Vince bought a scooter, so we decided to go out to Porteau Cove for some test runs. We met Alan Wong and Jim Sergent there. Jim had bought the same model scooter that Vince had. It took a bit of time for Vince to get weighting sorted out, so Jim and Alan started the dive before us. Our original plan had us all going as a group.
While I was waiting in the water, Vince left his scooter with me at one point. I couldn't resist the urge to do a short video with two scooters in hand!
I didn't try it though. Far too unwieldy. We did a bit of practice circling around on the surface.
The dive itself was good. We scootered all of Porteau, as well as out to the Nakaya and back. At the Nakaya, we stowed the scooters and swam for towing practice.
There was a very well camouflaged buffalo sculpin on the Grant Hall as well.
I guess this blog entry was all video! I am going to leave it at that for now.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Plowden Bay UASBC Trip 16/01/2011
On the morning of January 16, 2001, the UASBC undertook an expedition to get some more details on a “mystery” wreck in Plowden Bay near Port Mellon. The story went that it was probably an old YMS-class minesweeper that was being converted into a fishing barge. In the 80's (I think), it apparently sank due to neglect.
Mike Juren had this to say in one of the planning emails. I think he got a lot of details from Dave, who had dove it in 2005:
The wreck was 60% intact in 2005. The wreck was sitting upright on a slope, with the starboard side and the stern facing down slope. The slope was fairly steep, about 30 degrees. The wreck measured approximately 30' wide by 140' long. Most of the superstructure had been removed, but 3 hatches and compartments with bulkheads were still in place. The hull consisted of wooden planks and steel bulkheads. The engines had been removed. On the foredeck the windlass was still in place as were some of the stanchions. The anchor fairlead jutted over the bow. The wreck was orientated to about 60 degrees, or East-Northeast, with the stern to the south and the bow to the north.
We departed Horseshoe Bay aboard the Topline, from Seadragon Charters. Skipper Kevin and Jan were aboard, along with helper Shay. From the UASBC side there was Nicole and David, along with the 8 or so divers. We originally had 13, but there were several last minute cancellations. A not-complete list of divers was: Keith, Mike, Joel, Gary, Jason, Keith's son, and me.
We could not ask for a better day. It was overcast and raining in the morning, but it stopped pretty quickly. We got underway a bit later than planned. On the trip out, David gave a comprehensive briefing on the wreck and what we would be doing. It was very good. The wreck site was at Plowden Bay, near Port Mellon. Nicole did a pile of work putting together the diver slates and wreck diagrams, checking people in and out, and generally keeping the UASBC equipment side straight.
http://goo.gl/maps/Qw3S
It had been quite some time since the last survey of this wreck, so everyone was curious to see what we'd find. The general plan was to have four teams of divers. One would lay a survey tape from bow to stern, one would measure the width of the hull, one would check the stern area and one would tour around the whole wreck. Individual teams got more detailed instructions, and I wasn't present for all those, so I don't have all the details! On the first dive, Jason and I were tasked with measuring the width of the hull, as well as identifying any hatches and holes in the deck.
No wreck penetration was allowed or planned. We also got several reminders to be mindful of sharp metal and line, to be careful with the surveying tapes (entanglement), and to not sacrifice safety for any reason. Keith's son actually did tear his drysuit on the second dive, unfortunately. There were the ever-present waivers and release forms to fill out, along with the standard dive check-out and check-in depth, time and pressure. With the experienced boat crew and UASBC folks, this all went smoothly and without complication.
Keith and his son descended first, and shot a line and a surface marker at the bow. They ran the first tape from bow to stern as well. When Jason and I descended, we got the first view of the wreck itself. Visibility was pretty good for Howe Sound, maybe 10 to 15'. The bow was recognizable, if somewhat worse for wear. The anchor chain was clearly visible going down to the rocks at the bottom. We followed the port side hull from the bow to the stern to get an overview of the wreck first. There was no sign of the deck and hatches that had been reported in 2005. All that had either fallen in, deteriorated or been swept away by water action. Maybe 30% of the hull remained sticking up from the bottom. The ribs were clearly visible in many places, as were the several bulkheads dividing up the hull. Not much remained of each bulkhead either. There was some kind of inner hull coating in sections which appeared white, but I couldn't tell what kind of material it was. There was quite a bit of debris scattered about the main hull too. Several tires, line and pieces of wood for example. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at anything other than the main wreck though.
I had a camera along, and took a short video of the swim down the length of the hull.
After that, we got to work measuring the width of the hull. I had not worked with a tape underwater before, and it was doubly challenging using a survey tape meant for land use. At least once the end of the tape got caught on a part of the ship. Also, the main tape line got in the way more often than not. All this hammered home the point that any kind of line underwater has a mind of its own, and should be respected.
We got a measurement of about 8 meters for the hull width. From there, we spent a good deal of time documenting where the bulkheads were, and looking for the “hatches” (which didn't exist anymore). I did a lot of sketching on my underwater wetnotes, and toke a bunch of reference measurements from the main line.
Once back on the surface, we compiled a pretty good sketch of what things looked like. The mandate was "get it documented now, or you will forget". From my experience writing up dive trip reports, I completely agreed. My memory would fade even a few hours after a dive.
Here is another short video of the mess of stuff that was near the bow. Note the toilet tank! There always seems to be a toilet somewhere...
There was a question about whether or not to do a second dive, since the wreck had deteriorated so much. After reviewing the video, David decided that there was enough to warrant a second dive. My one mistake on the trip was opening up the camera housing to check the video. Once I did that, the inside of the housing completely fogged up and was useless on the second dive. I didn't have any desiccant/silica with me either. Too bad!
The assignments for the second dive were to document more of the physical layout of the wreck and to confirm its compass orientation. Also, we were to try and get the width between the hull ribs, and the dimensions of the ribs themselves. Those measurements could be useful in identifying the ship's origin. We also had to go down to recover the main measurement line, and the marker buoy that had been deployed at the bow.
On this dive, Jason took the tape measure, and I had the slate. We had some difficulty communicating measurements with hand signals even though we had ran through them on the boat. It always amazed me how the best plans and discussion can go out the window when you get underwater. However, no planning is certainly worse, so I'm glad we did something! The rib measurements were a bit tricky but we got most of them. I used the slate itself as a measuring tool to back up the tape measurements. It worked pretty well. I drew a bit more of the debris and locations of certain items. There were quite a few tires that had been hung along the side of the hull and they were scattered about. There was also a set of metal posts for mooring line that I noted. We went up to the bow and tried to look for the anchor. The anchor chain hung straight down from the bow and ended at the rocks. I tried to move the chain and it wouldn't budge. Either it was still connected to the anchor somehow, or it was so rusted that the links were fused together. There was no sign of the anchor. It looked to me like the anchor might be under the wreck itself. It certainly didn't exist at the bow.
Since we had been focusing on survey and documentation tasks, we didn't see much life on the wreck. Still, there were some decorator crabs and a couple of nice nudibranchs. One team found a clown dorid, which was pretty nice.
Back on the boat, we finished transferring our drawings and measurements to paper. In the end, we got some pretty good results for a group of "regular divers". The wreck certainly had changed in 5 years!
I certainly look forward to the next UASBC dive...
Mike Juren had this to say in one of the planning emails. I think he got a lot of details from Dave, who had dove it in 2005:
The wreck was 60% intact in 2005. The wreck was sitting upright on a slope, with the starboard side and the stern facing down slope. The slope was fairly steep, about 30 degrees. The wreck measured approximately 30' wide by 140' long. Most of the superstructure had been removed, but 3 hatches and compartments with bulkheads were still in place. The hull consisted of wooden planks and steel bulkheads. The engines had been removed. On the foredeck the windlass was still in place as were some of the stanchions. The anchor fairlead jutted over the bow. The wreck was orientated to about 60 degrees, or East-Northeast, with the stern to the south and the bow to the north.
We departed Horseshoe Bay aboard the Topline, from Seadragon Charters. Skipper Kevin and Jan were aboard, along with helper Shay. From the UASBC side there was Nicole and David, along with the 8 or so divers. We originally had 13, but there were several last minute cancellations. A not-complete list of divers was: Keith, Mike, Joel, Gary, Jason, Keith's son, and me.
We could not ask for a better day. It was overcast and raining in the morning, but it stopped pretty quickly. We got underway a bit later than planned. On the trip out, David gave a comprehensive briefing on the wreck and what we would be doing. It was very good. The wreck site was at Plowden Bay, near Port Mellon. Nicole did a pile of work putting together the diver slates and wreck diagrams, checking people in and out, and generally keeping the UASBC equipment side straight.
http://goo.gl/maps/Qw3S
It had been quite some time since the last survey of this wreck, so everyone was curious to see what we'd find. The general plan was to have four teams of divers. One would lay a survey tape from bow to stern, one would measure the width of the hull, one would check the stern area and one would tour around the whole wreck. Individual teams got more detailed instructions, and I wasn't present for all those, so I don't have all the details! On the first dive, Jason and I were tasked with measuring the width of the hull, as well as identifying any hatches and holes in the deck.
No wreck penetration was allowed or planned. We also got several reminders to be mindful of sharp metal and line, to be careful with the surveying tapes (entanglement), and to not sacrifice safety for any reason. Keith's son actually did tear his drysuit on the second dive, unfortunately. There were the ever-present waivers and release forms to fill out, along with the standard dive check-out and check-in depth, time and pressure. With the experienced boat crew and UASBC folks, this all went smoothly and without complication.
Keith and his son descended first, and shot a line and a surface marker at the bow. They ran the first tape from bow to stern as well. When Jason and I descended, we got the first view of the wreck itself. Visibility was pretty good for Howe Sound, maybe 10 to 15'. The bow was recognizable, if somewhat worse for wear. The anchor chain was clearly visible going down to the rocks at the bottom. We followed the port side hull from the bow to the stern to get an overview of the wreck first. There was no sign of the deck and hatches that had been reported in 2005. All that had either fallen in, deteriorated or been swept away by water action. Maybe 30% of the hull remained sticking up from the bottom. The ribs were clearly visible in many places, as were the several bulkheads dividing up the hull. Not much remained of each bulkhead either. There was some kind of inner hull coating in sections which appeared white, but I couldn't tell what kind of material it was. There was quite a bit of debris scattered about the main hull too. Several tires, line and pieces of wood for example. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at anything other than the main wreck though.
I had a camera along, and took a short video of the swim down the length of the hull.
After that, we got to work measuring the width of the hull. I had not worked with a tape underwater before, and it was doubly challenging using a survey tape meant for land use. At least once the end of the tape got caught on a part of the ship. Also, the main tape line got in the way more often than not. All this hammered home the point that any kind of line underwater has a mind of its own, and should be respected.
We got a measurement of about 8 meters for the hull width. From there, we spent a good deal of time documenting where the bulkheads were, and looking for the “hatches” (which didn't exist anymore). I did a lot of sketching on my underwater wetnotes, and toke a bunch of reference measurements from the main line.
Once back on the surface, we compiled a pretty good sketch of what things looked like. The mandate was "get it documented now, or you will forget". From my experience writing up dive trip reports, I completely agreed. My memory would fade even a few hours after a dive.
Here is another short video of the mess of stuff that was near the bow. Note the toilet tank! There always seems to be a toilet somewhere...
There was a question about whether or not to do a second dive, since the wreck had deteriorated so much. After reviewing the video, David decided that there was enough to warrant a second dive. My one mistake on the trip was opening up the camera housing to check the video. Once I did that, the inside of the housing completely fogged up and was useless on the second dive. I didn't have any desiccant/silica with me either. Too bad!
The assignments for the second dive were to document more of the physical layout of the wreck and to confirm its compass orientation. Also, we were to try and get the width between the hull ribs, and the dimensions of the ribs themselves. Those measurements could be useful in identifying the ship's origin. We also had to go down to recover the main measurement line, and the marker buoy that had been deployed at the bow.
On this dive, Jason took the tape measure, and I had the slate. We had some difficulty communicating measurements with hand signals even though we had ran through them on the boat. It always amazed me how the best plans and discussion can go out the window when you get underwater. However, no planning is certainly worse, so I'm glad we did something! The rib measurements were a bit tricky but we got most of them. I used the slate itself as a measuring tool to back up the tape measurements. It worked pretty well. I drew a bit more of the debris and locations of certain items. There were quite a few tires that had been hung along the side of the hull and they were scattered about. There was also a set of metal posts for mooring line that I noted. We went up to the bow and tried to look for the anchor. The anchor chain hung straight down from the bow and ended at the rocks. I tried to move the chain and it wouldn't budge. Either it was still connected to the anchor somehow, or it was so rusted that the links were fused together. There was no sign of the anchor. It looked to me like the anchor might be under the wreck itself. It certainly didn't exist at the bow.
Since we had been focusing on survey and documentation tasks, we didn't see much life on the wreck. Still, there were some decorator crabs and a couple of nice nudibranchs. One team found a clown dorid, which was pretty nice.
Back on the boat, we finished transferring our drawings and measurements to paper. In the end, we got some pretty good results for a group of "regular divers". The wreck certainly had changed in 5 years!
I certainly look forward to the next UASBC dive...
Tuwanek 15/01/2011
Back to Tuwanek on the Sunshine Coast! Always good for a great dive.
Anita and I were out this time, and I was getting some practice in on her camera. I was going to borrow it for the next day of diving with the UASBC.
Unlike previous Tuwanek trips, we took the later ferry so didn't have to get up so early. It made a big difference not having to get up at 4:30am! The ferry ride was uneventful, and we spent most of it going over the camera functions.
When we arrived at Tuwanek, it wasn't raining. The weather was certainly threatening though. No one else was there diving, which was great so we had the place to ourselves.
We planned on one long dive around the north island, and it was. Our average depth worked out pretty much as we planned, 45 feet. The dive time also worked out to be in-plan, but just. It was an hour and 28 minutes. This was the longest dive I had ever done to date.
We saw the wolf eel, and carried on around the back side of the island. There was a large section of the back side that was pretty barren. Smooth granite rock mostly, but not a lot of life. When we turned into the channel between the two islands it got interesting again. On the north-east side of the island, there were several pipes coming down from the rock above. There was a cabin up there, so we figured they were for some kind of water system. We ended up not coming down south far enough, and surfaced near the house just north of the creek. All in all though, pretty good navigation.
Here is a video of the wolf eel I took. It's the same as all the other Tuwanek wolf eel videos!
And here is a video of some swimming striped sea perch.
And here are some moon jellies.
After all this, we had a nice lunch and then went to the Halfmoon Bay General Store and bought some of their special bacon!
Anita and I were out this time, and I was getting some practice in on her camera. I was going to borrow it for the next day of diving with the UASBC.
Unlike previous Tuwanek trips, we took the later ferry so didn't have to get up so early. It made a big difference not having to get up at 4:30am! The ferry ride was uneventful, and we spent most of it going over the camera functions.
When we arrived at Tuwanek, it wasn't raining. The weather was certainly threatening though. No one else was there diving, which was great so we had the place to ourselves.
We planned on one long dive around the north island, and it was. Our average depth worked out pretty much as we planned, 45 feet. The dive time also worked out to be in-plan, but just. It was an hour and 28 minutes. This was the longest dive I had ever done to date.
We saw the wolf eel, and carried on around the back side of the island. There was a large section of the back side that was pretty barren. Smooth granite rock mostly, but not a lot of life. When we turned into the channel between the two islands it got interesting again. On the north-east side of the island, there were several pipes coming down from the rock above. There was a cabin up there, so we figured they were for some kind of water system. We ended up not coming down south far enough, and surfaced near the house just north of the creek. All in all though, pretty good navigation.
Here is a video of the wolf eel I took. It's the same as all the other Tuwanek wolf eel videos!
And here is a video of some swimming striped sea perch.
And here are some moon jellies.
After all this, we had a nice lunch and then went to the Halfmoon Bay General Store and bought some of their special bacon!
Kelvin Grove 09/01/2011
The big plan was to dive Kelvin Grove with a bunch of people. Anita and Teri had two people driving up from Seattle, and it was going to be a picnic day, too. But, weather forced the Seattle pair to not come, so it was just four of us, not six. A good thing too, because parking was limited at Kelvin, and today there were two other groups of divers there already. We barely all fit!
We showed up later in the afternoon because the two folks from Seattle wanted to do a dive and then a dusk dive. With them unable to come, it was too short notice to schedule things earlier, but it worked out OK.
We arrived around 1pm and started the dive at 2. I don’t recall much from the dive unfortunately. I left it too long to do this write up. I seem to recall everyone saying similar things, that there really wasn’t much of note. We went to the right. Current wasn’t present and we did a pretty standard depth profile. Poor Teri had a hole in her glove so her hand was frozen. I had brought my stage bottle along for practice, and must remember to pay attention to my fins on descents along sloping bottoms. Teri let me know that I was stirring up a lot of sand on the way down. I was not far enough away from the slope.
After the first dive, we had our picnic. The day was fabulous. I do remember that much. The sun was on the beach and it was quite warm. Teri and Anita brought some great soup and cheese and other nice things. It was a great meal.
They didn’t stick around for a second dive, but Jason and I were still game to see how things would change at dusk. We did a similar dive, but stayed a bit shallower. We found a pretty big octopus under a rock which was the high-light of the dive. I used my stage on this dive, and at the end deployed my SMB and sent the empty stage to the surface as a bit of practice. Unlike the previous time when Alan Johnson and I had done this, the stage was empty enough to actually go to the surface!
Getting out of the water, it was still somewhat light out. It got dark pretty fast, so I was glad to have my headlamp. We got geared down and everything was wrapped up by about 6pm. A good day of diving.
We showed up later in the afternoon because the two folks from Seattle wanted to do a dive and then a dusk dive. With them unable to come, it was too short notice to schedule things earlier, but it worked out OK.
We arrived around 1pm and started the dive at 2. I don’t recall much from the dive unfortunately. I left it too long to do this write up. I seem to recall everyone saying similar things, that there really wasn’t much of note. We went to the right. Current wasn’t present and we did a pretty standard depth profile. Poor Teri had a hole in her glove so her hand was frozen. I had brought my stage bottle along for practice, and must remember to pay attention to my fins on descents along sloping bottoms. Teri let me know that I was stirring up a lot of sand on the way down. I was not far enough away from the slope.
After the first dive, we had our picnic. The day was fabulous. I do remember that much. The sun was on the beach and it was quite warm. Teri and Anita brought some great soup and cheese and other nice things. It was a great meal.
They didn’t stick around for a second dive, but Jason and I were still game to see how things would change at dusk. We did a similar dive, but stayed a bit shallower. We found a pretty big octopus under a rock which was the high-light of the dive. I used my stage on this dive, and at the end deployed my SMB and sent the empty stage to the surface as a bit of practice. Unlike the previous time when Alan Johnson and I had done this, the stage was empty enough to actually go to the surface!
Getting out of the water, it was still somewhat light out. It got dark pretty fast, so I was glad to have my headlamp. We got geared down and everything was wrapped up by about 6pm. A good day of diving.
Whytecliff 06/01/2011
I did a quick night dive with Vince on this evening.
Thank goodness it wasn't raining, as it was pretty cold. i also had a bunch of gear problems that normally I don't have. My backup regulator was bubbling, but a periodic purge or adjust would stop it. Later I would find that the high-pressure seat in the first stage was worn. That got replaced and it was fine. My suit zipper leaked quite a bit too. I think something must have gotten caught in it because it was closed. There was something else that happened too, but I can't recall. All were very minor issues, but a bunch of them together slowed things down a lot and were very annoying.
The dive itself was interesting. Originally we had thought to do Porteau Cove, but the tide was quite low so we decided to skip that and do the day marker at Whytecliff.
On the way out to the marker, we came across a huge congregation of coonstripe shrimp. And I mean a lot of them, all piled up in one spot. There were a few fish and crabs in the mix too. It was very odd until I realized that they were all crowded around a seal carcass. The carcass looked a lot like a grey rock, so I missed it at first. It also didn't have any flippers or head. Very weird. But the critters were certainly having quite a feast on it.
We also saw a very nice small octopus wandering on the rocks out in the open. It was maybe the size of your hand.
There was no current to speak of, so it was a nice pleasant dive.
Thank goodness it wasn't raining, as it was pretty cold. i also had a bunch of gear problems that normally I don't have. My backup regulator was bubbling, but a periodic purge or adjust would stop it. Later I would find that the high-pressure seat in the first stage was worn. That got replaced and it was fine. My suit zipper leaked quite a bit too. I think something must have gotten caught in it because it was closed. There was something else that happened too, but I can't recall. All were very minor issues, but a bunch of them together slowed things down a lot and were very annoying.
The dive itself was interesting. Originally we had thought to do Porteau Cove, but the tide was quite low so we decided to skip that and do the day marker at Whytecliff.
On the way out to the marker, we came across a huge congregation of coonstripe shrimp. And I mean a lot of them, all piled up in one spot. There were a few fish and crabs in the mix too. It was very odd until I realized that they were all crowded around a seal carcass. The carcass looked a lot like a grey rock, so I missed it at first. It also didn't have any flippers or head. Very weird. But the critters were certainly having quite a feast on it.
We also saw a very nice small octopus wandering on the rocks out in the open. It was maybe the size of your hand.
There was no current to speak of, so it was a nice pleasant dive.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Furry Creek 02/01/2011
The first dive of the New Year!
It was a perfect day for a dive, sunny albeit cold. There was ice on the logs of the beach!
I had wanted to do Furry Creek for some time. A link:
http://goo.gl/maps/qh5A
You could not park near the beach, so we had to unload our stuff at the cul-de-sac and then park the car at the parking lot further up. But it wasn't a big deal.
To get to the entry point, you had to walk down a small path past the houses. There was a wooden bench that we used to gear up on. It wouldn't be great for a lot of divers, but for 2 it was perfect.
Getting to the water was harder. The beach was covered with logs. If the logs hadn't been there, it would have been a snap! Still, it was doable. Once you got to the water, the sandy/gravel bottom was quite nice. It was shallow quite a ways out, so there is a bit of swimming to do.
We swam out not far to the north and then headed to the north east. There was supposed to be a wall, but we did not find it. Instead, we came across a boulder strewn slope that was pretty interesting. There was a mound of garbage, filled with old leather shoes and bottles at one point. The shoes looked about size 14, and only the leather soles were left. There were many hiding places for critters in the rocks.
Next time I think I shall swim out to the red marker buoy and go more north. That is where the wall should be, deeper than we were. Our dive was only about 40 feet max. The wall should have been around 80 feet.
Coming back in to shore, we came across the remains of an octopus. Or at least that's what I thought it must be. There were no tentacles, but it was a large mass of white and purple rubbery organic matter. It wasn't artificial that's for sure! Kind of an odd find. Also, right at shore, there was a big buffalo sculpin on the bottom.
The swim back in was magical. The water was shallow, but with the sun out, it created an awesome fish-bowl effect. Very nice!
It was a perfect day for a dive, sunny albeit cold. There was ice on the logs of the beach!
I had wanted to do Furry Creek for some time. A link:
http://goo.gl/maps/qh5A
You could not park near the beach, so we had to unload our stuff at the cul-de-sac and then park the car at the parking lot further up. But it wasn't a big deal.
To get to the entry point, you had to walk down a small path past the houses. There was a wooden bench that we used to gear up on. It wouldn't be great for a lot of divers, but for 2 it was perfect.
Getting to the water was harder. The beach was covered with logs. If the logs hadn't been there, it would have been a snap! Still, it was doable. Once you got to the water, the sandy/gravel bottom was quite nice. It was shallow quite a ways out, so there is a bit of swimming to do.
We swam out not far to the north and then headed to the north east. There was supposed to be a wall, but we did not find it. Instead, we came across a boulder strewn slope that was pretty interesting. There was a mound of garbage, filled with old leather shoes and bottles at one point. The shoes looked about size 14, and only the leather soles were left. There were many hiding places for critters in the rocks.
Next time I think I shall swim out to the red marker buoy and go more north. That is where the wall should be, deeper than we were. Our dive was only about 40 feet max. The wall should have been around 80 feet.
Coming back in to shore, we came across the remains of an octopus. Or at least that's what I thought it must be. There were no tentacles, but it was a large mass of white and purple rubbery organic matter. It wasn't artificial that's for sure! Kind of an odd find. Also, right at shore, there was a big buffalo sculpin on the bottom.
The swim back in was magical. The water was shallow, but with the sun out, it created an awesome fish-bowl effect. Very nice!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Cottam Point and Wall Beach, Nanaimo 04/12/2010
After diving at Tuwanek, Anita had invited me to dive the wrecks at Nanaimo with her friend Bill. I found later that I had met Bill on the Diver's Choice boat. Bill had a pretty nice dive boat too. However we weren't able to use it in the end, and I didn't get to see it.
Getting anywhere early with a ferry involved meant getting up even earlier. I had to get up at 4:30. With an office Christmas party the night before, it was extremely difficult.
We made the 6 am ferry with no problems. But soon found out from Bill that his boat had a problem, and he needed to fix it. Some folks were counting on using it for some dive training the next day, so he had to get it done and couldn't do any diving.
We went for coffee and had a good time discussing rebreathers. Bill had gotten on to them because of a bad back (they were lighter) and had spent a good deal of time learning their pros and cons. I had never really talked in depth with a rebreather diver, so it was interesting to get one take on them.
We also talked about possible dive sites. We decided on Cottam Point and Wall Beach. Both sites can be seen on this map.
Cottam Point is at the top of the map, and Wall Beach is near the bottom.
We went to Cottam Point first. We had done a lot of reading on the highlights of the site based off of a photographer/blogger. It was also listed in the 151 Dives book. Based on the bottom contours we thought we'd find some kind of wall.
The entry to the site was down a fairly steep set of very rough “stairs”. They were basically rocks, not stairs. Getting doubles down to the rock beach was a bit tricky but doable. There were quite a few rocks to put them on and gear up. You could also drive your car down the lane and gear up there, but parking wasn't allowed there. We opted to bring everything down to the beach.
The entry into the water was on a wide expanse of fairly flat rock. At low tide, it would be very slippery due to the abundance of seaweed. It was also hard to see where to step with all the seaweed and there were a lot of sharp rocks. I put a hole in my drysuit boot. Not a big one, but it certainly started to leak. I needed to send in my suit to get a new neck seal, so it could be fixed at the same time.
Our dive plan was to swim north west towards Mystery Island, then curve out and head south east. The depth contours seemed like there should be a wall there. In the end this was a very shallow dive, about 30 feet max. We hit some current, and could not do the dive as planned. Also the bottom was quite flat and fairly featureless heading to the north west. I think the problem was that the depth contours and map in the 151 dive book was just a larger area than what can be conceivably done on a dive without a scooter. We noticed some sea lions in the water, but none came to visit. There was one nice octopus in a crack, and a huge number of nice nudibranchs. The opalescent, feathered and leopard to name some. There were no large bull kelp forests, but some. The smaller bottom kelp and algae were quite nice to see waving in the water. The visibility was awesome, and with it being so shallow, it seemed almost tropical. There was a lot of light streaming down too.
Recommendations for Cottham point would be to enter farther to the west shore, and south, then come around the point to the east. Or vice versa depending on the current. It was a very shallow dive.
We left Cottham to go try Wall Beach. We had a small map from Bill, and he recommended it because there were a lot of wolf eels. Unfortunately we misread the map and dove the wrong spot. You had to keep going along Seahaven Road to the end. We entered at the end of Wall Beach road. There is a beach there, and it took 25 minutes of surface swimming to get out to a depth beyond 20 feet. It's too bad we missed the dive site! Still, it was interesting. There were a tonne of oysters on the bottom of the bay. I'd never seen so many. Also, a flock of about 20 diving birds (I think they were a kind of murre) dove down from the surface to the bottom right in front of us. It was like a scene from the Planet Earth series. Once the main flock swam back to the surface trailing a stream of bubbles from their feathers, a straggler zoomed up after them as if to say “wait for me!”.
So, we would have to go back and check out the right dive site next time! Here is the map that we had:
http://nanaimodiveoutfitters.ca/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=739
Howe Sound Boat Dive 28/11/2010
Jason and I decided to go on a boat dive with the Topline. Mike Jurren was on board helping out Kevin. On the trip I asked Kevin about diving in the Florida keys, around Marathon since he has a house down there, and had a lot of dive contacts.
The two dives we did were off of Hutt Wall, and then down at Wolcomb Island. Hutt wall was nice, and we saw the two big cloud sponges. I brought my scooter along for this dive just for fun. I wanted to see how it performed using a single cylinder versus doubles. It really didn't have any change in it's performance. Just before we hit the sponges, I was going to bring us up shallower because I had forgotten about seeing them. Good thing Jason remembered, as just over the next rock outcropping there they were. We would have missed them. Again, the sponges were noticeably dying, with lots of brown sections.
The Wolcombe Island dive was also good. We found a nice octopus on this dive. However, it was 2 degrees colder here, at 7 degrees. We were both frozen at the end of the dive. I left the scooter behind this time. We changed our dive plan a bit, and headed along the rock wall out until it started to peter out, then we turned around and came up shallower and explored the south section of the island near the cove there. It turned out to be a good way to do it. The other times we'd spend all the time on the rock wall. The shallower section in the bay had a lot of nice boulders and rocks, with lots of places for things to hide. I remember seeing a very large and interesting rock chunk, much like the prow of a ship.
Visibility was good on both dives as well. All in all a nice set of two dives.
The two dives we did were off of Hutt Wall, and then down at Wolcomb Island. Hutt wall was nice, and we saw the two big cloud sponges. I brought my scooter along for this dive just for fun. I wanted to see how it performed using a single cylinder versus doubles. It really didn't have any change in it's performance. Just before we hit the sponges, I was going to bring us up shallower because I had forgotten about seeing them. Good thing Jason remembered, as just over the next rock outcropping there they were. We would have missed them. Again, the sponges were noticeably dying, with lots of brown sections.
The Wolcombe Island dive was also good. We found a nice octopus on this dive. However, it was 2 degrees colder here, at 7 degrees. We were both frozen at the end of the dive. I left the scooter behind this time. We changed our dive plan a bit, and headed along the rock wall out until it started to peter out, then we turned around and came up shallower and explored the south section of the island near the cove there. It turned out to be a good way to do it. The other times we'd spend all the time on the rock wall. The shallower section in the bay had a lot of nice boulders and rocks, with lots of places for things to hide. I remember seeing a very large and interesting rock chunk, much like the prow of a ship.
Visibility was good on both dives as well. All in all a nice set of two dives.
Tuwanek 21/11/2010
Teri, Anita and I took a quick trip out to Tuwanek, since I hadn't been there for a while and the diving there has always been nice. It was snowy and cold, with the mountains all around covered in white. There was some snow in the air too, and the dive site area was blanketed in white.
Gearing up wasn't too bad though. There was no wind, so that was good.
The water temperature was pretty good too, around 9 degrees. I was expecting to be a lot colder. We headed out to the north island, around the back to the north west. The plan was to see the wolf eels and return. We spent most of the dive around 70 to 80 feet.
Along for the trip was Tom, a drysuit only diver (no bcd), an avid photographer. He was supposed to be very good at finding marine life, and we did find a big octopus and the wolf eels.
The big octopus was about half way to the wolf eels, and was hiding under a set of boulders. It stuck a tentacle straight up out of the den. But after that, it retreated very far back in. The wolf eels were home, but again quite far back in.
On the way back to the entry point, we crossed from the boulder field near the east side of the island over the sandy bottom, and ran into another rock reef which I'd never found before. The rock reef was just off from the entry point, very near where the gravel bottom drops off down to the sand bottom. In this area, we found one more small octopus underneath a small set of rocks.
We only did one dive, not because we were cold (everyone reported being quite comfortable) but because we wanted to get the earlier ferry back to Vancouver. On the way home, we took a detour north of Sechelt to a small general store at Halfmoon Bay for some really great bacon!
Gearing up wasn't too bad though. There was no wind, so that was good.
The water temperature was pretty good too, around 9 degrees. I was expecting to be a lot colder. We headed out to the north island, around the back to the north west. The plan was to see the wolf eels and return. We spent most of the dive around 70 to 80 feet.
Along for the trip was Tom, a drysuit only diver (no bcd), an avid photographer. He was supposed to be very good at finding marine life, and we did find a big octopus and the wolf eels.
The big octopus was about half way to the wolf eels, and was hiding under a set of boulders. It stuck a tentacle straight up out of the den. But after that, it retreated very far back in. The wolf eels were home, but again quite far back in.
On the way back to the entry point, we crossed from the boulder field near the east side of the island over the sandy bottom, and ran into another rock reef which I'd never found before. The rock reef was just off from the entry point, very near where the gravel bottom drops off down to the sand bottom. In this area, we found one more small octopus underneath a small set of rocks.
We only did one dive, not because we were cold (everyone reported being quite comfortable) but because we wanted to get the earlier ferry back to Vancouver. On the way home, we took a detour north of Sechelt to a small general store at Halfmoon Bay for some really great bacon!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Whytecliff 13/11/2010
Saturday found me out at Whytecliff with Jason and the last few dives of an advanced open water course. I was out providing moral support to Heather, along with being a dive buddy. It was early, cold, and cloudy, but at least it wasn't raining!
The highlight of the day was a young seal that came around. I noticed it beneath me while on the surface. He kept staring up at me as if he wanted to come closer but just couldn't bring himself to do it. He also played with the float line, wrapping himself up in it. On one of the surface swims, two more seals popped up behind us to check things out.
There was an incredible wake that pounded the shore at one point. Our gear was on some of the logs at what I thought was a safe distance. But the waves came right up and almost washed one of our fins away! Luckily a diver coming out of the water rescued it. A good note to myself to make sure to get things well away from the water!
A great blue heron perched in one of the trees over us too. Rounding out the wildlife was the usual bottom creatures like flatfish and seastars. Nothing incredible, but we were in the middle of the sandy bay so no surprise there.
At the end of the dives, Jason and I cleaned up the line and float. He tried to throw me the weight that was holding the line down and it went about 2 inches. I laughed.
All in all the dives were successful. The deep dive was completed and the navigation dive went great. Liam was pretty excited, since it was the first time I think he had experienced what real teamwork could be like.
The highlight of the day was a young seal that came around. I noticed it beneath me while on the surface. He kept staring up at me as if he wanted to come closer but just couldn't bring himself to do it. He also played with the float line, wrapping himself up in it. On one of the surface swims, two more seals popped up behind us to check things out.
There was an incredible wake that pounded the shore at one point. Our gear was on some of the logs at what I thought was a safe distance. But the waves came right up and almost washed one of our fins away! Luckily a diver coming out of the water rescued it. A good note to myself to make sure to get things well away from the water!
A great blue heron perched in one of the trees over us too. Rounding out the wildlife was the usual bottom creatures like flatfish and seastars. Nothing incredible, but we were in the middle of the sandy bay so no surprise there.
At the end of the dives, Jason and I cleaned up the line and float. He tried to throw me the weight that was holding the line down and it went about 2 inches. I laughed.
All in all the dives were successful. The deep dive was completed and the navigation dive went great. Liam was pretty excited, since it was the first time I think he had experienced what real teamwork could be like.
Porteau Cove Scooter Dive 11/11/2010
It was high time for a scooter dive, and Alan Johnson and I decided to scooter Porteau Cove on Remembrance Day.
Heading out was pretty miserable. It was only 5pm, but the time change made it very dark. Plus it was pouring rain. We had to gear up in the change room at Porteau it was so bad. Doing that made it almost pleasant so it was a good call! The rain wasn't so bad once we were in our suits. It was surprisingly warm too. I was sweating after putting everything together.
I was running the dive, which would be good practice. Our bottom time would be 1 hour, based on an average depth of 70 feet. The plan was to scooter around the dock pilings, then follow the firehose north east, scooter around the jungle gym and the Grant Hall for 20 minutes, then head north east at the 70 foot contour to the Nakaya, spend 20 minutes there, then scooter back and in to shore.
All in all I hit all the points, and ran the dive right on time. I got turned around at the Grant Hall going to the Nakaya and did a big circle running back into the Grant Hall again. That was embarrassing. But I got back on track and hit the Nakaya almost right on.
There was a huge shining school of pipefish on the bow of the Grant Hall. Alan sucked a perch through his prop and had some fish chunks resulting. Poor fish! Lots of decorator crabs and perch. No octopus that we saw, but scootering fast make a hard time to stop and look in cracks.
We went through and around the jungle gym a few times which was fun. No crashes! The Nakaya was the best. Very spooky at night. A real ghostly looking ship. We stowed the scooters and swam the wreck. There were columns of air bubbles coming out of the deck planks which was odd. Not quit sure what was causing that.
Coming back in to shore was uneventful. I intended to scooter through the sites on the way back but went too far to the east and missed everything except for a lot of sand.
Still it was a very fun scooter dive! Clear skies and a crescent moon greeted us on the surface. The rain had stopped and it was a nice night.
Heading out was pretty miserable. It was only 5pm, but the time change made it very dark. Plus it was pouring rain. We had to gear up in the change room at Porteau it was so bad. Doing that made it almost pleasant so it was a good call! The rain wasn't so bad once we were in our suits. It was surprisingly warm too. I was sweating after putting everything together.
I was running the dive, which would be good practice. Our bottom time would be 1 hour, based on an average depth of 70 feet. The plan was to scooter around the dock pilings, then follow the firehose north east, scooter around the jungle gym and the Grant Hall for 20 minutes, then head north east at the 70 foot contour to the Nakaya, spend 20 minutes there, then scooter back and in to shore.
All in all I hit all the points, and ran the dive right on time. I got turned around at the Grant Hall going to the Nakaya and did a big circle running back into the Grant Hall again. That was embarrassing. But I got back on track and hit the Nakaya almost right on.
There was a huge shining school of pipefish on the bow of the Grant Hall. Alan sucked a perch through his prop and had some fish chunks resulting. Poor fish! Lots of decorator crabs and perch. No octopus that we saw, but scootering fast make a hard time to stop and look in cracks.
We went through and around the jungle gym a few times which was fun. No crashes! The Nakaya was the best. Very spooky at night. A real ghostly looking ship. We stowed the scooters and swam the wreck. There were columns of air bubbles coming out of the deck planks which was odd. Not quit sure what was causing that.
Coming back in to shore was uneventful. I intended to scooter through the sites on the way back but went too far to the east and missed everything except for a lot of sand.
Still it was a very fun scooter dive! Clear skies and a crescent moon greeted us on the surface. The rain had stopped and it was a nice night.
Whytecliff 10/11/2010
I went out with Heather's Advanced Open Water class for their night dive. Alan Johnson and Emily were there instructing and it was fun. It was still cold, though!
Alan ran folks through light deployment and signal drills on land first.
Out in the water, I was supposed to try and get video of the individual people doing their drills, but that didn't work out too well. The visibility was poor, and I ran out of space on the memory stick very quickly as I left the clips running quite long. I tried to erase some of them underwater, but I wasn't familiar enough with the camera.
In the end all the skills were accomplished, and things went well. It also wasn't that late when we left thankfully so that was nice.
Alan ran folks through light deployment and signal drills on land first.
Out in the water, I was supposed to try and get video of the individual people doing their drills, but that didn't work out too well. The visibility was poor, and I ran out of space on the memory stick very quickly as I left the clips running quite long. I tried to erase some of them underwater, but I wasn't familiar enough with the camera.
In the end all the skills were accomplished, and things went well. It also wasn't that late when we left thankfully so that was nice.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Whytecliff Stage Bottle Checkout Dive 02/11/2010
Part two of my stage bottle checkout dive. And this time it was more successful.
Finally after many delays and reschedules, we made it out to finish this off. I almost had to cancel again as the alarm at work went off, and I was called to go investigate. There were no problems, and everything was fine, but it made me late. Thankfully Alan agreed to still do the dive. He joked that I owed him 15 minutes of his life. I figured some beer would be adequate.
It was dark now by the time we got geared up and into the water. No more "night" dives like the ones in summer! This would make it a bit more challenging, but not bad since Whytecliff was well known to us, and night dives were fairly routine now.
Our dive plan was to deploy our stages, then run out the gas to about half at 30 feet while looking around, then shoot a surface marker and send the positive bottles to the surface.
I was leading the dive and took us down to 30 feet. I went down to 40 feet without noticing quick enough, but got us back on track. I followed the bottom contour from there, just practicing propulsion and navigation. Near the start of the dive, Alan unclipped the tail of my stage bottle and my SPG. I didn't notice for 20 minutes! That reinforced the good practice of a complete flow check and pat down. I was doing the flow checks, but didn't also check the rest of my gear. When I finally noticed, I was able to clip everything back off alright. However, I stopped the dive to do that, and Alan later said that you should not need to stop the dive to clean up gear like that. Only if there was a big problem.
We came across three stubby squid on the dive, along with a seal that kept buzzing us several times. The squid were small, maybe 3 inches, but very cool. I'd not seen squid before. One of them inked Alan when he was looking at it. They were fast, too! The seal never really came very close, but zipped around in the edges of our light beams using it to help him catch stuff.
Alan pulled an out of gas situation after the squid and it went ok. I got him my stage regulator and switched to my secondary. But I didn't go onto my primary, so he simulated out of gas again. The idea being that the stages would be usually quite low, and it may have been used up. I learned a valuable lesson in that once you got your buddy onto a known gas source, get off your secondary and onto your primary just in case you need to donate that. I was able to stow the stage and clean up my gear alright after this drill. So my practice had paid off.
After that situation, I shot the surface marker and we went to send the bottles up. Alan clipped his to the line and pushed it up. A few seconds later it rocketed back down. I laughed pretty hard, the stages were not positive enough, as we'd not used enough gas. Oh well! We weren't able to do that particular skill to completion. I'd have to practice it later.
Finally we did the normal staged ascent following the line up. However, Alan did yet another out of gas situation, this time I had my spool in one hand and my light. I hadn't clipped the line off to the spool properly and Alan wanted to see if I'd drop it. I was able to get things handled ok, but did touch off the bottom one time. Then we shared air up to the surface.
At the end of the dive, he had a lot of valuable feedback. I did ok, but still there were fundamental problems, even after 200 dives. My frog kick was still not very good at all, and my trim was off by about 30 degrees. At the end of the dive Alan said trim got much better, with it being 0 degrees at the end. But again it's something I had to keep working on.
He gave a valuable tip about inward / outward awareness and skill. During the dive, the idea was to do a thorough check every 5 minutes. I had been focusing on equipment, but even then I still wasn't checking everything. Case in point doing a dive for 20 minutes with an unclipped stage bottle and SPG! The best way to do it was to do an internal check first covering yourself, how you were feeling, etc. Then move to a full check of your gear, valves, depth, time, gas supply, a full pat down to identify anything lose. Then to check your buddy; were they showing any stress, strange motions, bubbles etc. Building situational awareness was hard, but this would help a lot. Once the inward and equipment was second nature, the external stuff would come too. So in the end the goal is to have a complete mental picture of the dive at any time, and be able to anticipate problems before they occur. So something to work on for sure!
As a big, and pleasant surprise, Heather had come out to see how we were doing. I saw a glow stick on the rocks by the bay after we surfaced and wondered who it was. Then when we were going down to the beach to get our stages in the dark, that same glow stick went by. It was two people, but I had no idea that it was her. Then in the parking lot, her friend Karen came up behind me and asked if I was Anton. I had no idea how this person knew I was there! So it was a pretty funny situation after I figured out she was behind it.
Finally after many delays and reschedules, we made it out to finish this off. I almost had to cancel again as the alarm at work went off, and I was called to go investigate. There were no problems, and everything was fine, but it made me late. Thankfully Alan agreed to still do the dive. He joked that I owed him 15 minutes of his life. I figured some beer would be adequate.
It was dark now by the time we got geared up and into the water. No more "night" dives like the ones in summer! This would make it a bit more challenging, but not bad since Whytecliff was well known to us, and night dives were fairly routine now.
Our dive plan was to deploy our stages, then run out the gas to about half at 30 feet while looking around, then shoot a surface marker and send the positive bottles to the surface.
I was leading the dive and took us down to 30 feet. I went down to 40 feet without noticing quick enough, but got us back on track. I followed the bottom contour from there, just practicing propulsion and navigation. Near the start of the dive, Alan unclipped the tail of my stage bottle and my SPG. I didn't notice for 20 minutes! That reinforced the good practice of a complete flow check and pat down. I was doing the flow checks, but didn't also check the rest of my gear. When I finally noticed, I was able to clip everything back off alright. However, I stopped the dive to do that, and Alan later said that you should not need to stop the dive to clean up gear like that. Only if there was a big problem.
We came across three stubby squid on the dive, along with a seal that kept buzzing us several times. The squid were small, maybe 3 inches, but very cool. I'd not seen squid before. One of them inked Alan when he was looking at it. They were fast, too! The seal never really came very close, but zipped around in the edges of our light beams using it to help him catch stuff.
Alan pulled an out of gas situation after the squid and it went ok. I got him my stage regulator and switched to my secondary. But I didn't go onto my primary, so he simulated out of gas again. The idea being that the stages would be usually quite low, and it may have been used up. I learned a valuable lesson in that once you got your buddy onto a known gas source, get off your secondary and onto your primary just in case you need to donate that. I was able to stow the stage and clean up my gear alright after this drill. So my practice had paid off.
After that situation, I shot the surface marker and we went to send the bottles up. Alan clipped his to the line and pushed it up. A few seconds later it rocketed back down. I laughed pretty hard, the stages were not positive enough, as we'd not used enough gas. Oh well! We weren't able to do that particular skill to completion. I'd have to practice it later.
Finally we did the normal staged ascent following the line up. However, Alan did yet another out of gas situation, this time I had my spool in one hand and my light. I hadn't clipped the line off to the spool properly and Alan wanted to see if I'd drop it. I was able to get things handled ok, but did touch off the bottom one time. Then we shared air up to the surface.
At the end of the dive, he had a lot of valuable feedback. I did ok, but still there were fundamental problems, even after 200 dives. My frog kick was still not very good at all, and my trim was off by about 30 degrees. At the end of the dive Alan said trim got much better, with it being 0 degrees at the end. But again it's something I had to keep working on.
He gave a valuable tip about inward / outward awareness and skill. During the dive, the idea was to do a thorough check every 5 minutes. I had been focusing on equipment, but even then I still wasn't checking everything. Case in point doing a dive for 20 minutes with an unclipped stage bottle and SPG! The best way to do it was to do an internal check first covering yourself, how you were feeling, etc. Then move to a full check of your gear, valves, depth, time, gas supply, a full pat down to identify anything lose. Then to check your buddy; were they showing any stress, strange motions, bubbles etc. Building situational awareness was hard, but this would help a lot. Once the inward and equipment was second nature, the external stuff would come too. So in the end the goal is to have a complete mental picture of the dive at any time, and be able to anticipate problems before they occur. So something to work on for sure!
As a big, and pleasant surprise, Heather had come out to see how we were doing. I saw a glow stick on the rocks by the bay after we surfaced and wondered who it was. Then when we were going down to the beach to get our stages in the dark, that same glow stick went by. It was two people, but I had no idea that it was her. Then in the parking lot, her friend Karen came up behind me and asked if I was Anton. I had no idea how this person knew I was there! So it was a pretty funny situation after I figured out she was behind it.
Porteau Cove 30/10/2010
I went out to Porteau Cove with an Advanced open water class. Heather from the Egmont trip was there, and I had promised to come along in case she needed a dive buddy or for moral support, if needed. However, the dives we would do were much less challenging than those in Egmont, especially the wreck of the Chaudiere. So I was pretty sure that things would go well.
It was an early morning, as I got a lift out with Jason. We went by the dive shop and helped pack the van with Steve Redding. We also all drove out together. It was always fun to chat in the van with Steve. I'd also not get many more opportunities to do that since he was returning to Australia around November 7.
Out at Porteau, I met John, another up and coming diver doing the dry suit course. He talked about the other dive near the Porteau Cove campground. I had heard about it, but never had done it. So we made plans to get that happening in the weeks ahead.
The first dive we did was just sorting out buoyancy and trim, doing some propulsion practice and generally staring at sand. We had a very small group. It was just Jason and Heather and a french girl Magalain, and me. I wasn't participating in any of the skills, just observing and trying to set a good example of proper trim and buoyancy. We didn't see much in terms of life, but the visibility was quite good so that was nice. You could see the surface of the water from 30 feet down, which was excellent.
Porteau had the tide coming in, so the surface swim was longer. There was a bit of current, too. Jason and I ended up having to take turns towing the french girl. She was in a wetsuit and was completely frozen on both dives. I can't understand how people dive in wetsuits in BC waters!
The second dive was a bit more fun. We toured around the Grant Hall. There were some nice big ling cod, some good decorator crabs, and a few nice nudibranchs. The jungle gym also had a great school of small pipe fish, which I always like seeing. I poked my nose into one of the octopus dens, but no one was home.
The day was awesome for a dive. The sun was out, the visibility was good, and it wasn't that cold. Can't complain about that!
It was an early morning, as I got a lift out with Jason. We went by the dive shop and helped pack the van with Steve Redding. We also all drove out together. It was always fun to chat in the van with Steve. I'd also not get many more opportunities to do that since he was returning to Australia around November 7.
Out at Porteau, I met John, another up and coming diver doing the dry suit course. He talked about the other dive near the Porteau Cove campground. I had heard about it, but never had done it. So we made plans to get that happening in the weeks ahead.
The first dive we did was just sorting out buoyancy and trim, doing some propulsion practice and generally staring at sand. We had a very small group. It was just Jason and Heather and a french girl Magalain, and me. I wasn't participating in any of the skills, just observing and trying to set a good example of proper trim and buoyancy. We didn't see much in terms of life, but the visibility was quite good so that was nice. You could see the surface of the water from 30 feet down, which was excellent.
Porteau had the tide coming in, so the surface swim was longer. There was a bit of current, too. Jason and I ended up having to take turns towing the french girl. She was in a wetsuit and was completely frozen on both dives. I can't understand how people dive in wetsuits in BC waters!
The second dive was a bit more fun. We toured around the Grant Hall. There were some nice big ling cod, some good decorator crabs, and a few nice nudibranchs. The jungle gym also had a great school of small pipe fish, which I always like seeing. I poked my nose into one of the octopus dens, but no one was home.
The day was awesome for a dive. The sun was out, the visibility was good, and it wasn't that cold. Can't complain about that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
