Posted: 9/17/2022 9:29:45 PM EDT
My rebreather ordered back in April finally showed up yesterday. Delivered to my instructor’s Madison, WI dive shop. My buddies at the shop decided to have a bit of fun with me, telling me the box was crushed and my rebreather hadn’t arrived in one piece. They were posting this on FB. The one guy told me to cheer up as I could borrow his for class which begins tomorrow. Turns out my unit is fine, but I am going to get my revenge sometime. Found out they were joking when I called the one guy and they’re all laughing their asses off in the background. A friend who is a brand ambassador for the manufacturer was watching everything unfold on FB. She alerted the mfg’s office manager who packs and ships out orders. Friend told the office manager what was going on, but added she suspected the guys were messing with me. Office manager was stressing out, I’m told.    Class begins tomorrow with a hands on classroom session of assembly and tear down, packing the scrubbers with sorb, and all the pre-dive tests to make sure everything is working directly before diving. Then we’ll be in the pool for a couple of hours tomorrow evening. Instructor usually takes some photos and video in the pool for FB so I hope to have some to share. I ordered a Kiss Spirit. mCCR. This is a friend’s unit, exact same as mine. Even though I dive open circuit sidemount, I did not want a SM CCR. Not good for my first love of Great Lakes wreck diving.  Next Sunday are first open water dives at a lake in WI, then the first two weeks in October. CCR training is a hell of a lot more extensive than open water basic training. Lot more ways you could kill yourself. 
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Quoted: MARIE! Where have you been? I’ve missed your posts. JANE! I’ve been around! Usually mostly hang out in the scuba subforum. Nice to be missed, though! Went cave diving in MX last month for my full cave certification. Photos and videos in the link below. Thread I did. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Marie-goes-cave-diving-Mexican-cenotes-version/5-2572299/ |
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Quoted: No bubbles = less likely to spook giant catfish. Please take pictures!  https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/36246/3AAC9D30-CB11-4335-878E-53E167166D48-2530143.jpg Years ago my buddy spooked an enormous cat and instead of taking off it latched onto his arm and shook him around for a second before letting go. It waas maybe a foot and a half smaller than he was and when he got back onto the boat he had literally shit his suit. We still give him a hard time about it but honestly I wouldve probably freaked out a lot more than he did if it happened to me. |
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Marie, I know nothing about diving, but I sure do enjoy yours posts. You do some very cool stuff. Took the family to the UP many years ago and saw shipwrecks on the Superior coast. Your posts often make me think of that trip. Please keep posting your adventures! |
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Quoted: Diving buddies are in Madison, WI. I don’t think those plates would bother them much. Could put these on their trucks. |
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Quoted: Years ago my buddy spooked an enormous cat and instead of taking off it latched onto his arm and shook him around for a second before letting go. It waas maybe a foot and a half smaller than he was and when he got back onto the boat he had literally shit his suit. We still give him a hard time about it but honestly I wouldve probably freaked out a lot more than he did if it happened to me. My instructor tells a story from a couple of years ago that freaks me the fuck out. She and a rebreather student were diving in Lake Mendota (Madison). They were at a place called Governor’s Wall. This is the deepest point of Mendota and goes down to about 80f. Anyway, they’re on this wall that has a ton of catfish in cracks in the wall. Suddenly a huge catfish comes up from the depths to check them out. Not sure how deep they were. Instructor said it was stalking the student. Student was 6ft tall and catfish was bigger than he was. It was huge around the head. Instructor dives Mendota a lot and says this was the biggest catfish she had ever seen. I shudder just thinking about it. I am scared to death of big catfish. My local quarry has ones that are 3ft and up. I once encountered a 5-6 footers at a quarry in southern IL. Never again. I don’t dive places that are known to have huge catfish. I’m very glad we’re not diving Mendota at all for class as visibility is very bad. Not good for classes. It’s proof of being being batshit crazy that I’ll cave dive, yet I’m deathly afraid of big catfish. |
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Quoted: https://i.iheart.com/v3/re/new_assets/5d05c81ddf01d17aa11d1994 Rebreather preferred because the bubbles alert sentries Ah, didn’t even think about that type of mine.
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Quoted: Wow cool Marie. You are going to have a lot of fun with that, I'm really excited for you. Is it just me or does that unit looks small in height. How tall is that compaired to an 80? Looks cool as hell, I really like the compactness of that. Keep us updated. It’s about 23” tall, which is about 5” shorter than an AL80. It’s a lightweight unit, which is specifically why I went for it, due to my bad knees. I’m only 5’5”, so it will be great for my size. |
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Quoted: Post back with actual dive time numbers. I am curious as to the actual performance of this one. You have to have a minimum of 420 minutes of underwater time over 7 dives gradually increasing depth to 100ft. My instructor does more than the minimum. The 14cft O2 bottle will last for 4 hours. Sorb duration in 45 degree water is about 2 hours. |
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I always read your postings with great interest. Get some! I'm recreational only. Deepest dive is 120 ft. What you're doing is amazing. Cave diving, mixed gas, rebreather, all stuff at 57 I'll never do. When I was about 12 yo., I saw a National Geographic magazine about diving on Truk with sunken ships with fighter planes, tanks, etc. It's what drove me to get my cert. I'll never dive Truk, but I did get to dive Carlisle Bay and a freighter sunk by U-boats in WWII. Close enough.  Please keep posting, I love living vicariously through you.Attached File |
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Quoted: I always read your postings with great interest. Get some! I'm recreational only. Deepest dive is 120 ft. What you're doing is amazing. Cave diving, mixed gas, rebreather, all stuff at 57 I'll never do. When I was about 12 yo., I saw a National Geographic magazine about diving on Truk with sunken ships with fighter planes, tanks, etc. It's what drove me to get my cert. I'll never dive Truk, but I did get to dive Carlisle Bay and a freighter sunk by U-boats in WWII. Close enough. Please keep posting, I love living vicariously through you.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/37141/Me_Diving_Carlisle_Bay_jpg-2530482.JPG @Sand _Pirate Cool photo! I’m 53 so not that much younger than you! I will definitely keep posting. |
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Quoted: It’s about 23” tall, which is about 5” shorter than an AL80. It’s a lightweight unit, which is specifically why I went for it, due to my bad knees. I’m only 5’5”, so it will be great for my size. Quoted: Quoted: Wow cool Marie. You are going to have a lot of fun with that, I'm really excited for you. Is it just me or does that unit looks small in height. How tall is that compaired to an 80? Looks cool as hell, I really like the compactness of that. Keep us updated. It’s about 23” tall, which is about 5” shorter than an AL80. It’s a lightweight unit, which is specifically why I went for it, due to my bad knees. I’m only 5’5”, so it will be great for my size. Wow that a big difference. must be nice.
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Rebreathers are awesome, I used to dive with steel 95s manifolded together because I breathe a lot, switched to a Draeger Dolphin and it was so much better. Who is your cert through? I did IANTD, but dont even know if they’re still around as I haven’t dove in about 18 years. Once my kids get old enough I’d like to get back into it. |
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Quoted: Rebreathers are awesome, I used to dive with steel 95s manifolded together because I breathe a lot, switched to a Draeger Dolphin and it was so much better. Who is your cert through? I did IANTD, but dont even know if they’re still around as I haven’t dove in about 18 years. Once my kids get old enough I’d like to get back into it. I’m TDI for all my tech certs. IANTD is still around. A Draeger? Wow. LOL |
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Quoted: @Sand _Pirate Cool photo! I’m 53 so not that much younger than you! I will definitely keep posting. Quoted: Quoted: I always read your postings with great interest. Get some! I'm recreational only. Deepest dive is 120 ft. What you're doing is amazing. Cave diving, mixed gas, rebreather, all stuff at 57 I'll never do. When I was about 12 yo., I saw a National Geographic magazine about diving on Truk with sunken ships with fighter planes, tanks, etc. It's what drove me to get my cert. I'll never dive Truk, but I did get to dive Carlisle Bay and a freighter sunk by U-boats in WWII. Close enough. Please keep posting, I love living vicariously through you.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/37141/Me_Diving_Carlisle_Bay_jpg-2530482.JPG @Sand _Pirate Cool photo! I’m 53 so not that much younger than you! I will definitely keep posting. Chicom19 has put holes in my brain. Brain fog is bad. I don't trust myself to fly or dive right now. Maybe in the future, Lord willing. I know you tend towards cold water dives, but do you have desire or intensions towards warm water dives? |
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Quoted: Years ago my buddy spooked an enormous cat and instead of taking off it latched onto his arm and shook him around for a second before letting go. It waas maybe a foot and a half smaller than he was and when he got back onto the boat he had literally shit his suit. We still give him a hard time about it but honestly I wouldve probably freaked out a lot more than he did if it happened to me. Quoted: Quoted: No bubbles = less likely to spook giant catfish. Please take pictures! https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/36246/3AAC9D30-CB11-4335-878E-53E167166D48-2530143.jpg Years ago my buddy spooked an enormous cat and instead of taking off it latched onto his arm and shook him around for a second before letting go. It waas maybe a foot and a half smaller than he was and when he got back onto the boat he had literally shit his suit. We still give him a hard time about it but honestly I wouldve probably freaked out a lot more than he did if it happened to me. You’re not helping Marie! OP, I took a diving class 20+ years ago, Newfound Lake, NH for my check-out dive, and dove off the Isle of Shoals one time only, and a ton in fresh water in the St-Lawrence River in Canada where my parents lived. It is a blast. I just don’t have time with kids and have too many hobbies as it is. I joke about catfish but the only large fish I’ve seen underwater were some pretty massive carp! It’s a very peaceful pastime as long as the air doesn’t run out. |
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Quoted: ......................I am scared to death of big catfish. My local quarry has ones that are 3ft and up. I once encountered a 5-6 footers at a quarry in southern IL. Never again. I don’t dive places that are known to have huge catfish. I’m very glad we’re not diving Mendota at all for class as visibility is very bad. Not good for classes. It’s proof of being being batshit crazy that I’ll cave dive, yet I’m deathly afraid of big catfish. ever consider a bang stick and powerhead?mmmm, catfish! |
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