DT Diver Willowsprings Dive 1

Dive 1 - Saturday 31st August

Location: Willow Springs Quarry

Depth: 11.2m

Duration: 19 minutes Click here to the View Dive Profile

This was my first dive of the weekend. After being a tender for a while it was my turn to “get dipped”. I put on my Gates Pro-am 1050 drysuit, which I use to dive in the UK. I thought it easier to take some of my own dive kit with me.

The equipment I was going to dive is called a Kirby Morgan Superlite 17b which is widely used in commercial diving today. It was my first ever dive in something like this and I was really looking forward to it.

After putting the drysuit on, next to go on is the bailout. A bailout out is a 7 litre cylinder of air you wear on your back, connected to the helmet. It’s there so that if the surface supply should fail you can switch to the bailout and get back to the surface or correct the problem.

After that has been secured, the next to go on is the weight belt - this is 80lbs (36.3kg), and if this wasn’t enough weight I had some ankle weights put on too.

Before the helmet could be put on I had to put on a neck dam, which allows the helmet to be sealed when it’s put on. Next comes the helmet itself. The two tenders Ray Tucker and Dave Hill took me through the controls of the Superlite. After being familiarised with the controls the helmet was placed over my head. The neck dam is then sealed to the helmet, you know when this has happened as you can hear the regulator start. Once the clamp is tightened you are ready to dive.

My first thought when Dave Hill let go of the helmet was “and they call this a Superlite!?” the helmet is heavier than it looks. Most of the weight of the helmet is made up by moulded weights on the side. The weights make the helmet neutrally buoyant in water.

After a few customary pictures I headed off to the stairs to enter the water with the umbilical in one hand. The umbilical provides the air, communications and most important of all a safety line.

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As the Superlite entered the water the weight of it disappeared, I though “wow this is nice”. I could freely move my head around with no problem. The Superlite is very comfortable in the water. I can understand why they are used for commercial diving.

I walked along the edge of the ridge for a couple of meters. Ray’s voice came over the comms to say “we are going to do a out of air drill for you now”. This has to be done for any one using the Superlite for the first time. As the surface supply was turned off I waited for the right time. With a 50m umbilical the air does take several minutes before it runs out.

As it started to get a problem to get air I switched to the bailout supply. Whilst also informing the surface that I was switching. After a few seconds Ray said “That the problem has been corrected and surface supply is being resumed”. I then turned the bailout supply off and Ray said “Enjoy your dive”.

I walked off towards the steps, which take you down to the bottom of the quarry. One of the things you really have to watch with this equipment is not to get the umbilical caught in anything. So I had to make sure it didn’t get caught on the stairs.

While I was descending down the stairs I could clearly pick out the thermal layers where the temperature of the water suddenly drops. After about 10 minutes you get used to the colder water. Adding air to the drysuit does help. You also notice it when ascending as you find it’s nice and warm at around 3m.

The visibility wasn’t that good, but wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I found a lead line that went off to one of the training platforms in the quarry so I decided to follow it. The visibility whilst I was following the line was getting worse. I could also feel all the silt on the ridge as my feet where sinking on each step. The lead line then disappeared up towards the platform. I decided not to follow it, as it’s not so easy with all that weight, so I turned back.

I got back to the stairs again and ascended up them, spotting the odd fish here and there. I was also noticing the temperature changes too. As I got to the top of the ridge I could see another diver in the distance. Visibility was better at the shallow depths.

As I approached I noticed he had an underwater camera in his hand so I got a little closer. It was Mark Butler in his US Navy Mark XII. I had to wave for the camera. It’s a shame the camera couldn’t pick up my large grin.

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I continued to walk along the ridge, just to see if I could find anything interesting. After about 10 minutes I decided to leave the water. As I was going up the stairs, the weight of the Superlite suddenly hit me again. But that always the same even with SCUBA. I walked over to the bench, sat down and the two tenders Todd Storey & Jeff Foley helped remove the Superlite from my head, and we put the helmet on my leg for some photos.

I have to say that diving in the Superlite was a lot of fun and I certainly have fallen in love with them. Big thanks Dave Hill for allowing me to use his Superlite. And Big thanks to Both Dave Hill, Ray Tucker, Todd Storey for being tenders and supervisors