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Figured I could add a bit of strokery. Sorry, but it won't be as impressive or humorous as Kevin's, but at least I got wet. ;-) >Dudes (and Dude-ettes), > >Just thought in the interest of admitting screw-ups, and to preclude any >future hosing I might get as a result, I should report my a dive on the Hydro Atlantic this last Monday. Wouldn't want my dive buddy who's also on the list to beat me to the punch. Tough to fit a dive in on a Monday afternoon and cram a days worth of work in the morning, but the seas were kindly, sun shining and a new cave diving buddy was in town who has graciously offered to take me and my sig other wreck diving on the St. Lawrence River in 2 weeks. Apprently rumor has it that the ice clears for a few weeks this time of year. The Hydro is truely a phenomenal wreck dive. 300'+ ship sitting upright on the sand at 170' and was not intentionally sunk as an artificial reef so some of the ship's equipment and rigging are still very evident. In the morning I loaded the truck with my doubles kit (I tend to keep both an o/w and a cave/doubles kit bagged and ready to go). Forgot a towel - so what. Made it to the boat (Reef Cat - good operation and first time out with Capt. Mims since he certified me in 82) with plenty of time to spare and then sat around lazing in the sun eating a salad for lunch. After everyone arrived the boat departed and everyone quietly began kitting up. I brought a 40ft3 deco bottle, not that one is necessary for this dive but I lack "technical" diving experience and want to become familiar with the mechanics of using and managing a decompression gas in o/w. Double 80s filled with air were kitted up and then I started setting up the deco bottle. Small problem. I didn't pick up my own deco bottle from the shop nor did I check it for contents. Who said assumptions can kill? Usually I check at the store and at home, but failed to do either in my haste. I look at the label and it says "some". I reposition my contacts and check again - "some". Hmmm. What profile does one use when deco'ing on "some"? How long before I'd start doing the funky chicken and at what depth? Or maybe I should cross my fingers, knock on wood, throw some salt over the shoulder and have faith that it's exactly what I hoped it would be and dive it anyway. Really, I had only two choices. (1) Ask other divers on the boat for an O2 analyzer and face the music or (2) forget the deco bottle and recalculate deco and gas consumption requirements. Well, I weenied and opted for option #2. Actually, there wasn't much choice as Tom Mount was teaching a class and I didn't have it in me to stand up, announce my stupidity and provide Tom with an outstanding and timely example for his students of what not to do. Thinking quickly I then discovered another use for a dive bag - to conceal my mislabelled deco bottle so nobody would notice. I thought I had pulled off the perfect "some" deco bottle caper when, unfortunately, my buddy's ear to ear grin and question "what exactly is a some mix?" indicated that my goof was exposed. I learned a valuable lesson (that was stated to me repeatedy to me by both my cave instructor and EANx instructor and half the people on this list) - always check your gas because its your ass. Sometimes a little humiliation can be necessary to hammer a point home. The dive itself was a cake walk. Zippo current and very good vis. I wish I had made the appropriate calcs to bump my bottom times to either 40 or 45 min it was that good. Another day. The "some" turned out to be a label indicating to the blender that some gas remained in the bottle and it did check out to be what I wanted. Better safe than dead tho. Thanks to Mike Tennant for being a good buddy and who, inspite of great temptation or perhaps out of overwhelming embarrassment for his buddy, kept my caper to himself. Regards, John
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