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I would of finished this in the first part but I was getting bugged about lunch ;-) This is an actual dive done this past weekend off of the Reef Cat doing the wreck of the Hydro Atlantic. The Hydro is not a clean wreck like the empty hull the Sucre is. The Hydro is an actual wreck that is 320' long that sits upright in 174' of water. You can get into every nook and crany that you are not afraid to venture into. Over all it is an awesome dive and I don't see waisting my money and trip out there to limit my time. Because it is an overhead environment you need the redundancy, this coupled with the 35 minutes of bottom time (3 times that of dive plan# 1) you began to get the picture of what is needed. So I fill up my double 98's with air and my pony with EAN 80% (because to deco on air this same dive would be around 1hour and 55 minutes). Many times divers do this wreck with the intention of a short profile (hanging around on the outside and enjoying the marine life and the wreck itself) and they use a single tank. If some idiot took a shot at one of these divers then yes they are ignorant of the facts and should go back and reread their manuals and plan the dives. However there are many other divers with other profiles in mind (entended bottom times and penetration) and they require different gear. Although the surface temp of the water is around 83 the bottom temp is around the low 70's somewhere. My computer logs the temp at different depths and I see around a 10 degree drop. So you can see the difference the two dives will make in gear selection. Dive# 1: No lights are needed, only a single tank is needed (although I would prefer it have an H-valve), no big stickum knives are needed (on either dive). Dive# 2: Lights, doubles because you will need the air for the extended bottom time and as backup if your deco gas is lost. Still don't need no big stickum knife (unless you plan on offing your buddy or something). So those divers with Dive Plan# 2 in mind will have a different gear style than those divers who have Dive Plan# 1 in their heart. So George is right dive# 1 can be pulled off using the minimum gear configuration he used (I have seen many do it including Jim Mimms who does it all the time when he is teaching his classes at this depth). As for keeping the main piece of equipment (yourself) in shape I think this is just common sense, and is preached by both I.A.N.T.D. and George. Perhaps its the manner of delivery that the message gets lost. I would dive with Tom Mount or Ralph Fenton or George anywhere anyday!!!! Ray LaTulippe.
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