#apollo
Yapak1, Boracay Island, Aklan, Philippines
August 26, 2017 | 09:12
Seven of us went for a fun-dive: 2 in-house Instructors and 4 divemasters (2 divemaster candidates), plus one Advanced Open Water Diver. We did a negatively buoyant entry from the boat once we hit a landmark, as there's no buoy and no line. Landmark for the divesite is: 2 small islands on the horizon behind Carabao island have to stand out from left and "crack" have to connect with "boobs" on our Boracay island. Once we hit the water, we head to 60 degree while descending to 25m and after few minutes we arrived at the wall at 30-35m and started exploration to our left with a current. Some divers fell deeper than planned and required a reminders to get shallower. Our Advanced Open Water Diver been distracted with a use of his UW camera until he realized that his Suunto D6i Novo is faulty, giving incorrect data. Despite being such a short dive, due to our very deep profile, we still managed to see few white tip sharks and groupers, corals on top of the wall are still healthy and show no signs of bleaching. We did our deep stops and safety stops, while D6i Novo owner still wasn't able to get it working and followed his buddy for a safety stop. Air remaining in tanks after a dive was from 100 to 40 bar, best breather is one of our divemaster candidates - Yong from South Korea, with his Apollo equipment and split fins ;)
After debriefing we figured possible cause of the problem with a dive computer: recent "DIY" battery replacement at home. Most of Suunto dive computers batteries are not user-replaceable, and its best to bring your computer to authorized retailer for battery replacement, otherwise you have good chances to "fry" your expensive toy and sabotage your dive.
Notes for navigation at Yapak: if you see no bottom, then welcome to the blue, where bottom is 70-75m, your compass course is correct (60 degree), keep swimming until you see some fish around you, which means the wall is near (don't freak out in the blue, because its all you going to see for a few minutes, TRUST YOUR COMPASS and be patient) and if you see the bottom close to you, then change your course to 240 degree and swim towards the fall. This dive requires appropriate planning and use of tide tables and moon cycles. Best to be done on a rising tide, with current pushing you towards the wall from the blue. Remember that currents during full moon and a new moon are the strongest so if you missed the wall, you might have no chance to reach it back and most likely you will have no chance to repeat (unless you have loads of spare tanks on the boat) because its a very deep dive, which requires you to do a safety stop, so you're lucky if you still have at least 150 bar after mistake.
Watch your gauges and dive computers while you dive, check on your buddy, dive within your limits, read your equipment manuals, trust your compass and...
Dive on.
#wall #boracay #deep #yapak #philippines #deepblu #blue #suunto #scuba #diving #idm #aqualung #oceanreef #Mares #apeks #apollo #Halcyon #Gull... More
Thank you! Anytime! (=... More
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