Dive gremlins

[Kalatin]

This is not a dive report. It should be a dive report. It should really be about five dive reports, but its not. It is a report of the dive gremlins that have moved into my life. I must have cleaned my gear after midnight or some other scuba no-no, because I can't catch a break.
Last Friday, my dive buddy canceled at the last minute. He got called into work. No worries, there is always tomorrow. Right? Wrong.
Last Saturday Casey and I were planning to dive, but my car refused to start once I got all my gear loaded. Car issues also destroyed my plans to dive Sunday. The ignition cylinder had evidently just worn out and had to be replaced.
Tuesday night, my car was fixed and great buddies waiting for me at Three Tree. I got trapped in traffic for almost 2 hours trying to get to I-5, so no diving that night.
Thursday night, I was too much of a chicken to leave my driveway and canceled my planned dive.
Finally, today the stars appeared to line up. Casey and I headed to Cove 2 and found a bunch of other divers, which made me feel marginally less insane to be getting into the water in the current weather conditions. Three strikes later, Casey and I trudged back to our cars after calling the dive. Max depth - 3 feet. Dive time - approximately 30 seconds. ](*,) ](*,)
This is getting old. 5 dives planned over the last week and every single once canceled. Can someone please let me know the procedure (dance, invocation, ceremony, sacrifice, etc...) that exorcises dive gremlins? I would really like to go diving tomorrow.

[Grateful Diver]

Here's the plan ... show up at Redondo tomorrow at 9 AM and I'll help you scare those pesky gremlins away.

I'll be there with Cheng and Valerie ... a foursome would be awesome ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Kalatin]

Done! See you there. I am looking forward to the Grateful Diver Gremlin Dance.

[nwscubamom]

Please video it so we can all see!!!

[Mattleycrue76]

So what was the reason your dive at cove 2 didn't work out?

[Kalatin]

Cove 2 had three minor issues (not including the snow and ice). First, my LP inflator hose turned into a fizzy mess as I was assembling my gear. We swapped it around and figured out that it was the hose, not the inflator itself. Went to the dive shop, swapped out the hose, problem fixed. When we go in the water, Casey's regs decided to freeze up and start free-flowing. We eventually got them in order, but it reduced his available gas and counted (for me) as a strike. Then it was weight check time. Casey had swapped out to an AL80 and was too light. He added more weight, but still no dice. That was it for me - too many things (even small things). We had fries and beer instead and talked about diving. :occasion5: Stupid gremlins.

[Dusty2]

Cove 2 had three minor issues (not including the snow and ice). First, my LP inflator hose turned into a fizzy mess as I was assembling my gear. We swapped it around and figured out that it was the hose, not the inflator itself. Went to the dive shop, swapped out the hose, problem fixed. When we go in the water, Casey's regs decided to freeze up and start free-flowing. We eventually got them in order, but it reduced his available gas and counted (for me) as a strike. Then it was weight check time. Casey had swapped out to an AL80 and was too light. He added more weight, but still no dice. That was it for me - too many things (even small things). We had fries and beer instead and talked about diving. :occasion5: Stupid gremlins.

Probably a good choice. Sometimes the force is telling you to pack it in. I have found it is best to listen. It's not good to plow ahead when everything is saying no.

[LCF]

My guess is that you have somehow offended the scuba gods.

Did you, perhaps, dive with your long hose UNDER your light cord? Or use rechargeable batteries in your backup light? Or . . . gasp . . . dive AIR?

I believe a penance of three S-drills and a mask remove and replace should put you back into a state of grace . . . :-)

[Norris]

My guess is that you have somehow offended the scuba gods.

Did you, perhaps, dive with your long hose UNDER your light cord? Or use rechargeable batteries in your backup light? Or . . . gasp . . . dive AIR?

I believe a penance of three S-drills and a mask remove and replace should put you back into a state of grace . . . :-)

<writing down for future reference>

At what depth does the remove and replace need to happen for my records?

[LCF]

Any depth, so long as the water temperature is below 50 degrees . . .

Kate's gremlins are still active; I bailed on her tonight, deciding that being a bad dive buddy was preferable to a hip fracture. Is this slippery crud that's all over everything EVER going to go away?

[Kalatin]

If Lynne hadn't canceled first, I would have been all over canceling our planned foray to Cove 2. An icy walk in scuba gear at night just did not seem to be a very good idea. I am clumsy enough as it is. I don't think this one as gremlins - just Lynne being the voice of reason.
The dive gremlins are still with me, just to a slightly lesser degree than last week. I did get one dive in over the weekend, although I had planned two. On the surface swim out for the first dive, my first stage started to bubble away and I swam back and spent the next hour swearing at the gremlins. As it turns out, a stop-gap measure until all gremlins are truly exorcised is to dive with Grateful Diver (aka Human Dive Locker). He truly does have everything in his Element and saved my second dive. Zen Diver's karma cleaning exercise also works as a temporary measure, although it didn't stop the drysuit leak. Seriously, I can't catch a break lately. ](*,) Hopefully I will get a gremlin-free 2009 as a Christmas present. Next up - S drills and mask remove and replace (just to cover all my bases). Thanks again to Bob, Cheng, and Valerie for helping with the gremlin infestation.

[smike]

I left my gear in the car all day before a dive last week, and when we got to the site in Mukilteo thew temp was 28 deg. So of course while testing reg, it free-flowed, and when we got in the water, the dry suit valve leaked all down my arm. The regulator settled down when it warmed up in the water, and the octopus was fine, so we had a dive to 100' - but the viz absolutely stunk, 10' most the dive, and the water temp was a balmy 35 deg for the first 20'.

short story - keep your dive gear warm, it will work better. Cold diving has it's own problems, and most of us are not used to it.

Mike

[jeff98208]

well i'm not sure if it was gremlins or not, sounds more like the dive gods got angry.