First Diving video

[BootyHunter]

Using Hookah and Seahunter Mark II in freshwater lake swim area. Found a few things on the video and when the sd card got full the video ended but I found a couple more things not on the video. Nothing spectacular, a stainless steel ring after the video cut off. Hope to put up more soon and hope this link works. Thanks for looking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ_hIsQUX9o

 

[Dig]

Good first video man! Buy some gloves... I kept tensing up every time you pushed your hands in the sand. I use a pair of nitriles in the winter when I do a lot of wetsanding. $20

 

[hershey1]

Nice video but like Dig said get some gloves. Keep those videos coming. Thanks again. HH

 

[BootyHunter]

Good first video man! Buy some gloves... I kept tensing up every time you pushed your hands in the sand. I use a pair of nitriles in the winter when I do a lot of wetsanding. $20

Thanks, I have some neoprene diving gloves that I just forgot to get this particular morning, but I will have them for future dives. This was in a freshwater lake swim area in a pretty rural place and I have never found anything in this place that concern anyone but I do realize it only takes one time so I have learned my lesson and will heed your guys warnings and wear my gloves from now on. Thanks for the nice comments and hopefully the next video will be even better.

 

[georgefrombc]

awesome video. i did one a few weeks ago and bought a gas hookahmax. to smoking around here because of the forest fires.
i am going diving tomorrow and will be making one also at a freshwater lake. i wish that i has a bottom like yours sand would be nice.
well good luck on your next dive and congrats.
one more question is what kind of hookah did you buy.. well ty and good luck. great video again.

 

[BootyHunter]

awesome video. i did one a few weeks ago and bought a gas hookahmax. to smoking around here because of the forest fires.
i am going diving tomorrow and will be making one also at a freshwater lake. i wish that i has a bottom like yours sand would be nice.
well good luck on your next dive and congrats.
one more question is what kind of hookah did you buy.. well ty and good luck. great video again.

Thank you, It is a Octopumps 2.5 HP gasoline engine hookah. Yes I love the sandy bottom of this particular swim area, we have several lakes around but none of them have a bottom like this one. Thanks for looking and I saw your video a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I hope to go some more next Thursday and Friday and maybe have some more interesting video. This first one was really just a learning experience for me and I think I picked up some things to make my next ones much better. Thanks again.

 

[grumpyolman]

Yeah! Me too! I cringed every time you thrust your hand into that sand. I have found too many bottlecaps still connected to broken bottle tops. Nasty weapon and will cut the dickens out of you. Two suggestions. 1...After you pinpoint by the sound, fan that spot really hard with your hand. Make it work like a water jet. It seems to settle down really fast and you can move lots of material that way. 2. Know those 3 pronged garden hand trowels?? I have one looped around my wrist and when something is down in the muck like that, I scrape down deep and then pull towards me. If you don't even hit the target, you'll move a lot of the bigger stuff out of the way. Rocks and cans etc., come out of your 'target' area when you scrape like that.

I have never counted on my gloves to protect my hand. A 1/4" of wet suit material, usually much less on gloves, doesn't afford much protection. I have found at the end of a day my wrist is fatigued from fanning so hard and so long. Try it a time or two and you'll be surprised how deep you can get. The nice thing about it is the lighter materials, sand mud, bottle caps, etc., get jetted away, but the heavier things tend to stay in the hole you are digging. Yeah! You can jet the coins out of there too but it's much harder as they are heavier. The gold usually stays put. And it's massive fun to watch it gradually being uncovered.

Nice video. Glad to see some other folks are doing the Hookah. I have a Hookamax 12 volt DC unit. Needed quiet where I dive. Take care...jim

 

[BootyHunter]

Yeah! Me too! I cringed every time you thrust your hand into that sand. I have found too many bottlecaps still connected to broken bottle tops. Nasty weapon and will cut the dickens out of you. Two suggestions. 1...After you pinpoint by the sound, fan that spot really hard with your hand. Make it work like a water jet. It seems to settle down really fast and you can move lots of material that way. 2. Know those 3 pronged garden hand trowels?? I have one looped around my wrist and when something is down in the muck like that, I scrape down deep and then pull towards me. If you don't even hit the target, you'll move a lot of the bigger stuff out of the way. Rocks and cans etc., come out of your 'target' area when you scrape like that.

I have never counted on my gloves to protect my hand. A 1/4" of wet suit material, usually much less on gloves, doesn't afford much protection. I have found at the end of a day my wrist is fatigued from fanning so hard and so long. Try it a time or two and you'll be surprised how deep you can get. The nice thing about it is the lighter materials, sand mud, bottle caps, etc., get jetted away, but the heavier things tend to stay in the hole you are digging. Yeah! You can jet the coins out of there too but it's much harder as they are heavier. The gold usually stays put. And it's massive fun to watch it gradually being uncovered.

Nice video. Glad to see some other folks are doing the Hookah. I have a Hookamax 12 volt DC unit. Needed quiet where I dive. Take care...jim

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. That trowel idea sounds like a good one, I think I may try that one and I learned my lesson on the gloves because yes glass, rusty metals and hypodermic needles would ruin the hunt. Thanks for the ideas and looking at my video, I really like the hookah and I am using a 2.5 hp octopumps. It is not extremely loud but as you can see in the video I went very early before anyone really gets out to the lake and the only people around are the workers and they are using leaf blowers and driving around in gators picking up trash and such so I know I am not bothering them. Thanks again and HH.

 

[Gulf Hunter]

BH, I ran Mark IIs the 1st couple of seasons I water hunted('04-'05). Not sure how you have the controls set, but as far as I'm concerned to get the gold there is only one way, at least to pull the fine pieces. 0 on Discrimination, Threshold barely audible and Standard Trash Elimination. Try it, if you are NOT already running that way, it works. Unfortunately, you will get all the iron too, but it should be worth it, since your vis is exceptional and you can just fan the targets up, WHAT a luxury. I have to scoop all that crap! I can't see a darn thing around here in the water.

 

[Dig]

BH, I ran Mark IIs the 1st couple of seasons I water hunted('04-'05). Not sure how you have the controls set, but as far as I'm concerned to get the gold there is only one way, at least to pull the fine pieces. 0 on Discrimination, Threshold barely audible and Standard Trash Elimination. Try it, if you are NOT already running that way, it works. Unfortunately, you will get all the iron too, but it should be worth it, since your vis is exceptional and you can just fan the targets up, WHAT a luxury. I have to scoop all that crap! I can't see a darn thing around here in the water.

Gh you need to move someplace tropical with clear water and fat ladies with even larger loose jewelry

 

[jimmy jam]

I use a old ping pong paddle to fan the sand, you can get them cheap at thrift stores , then soak them in marine varnish, then add a strap for your wrist by drilling a small hole in the handle and adding a small piece of rope. this is what we used for snipping for gold in the rivers in California.

 

[therick]

n/t

 

[tonyweston]

forgive the ignorance its just an idea !! ........... would an air blow off gun work to reveal the goodies in the sand ? it could be connected to a Y junction with an extra pcl coupling from the Hookah pipe ?
I am 3/4 way through the coarse and Im hoping to complete my Padi open water ticket this next week ? I have all the scuba and Hookah gear at my apartment ready to go !!
If this was done in the clear conditions of the Med would the water movement take the cloud away to reveal the target ??
I know my hookah blows the relief valve frequently whist supplying more than enough air for 1 diver so would it be ok to do this practice in short blast between breathing cycles ??
adios hunters Tony Weston

 

[grumpyolman]

The air jet is a workable idea IMHO, and a slight current even in a lake, will move the silt cloud away from you. You just have to remember to work 'up-stream' so it's relatively clear ahead of where you are hunting.

WIth a hookah the air jet is more workable because your air supply is only limited by the amount of fuel/battery your SSA unit uses. With SCUBA, you'd reduce your bottom time a serious amount. The max capacity of the specific SSA unit is another variable as well as the depth you'll be working. I'd try it really shallow with the air jet running and almost hyper-ventilating to see if can exceed what the SSA unit can produce. An accumulator tank would help also.

All that being said, the hand or a ping pong paddle are totally efficient and it's not another piece of equipment to hassle with. Be careful! There's enough to do and keep track of just running the detector, while diving, and it's easy to overload your circuits and get into a situation that's not good. Keeping track of the air hose jet is just one more issue in the brain circuit that's not necessary. Besides, you are being trained on SCUBA, I think, and although the physics and skills are really similar, SSA is a bit different. If you were my diving partner and a 'greenhorn', I'd insist you just keep it simple for about 10-20 dives and then if you still think the air jet would be helpful, then go for it.

Glad to see you are half way through the course. Anyone whose certified/trained has always warned others to get the training before doing it. I am afraid a lot don't believe and get the equipment and go for it. Sadly, we'll probably hear about 'another diver dies while metal detecting'. Thus another political reason to keep us out of the water in parks and swim beaches. Have fun and post about your open water dive and graduation and certification. Then show us the goodies you found. jim

 

[Mephysto]

Great video! How long can you with your hooka?

 

[BootyHunter]

Great video! How long can you with your hooka?

Thanks, I get around 2 hours on a tank (about 1 quart) of gas. So all day on a gallon or two of gas.