On Tue, 27 Feb 2001 03:15:03 -0500, Brad Stambaugh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The Large Epinephilus striatus wrote:
>I think the pre-CAIV02NEDfest for a ChooChoo02NEDfest is a perfect
>excuse and date, doan you think? :-)

><<< That would be a great way to start off the trip. I'll try to work
>out the flights so that I arrive in Atlanta with some time to get
>together before the direct flight to Georgetown.

So, you DID plunk down your little cookie jar in front of Crusty's
door step for the event then!  We'll have you mentally toughened
to meet all the Crazies <tm> on the boat before we start!
>
>
>Brad can entertain us with an re-enactment of a roasted wienie in a
>drysuit and 7mm wetsuit (Mike can bring). <BWG>
>
>
><<< I can promise you, I definetly won't be taking any risks for 6
>mnthes before this trip! Seriously. I will not catch a cold. I will not
>go sledding, and sprain my ankle. I will eat right, and brush my teeth
>three times per day.  --NOTHING--  is going to screw up this trip. And
>that means no roasted weenie re-enactenments!!! ;-))
><<<

And don't forget not to bust your eardrum on any shallow dive
before the NEDfest!  :-)

Sue and I were on the CA-IV Aggressor in 1999 about a month before
the Coz99NEDfest.  She broke (well pin-hole puncture) her eardrum
on descent to the Russian Wreck dive on the Brac.  So, she missed
ALL the fun in the Coz99NEDfest.  ;-)   According to my statistical
records, she breaks her eardrum every 1000 dives.  :-)  So, she'll
be safe for the CAIV02NEDfest.


>BTW, the book arrived today .........           The Cayman Islands Dive
>Guide, by Stephen Frink and Harrigan. It is superb! It has three
>dimensional drawings, and several angles of each dive. It shows the
>route(s) to take for each area. And more. The illustrations and
>photography are excellent, and it's well written.

That sounds like a good one!  Don't recall having seen that book.
Stephen Frink used to (perhaps still does) write the Caribbean
dive location infomercial articles for the Skin Diver mag.


> It would be hard to
>beat this book. ...And my Aggressor brochure arrived today! No wonder I
>was so happy today.  :-))

WHAT brochure?  :-)  I didn't get any, and I am diving the CA-IV a YEAR
before the 2002 NEDfest.


>One more thing... There are a -lot- of swim throughs shown in this book.
>I assume many of you will be going through them, and I want to also. But
>I don't want to get anyone alarmed about overhead environments.  ;-)
>.... What's the reaction from ya'll?

Most of the swim-throughs in the Cayman Islands are short, with plenty
of ambient light, and many don't even have an overhead, even though
they are called 'swim throughs'.  They should pose no problem for
any OW-cert diver.

The ONLY swim-through I can think of there that might require some
extra caution is the Cumbers Caves in Little Cayman.  They have
numerous entrances from the sand flat to the wall and they DO have
fairly LONG overhead passages, AND (this is the most dangerous
part) some passages are BLOCKED by fallen overhead SAND.  :-)

So, the Aggressor always cautions divers to take the MAIN swim-
through passages, and make sure you can see the light at the end
of the tunnel (so to speak) before entering.

That reminded me of the ONLY year I didn't dive the CA-IV Aggressor
but did the Little Cayman Diver instead, in 1996.

My trip report titled, "Top Ten Reasons NOT to Dive the LCD",
suffices for now.  :-)

The only redeeming value of the LCD is that it's the ONLY Caribbean
liveaboard that openly sanctions SOLO diving, not just look the
other way and say you must dive with a buddy (as the CA-IV and
other liveaboards do).  But it still has the 110 max Cayman Rule,
and looks the other way when it's broken as the CA-IV does.

At any rate, because of bad weather conditions at the start of the
trip, we had to spend the day in a Cayman Brac hotel waiting for
the water to calm down so that we could get on the LCD boat, via
diveboat shuttles.

Our FIRST dive of the trip was a NIGHT DIVE at Cumbers Cove.
The wall is quite a distance away from where the liveaboard boats
are moored, as your book will probably show, so the tunnels and
wall wasn't even mentioned in the dive brief.

But I was ready to DIVE!  :-)  You should have seen the eyes pop
out of the DM on deck checking on time/depth of divers as they
board when I reported my 108 fsw on that night dive, solo of
course.   :-)   I should hasten to add that I knew that site
better than the palm of my hand and it was as safe a dive for me
as if I had hung around the 40 fsw coral bottom below the boat.
But that is the only site I can recall that poses any "overhead"
danger even during broad daylight.

Brad, on the CAIV02NEDfest, you'll have plenty of SOBs who will
not only keep an eye on themselves, but will keep an eye on you,
IF you needed it.  :-)   Just don't follow me DEEP, and you can
follow almost anybody anywhere and you should be able to
MORE THAN adequately take care of yourself.   :-)

-- Bob.





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>Brad°°° <---measels
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