Alan Johnson of IDC ran an equipment maintenance course for myself, Daniel Wei and Greg. I had previously taken an equipment course at Oceanquest, but more practice was always good. Alan would also take us through more regulator and valve maintenance, as well as putting together a set of doubles. I took the opportunity to take my steel 100's and turn them into a double set.
Alan was great, as always. The level of detail and the ability to practice on real equipment was invaluable. We stripped down regulators, valves and other components, then assembled them all back together and tested them. This gave a great deal more understanding on how all our gear operated.
This course would not certify us for anything, but in terms of knowledge and comfort for field repairs, it was invaluable.
Hat's off the Alan for such a great experience!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Saskatchewan and Clark Rock 11/05/2013
The previous weekend I was supposed to go dive China Creek
with Greg, but I got a bad cold. I got over it during the week, and went out on
the Sea Dragon (Heather was away in Vancouver for Dragon Boating). I hadn't been out on the Sea Dragon for some time. They had moved spots from the
government dock by the pub near the ferry terminal to just below the new hotel
and restaurant complex that was built further along. They worked out a very
good deal. They got a reduced room rate at the hotel for divers, and were able
to build a shed under the restaurant for the compressor, and to dry gear. A
pretty nice setup!
I forgot that I had met the new captain as well, and vice
versa. We figured it out when we realized that we lived quite close together.
Dan was a great host. It was very interesting talking to him about his years as
a tug operator on Vancouver Island. Christine was the same gracious hostess as
well.
I teamed up with a couple visiting from Oregon, Dave and
Cindy I think. There was a big group down from Kamloops as well, who got
together and ran dive trips down to the Vancouver area. It was a full boat. It
was a good day for diving too, since it was overcast and not too hot.
Our first dive was on the Saskatchewan. Visibility was not
great, maybe 15 feet. There was some current as well, but not bad. Our plan was
to check out the deck guns and stay at an average of 70 feet. On the descent,
things went well. Once we hit the deck, we started forward with me leading. I
made sure to check behind me often, as I was diving with new buddies. I turned
forward for maybe a minute, then looked back and only Cindy was there! I asked
her if she knew where our third member was, and she couldn't see him either. We
did the standard look for a minute, then began to surface. Once we did, sure
enough, Dave had had a problem coughing, and didn't have enough time to get our
attention before he had to head up. Since we verified he was fine, we decided
to continue the dive. It was a good lesson for me to remember to pay even more
attention when diving with new people. It was also a very good reminder for everyone to take a light along on every dive (they didn't bring their lights). Cindy and I had a pretty good dive after descending back down. Nothing
spectacular in terms of life, but the deck guns were interesting, and they had
a large resident tiger rockfish living inside the turret. All in all, a good
dive.
Back on the boat, we had some lovely soup courtesy of
Christine, and some great home made banana bread courtesy of the Kamloops crew.
The second dive, we decided to go to a site I’d not done before called Clark
Rock. This was pretty nice, because almost always if you go out on the Sea
Dragon everyone wants to do both wrecks.
Clark Rock turned out to be awesome. It was near Piper’s
Lagoon, north of Nanaimo. The best part about it was all the wolf eels and the
octopus. Basically there was a rocky reef at about 60 feet that was full of
nooks and crannies. There was an anchor line too, and very close to that was
one of the biggest wolf eels I had ever seen. And next to that, was an octopus
den, and next to that was another wolf eel! It was so easy to find this den, it wasn't funny. All you had to do was drop down the anchor line, and then follow
an existing line along the bottom to a no parking sign (it used to be a stop
sign, and obviously was placed there as a joke). Right beside that was a pile
of rocks, and that’s where the wolf eels were. To the left of that was a big
boulder and under that was the octopus. The head on the male wolf eel was the
biggest I’d ever seen. We saw some nice swimming nudibranchs, and swimming scallops. Visibility was a bit better on this dive, but still only about 20 feet.
I didn't get any video on the dives, because the visibility
was just a little bit too bad. I just enjoyed leaving the camera in my pocket,
and keeping memories.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Mexico Cave Diving 23/03/2013
You would think that three weeks cave diving in Mexico would
equal a lot of memories. And you would be right! Three weeks also can blur
together with such great diving, which was what happened on this trip. In hindsight
I should have written notes every day, but there just never seemed to be time.
We were either training, sleeping, eating, diving or getting ready to do one of
those. I'd like also to reassure anyone reading this that I didn't undertake cave diving lightly. I only did it after receiving the highest level of training, using the most conservative procedures, the best equipment and with the best instructors possible. Everything was geared to make it safe and fun. Cave diving can be dangerous, but with the right training, equipment, and procedures, it is not much different than driving.
We had directions on the mainlines, and Jim and I set off to find the Canyon line. We ended up running our reel almost all the way around the cenote. I did actually find the mainline in this run, but wasn't forceful enough in my communication, and second guessed myself. We did find a line, but it ended up heading into very small passages and we turned it quickly. On our next dives, we took the Madonna line and it was pretty nice. I don’t remember a lot of details though. Temple of Doom got its name from the name of the cenote “Calavera” or Skull. When viewed from below, the three holes of the cenote looked like the mouth and eyes of a skull.
Arriving in Cancun first was Dave and Daniel and I. We had a
long flight, with some delays. It worked out better for Dave and I because we
got bumped to a direct flight instead of having to take a jog up to Ottawa. The
fun continued with some rental car problems, and a flat tire in the parking
lot. We had reservations for a van, but the person who was supposed to meet us
was nowhere to be found. Stepping outside Cancun airport was not for the faint
of heart. You were immediately bombarded by offers for taxis and car rentals.
Further fun was a lack of ability to communicate amongst our groups. Greg,
Shawn and Jim were arriving later that day, and we spent a good deal of time
waiting for them to arrive. It was pretty amusing that WestJet could not tell
you what passenger was on what flight.
In the end, we retrieved everyone, visited a very shady tire
repair shop, found Costco (and bought food), and made it to the condo in Puerto
Aventuras after getting lost in the complex several times. Street signs in Puerto
Aventuras (and Mexico in general) didn’t seem to exist! Here is a picture of the view from our condo.
The following day, we found Zero Gravity and met Guy.
We got some doubles and went with Guy over to a cenote called Carwash. Later I would find out from Christophe that it was called Carwash because in the 70s, a taxi company would wash their cars there. We got our first taste of the famous cenotes at Carwash. The water was very clear and very warm. So were we! The heat was something else. We all wanted to try out our undergarments and weighting. Most of us found that we needed to take off some weight and some layers too. Carwash was a lot of fun. We did valve drills and gas sharing drills, as well as explored the cavern zone a bit. There were the famous “stop” signs at the end of the cavern zones. Dave had to take a picture. The stop signs were a common thing in caves, to warn untrained divers not to go further. There were some very interesting fish in Carwash, and poor Greg had a bad leg cramp on one drill that I captured on video. See the bottom of the page.
We got some doubles and went with Guy over to a cenote called Carwash. Later I would find out from Christophe that it was called Carwash because in the 70s, a taxi company would wash their cars there. We got our first taste of the famous cenotes at Carwash. The water was very clear and very warm. So were we! The heat was something else. We all wanted to try out our undergarments and weighting. Most of us found that we needed to take off some weight and some layers too. Carwash was a lot of fun. We did valve drills and gas sharing drills, as well as explored the cavern zone a bit. There were the famous “stop” signs at the end of the cavern zones. Dave had to take a picture. The stop signs were a common thing in caves, to warn untrained divers not to go further. There were some very interesting fish in Carwash, and poor Greg had a bad leg cramp on one drill that I captured on video. See the bottom of the page.
The next day, the course started. We met Christophe and
Mark, and started down to business. We did some overview in the classroom, then
picked up sets of doubles and headed to cenote Eden.
We had some excellent weather, much cooler than the day at Carwash. We finished off the swim test first in Eden, and it was a great place to do it with a very large and nice pool. Dave just made the swim test, in 13 minutes and 54 seconds and we all congratulated him. After the swim test, we geared up and did a short cavern dive to check out what it was like to be in the cave. I don’t remember much about that first dive any longer, but a constant theme from Christophe was communication and teamwork. I was rushing far too much. We had many of the skills, but it was the extra refinement that was really needed. Cave diving was about finesse, not brute force or speed (another theme was rushing). Eden closed strictly at 5pm, and a famous line from Christophe went something like this “I don’t mean to rush you, but we need to be packed up and leaving in 5 minutes. No rush though.” Quite funny! We went back to the shop for more lectures, and then packed it in.
We had some excellent weather, much cooler than the day at Carwash. We finished off the swim test first in Eden, and it was a great place to do it with a very large and nice pool. Dave just made the swim test, in 13 minutes and 54 seconds and we all congratulated him. After the swim test, we geared up and did a short cavern dive to check out what it was like to be in the cave. I don’t remember much about that first dive any longer, but a constant theme from Christophe was communication and teamwork. I was rushing far too much. We had many of the skills, but it was the extra refinement that was really needed. Cave diving was about finesse, not brute force or speed (another theme was rushing). Eden closed strictly at 5pm, and a famous line from Christophe went something like this “I don’t mean to rush you, but we need to be packed up and leaving in 5 minutes. No rush though.” Quite funny! We went back to the shop for more lectures, and then packed it in.
At the end of day one, we had an idea of what the routine
would be like. It was tough. We met at the shop for 8am, got gear together, and
then went diving. Back to the shop for lecture, and then home to dry out wet
gear and get ready for the next day and make some food and get some sleep.
Rinse and repeat. It was hectic. Christophe's truck was full to the brim of equipment as well.
Day 2 was back to Eden again, and did dry land practice on
running line. We were introduced to the idea of the “titanium grip”, never let go
of the line! Before the first dive we got caught by a torrential downpour. We
raced to get our drysuits on, and just made it. Boy did it ever come down! Back
into the cavern for another cavern dive, and then Christophe took us into the
second tunnel at Eden called River Run. Here we ran into the halocline for the
first time. It was very cool. It was almost like seeing a layer of air over top
of the water, but it was just fresh water lying on top of the salt water. It
was hard to describe but there are lots of videos of it. For example here is a good piece from the BBC Planet Earth Cave episode.
In the dive debrief, Christophe looked into each of our eyes and very seriously asked if we wanted to continue cave diving. I knew I did. At the time, I didn't quite understand all the mental and physical aspects of cave diving, but I knew I felt pretty comfortable and wanted to see more. We spent a lot of time on gas sharing exercises and valve drills, along with a few failures. Very quickly Christophe pinpointed areas to improve. Communication, teamwork, awareness and slowing down were the common themes for us. That evening we discovered that heavy downpours create big puddles in Mexico in some areas. There was not the same level of storm sewer infrastructure, and they got clogged easily. We had to ford a couple of big ones in the van but made it fine.
In the dive debrief, Christophe looked into each of our eyes and very seriously asked if we wanted to continue cave diving. I knew I did. At the time, I didn't quite understand all the mental and physical aspects of cave diving, but I knew I felt pretty comfortable and wanted to see more. We spent a lot of time on gas sharing exercises and valve drills, along with a few failures. Very quickly Christophe pinpointed areas to improve. Communication, teamwork, awareness and slowing down were the common themes for us. That evening we discovered that heavy downpours create big puddles in Mexico in some areas. There was not the same level of storm sewer infrastructure, and they got clogged easily. We had to ford a couple of big ones in the van but made it fine.
Day 3 was in Xtabay.
I honestly can’t recall much about it now. I do remember that we did gas sharing on the line, and Christophe continued to reinforce the same comments. We used 60 bar in 8 minutes at a 9m average depth, and travelled maybe 30m until we stopped sharing – that’s was a lot of gas and far too slow. The cenote was quite nice, like a big pond, and Dan and I spent a few minutes swimming around in it looking at the turtles and fish at the end of the day.
I honestly can’t recall much about it now. I do remember that we did gas sharing on the line, and Christophe continued to reinforce the same comments. We used 60 bar in 8 minutes at a 9m average depth, and travelled maybe 30m until we stopped sharing – that’s was a lot of gas and far too slow. The cenote was quite nice, like a big pond, and Dan and I spent a few minutes swimming around in it looking at the turtles and fish at the end of the day.
Day 4 was in Tah Mahal. By this time, the course was
beginning to wear on everyone. We were getting home around 8, which left little
time to prepare for the next day let alone unwind. By the time we met at the
shop, did the day’s diving, debriefed, got back to the shop and did the lecture
it was an almost 12 hour day. Today I think we had an early day, which was very
much needed. It gave us some time to get some groceries and do some other things.
During the debriefs, Christophe was still saying the same things, awareness,
slowing down and teamwork. Taj Mahal had what Christophe called the DCS Dome,
where the passage went from 13 meters to 1 meter and then back down to 13. At
the top, you were swimming just under the surface of the water, and you could
actually poke your head out if you wanted. There were also tree and plant roots
dangling down into the water that were like big brown feathery structures. This
was not something we had seen before. Also, the long days and pressure started
to get to me because I remember second guessing if I really wanted to keep going.
We practiced lost diver drills at Taj Mahal, and we had to find a hidden backup
light back in the cave. The drill went pretty well, and we did find the light.
Part of the lost diver drill was covering your light, and Mark made sure to
emphasis to cover it for at least 30 seconds to let your eyes adjust. We also
did an exit with all lights gone, in touch contact on the line, it was fun!
Day 5 arrived and I started to realize that the course was
almost over. When I woke up, thoughts of not continuing were gone. I realized
that it was just nerves, and that I really did want to see more of the caves.
It was a very great privilege to see things that many do not, safely and
without disturbing what was there. I started to get just how much skill, finesse
and awareness a good cave diver needs. It would take a long time, but I’d get
there too. Christophe’s famous quote was that we were “baby cave divers”. He
did it in a very funny voice. We had to go to Carwash, the same place we were
when we did our checkout practice. We were supposed to go to Mayan Blue, but
the people were not there which I gathered was not unheard of. Carwash was
pretty fun. There was a small crocodile that we were lucky enough to see there.
Again, Christophe had the same comments on the debriefs, and I felt he was
getting concerned. It was becoming a real issue in that we were not fixing the
team problems and the relaxing and the communication. We had a good talk about
it in the water. We also did lost line drills, and had to find the line after
getting turned around and blindfolded in the cave. It took me half an hour to
find the line again, but I found it! I remember the two tunnels of Carwsah
being pretty darkly stained with tannin. At the time, I wasn't very impressed
by these dark tunnels in comparison to the start white tunnels of the other
cenotes. There was a long lecture this evening to get finished up. Poor Shawn
was having a hard time staying awake.
Day 6 dawned, and it was the last day. It was time to pull
everything together and hope that Christophe saw enough improvement over the
course to give us a pass. I might be making it sound like the course was all
negative and hard. This wasn't the case. It was very fair (and fun), and the
feedback from Christophe was honest and given in a way to help improve. It was
just hard to take sometimes, since I was having a hard time accepting that it
was like being back to square one in terms of skills in some ways. In the open
ocean you could be quite sloppy I realized. In the cave all those bad habits come
out very quickly, and needed to be fixed. We went to Mayan Blue for the last day. It was
beautiful.
Orchids were on the trees, the water had a crystal blue hue, and it was almost clear as air. Christophe warned us of the grey scaly barked trees with black sap coming out. The sap would burn like acid. The tree was called the Black Posionwood tree (Chechen or Che Chen) and I learned from my Mom that it was in the sumac family which contained the poison ivies. The mature tree had thin grey bark with scaly reddish brown patches. There was an antidote tree called the Gumbo-limbo or Copperwood or Chaca tree. It had reddish peeling bark that was like an extremely sunburned person. Its sap could be used to treat the Poisonwood rash.
Orchids were on the trees, the water had a crystal blue hue, and it was almost clear as air. Christophe warned us of the grey scaly barked trees with black sap coming out. The sap would burn like acid. The tree was called the Black Posionwood tree (Chechen or Che Chen) and I learned from my Mom that it was in the sumac family which contained the poison ivies. The mature tree had thin grey bark with scaly reddish brown patches. There was an antidote tree called the Gumbo-limbo or Copperwood or Chaca tree. It had reddish peeling bark that was like an extremely sunburned person. Its sap could be used to treat the Poisonwood rash.
Mayan Blue had three tunnels, A, B and the Dead Zone. B
tunnel was our first dive, and it was amazing. White, clear and very decorated
with speleothems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speleothem).
We had no failures on this dive, and in some ways that was a bit worse. I was
expecting something to fail at any moment, but nothing ever did. I suspected
the plan was to give us a nice dive to remind us it was not all about work and
failures. On the second dive, we did A tunnel which was darker, the rock stained
with tannin. Again, at the time I didn’t think the dark tunnel was all that
great compared to B tunnel. We had various failures during this last dive, and
worked through them alright.
On the way back, we had lunch at the famous Road Kill Chicken place. It had become a bit of a tradition to have lunch here after the cave diving classes finished. The place was not much to look at, but the chicken tasted great, very nicely spiced. It was flattened and cooked on a charcoal grill. An odd side dish along with it was spaghetti, but for 60 pesos, it was dirt cheap!
On the way back, we had lunch at the famous Road Kill Chicken place. It had become a bit of a tradition to have lunch here after the cave diving classes finished. The place was not much to look at, but the chicken tasted great, very nicely spiced. It was flattened and cooked on a charcoal grill. An odd side dish along with it was spaghetti, but for 60 pesos, it was dirt cheap!
Back at the shop, we did the exam and answered 3 questions
about what our strengths, weaknesses, and what we’d do to fix them. Then we
spent time as a team with Christophe discussing these, and getting feedback. It
was one of the best exercises post course I’d done. It was hard to recognize
things that you needed to work on. It was very valuable though. In the end,
Christophe said that he needed to determine if he could sleep at night knowing
we’d be safe in the caves. He gave us 3 out of 5, which coming from him was
pretty good! He said he had never given a 5, and there were few 4s. So we had
passed! But there needed to be a lot of improvement.
On Sunday we went on a boat dive in the ocean. Jim, Shawn,
Greg and Guy did a tech dive, and me, Dave and Dan did a recreational dive. The
day was super-hot, and we met the boat a bit south of Peurto Aventuras on the
beach near Akumal.
The boat was too small to take us all at once, so we split
it up into two runs. We went out second. The ocean was very rough that day (as
it was almost every day) and it was a challenge to get into and out of the
boat. It was a long open boat that was not set up well for double cylinders,
but we made it work. On the trip out, Dan’s fins almost got thrown out of the
boat from the swells, and Dave almost fell over at one point. We did a dive
called Grouper Canyons, which was a series of reefs interspersed with sand
beds. It was quite fun. We saw a nice moray eel, a lionfish, a nice big turtle
and lots of reef fish. No groupers alas. In hindsight, the boat was fun, but it
was a lot of work for not a great deal of reward. There was a big iguana that I saw too.
After the boat ride, we went back to Taj Mahal for our inaugural post-course cave dive. Funny enough, I still can’t remember much about the cave there other than the DCS dome. We did so many so quickly and they were all so beautiful that they tended to blur together.
After the boat ride, we went back to Taj Mahal for our inaugural post-course cave dive. Funny enough, I still can’t remember much about the cave there other than the DCS dome. We did so many so quickly and they were all so beautiful that they tended to blur together.
That evening we had dinner with Christophe and Mark, along
with all in the class and Guy who had been teaching a Tech 1 class. I had a
good chance to talk to Mark which was great. He had a lot of good positive
advice and reminded me that we could reach out and ask them any question any
time. It was great to have such a relationship with instructors that doesn’t
stop at the end of the course. Steve Redding joined us too, and we had a great
time chatting with Mark. Mark told a story about watching a snake in Florida
explore his buddy on a deco stop for half and hour, and another story about
someone scaring a snake into the water just before a dive. His comment to the
person was “oh great, we used to know where it was, now we don’t!”. Very funny.
Monday we started cave diving in earnest. Greg and Shawn
were leaving soon, so they wanted to get as many dives in as possible. We
decided on Nohoch for this day, and it was a real jungle trek. The road had
only been completed a few years ago, and for a long time any diving of Nohoch
had you hauling in gear via donkey. We lowered our gear down into the cenote, as it was a bit easier than walking it in.
Nohoch turned out to be one of our favourite caves. Long and shallow, so you could go a long way on the gas we set aside. My primary light died at the end of these dives we spent so much time in the water. I wasn’t able then to participate in the exploration of the zipline side of Nohoch, where the other team discovered two additional lines. We didn’t have the gas to explore them this time, so we planned to come back. Nohoch had orange trees with oranges that smelled very good, but tasted terrible.
Nohoch turned out to be one of our favourite caves. Long and shallow, so you could go a long way on the gas we set aside. My primary light died at the end of these dives we spent so much time in the water. I wasn’t able then to participate in the exploration of the zipline side of Nohoch, where the other team discovered two additional lines. We didn’t have the gas to explore them this time, so we planned to come back. Nohoch had orange trees with oranges that smelled very good, but tasted terrible.
Shawn had to leave the next day, so we gave him a ride to
the airport in the morning, and got lost looking for Costco. We bought way too
much food, which we’d find out later. Once we got back, Greg wanted to do Grand
Cenote, so we went there for 2 dives. Grand Cenote was another of the best
dives. There was a gap in the line that we got to, but didn’t have the gas to take.
Again, we planned to come back. We learned a lot on what looked like a T as
well, which turned out to be a jump spool that was tied into the mainline. Up
to this point, we’d not come across any jump spools installed yet. It was good
to start seeing these things and exercising the procedures of recognizing them,
dropping cookies and negotiating them.
Greg had to leave the next day, and we did the same thing of
dropping him off at the airport and doing 2 dives in the afternoon. Steve joined
us by this time, coming over from Australia to do a cave diving refresher then
diving with us. We decided to go back to Eden to do some check out dives with
him and to see River Run again. I led the first dive with Dave, and ended up
missing the River Run line on the left side and taking the cavern line. It was
still a fun dive. On the second dive we got into River Run and it was nice. We
all agreed why Eden was picked as a training cave, it was wide, had a halocline
and was not decorated much. After the dives, we ran some line in open water and
practiced gas sharing in touch contact. It all went well, and we were pretty
comfortable that there were no big differences in the training we had compared
to Steve, who had trained with the NSS. In the video compilation I made, there
is a section of us doing our gas sharing practice with Steve.
The next day we decided to go to Temple of Doom. It was
known for its giant giant stride entry. The cenote had a steep ladder coming up,
and it was easier to drop the 15 feet into the water. It was an extremely hot
day, and before getting geared up we put on our drysuits and jumped in while
taking some video.
We had directions on the mainlines, and Jim and I set off to find the Canyon line. We ended up running our reel almost all the way around the cenote. I did actually find the mainline in this run, but wasn't forceful enough in my communication, and second guessed myself. We did find a line, but it ended up heading into very small passages and we turned it quickly. On our next dives, we took the Madonna line and it was pretty nice. I don’t remember a lot of details though. Temple of Doom got its name from the name of the cenote “Calavera” or Skull. When viewed from below, the three holes of the cenote looked like the mouth and eyes of a skull.
We had heard of a “secret” cenote from a Kiwi couple staying
in Mexico City, Ali and Cameron. It was called Fenomeno, and it had a Mayan pot
and some fossil bones. We had originally thought to save it for the last day of
diving, but on talking to Christophe he said we should really check it out
sooner in case we wanted to go back (it was that good). Fenomeno was even
further back in the jungle than Nohoch, and it took a long time to get to. It
was worth it though. There was what looked like 2 mainlines, and we took the
one on the right. Both lines started in open water, which was not that common
in the cenotes. Usually the mainlines were farther back so that snorkelers and
cavern divers didn't follow them. The right mainline stopped not far in, and a
little ways away we could see the real mainline. We weren't sure why someone
installed this short line. We went back and tied into the real mainline and did
the dive. Fenomeno was amazing. Very decorated, nice white passages, clear
water and fairly shallow. Discussing with some other cave divers who were doing
the cenote across the road, they told us how to find the fossilized bones. We
did a dive to try and find them. I had to turn on gas just as we reached the
spot, but the other team was able to push on and found the Mayan pot. They second
guessed the hole with the bones and missed those though. Still it was an
amazing cave.
Greg had mentioned the Imax line in Dos Ojos, where some
documentaries were shot, so we decided to go check it out. Dos Ojos was a very
large cenote, with a lot of complicated cavern lines. There were multiple
entrances to the cenote as well. We were kind of confused as to where to start,
even with directions. Finally we found the entry at the Second Eye, and started
to follow the Barbie cavern line. The instructions said to follow the Barbie
cavern line until you saw a rubber crocodile with a Barbie doll in its mouth.
Then on the left of that were the mainlines. Unfortunately, we all started too
far away and ran out of line before even getting close. We reset and moved
closer and finally got things sorted out. The First and Second eyes connected
together by a fairly short distance. If ever I needed to recommend to somewhere
who didn't want to do full cave training, I would recommend them to go to Dos
Ojos. You could get much of the same feel for cave diving in the cavern there,
and you could probably spend at least 2 days diving the caverns themselves. We found
3 mainlines in the end, and we tried them all. The first one on the left was
short, and led to a small cenote entrance through a small passage. It would be
useful for training in small spaces. The Imax line was in the middle, and it
was pretty nice. It was highly traveled so there was a lot of damage to the
cave along the line. I still enjoyed it. The last line to the right led through
some very large wide galleries with rock pillars. It seemed like the pillars
were holding up the Earth. The galleries were not tall, but flat and wide and
seemed to go on for ever. In this way, it was a very interesting and unique
cave. Someone had drawn and happy face in the sediment on the floor, and such
senseless graffiti really detracted from the cave. People are incredibly short-sighted.
With the low flow in these caves, scars on the floor would remain for thousands
of years.
We went back to Mayan Blue the next day, and it was as
amazing as the first time around. I had more of an appreciation for the darker
A tunnel, and Steve and I checked out the Dead Zone briefly. It would be worth
more exploration some other time.
The next day, we went back to Grand Cenote to take the gap
that we missed the first time. We made it, bridged the gap, and continued on
more. Grand Cenote turned out to be one of our favorite dives. We also came across some howler monkeys that lived in the Peurto Aventuras complex, and put on a show for us swinging from tree to tree.
On the next day, we went back to Nohoch to explore the lines
in the zipline tunnel. The line to the left was amazing, going up very shallow,
and was highly decorated. The second line to the right ended up leading to the
mainline, and was one of the first jumps off of it. It was an interesting line,
but short. Jim and I agreed we’d have rather done another dive on the line on
the left. The left hand line had Styrofoam cups attached to it for distance
markings. Jim and I made it about 1500 feet in or so. We wondered how they
carried the cups into the cave in the first place, because they were so
buoyant. Cups made a poor choice for markers in that some had come loose and
were floating in the cave. On the second line, we came across a purple organic
deposit that we had no idea what it was. We ran a spool to it to check it out,
and it was a vibrant purple colour. It did not look like there were any
openings where it came in through the rock. It was covered in a kind of spider
web material too. It did look organic, but we didn't know. On the other line
when Jim and I were exiting, there was a guide and some sidemount divers in tow
coming in. There was a lot of room, but the guide decided to start taking video
of his charges, and ended up coming all the way across and crashing into Jim.
He apologized, but it was very inconsiderate. Exiting teams of divers got the
right of way, because they could be low on gas. Obviously the guy was much more
concerned about filming his group than etiquette.
We were starting to have a hard time deciding on where to go
next, but some discussion with Fred came up with White River. It was even
further past Nohoch and Fenomeno, and he said it was even easier to get to the Mayan
pot from there. When we asked him about the bones, he said “there are no bones
on the mainline”, but he knew we knew. On the ride through the jungle, the
narrow road at the end was bad luck for the van. I was driving and scraped the
side of the van badly on a tree, just after Steve commented that there was no
pressure driving on such a winding narrow road. Oh well, that’s what insurance
on rental vehicles is for! The White River site got its name from the floor of
white sand that it had. The mainline ran straight through the cenote in open
water, coming from Fenomeno and continuing further on. There were a lot of mosquitoes at White River; we really were in the middle of the jungle. Dave and
I took the line leading to Fenomeno first, to check out the pot and the bones.
On the way we ran into a large group of divers. First two side mount divers
passed us, and we ended up being on some of their GoPro video. Then we happened
on an even larger group in the gallery with the bones. All the groups were
coming up from Fenomeno. There were at least 6 divers in the gallery/ We waited
until they cleared out, then tied in a spool and dropped a cookie and ran a
line into the hole with the bones. The bones did not disappoint. They were
extremely interesting. There were
conflicting opinions on what the bones were from; some people said giant sloth,
some said mammoth.
On the way out, I got a chance to finally look at the Mayan pot. It was quite a bit larger than what I had thought. It was amazing. Christophe would later tell us at our last dinner that the pot had been significantly moved since he had seen it several years before. People were disturbing things in the cave again. On the second dive we went up the line from Fenomeno, and that was an even better dive.
On the way out, I got a chance to finally look at the Mayan pot. It was quite a bit larger than what I had thought. It was amazing. Christophe would later tell us at our last dinner that the pot had been significantly moved since he had seen it several years before. People were disturbing things in the cave again. On the second dive we went up the line from Fenomeno, and that was an even better dive.
We went to Naharon next. This was across the road from Mayan
Blue. It was a dark tunnel, and here I learned to appreciate the darker caves.
The cavern entrance was so big that you couldn't really get a sense of where
the sides were. It was essential to take a compass heading and follow it. There
was one mainline, and one jump that you could run a reel to. Steve and I did
both. The passages of Naharon were as decorated as other caves, but since they
were stained with tannin, you had to look harder. But when you did, there it
was. There was a lot of halocline here, and it added to the coolness. Steve and
I played around with a blind exit on the way out on one of the dives, and it
went well. Naharon changed my mind about dark caves. It didn’t seem to be a
very popular site with divers. Someday, it would be awesome to do the traverse
that was possible. and go from Naharon to A tunnel of Mayan blue. We also met
up again with the German couple that we ran into at Nohoch and White River
before. They were diving sidemount. Inside Naharon, they took a picture of
Steve and me. I hoped to get this picture off of them someday. Steve and I did a bit of messing around on video. He put his dive knife in his mouth, and almost choked on a huge mouthful of water!
For the last day of diving, we visited Dos Palmos, which was beside Dos Ojos. It was a much quieter and laid back site, with better decorations and a much less travelled feel. There was a poor monkey on a chain in the yard. I gave him an apple. He looked pretty sad. Naharon was deeper, but maybe even more decorated than other places. We all agreed that it was an excellent high point to end on. There was also flow that we had not really encountered before. On the second dive, we went with it, and coming back against it was a bit tiring. We made it to a small cenote where we surfaced briefly to check out. It was very interesting being able to pop up somewhere else in the jungle!
For the last day of diving, we visited Dos Palmos, which was beside Dos Ojos. It was a much quieter and laid back site, with better decorations and a much less travelled feel. There was a poor monkey on a chain in the yard. I gave him an apple. He looked pretty sad. Naharon was deeper, but maybe even more decorated than other places. We all agreed that it was an excellent high point to end on. There was also flow that we had not really encountered before. On the second dive, we went with it, and coming back against it was a bit tiring. We made it to a small cenote where we surfaced briefly to check out. It was very interesting being able to pop up somewhere else in the jungle!
What else can I say? Three weeks of diving in the cenotes of
the Yucatan was beyond what I had imagined. I learned a lot about myself, my
mind, and my diving. And I had a boatload of fun to boot! Many of our discussions
during the trip were aimed at the future, and the next cave diving trip. I
couldn’t wait!
Here is the compilation video I made of the whole week.
Here is the compilation video I made of the whole week.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Neck Point 03/10/2013
Heather and I went back to Neck Point for one dive, because the day was so nice and the tides were right.
This time the visibility was not as good as it had been previously. But we saw tons of frosted nudibranchs like before, and they seemed to be even bigger this time. There were a good deal of gobies hiding in the rocks, and evidence of octopus around, but none made an appearance. There were a lot of red rock crabs as well. I found a nice lewis moonsnail shell that I left on one of the picnic tables for some passer by.
Before the start of the dive, we gave a curious little boy a chance to look at our gear. He lost interest a lot quicker than I would have thought! How can diving equipment be boring to a little boy!
This is a small bit of video, of the large frosted nudibranchs.
This time the visibility was not as good as it had been previously. But we saw tons of frosted nudibranchs like before, and they seemed to be even bigger this time. There were a good deal of gobies hiding in the rocks, and evidence of octopus around, but none made an appearance. There were a lot of red rock crabs as well. I found a nice lewis moonsnail shell that I left on one of the picnic tables for some passer by.
Before the start of the dive, we gave a curious little boy a chance to look at our gear. He lost interest a lot quicker than I would have thought! How can diving equipment be boring to a little boy!
This is a small bit of video, of the large frosted nudibranchs.
Maple Bay Skills 03/09/2013
Back to Maple Bay!
Guy Shockey was kind enough to do an informal, quick refresher on valve failures for us at Maple Bay. I had never been to his home before, and it is quite the place! Once we finished our talking on land, it was into the water at Maple Bay to do some drills. Two light mishaps happened, Shawn's light stopped working near the end of the dive, and at the beginning of the dive, Greg's did too. I gave Greg a hand to check the battery before we went in the water, and I swore I checked the clips. Unfortunately, I didn't check them well enough, and one of the clips was open when Greg walked into the water. Shawn noticed, and Greg got back out, but some water had already got in. I hoped it hadn't damaged the light, I felt terrible.
For the dive itself, it was a lot of fun. Probably the most fun I had had on a skills dive in a long time. I felt very good during the whole thing, and the refresher was just what I needed. We descended, shot an SMB, tied it off to the bottom, then ran a reel from there out and about. While running the line, Guy simulated various valve failures with an air gun. We were a team of 4, which was very unwieldy and never something you'd do in reality, but it worked well enough. The failures were handled well. Well enough that Guy started to get bored and began shutting people's lights off, making us switch to backups and reposition the team. At the end, there were 3 light failures, and we had quite the train going following the main line back to the SMB.
At one point in the dive, I noticed Guy unclip Jim's SPG and place it on the back of Jim's cylinders. I thought Guy was messing with Jim, to see how long it would take him to notice that his SPG was missing. I prompted Jim by asking what his pressure was, and when he couldn't find his SPG, gave it back to him. After the dive, Guy explained that he was using Jim's SPG to monitor his gas on purpose! Jim had the least gas volume, and since we were task-loaded with failures, I could see why it was a good idea.
The things I re-learned from the practice was to always stop and think, then act, to verify first what your team-mate was breathing, and to relax.
So thanks again to Guy for giving us such a great refresher!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
McKenzie Bight 03/03/2013
For this dive, we decided to go to McKenzie Bight. I thought that I had dove McKenzie Bight before, because it was so close to Willis Point. Once Jim and I arrived, I realized that it wasn't. I was thinking of Henderson Point. The reason I hadn't done McKenzie before was that the walk down to the entry point was far. I remembered that when the idea came up, the other people I was with vetoed the idea, hah. It ended up not being that bad of a walk at all. It certainly was far, but doable. I would say three time the distance down to the Cut at Whytedliff, but much less steep.
When Jim and I arrived, we met Shawn and Greg and a new diver that I had not met before Damien. Damien was using a single steel 130, so in terms of gas-planning, that made things easier. Minus the double cylinder part!
It was a beautiful day. Clear, sunny, but not that warm. Two out of three, I'd take. We geared up in the parking lot, but all of us with doubles carried our rigs down first before getting into our dry suits. There were a lot of nice logs to set up on at the beach.
Greg led the first dive, and we did our dive plan. We decided to go to the right from the beach, and stick with an average depth of 18 meters. Jim and I formed one team, and Damien, Greg and Shawn the second. I was a bit worried about the visibility as the surface looked very brown. At the start of the dive, we would descend to 6 meters and see what it was like to do a valve drill and S-drill. Happily, visibility was very good, and at 9 meters it was great. We finished up our drills, then continued on the dive. The rock topography of McKenzie Bight was very cool. We didn't see a lot of major critters. The octopus rock that Damien showed us had no one home. It was easily recognizable because of a small statue on the top of it. There were a variety of nice nudibranchs as usual. along with a lot of scallops and small shrimp.
Damien didn't do the second dive, so we had a nice surface interval chatting and he left. On the second dive, I led the dive because none of us had gone to the left at McKenzie Bight. Some other divers told us about a dead octopus at the bottom of their dive float, so we wanted to check that out too. Not knowing much about what we were going to see, our plan was pretty simple. Head South and keep an average depth of 15 meters.
At the start of the dive, we came across the dead octopus easily. It was one of the tentacles, and it was quite a big piece. I thought it was probably the octopus that Damien had tried to show us. The rest of the dive was quite nice. We went south for about 20 minutes, after completing some skills. At the end of the dive, we did some propulsion practice. Shawn is the model in the bit of video below. I also found some interesting new small nudibranchs that I had not seen before. Jim found a nice red fur crab in a crack.
On the whole an great day of diving!
When Jim and I arrived, we met Shawn and Greg and a new diver that I had not met before Damien. Damien was using a single steel 130, so in terms of gas-planning, that made things easier. Minus the double cylinder part!
It was a beautiful day. Clear, sunny, but not that warm. Two out of three, I'd take. We geared up in the parking lot, but all of us with doubles carried our rigs down first before getting into our dry suits. There were a lot of nice logs to set up on at the beach.
Greg led the first dive, and we did our dive plan. We decided to go to the right from the beach, and stick with an average depth of 18 meters. Jim and I formed one team, and Damien, Greg and Shawn the second. I was a bit worried about the visibility as the surface looked very brown. At the start of the dive, we would descend to 6 meters and see what it was like to do a valve drill and S-drill. Happily, visibility was very good, and at 9 meters it was great. We finished up our drills, then continued on the dive. The rock topography of McKenzie Bight was very cool. We didn't see a lot of major critters. The octopus rock that Damien showed us had no one home. It was easily recognizable because of a small statue on the top of it. There were a variety of nice nudibranchs as usual. along with a lot of scallops and small shrimp.
Damien didn't do the second dive, so we had a nice surface interval chatting and he left. On the second dive, I led the dive because none of us had gone to the left at McKenzie Bight. Some other divers told us about a dead octopus at the bottom of their dive float, so we wanted to check that out too. Not knowing much about what we were going to see, our plan was pretty simple. Head South and keep an average depth of 15 meters.
At the start of the dive, we came across the dead octopus easily. It was one of the tentacles, and it was quite a big piece. I thought it was probably the octopus that Damien had tried to show us. The rest of the dive was quite nice. We went south for about 20 minutes, after completing some skills. At the end of the dive, we did some propulsion practice. Shawn is the model in the bit of video below. I also found some interesting new small nudibranchs that I had not seen before. Jim found a nice red fur crab in a crack.
On the whole an great day of diving!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Maple Bay Skills 24/02/2013
Greg Shawn and I met at Maple Bay to practice more skills. The day was rainy and windy, so not the best.
When I arrived I found that the UASBC was there heading out with Ogden Point dive charter. I chatted with.Jacques Mark and Keith Bossons briefly since I hadn't talked to them in some time. They died have a lot of time because they were trying to catch slack tide. There was a wreck around the corner of Maple Bay that they were going to. We reminisced a bit about how good the dive we went on at Tofino and Uculet.
Greg Shawn and I geared up and did our dive plan. At the start of the dive I saw yet another Lewis Moon snail, along with a patch of stubby squid eggs. I tied off my reel to the dock piling, and ran line out to some bricks. Shawn shot his SMB and tied it off to the brick. Then we ascended to 5 meters and did a valve drill mid water. Then we went back down and did S drills on the line. All this went well. Greg and Shawn practiced bottle rotation for the rest of the dive and I took video. I had a stage with me so I practiced some gas switches too. Visitor was not the best, maybe 10 feet.
On the second dive we did more of the same. All in all a very good day of practice.
The UASBC crew was back when we we done, and they had partial success. The first wreck was found, and visibility was about 40 feet. However weather forced them off and the next dive was in a sheltered area. Visibility there was the same that we had. Still, it looked like they had a good time.
When I arrived I found that the UASBC was there heading out with Ogden Point dive charter. I chatted with.Jacques Mark and Keith Bossons briefly since I hadn't talked to them in some time. They died have a lot of time because they were trying to catch slack tide. There was a wreck around the corner of Maple Bay that they were going to. We reminisced a bit about how good the dive we went on at Tofino and Uculet.
Greg Shawn and I geared up and did our dive plan. At the start of the dive I saw yet another Lewis Moon snail, along with a patch of stubby squid eggs. I tied off my reel to the dock piling, and ran line out to some bricks. Shawn shot his SMB and tied it off to the brick. Then we ascended to 5 meters and did a valve drill mid water. Then we went back down and did S drills on the line. All this went well. Greg and Shawn practiced bottle rotation for the rest of the dive and I took video. I had a stage with me so I practiced some gas switches too. Visitor was not the best, maybe 10 feet.
On the second dive we did more of the same. All in all a very good day of practice.
The UASBC crew was back when we we done, and they had partial success. The first wreck was found, and visibility was about 40 feet. However weather forced them off and the next dive was in a sheltered area. Visibility there was the same that we had. Still, it looked like they had a good time.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuwanek 17/02/2013
I had a pretty bad cold the previous week, so I wasn't able to dive. I focused on getting better, because there was a big trip planned for Tuwanek.
Jim Dixon talked to IDC and helped kick off the trip. He and Allison were diving together, and Heather and I came along as well. The last time we had seen Allison was at Egmont about 2 years prior. It would be good to see her again. Kevin from IDC took the van with about 8 other certified divers. John, Randy, Dennis and Dave Williams came along too.
The day started pretty early, with everyone catching the 7:20 ferry to Langdale. The day itself was partly cloudy, but not rainy. We had a fun time chatting on the ferry coming over.
Once we all met at Tuwanek, I did a short site briefing for those who hadn't been before. It was funny, I had forgotten that with all the diving Jim did, he had yet to be out at Tuwanek yet. I was pretty excited, because I had wanted to show Heather one of my most favorite dive sites.
Ken from Oceanquest had a few divers out too, so Tuwanek was packed to the gills. There were at least 9 vehicles there, stretching parking to the limit. I'm sure the residents weren't too happy!
One of the high-lights were the two friendly dogs that visited us the whole time we were there. One was a labradoodle named Murphy, and one was a Sheppard named Hawkeye. Murphy was funny because he had a collar tag that had a picture of him and the following "Hi, My name is Murphy, please do not feed me!". Poor Murphy, Allison commented that if he knew what his tag said, he'd try to get it off as soon as he could. Needless to say, Murphy begged for food the whole time. Hawkeye was more concerned with getting anyone possible to throw a stick for him.
On the first dive, we swam out to the North Island and dropped down onto the rock pile. Jim, Allison, Dennis and his partner went off in the direction of the wolf eels, while Heather and I explored the rock pile. There were translucent tunicates covering evererything. I had never seen so many. They looked a bit like large egg cases, but weren't. They kind of were like transparent elongated grapes. The sheer number of them was staggering. I had never seen that before. There were several nice nudibranchs, and a ling cod guarding a large egg mass. The ling cod egg masses always reminded me of white styrofoam. There were several schools of shiner perch, some nice kelp greenlings, a cool decorator crab, as well as colorful chitons. No octopus unfortunately, but later we would hear that one IDC group saw a very nice one out in the open. Lucky them! Visibility wasn't the best, maybe 20 feet, but it was still pretty good.
Jim missed checking his neck seal at the start of the dive, and had a pretty bad suit leak. His undergarment was completely soaked. Allison also had a strange leak, which seemed to be her drysuit inflator valve. She would sit out for the next dive, but Jim was a trooper and put on a dry under layer and would go again. Dave Williams had a camp stove, and there were sausages and hot drinks all around. Very nice! I kept an eye on Murphy who was never far from the food, poor guy.
On the second dive, Heather and I decided to check out the rock reef just off the entry point. I had never explored it much, and was glad we did. It was quite interesting. Again, the tunicates covered everything. Surprisingly, we found 3 Lewis Moonsnails, one of them at least a foot long. Up to that point I had never seen one, and in the last few weeks, we had found 6! The rock reef was easy to get to, and around 50 feet deep. It was great fun exploring the crevices. There was also a small skiff that looked like it was sunk on purpose nearby. It had a huge concrete block sitting in the middle of it.
All in all, a very fun day of diving at Tuwanek! The second dive visibility was better, possibly due to the fresh water run-off from the creek.
I didn't get any video this go around, because the batteries in the GoPro gave out at the start of the first dive. I had charged it the weekend previous, but it doesn't seem that the batteries keep their charge. The camera may be "on" in some capacity even though it's off. The solution was simple, I will just make sure to charge it the day before!
I did manage to get a very short bit of footage of the tunicates:
Jim Dixon talked to IDC and helped kick off the trip. He and Allison were diving together, and Heather and I came along as well. The last time we had seen Allison was at Egmont about 2 years prior. It would be good to see her again. Kevin from IDC took the van with about 8 other certified divers. John, Randy, Dennis and Dave Williams came along too.
The day started pretty early, with everyone catching the 7:20 ferry to Langdale. The day itself was partly cloudy, but not rainy. We had a fun time chatting on the ferry coming over.
Once we all met at Tuwanek, I did a short site briefing for those who hadn't been before. It was funny, I had forgotten that with all the diving Jim did, he had yet to be out at Tuwanek yet. I was pretty excited, because I had wanted to show Heather one of my most favorite dive sites.
Ken from Oceanquest had a few divers out too, so Tuwanek was packed to the gills. There were at least 9 vehicles there, stretching parking to the limit. I'm sure the residents weren't too happy!
One of the high-lights were the two friendly dogs that visited us the whole time we were there. One was a labradoodle named Murphy, and one was a Sheppard named Hawkeye. Murphy was funny because he had a collar tag that had a picture of him and the following "Hi, My name is Murphy, please do not feed me!". Poor Murphy, Allison commented that if he knew what his tag said, he'd try to get it off as soon as he could. Needless to say, Murphy begged for food the whole time. Hawkeye was more concerned with getting anyone possible to throw a stick for him.
On the first dive, we swam out to the North Island and dropped down onto the rock pile. Jim, Allison, Dennis and his partner went off in the direction of the wolf eels, while Heather and I explored the rock pile. There were translucent tunicates covering evererything. I had never seen so many. They looked a bit like large egg cases, but weren't. They kind of were like transparent elongated grapes. The sheer number of them was staggering. I had never seen that before. There were several nice nudibranchs, and a ling cod guarding a large egg mass. The ling cod egg masses always reminded me of white styrofoam. There were several schools of shiner perch, some nice kelp greenlings, a cool decorator crab, as well as colorful chitons. No octopus unfortunately, but later we would hear that one IDC group saw a very nice one out in the open. Lucky them! Visibility wasn't the best, maybe 20 feet, but it was still pretty good.
Jim missed checking his neck seal at the start of the dive, and had a pretty bad suit leak. His undergarment was completely soaked. Allison also had a strange leak, which seemed to be her drysuit inflator valve. She would sit out for the next dive, but Jim was a trooper and put on a dry under layer and would go again. Dave Williams had a camp stove, and there were sausages and hot drinks all around. Very nice! I kept an eye on Murphy who was never far from the food, poor guy.
On the second dive, Heather and I decided to check out the rock reef just off the entry point. I had never explored it much, and was glad we did. It was quite interesting. Again, the tunicates covered everything. Surprisingly, we found 3 Lewis Moonsnails, one of them at least a foot long. Up to that point I had never seen one, and in the last few weeks, we had found 6! The rock reef was easy to get to, and around 50 feet deep. It was great fun exploring the crevices. There was also a small skiff that looked like it was sunk on purpose nearby. It had a huge concrete block sitting in the middle of it.
All in all, a very fun day of diving at Tuwanek! The second dive visibility was better, possibly due to the fresh water run-off from the creek.
I didn't get any video this go around, because the batteries in the GoPro gave out at the start of the first dive. I had charged it the weekend previous, but it doesn't seem that the batteries keep their charge. The camera may be "on" in some capacity even though it's off. The solution was simple, I will just make sure to charge it the day before!
I did manage to get a very short bit of footage of the tunicates:
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Madrona 03/02/2013
Jim, Chris Fenton and I dove Madrona as part of our regular Sunday dive series. Greg and Shawn could not make it this time around.
On my way out, I had to turn around and pick up the wing nuts for my back plate that I had forgotten at home. I figured someone would have spares, but on the off chance, I didn't want to be stuck not diving! My GPS crashed on my phone, and me being silly, did not rely on my brain instead. I got a bit turned around, but made it to Madrona not too late.
It was a cloudy, but not rainy, day. There were two other groups of divers at Madrona, and they reported pretty good visibility and at least one nice big octopus in a crack. I was looking forward to seeing what we might find!
On both dives we did the same plan, entering at the big V and swimming out to the long wall to the north. We weren't planning anything special, just go out and have some fun. Jim and I did bring stage bottles along just for practice, and did a gas switch drill and a valve drill, so it wasn't all just fun!
On the first dive, we did indeed find a nice big octopus in a crack. Why do they always have to be sleeping so much! Jim tried to get it to come out to play, but no luck. Chris found a baby puget sound king crab as well, orange and red in all its glory. I always liked them like that. We also found a giant nudibranch and got it swimming, as well as an orange sea lemon (another nudibranch) and a very strange deformed sea squirt. There was a nice sea pen, and a sea lion buzzed past us quickly. At the end of the dive, I spied a stark silvery shape on the bottom. It was a dead rat fish in the shallows. It wasn't dead very long, and there was no sign of why it died. It was very interesting to see up close, even though the poor thing had perished.
Chris didn't come along for the second dive, but Jim and I did the same thing again. We visited the same octopus, but didn't see much new. It was a very enjoyable dive, though with the visibility so good.
We talked later how there seemed to be a lack of wolf eels at Madrona. Chris said he hadn't seen them for a long time. The last time I saw them was at least a year and a half ago. The folks at Nanaimo Dive Outfitters said that the sea lions eat them, and might clear them out every so often. I hope they come back sometime!
Here is a bit of video:
On my way out, I had to turn around and pick up the wing nuts for my back plate that I had forgotten at home. I figured someone would have spares, but on the off chance, I didn't want to be stuck not diving! My GPS crashed on my phone, and me being silly, did not rely on my brain instead. I got a bit turned around, but made it to Madrona not too late.
It was a cloudy, but not rainy, day. There were two other groups of divers at Madrona, and they reported pretty good visibility and at least one nice big octopus in a crack. I was looking forward to seeing what we might find!
On both dives we did the same plan, entering at the big V and swimming out to the long wall to the north. We weren't planning anything special, just go out and have some fun. Jim and I did bring stage bottles along just for practice, and did a gas switch drill and a valve drill, so it wasn't all just fun!
On the first dive, we did indeed find a nice big octopus in a crack. Why do they always have to be sleeping so much! Jim tried to get it to come out to play, but no luck. Chris found a baby puget sound king crab as well, orange and red in all its glory. I always liked them like that. We also found a giant nudibranch and got it swimming, as well as an orange sea lemon (another nudibranch) and a very strange deformed sea squirt. There was a nice sea pen, and a sea lion buzzed past us quickly. At the end of the dive, I spied a stark silvery shape on the bottom. It was a dead rat fish in the shallows. It wasn't dead very long, and there was no sign of why it died. It was very interesting to see up close, even though the poor thing had perished.
Chris didn't come along for the second dive, but Jim and I did the same thing again. We visited the same octopus, but didn't see much new. It was a very enjoyable dive, though with the visibility so good.
We talked later how there seemed to be a lack of wolf eels at Madrona. Chris said he hadn't seen them for a long time. The last time I saw them was at least a year and a half ago. The folks at Nanaimo Dive Outfitters said that the sea lions eat them, and might clear them out every so often. I hope they come back sometime!
Here is a bit of video:
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Neck Point 02/02/2013
Heather and I had talked about checking out Neck Point near Nanaimo for a long time. Now that Heather had some shiny new steel 100's it seemed like the perfect time to go try them out at a nice relaxing dive site.
The day was perfect, it was a bit cold, but not raining and sunny. We started the dive going to the right of the bay. We quickly discovered a ton of frosted nudibranchs everywhere. There was a cool old log riddled with teredo worms too. The visibility was awesome as well.
On the second dive, we went to the left. We cruised through an eel grass forest that were all covered with hooded nudibranchs. One came off and did a swimming show for us. There were also a lot of small hermit crabs encrusting the grass as well.
The high point was finding two Lewis Moonsnails. This time, I made sure my camera was on! It was a great bit of video. The boulder field to the left of the bay was very interesting, looking like it would hold a lot of octopi. However, we found none.
On the surface interval, a new Nanaimo resident from Seattle asked us about diving. He had moved recently just for that reason. We gave him some ideas (the Sea Dragon was obvious), and got his business card. Maybe we'd come across him again soon!
Here is a long video clip. I had a hard time editing it down.
The day was perfect, it was a bit cold, but not raining and sunny. We started the dive going to the right of the bay. We quickly discovered a ton of frosted nudibranchs everywhere. There was a cool old log riddled with teredo worms too. The visibility was awesome as well.
On the second dive, we went to the left. We cruised through an eel grass forest that were all covered with hooded nudibranchs. One came off and did a swimming show for us. There were also a lot of small hermit crabs encrusting the grass as well.
The high point was finding two Lewis Moonsnails. This time, I made sure my camera was on! It was a great bit of video. The boulder field to the left of the bay was very interesting, looking like it would hold a lot of octopi. However, we found none.
On the surface interval, a new Nanaimo resident from Seattle asked us about diving. He had moved recently just for that reason. We gave him some ideas (the Sea Dragon was obvious), and got his business card. Maybe we'd come across him again soon!
Here is a long video clip. I had a hard time editing it down.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
10 Mile Point 27/01/2013
For our Sunday dive, Jim, Greg and I decided to do 10 Mile Point near Victoria.
I had done 10 mile twice before, but this time we'd be using scooters. I was excited! We'd also be using a much easier entry from a small beach to the North West of the regular parking lot. The entry at 10 Mile was not a lot of fun when I'd done it before, doubly less fun in doubles, and pretty much impossible with scooters and stage bottles.
For the first dive, we used the sand bottom bay to practice skills and run some line. Greg brought tent spikes that we used to tie off the line to, since finding good tie off points was usually a challenge. The skills and drills went well, and we all learned a lot as usual. I swallowed more water than I can remember in a long time, so made sure to refine my regulator switching procedures!
Jim discovered that his new scooter had flooded its light in the nose. We also were trying to figure out why it hung so low in the water when he stowed it behind him. He was not that happy at the prospect of probably having to send it back for repairs.
On the second dive, we scootered over to the 10 Mile wall. We discovered that it was very important to scooter out away from the shore, then bear back in. When we didn't do that, we ran into very large and shallow rock outcroppings, making scootering very difficult! No one hit anything, but it wasn't very fun.
Once we were on the wall, we stowed our scooters and took our time looking at all the life. 10 Mile wall really was spectacular. Visibility was maybe 20 feet, so not the best, but once you got up close, it didn't matter. You wanted to get up close anyway with all the little things to see. There were tons of decorator crabs and nudibranchs. I found a very pretty Clown Dorid that I had only seen once or twice before.
http://www.oregontidepooling.com/tidepooling_on_the_southe/2008/11/sea-clown-nudibranch.html
There were a lot of other divers at the site that day too. The tide was definitely right, since there wasn't a lot of current at all. We zig-zagged back and forth along the wall three times, and still there wasn't a lot. Scootering back was better, since Greg took us farther out then back in. His navigation was spot on, and we ended up right back in the bay.
A very good day of diving indeed!
I had done 10 mile twice before, but this time we'd be using scooters. I was excited! We'd also be using a much easier entry from a small beach to the North West of the regular parking lot. The entry at 10 Mile was not a lot of fun when I'd done it before, doubly less fun in doubles, and pretty much impossible with scooters and stage bottles.
For the first dive, we used the sand bottom bay to practice skills and run some line. Greg brought tent spikes that we used to tie off the line to, since finding good tie off points was usually a challenge. The skills and drills went well, and we all learned a lot as usual. I swallowed more water than I can remember in a long time, so made sure to refine my regulator switching procedures!
Jim discovered that his new scooter had flooded its light in the nose. We also were trying to figure out why it hung so low in the water when he stowed it behind him. He was not that happy at the prospect of probably having to send it back for repairs.
On the second dive, we scootered over to the 10 Mile wall. We discovered that it was very important to scooter out away from the shore, then bear back in. When we didn't do that, we ran into very large and shallow rock outcroppings, making scootering very difficult! No one hit anything, but it wasn't very fun.
Once we were on the wall, we stowed our scooters and took our time looking at all the life. 10 Mile wall really was spectacular. Visibility was maybe 20 feet, so not the best, but once you got up close, it didn't matter. You wanted to get up close anyway with all the little things to see. There were tons of decorator crabs and nudibranchs. I found a very pretty Clown Dorid that I had only seen once or twice before.
http://www.oregontidepooling.com/tidepooling_on_the_southe/2008/11/sea-clown-nudibranch.html
There were a lot of other divers at the site that day too. The tide was definitely right, since there wasn't a lot of current at all. We zig-zagged back and forth along the wall three times, and still there wasn't a lot. Scootering back was better, since Greg took us farther out then back in. His navigation was spot on, and we ended up right back in the bay.
A very good day of diving indeed!
Nanaimo Wrecks 20/01/2013
I emailed Jason Kolba, and asked if he'd like to stay overnight at our place in Nanaimo then do the Wrecks the next day on the Sea Dragon. We also had along Guy, Greg, Shawn and Jim. Jim finally had his suit back from repair, and had his new scooter as well. They all planned to do a scooter and tech dive.
Christine and the Sea Dragon were great as always. They gave us sandwiches and soup, and combined with the food that Jim and I brought we had quite a feast for the surface interval.
The first dive was on the Cape Breton, and Jason and I had a great time going through a few swim-throughs and viewing the huge Cabezon that frequently rested on the deck. One bit of video I got had the fish's shadow in Jason's light beam. There were a number of very pretty cloud sponges as well. We watched the "scooter" team zoom past us at one point, which was pretty cool.
The second dive was on the Cape Breton again. Jim wanted to do some wreck penetration with Guy, and had not been through the sky lights before. Jason and I decided to spend more time on the bow instead of the stern, and do more of the swim-throughs. Since the ship was so big, and there was always so much to see, it wasn't bad doing it a second time.
One thing I have to work on more was drills in mid-water. I started to do a valve drill on the line while we were at our safety stop, and it didn't go very well! I had forgotten how challenging it was when you could not see the bottom. Anyway, something to improve on again was always good to discover.
Here is some video from the trip:
Christine and the Sea Dragon were great as always. They gave us sandwiches and soup, and combined with the food that Jim and I brought we had quite a feast for the surface interval.
The first dive was on the Cape Breton, and Jason and I had a great time going through a few swim-throughs and viewing the huge Cabezon that frequently rested on the deck. One bit of video I got had the fish's shadow in Jason's light beam. There were a number of very pretty cloud sponges as well. We watched the "scooter" team zoom past us at one point, which was pretty cool.
The second dive was on the Cape Breton again. Jim wanted to do some wreck penetration with Guy, and had not been through the sky lights before. Jason and I decided to spend more time on the bow instead of the stern, and do more of the swim-throughs. Since the ship was so big, and there was always so much to see, it wasn't bad doing it a second time.
One thing I have to work on more was drills in mid-water. I started to do a valve drill on the line while we were at our safety stop, and it didn't go very well! I had forgotten how challenging it was when you could not see the bottom. Anyway, something to improve on again was always good to discover.
Here is some video from the trip:
Maple Bay 13/01/2013
Greg, Shawn and Guy were doing some line work and skills at Maple Bay, and I joined them.
Guy lived right there in Maple Bay, which was very convenient for him! I had thought I had told them I was coming, but was mistaken when I arrived at the usual time to find them done their first dive. Oops. I checked and found that I had not actually told them I was coming!
Guy had some chores to do, so he could not do the second dive, but Shawn was good to go. Greg ended up doing three dives, as Shawn left after the second dive. It was great that Greg had enough gas and enough time, otherwise I'd be only doing one dive.
We worked on maintaining our position on the line, doing gas sharing practice on the line, and our regular drills. It was a lot of fun! Everything went pretty well. Greg did remind me to use my light more when signalling a problem, a bad habit I had developed. I tied off the line a few times, and had some practice running the reel too.
When Greg and I got out of the water on the last dive, we came across a Lewis Moon Snail out in the open in about 10 feet of water. I had only seen one of them before ever, and was pretty excited. Greg had no idea what it was, and had never seen one before. They were without doubt one of the ugliest creatures around, but kind of cool looking as well. They spend most of their time burrowing in the sand, so you rarely see them out. I had my camera, and thought I got a great bit of video, but when I checked later, I found that the camera had not been recording! Oops! Got to make sure that the lens cap isn't on!
At the very least, here is a picture someone else took of the creature, so you can see just how ugly it really is.
http://emeralddiving.com/images/Lewis%20Moonsnail.jpg
And farther down this page, you can read a little bit about it.
http://emeralddiving.com/id_snails.html
Guy lived right there in Maple Bay, which was very convenient for him! I had thought I had told them I was coming, but was mistaken when I arrived at the usual time to find them done their first dive. Oops. I checked and found that I had not actually told them I was coming!
Guy had some chores to do, so he could not do the second dive, but Shawn was good to go. Greg ended up doing three dives, as Shawn left after the second dive. It was great that Greg had enough gas and enough time, otherwise I'd be only doing one dive.
We worked on maintaining our position on the line, doing gas sharing practice on the line, and our regular drills. It was a lot of fun! Everything went pretty well. Greg did remind me to use my light more when signalling a problem, a bad habit I had developed. I tied off the line a few times, and had some practice running the reel too.
When Greg and I got out of the water on the last dive, we came across a Lewis Moon Snail out in the open in about 10 feet of water. I had only seen one of them before ever, and was pretty excited. Greg had no idea what it was, and had never seen one before. They were without doubt one of the ugliest creatures around, but kind of cool looking as well. They spend most of their time burrowing in the sand, so you rarely see them out. I had my camera, and thought I got a great bit of video, but when I checked later, I found that the camera had not been recording! Oops! Got to make sure that the lens cap isn't on!
At the very least, here is a picture someone else took of the creature, so you can see just how ugly it really is.
http://emeralddiving.com/images/Lewis%20Moonsnail.jpg
And farther down this page, you can read a little bit about it.
http://emeralddiving.com/id_snails.html
China Creek 06/01/2013
When I had gone on the trip with IDC to Barkley Sound, the boat trip had us pass by an RV park near China Creek. It was not far out of Port Alberni, and I was told it was a pretty nice dive site.
Luckily, Greg, Shawn, Chris and Kim invited me along to do a scooter dive there. The actual place is called China Creek Marina and Campground.
The dive site was not at the Marina, like I found out, but at campsite 55. The drive there was quick from Nanaimo, but the road leading to the place was rough to say the least. It was dirt logging road with giant pot holes. I don't think I'd like to drive it without at least a truck! During the drive, I was really second guessing myself as to where I was going, and thought surely I was on the wrong road. But Google maps did get you me there.
I met everyone at the campsite, and we talked about the dive. Chris and Kim didn't bring their scooters, so we decided to tow them. There was a wreck of a ship to the right, and we decided to do that first. Visibility was quite good and it was fun towing Chris. I had only towed someone twice before, so it was good practice. I don't think he got a very good view though, hanging on behind me!
At the wreck, Kim, Chris and I teamed up and Shawn and Greg did some wreck penetration. It wasn't a large wreck but it was very interesting. It was at a steep 45 degree angle, so it was very odd hovering over top of it. There was a very nice cloud sponge growing off of one of the railings, and swimming past the props was nifty as well. We did about 3 circles of the wreck, and watched Greg and Shawn come out of the wheel house, then headed back. We did a few skills, then called the dive.
Chris and Kim decided to take the opportunity to get home early, so it was just me and Greg and Shawn on the second dive. The surface interval was cold and rainy, but Shawn had a portable canopy tent that kept most of the rain off. For the second dive, we decided to scooter as far to the left as we could. The wall there just seemed to go on forever, and the rock topography was very cool. There were large patches of debris here and there. At one point, there was a wide expanse of discarded fishing net draped over the bottom.
Scootering so long did get cold, so we were feeling it when we got back. We stopped at a sunken log tug boat hull, and did a few more skills. Greg signaled me over at one point, and had spied a young wolf eel living in one of the tubes coming off the deck! It was poking its head out, and seemed very curious. It was a great find, and I got some nice video of it. In the video, it looked gigantic, but in reality the pipe was only about as big across as a water glass.
I would go back to China Creek again for sure!
Luckily, Greg, Shawn, Chris and Kim invited me along to do a scooter dive there. The actual place is called China Creek Marina and Campground.
The dive site was not at the Marina, like I found out, but at campsite 55. The drive there was quick from Nanaimo, but the road leading to the place was rough to say the least. It was dirt logging road with giant pot holes. I don't think I'd like to drive it without at least a truck! During the drive, I was really second guessing myself as to where I was going, and thought surely I was on the wrong road. But Google maps did get you me there.
I met everyone at the campsite, and we talked about the dive. Chris and Kim didn't bring their scooters, so we decided to tow them. There was a wreck of a ship to the right, and we decided to do that first. Visibility was quite good and it was fun towing Chris. I had only towed someone twice before, so it was good practice. I don't think he got a very good view though, hanging on behind me!
At the wreck, Kim, Chris and I teamed up and Shawn and Greg did some wreck penetration. It wasn't a large wreck but it was very interesting. It was at a steep 45 degree angle, so it was very odd hovering over top of it. There was a very nice cloud sponge growing off of one of the railings, and swimming past the props was nifty as well. We did about 3 circles of the wreck, and watched Greg and Shawn come out of the wheel house, then headed back. We did a few skills, then called the dive.
Chris and Kim decided to take the opportunity to get home early, so it was just me and Greg and Shawn on the second dive. The surface interval was cold and rainy, but Shawn had a portable canopy tent that kept most of the rain off. For the second dive, we decided to scooter as far to the left as we could. The wall there just seemed to go on forever, and the rock topography was very cool. There were large patches of debris here and there. At one point, there was a wide expanse of discarded fishing net draped over the bottom.
Scootering so long did get cold, so we were feeling it when we got back. We stopped at a sunken log tug boat hull, and did a few more skills. Greg signaled me over at one point, and had spied a young wolf eel living in one of the tubes coming off the deck! It was poking its head out, and seemed very curious. It was a great find, and I got some nice video of it. In the video, it looked gigantic, but in reality the pipe was only about as big across as a water glass.
I would go back to China Creek again for sure!
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