10-4 on heavy kit...sometimes a front end loader would take out stuff down to the transport boat. Sometimes we put it all in a big tub (maybe 5x10, sometimes bigger) and a crane would lower it off the bridge onto a barge. Humping the stuff was not an option...thank God! On Dive Team missions that's different...ingress and egress to search sites can be awful.
The 3rd coffer dam task had to be done surface supply...the work area was too narrow for the other two guys so skinny me got the task. It was really a blast...I have not done much SS diving but loved the "unencumbered" aspect of it. Scuba with BC vests and hoses everywhere, pony tank, extra regulator.....LOTS of stuff to keep track of.
Surface supply was almost like just swimming...still had a pony tank (slung cross chest) that made a great clanging noise everytime it banged into the steel plates and the supply hose but movement was lots simpler and easier than scuba. Some places were only about 24 inches wide, sometimes had to turn sideways to access the area to work in. I would evaluate how many bags I needed, back out of the work area use a wrench to signal that number by banging on the dam, watch the bags descend and then move back into the area to place the bags.
Comms would not work inside the steel plated coffer dam so we did the old school sound signaling. I learned I can deal with small tight places...also know I ain't real fond of it.
The other interesting task was to ID voids in a berm they were constructing out of boulders to make a whitewater area for in-town river rafting/kayaking. Water was probably 3-5 feet deep under a bridge that was at water level. As I transited under the bridge to the other side a protruding bolt snagged my dive gear. That's inconvenient. Then the current had increased under the bridge since my first transit (as the concrete guys above filled in voids in rocks around the bridge the current was increasing with each void fill. Anyway, about the time I was working to un-snag my gear the current started ripping the mask off my face. OK..you can breathe thru a regulator without a mask, have done it plenty. But snagged, mask ripping off and in a confined space...still plays with my head sometimes when I think thru it. I wasn't smiling a lot when I came up after I get it all sorted out.
We had some nice early morning views as the sun came up on the river.