Finally got my bottom times under 30 minutes on that old wellhead in Galveston Bay

Took me about 3 months of adjusting my descent angle and finning technique, but I cut almost 12 minutes off my bottom time on that tricky 60-foot wellhead off Bolivar. My tender said my gas consumption dropped way down too, which was a nice bonus. Anybody else found a weird trick that shaved time off a specific site?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_william1mo ago

Yeah that Bolivar wellhead is a beast. I remember my first time on it, my buddy and I both had to do two full deco stops on a single tank. What really helped me was switching to a frog kick from a flutter kick on the way down. I know it sounds weird kicking on descent but it kept my profile tighter and I stopped losing time fighting the current. I also started using a 3 pound ankle weight on my right leg to counterbalance my camera rig. Took a few dives to get used to it but my bottom time dropped by about 8 minutes after that.

julia5491mo ago

Gotta say, I appreciate the detail about the ankle weight, but I'd be careful with that. Adding weight to one side can mess with your trim in ways you might not notice until you hit a weird silt-out or a tight restriction. I've seen guys do it for years and then wonder why they list to one side when they're not actively swimming. Might be worth checking your buoyancy offsets in a pool or calm spring first before you rely on it at depth. Just a friendly word of caution from someone who had to unlearn a bad habit or two.

dianahayes1mo ago

Makes you wonder how many small tweaks we ignore that actually fix big problems.