rEvo at Isle Royale

[Deep Thought]

I just returned from one of the finest trips to Isle Royale I can recall with 7 CCR dives; 2 Emperor stern, 1 Congdon Stern, 2 Kamloops stern, 1 Kamloops bow, and 1 on America.  I dove the rEvo MCCR with Shearwater PPO2 display/deco computer and Shearwater HUD as secondary, 6-12 grade Grace Sodasorb, 2 – 19 cu. Ft. Diluent cylinders of trimix, 2 – 19 cu. Ft. cylinders of Oxygen, 2 – 13 cu. Ft. drysuit inflation bottles, and stages of trimix and oxygen for bailout.    Bottom times on the Loops and Congdon was 25-30 minutes, Emperor 40-50 and the thermocline was a welcome relief for deco hang time.  The trip was planned with plenty of opportunities for hiking ashore at McCargo where we explored the abandoned mine shafts, and Passage Isle to visit the Light House, Edison Fisheries, Middle Isle lighthouse, and visits to Windigo and Rock Harbor before we headed round the east side of the Island.  Had we planned more dives, I could have added a third set of 19’s for Dil / Oxy and a 13 for drysuit…but the way it stood, I didn’t even load the compressor on the boat – I left it at Grand Portage!  Wow a trip to the Isle Royale without even firing up a compressor is bliss.

The weather was fine and started out the trip, typical of this year with slightly cooler than normal temperatures, but then settled down to where several of the dives were stern tie up on the Deep Thought.  Visibility was low in the shallow water, murky green with temps in the low 50’s, but at depth the water was clear and in the low 40’s.
 
The rEvo performed flawlessly and prior to this trip it was a week in Presque Isle where I put the most hours on the unit.  I have been loaning the unit out for training, but now that my students have received their own units, I’m happy to be back on the unit and logging the hours.  The Shearwater HUD was added just prior to the trip, yes I removed the rEvo dream PPO2 display/HUD in favor of the Shearwater – it was a good decision with no regrets.  It is easy to endorse the rEvo as my favorite CCR with the back mounted counterlungs providing a completely clean chest for clipping stages, accessories as well as penetrations into wrecks.  The unit breaths superior to any other back mounted lungs I have operated, and the set up is easy with one screw nut on the scrubber lid – that’s it!  About every three hours of operation I would remove one of the scrubber pods, moving the lower pod to the top and refilling ½ the scrubber.  This means that after the three hours, I was still diving with 50% new scrubber.    There is an option for larger scrubber, but I really like the low profile of the unit and don’t want to sacrifice the slim size for additional time I don’t think I would need?

Next trip for the rEvo is the Carl Bradley, then the Gunilda / Judge Hart, before returning for more Isle Royale and Presque Isle.  I’ll be taking my second favorite (Inspiration) along as spare and shelving the Meg.  Ill probably keep the Meg for teaching only and demos.

Good Diving,

Ron 

[Raysh]

sounds like an awesome trip, wish i could have gone.

happy diving