Tyll's Dive April 2015

April 2015

I have neglected the blog for way too long. Either been busy or not being able to find words unless it involved playing SCRABBLE. (By the way the shop got this shiny new Scrabble board for Christmas, and we were all excited and had guest players. Several people have been tapping on my shoulder and said it is time for an update!

So where to begin? Seeing the yellow Frogfish, finding the Seahorses or swimming with the pod of about 100 Dolphins?

Or the vast amount of Sargassum seaweed that kept floating in for weeks earlier this year. Tons of it. Apparently a piece had gotten loose and began to float. The Sargassum Sea is a very unik floating habitat in the middle of the ocean. Held together by the ocean currents. Look it up on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargasso_Sea very interesting. But when it hits land it begins to stink when it begins to decompose.


March was the month where everybody decided to come visiting. A good fun month with our loyal diver family. We just kept getting messages, Okay coming so and so, flight is booked.But it all worked out just fine. Some knew each other, others met for the first time. Got to go on a sailing trip with some of the divers on Captain Alex boat. A marriage proposal happened.Kevin and Danis wedding will be next year down here.
Had a visit from the past, Ron brought a dvd from one dive at Mandys Eelgarden in 2003. West Bay was jungle and Mangroves and wide sandy beach. No Mayan Princess, no Infinity Bay…no nothing, just beach.
Ron, you made us laugh seeing that dvd. What a bunch we were back then.
So they all left and boo, really quiet until we got our new team Utah arriving. Yes, we have team divers, a few team Colorado , a couple of team Arizona and of course our 2 team Wisconsin, and not to forget team Houston, New Jersey, Toronto and New York. Probably a lot more…

We have added some new shop members: Jackie Chan and Boy. We some how ended up with them...

The biggest news are that Dorte is going to visit her family in Denmark very soon after not having been there for about 9 years.

Divemaster Alert Test

Tyll has recently been back on the island from his home in La Ceiba. He found some goodies in his old house here,he had written years ago, and we agreed would they find a great place on this blog.
Enjoy and hopefully it will make you smile.

                                                  DAT TEST 
                        (Divemaster Alert Test)

                                                                                 

                                                              By Tyll Sass

Take this Divemaster Alert Test and match your skills with those of the experts. Answers down below. (No cheating now...)

1. Archimedes Principal: If you have 30 gallons of fresh water in a rinsetank, then you submerge and fill one gallon into a container.
How many gallons remain in the rinsetank? when you compare them.
a) 28         b) 32      
c) all of the above    d) none of the above


2.   If 3 divers in the water planned a bottom time of one hour, and 3 more people jumped in and planned to stay 30 minutes halfway
through the first group's dive. How many divers would be in the water 59 minutes after the first group jumped in?
a) 5      b) 6       c) 12
d) none of the above


3. If you were diving in Cozumel, and wanted a dive plan before the boat left the dock for the divesite. Who would you ask?

a) the secretary behind the window who took your money
b) the divemaster on the boat
c) you'd call Paul Tzimolis of Skin-Diver magazine
d) nobody, you'd plan the dive when the boat got there

4. You have been assigned a new buddy, (as your last one is sitting this one out in the chamber) and you notice him fidgeting with his equipment, he is irritable, twitching and think he knows it all.

a) he has oxygen poisoning                  b) he is anxious/perfectionist
c) he is on drugs                                    d) he is obnoxious/dependent

5.You and your buddy are on 60 ft., and you notice a 10 ft. difference in your depth gauges.
What should you do?

a) immediately go to the surface & blow your whistle
b) use the 70 ft. schedule then decompress for 5 min. at 10 ft.
c) continue the dive as if nothing happend
d) throw the gauge that gives the shallower reading into the dumpster upon completion of the dive

6. You are diving in a shipping channel. It is 20 ft. deep and 65 ft. wide. The current is 2 knots. You decide to surface, and see an oiltanker  coming
towards you that draws 18 ft. of water and is 60 ft. wide.
a) Wave furiously to hail the bridge
b) swim like hell!
c) ditch your gear & head for shore
d) kiss your ass good-bye!

7. Somehow you've lucked out and drawn Bob Croft in a buddy-pool on a live-aboard dive trip. (He was the world's free diving champion in the 70's).
On your first dive with him, you are at 60 ft., suddenly his eyes widen and become the size of saucers. You should immediately:

a) drop his weight belt and slowly assist him to the surface
b) drop his weight belt and inflate his BCD
c) turn around

8. Your dive boat captain is drunk and passes out. Meanwhile the dive boat has run up on a reef and the batteries are dead.
The tide is going out.
You should:
a) call the Coast Guard
b) set all anchors and try winching off
c) patch the hole underwater with marine-tex
d) have a drink. You are going to be there a while

9. Your new dive buddy weighs 350 lbs. You both jump into the water with a giant stride. He forgets to inflate his BCD and goes straight to the bottom. Then his weight belt falls of, he hits the CO2 cartridge and comes roaring past you towards the surface.
You should:
a) grab his feet as he goes by
b) try to deflate his BCD by stabbing at it with your dive knife
c) drop your weight belt inflate you BCD and try catch him
d) get back in the boat and get a new dive buddy


10) In an emergency, using oxygen, you should:

a) lubricate all moving parts with transmission oil
b) if the valve sticks or leak, have an oxygen "expert" ready with a ballpien hammer
c) be sure the gauge does not read over 21% before opening valve
d) keep it on deck



ANSWER SHEET

1. None of the above - it never said he took the container back out, stupid!
2. None of the above - the second 3 were snorklers.
3. Nobody - the secretary doesn't speak English, none of the divemasters can hear, and Paul Tzimolis is always busy.
4. d
5. Both c and d are correct. since your buddys gauge read 50 ft.
6. Both c and d are correct.
7. Turn around. There is probably a great white closing in. Bob Croft likely wouldn't panic at 60 ft....he can free dive to 300.
8. You can't call the Coast Guard because the batteries are dead. The only answer is to have a drink.
9. d - this guy is an idiot. You need a new buddy.
10. d - if you missed this one, there is no hope.

Happy thoughts in gray october days

Dive princesses and dive princes

What makes you a dive princess/prince?

1) you arrive on Roatan and think you will give it a try
2) you give it a try and kind of love it
3)You dive more and actually love it
4) whats that fish whats that little fellow poking out of the coral
5) now you really want to know what you are seeing and why they do what
6) sorry, you are hooked now
7) you don't wanna leave right now so you miss the ferry
8) bad weather, lets stay another day
9) I cant find my wallet
10) the Galaxy ferry at 7 am is too early anyway
11) Lets have a baleada since we missed the 2 pm ferry
12) We can have a dive since we are not going on the morning ferry
13) Group picture, we are really leaving. Okay. (Don't leave)
14) They left.....
15) But we know they left as diveprincesses, nothing less.
16) They went to explore the world, but know where they come from.
17) One fine day they will return.
18) I think 2 particular princesses know this story very well.
19) Is it then why we love what we do?
20) Left for your comment
21) Did not forget the diveprincess who brought the crocs and did the walks
22) We are all dive princesses or dive princes but there is only one queen and she might very well arrive in a few weeks
23) There is the Turtlekid
24) There is the seahorse finder
25) There is the paprazzi photograher
26) There is the finder of seaslugs
27) There is the seaspider girl
28) There is the little boy who one week is facinated by sharks next week by eagle rays (dive prince potential)
29) There is a diveshop family back at the shop who will make coffee and enjoy listenening to all the above findings
30)There is just enough stuff out there for everyone to enjoy. Keep blowing bubbles:-)
It's a beautiful day.