Scuba anyone?

[Karol]

You know what is the best, you guys still have one of the nicest parts of Raja to discover, the Misool trip is going to be epic! And compared to central the currents are a bit more forgiving. Paired with wings it should be a walk in a park. Perfect warmup and then you should revisit central.

[Giles]

I don't get the thing about currents.....We had some screaming flows, but you just go with it, I love covering a shit load of ground. If we needed to stop, we'd hook on. On that note, I am lengthening the cord on ours. I'll use Dyneema (it's effing strong, and I have a load of it) and make them about 8 feet long. Ours are currently 3 foot, but even when we inflate the BCD's, we have to work hard not to bash the coral. Our guide had one of about 8 feet, and he could hang in the current, well away from the coral. As long as you stay fairly close together, then the whole group will stay together as you drift, so don't need to panic about getting separated. Obviously, sometimes we had to fin into or across currents, but we all had to, so it's not like anyone is disadvantaged. Both P and I will use our long fins when we expect current, that helps. We have encountered far stronger in the Maldives on sites like Kuredu Express, where if you are hooked on, and you turn your face perpendicular to the current, you lose your mask (you only do that once :-), so I guess we are relatively used to current.

[Karol]

@Giles same hook / rope experience, and a mandatory upgrade for Komodo as we were told by the guides that came from there. They were pushing our AOWD/Deep group hard at descents, yet for unknown reasons we were not doing a negative entry. This was the only time when the current was really an inconvenience. To reach a starting point at depth. Not all the dives were with the current, but we always engaged in some meandering, often against the currents, to check the pinnacles for pigmy seahorses.
Going back to the rope, we were chastised by our guide for having reef hooks that are, and I quote "Are expensive for money but cheap for life". They are stainless steel in protective tube. His good point was regarding the lack of grip on the string surface while being in very strong currents. It's better to have something like what you build, please keep some knots, something bulky, to hold on to when you climb down to the hook in order to release it.
And the long rope also provides longer bottom time while hanging on the observation point. It's amazing how many minutes can be gained when you have a long rope.

[Giles]

When we went to Socorro, every entry was negative (yeah, express train currents). We only did one negative in Raja....Thanks for the tips about some knots in the hook cord. And great observation about bottom time with a longer cord, I had not thought of that.....

[Giles]

OK @Karol . I have decided what I will get/do.

XDeep Ghost with 4 small trim weight pockets, 2 on each cam belt. Currently I dive with 4KG of ditch-able weight with my Hollis LTS BCD. Not sure how my weight requirements will change when I move to the Ghost plate and wings.

I don't need any ditch-able weights and having weight around my waist gives me an uncomfortable foot down attitude in the water. Having the 4 pockets should allow me to fine-trim to horizontal. Also, taking into consideration your comments about streamlining, having all the weight "hidden" on my back, will greatly improve my streamlining.

Paula will also get a Ghost, but I suspect that I won't convince her to move to all non ditch-able weights.

[Karol]

@Giles If you dive now with 4kg, you might actually go down to 2kg as the aluminium plate might weight ~1,6kg. The trim pockets will be perfect here, with how little weight you need it's not a big deal if you can't hand the weights separately to the dingy crew on the way back. Your trim might improve with this setup, but I have a question about the fins. Are they of negative, neutral or positive bouncy?

[Giles]

I have negative and positive fins.....I use the postive when I am doing close quarters stuff in and around coral (the are quite short), the long ones which are negative, I use if I know I have to do a lkoad of finning...

And I have never been asked to take the weights out when I give the BCD to the dinghy guys.....And if I have to, I can float the tank/BCD set up and take the weights out....But the Ghost only weights 2.3 KG, with bits and bobs, 2KG of weight and the reg set, I reckon the set up minus tank will be about 8kg

[Karol]

@Giles That "uncomfortable foot down attitude in the water" happened regardless of the fins?
Im asking because during last trip I swapped fins with another diver in my group and that was the worst dive in that I almost felt like a seahorse. Cool fins but my trim was way off. Maybe in dry suit with a bit of air in the leg that setup can be nice, but by cost of freedom of movement (once you distribute the air you don't want to mess with it).
What would you say about short fins with a larger surface area? Something that would feel rigid and resistant to a strong frog kick.

[Karol]

https://www.mares.com/en/product/power-plana-lt-410052
?

[Giles]

@Karol said in Scuba anyone?:

What would you say about short fins with a larger surface area? Something that would feel rigid and resistant to a strong frog kick.

No views, I am afraid....

My tendency to sea horse is way less with the floating fins, but honestly, I am sure that it is because I have 4KG around my waist.... Get that up to nearer the shoulders and I think it will make a massive difference....

[Karol]

You guys are heading for overall trim improvement just by having the wing. Have the trim bags on the tank belts as close to the plate as possible.

[Giles]

@Karol said in Scuba anyone?:

Have the trim bags on the tank belts as close to the plate as possible.

Yep......

[Giles]