was between them and a few wine bottles (nothing on them but i know where they came from) , there was a scientist there with a doppler scanner and when we would come up and ungear, he would hook us up to the machine and listen to the bubbles in our bloodstream for his research.

the trimix we used on the Doria, Choapa , Aryuroca and others in that area was only 10% Oxygen so we went down on Air to 100ft, switched to bottom mix, did the dive and ran the stops up till 90ft (deco started at 120ft on Doria) if i remember right and then switched to Nitrox for deco . 26 minuted on the Doria cost 2 1/2hrs of deco and a couple games of checkers (i had a magnetic set that kids play in the cars with) and my buddy Chris would take a paperback book and read it, when he was done with a page, he tore it out and went to the next one. it stayed in his toolbag till the next dive

 

[Boatlode]

small world,
i do alot of shore diving for bottles in Highlands/ water witch / atlantic highlands area, the Keyport pier ruins by the waterfront park plus Lawrence Harbor inlet by Al Catafulmos old dive shop that had the light tower from the Wal 505 lightship that sank in ambrose channel

i dove shark river a couple times off the bulkhead by the little boat launch behind the bar/ resturant on the northern channel west of the 35 bridge , last time there were 100s of dead american eels everywhere, mustve been after the spawn, i dove the inlet and L jetty a couple times. i also dove the rusland and adonis many, many, many times. i have a set of brass ships spikes i pulled off the adonis with roman numurals, they start at 1 and i have up to 20 something with only a few missing in the series. i have all kinds of brass goodies from the rusland, like a set of machine keys still wired together and numbered 1 to 4, an pump oil can, 2 oil lamps, and lots lots more brass and copper stuff. i also recovered a bronze half prop shaft bearing (top one) for the main shaft (abt 18in diameter and abt that long) and one of the quarters that would have been slid under the bottom of the shaft. i dove the Pliny, the Antioch, western world, lizzie brayton and a bunch more of the nameless wrecks along the coast and the Long Branch pier (yes i found sinker heaven,"the old tackle shop" and brought back 50 plus pounds plus of sinkers that were laying on a steel beam , i also recovered props and parts off the 2 boats that wrecked in the pier wreckage. one was called the "Dulciana", i have the bow stem with the nose cleat plate still attached to it and one of the props with the stantion mount, i cant remember what the second one was called and i got a few pieces off that one too

i dove on the Seeker (johns boat) a couple times and dove the Doria once back in 1990 on it on Trimix ( i have a small plate with the Italia logo and a small wine glass engraved with the Italia logo with a piece of the next one stacked with it plus the original packing that was between them and a few wine bottles (nothing on them but i know where they came from) , there was a scientist there with a doppler scanner and when we would come up and ungear, he would hook us up to the machine and listen to the bubbles in our bloodstream for his research.

the trimix we used on the Doria, Choapa , Aryuroca and others in that area was only 10% Oxygen so we went down on Air to 100ft, switched to bottom mix, did the dive and ran the stops up till 90ft (deco started at 120ft on Doria) if i remember right and then switched to Nitrox for deco . 26 minuted on the Doria cost 2 1/2hrs of deco and a couple games of checkers (i had a magnetic set that kids play in the cars with) and my buddy Chris would take a paperback book and read it, when he was done with a page, he tore it out and went to the next one. it stayed in his toolbag till the next dive

Wow - that's really cool you dove the Doria. Way too dangerous for me.

You probably have a few of my sinkers, I used to fish off the Long Branch pier before it burned. Pier Pub was one of my favorite watering holes.

The dive shop in Laurence Harbor - wasn't it called "Diver's Cove"? I bought my regulator there, they were the only Poseidon dealer and I wanted a Cyklon 300. It's still the one I use, 40 years later.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

yup, Divers Cove. i helped Al pack a bunch of his gear into a shipping container when he moved to Bermuda.

i still have a couple rigs with cyklons that i use and of course i have Thor and Odins too, they just look cool

from how many were on that i beam, they were from the fishing tackle shop that was there. i took 50 something pounds( i weighed it but dont remember), i know it was so heavy that i just took my fins off and walked back to shore. i kept the "odd" ones and sold or melted the others into dive weights

 

[Salvor6]

Very cool post!

 

[Boatlode]

yup, Divers Cove. i helped Al pack a bunch of his gear into a shipping container when he moved to Bermuda.

i still have a couple rigs with cyklons that i use and of course i have Thor and Odins too, they just look cool

from how many were on that i beam, they were from the fishing tackle shop that was there. i took 50 something pounds( i weighed it but dont remember), i know it was so heavy that i just took my fins off and walked back to shore. i kept the "odd" ones and sold or melted the others into dive weights

View attachment 1569843View attachment 1569844

You can't beat the Cyklons for ease of breathing and reliability. (Well, its the one the Navy SEALS use, nuff said). In 40 years all I've had to replace on mine are the hoses and the purge button. Last summer I replaced the original rubber diaphragm with a new silicone one, but only for preventative maintenance, the old one was still fine.

Very nice Doria china. How far inside did you have to go to get it?

 

[njcommercialdiver]

it was only a few passageways in, but with that being said, i honestly dont remember as i was playing caboose and also pretty focused on not loosing the line out because i cant chew thru steel and hold onto my reg

 

[Boatlode]

it was only a few passageways in, but with that being said, i honestly dont remember as i was playing caboose and also pretty focused on not loosing the line out because i cant chew thru steel and hold onto my reg

Wow. No way in hell would I ever attempt something like that. Anybody who has penetrated the Doria has much bigger balls than me.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

it wasnt as tight as others i have been in, the thing is thats its on its side, so that throws you a whole new curve in perspenctive. i think the Stolt Degali passageways were tighter, especially heading down to the engine room. i actually got caught on a pipe hanging down hugging a bulkhead in the engine room ( i dive with cave cages on my doubles) and as i was swimming along, i swam onto a pipe (thru the cave cage) that had broken loose untill it stopped me, i had to hand over hand myself backwards untill i got off the end of the pipe, i did find a nice big bug hiding in the rockers of the one engine, the thing had to be at least 8-10 lbs, it had an easy inch plus on both sides of my glove, untill i flipped it over, the swimmers were covered in eggs, it was really hard letting go, but i can feel good that i did my part for the next generation of lobsters. i did find a bottle (no stamping of course) and pryed a few bathroom tiles off a floor, they say "sinzig" on the bottom

i wrote about having a good set of spikes off the Adonis, you know how you get them without tearing them all up? thats right you beat it thru the decking with a sledge till its flush, then put a piece of rebar on it to drive it free of the hull on the bottom, then crawl underneath the hull and collect the goodies. i dove sidemount a couple times there just to go "collecting". it was funny onr time when i first found the "lump of brass" on the starboard side of the rusland. it started with a piece of all thread sticking out of the congolorate, it chiseled it out, then say another "shimmer" under it, so went after that one. long story short, i ended up 2 1/2hrs later with a trench long enough for me to lay in and not see my fins, from flush with the bottom up to about 5ft deep at the top of the lump and wide enough i could push my elbows out to my side without hitting the sides. a diver who went in after i started digging and got out before i was done asked my wife what i was doing? didnt matter where on the wrecks (even on the adonis side) he was, that sledge hammer "thump" would shake his mask. those were some good times behind Saint Alfonsos, untill some jackass built a campfire and left bottles and garbage laying there. (i would clean up the garbage i saw there when we arrived each time) so they wouldnt let anyone in anymore. ill dig those prop shaft bearings and some of the stuff out and post some pics

 

[Boatlode]

it wasnt as tight as others i have been in, the thing is thats its on its side, so that throws you a whole new curve in perspenctive. i think the Stolt Degali passageways were tighter, especially heading down to the engine room. i actually got caught on a pipe hanging down hugging a bulkhead in the engine room ( i dive with cave cages on my doubles) and as i was swimming along, i swam onto a pipe (thru the cave cage) that had broken loose untill it stopped me, i had to hand over hand myself backwards untill i got off the end of the pipe, i did find a nice big bug hiding in the rockers of the one engine, the thing had to be at least 8-10 lbs, it had an easy inch plus on both sides of my glove, untill i flipped it over, the swimmers were covered in eggs, it was really hard letting go, but i can feel good that i did my part for the next generation of lobsters. i did find a bottle (no stamping of course) and pryed a few bathroom tiles off a floor, they say "sinzig" on the bottom

i wrote about having a good set of spikes off the Adonis, you know how you get them without tearing them all up? thats right you beat it thru the decking with a sledge till its flush, then put a piece of rebar on it to drive it free of the hull on the bottom, then crawl underneath the hull and collect the goodies. i dove sidemount a couple times there just to go "collecting". it was funny onr time when i first found the "lump of brass" on the starboard side of the rusland. it started with a piece of all thread sticking out of the congolorate, it chiseled it out, then say another "shimmer" under it, so went after that one. long story short, i ended up 2 1/2hrs later with a trench long enough for me to lay in and not see my fins, from flush with the bottom up to about 5ft deep at the top of the lump and wide enough i could push my elbows out to my side without hitting the sides. a diver who went in after i started digging and got out before i was done asked my wife what i was doing? didnt matter where on the wrecks (even on the adonis side) he was, that sledge hammer "thump" would shake his mask. those were some good times behind Saint Alfonsos, untill some jackass built a campfire and left bottles and garbage laying there. (i would clean up the garbage i saw there when we arrived each time) so they wouldnt let anyone in anymore. ill dig those prop shaft bearings and some of the stuff out and post some pics

Please do post pics. I never took anything off the St Alfonsos wrecks except maybe a blackfish LOL.

 

[njcommercialdiver]

ok, got some pics, need to dig thru my desk in the garage to get out the adonis spikes

heres one of the oiler cans i talked about

man i dont remember these being that heavy, maybe im getting old, LOL

heres some of the better bottles ive accumulated, the ones laying on their side between the bottom shelf and the long top shelf are all torpedo, cod or round bottoms

 

[Boatlode]

double post

 

[Boatlode]

ok, got some pics, need to dig thru my desk in the garage to get out the adonis spikes

heres one of the oiler cans i talked about
View attachment 1570855
man i dont remember these being that heavy, maybe im getting old, LOL
View attachment 1570853View attachment 1570847View attachment 1570848
heres some of the better bottles ive accumulated, the ones laying on their side between the bottom shelf and the long top shelf are all torpedo, cod or round bottoms
View attachment 1570857

Wow. Very cool, thanks for posting those.

You should come to the T-Net picnic.