March 11, 2008: Project Dive #1

Comditions: For most part, a night dive. A light wind came in from the southeast, making moderat sized waves coming in towards the entry point. The air temperature were some 6-8 degrees Celcius, and it was quite cloudy. The water temperature was 4-5 degrees.

Dive data: The dive lasted 55 min, and had a maximum depth of 7.5 m. Håkan filmed the dive using a compact digital camera in an UW housing.

Dive Objective: Laying line over the two "dune passage" segments where the pipe disappears into the sand. The pupose of the line is to provide a mean of easy orientation during transport to the more distant regions of The Pipe divesite. In coming explorations, important dive time will now be saved that otherwise from time to time would have been lost to often fruitless searches for the reappearing pipe.

Accomplishments: Both lines were successfully laid. The first line were some 22-23 m. As it turned out, following it on the return swim, it had been laid slightly bent. This was due to the fact that laying the line, Håkan over-compensated for the current and ended up with an empty reel slightly to the south of the pipe reappearence point. Luckily, the divers managed to see the pipe and completed the passage though as mentioned laying the line in a slight bend. This should be corrected on coming dives. Then, the line should also be long enough to attach directly to the pipe, rather than to the bent sticks protruding from the sand some 2-3 m away.

For the outer dune passage, the line starts from the "chimney"-looking structure protruding from the sand some 10-15 m away from the point where the pipe disappears into the sand. From that point, steel beams supporting the pipe barely protruding from the sand may be followed over to "the chimney". In coming dives, this short passage should also be completed with a line to better support night diving.

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