Comments on: Michael’s First Dive in the Deep-Worker

By: Michael Reuscher

Michael Reuscher — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:04:15 +0000

Yeah, I got some pats on the back for doing the midwater transect after my dive :)
The visibility in South Moresby was quite decent though. In Mid Moresby there was more sediment in the water. At the former one, the last greenish light (when you look up through your dome) fades to black between 600 and 700 feet, at the latter one already at about 450 feet.
The subs are not that fast (1.5 knots) so that you have enough time to avoid a crash :)
But check out the new sub design called Orca! This neat little toy has a top speed of five knots! You definitely want to have a good visibility for that. Here the link:
http://www.subaviators.com/Default.aspx?tabid=83&language=en-US

By: Peter Etnoyer

Peter Etnoyer — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:55:09 +0000

Mid water transit sounds a liiitle scary. How is the visibility?

By: Michael Reuscher

Michael Reuscher — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:20:43 +0000

Hi Jen,
calculate about 1 min per 100 feet- probably a little bit more. On my first dive, however, I did a mid water transit. The reason for that was a current that pushed me into too deep water. So it took me longer until I hit bottom. We have about 2.5-4 hours down there. Then the batteries become weak and we have to come up. If they are so weak that your thrusters are not strong enough, you still can come up by filling your ballast tank with air. In an emergency you have air for appriximately 80 hours. You get also water bottles and special biscuits with 24000 calories. So, theoretically you can stay down for three days. Sylvia Earle actually spent a night submerged in the Gulf of Mexico.
Michael

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:53:41 +0000

I really enjoyed reading your post. How long does it take you to dive to 1500 ft? How long are you able to stay submerged? Really amazing stuff!