Heather and I went out to Porteau Cove to hopefully put in the last dive needed to get her new gear all sorted out. With the new p-weight sandwiched in to her back plate, it should have distributed the weight a lot better.
It was a great sunny day. Possibly too sunny, it was hot gearing up in the parking lot! When we arrived, we weren't quite sure if we'd stay at Porteau because it was incredibly busy. Also, the visibility didn't look the best, but when a parking space opened up in front of us, we decided to stay.
Once we got into the water, it was a lot cooler. We found that the visibility wasn't as bad as we thought, either. We puttered around in the shallows for a bit, and Heather felt that the new gear configuration was pretty good, so we started out to the firehose. There was enough of a current that we didn't make it to the firhose before being pushed into the pipe reef. Not a bad thing. We also came across the leaning tower of Porteau on the way. There was a nice school of perch surrounding it. The ambient light was quite nice, so it was quite nice.
We reached the concrete blocks, and I noticed Heather signalling me. I went over, and she had found a very large and nice giant pacific octopus out in the open! We spent a good amount of time watching and following it, and I got some great video. I was happy that he didn't have anywhere to hide, so we were able to observe it unobstructed for quite a while.
Here is the video:
Monday, August 20, 2012
Rendezvous Dive Adventures 03-06/08/2012
This trip was a long time in the works. International Diving Center arranged to go out with Rendezvous Dive Adventures in Barkley Sound. Their website:
A Google maps link, it was pretty remote!:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=rendezvous+dive+adventures+location&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=rendezvous+dive+adventures&cid=10439974767546538955&t=h&vpsrc=0&ll=48.974245,-125.023556&spn=0.067043,0.110378&z=13&iwloc=A
Peter and Kathy were amazing hosts for the trip, and it was a grand adventure. The other special thing was that the group of divers assembled by IDC were all GUE trained, from Fundamentals to Tech 2. It was a great group of divers. I knew many of them, and heard of the rest. The idea of diving with a group of divers who followed the same procedures, had similar gear configurations, and similar mindsets was very cool. The full list of attendees was Alan Johnson (who organized the trip), Johnathan Gormick, Jason Kolba, Jim Dixon, myself, Dave Ryan, Teri Norfolk, Daniel Wei, and Kesia and another Anton! I couldn't count the number of times I heard the name, and I thought someone was talking to me.
Getting to the Rendezvous was an adventure in itself. I picked up Dave and Jason on the way to the ferry, and discovered that Alan lived just around the corner from Jason. It was pretty funny. We rounded the corner, and I thought "hey I recognized that truck with all those cylinders prepped for loading!". We met Jim in Nanaimo to transfer Dave and some gear for the ride to Port Alberni. My Ford Ranger worked well to haul all the stuff, but it wasn't so comfortable for someone in the back seat. On the way to the ferry, we almost missed it because of a traffic pile up at the Richmond tunnel. But it cleared up with minutes to spare, so that we were able to make our ferry reservation. At the ferry terminal, I ran into Drew, a co-worker who was on his way to Pender Island. Pretty funny who you can run in to!
The trip to Port Alberni went quickly, and we stopped on the way in Coombs to see the Goats on the Roof restaurant. Quite the tourist attraction!
We met Peter and his boat, the Rendezvous 1 in Port Alberni. He was a bit surprised when set upon set of double 130s were hauled down. I guess he didn't know just how much gear was coming aboard! Jim and I were doing some tech dives, and Alan and Johnathan brought some stage bottles and sets of doubles as well. They didn't end up doing any tech dives, but got some great recreational dives in. Originally we had wanted do bring scooters as well, but there just wasn't room in the vehicles. I think the next time visiting Rendezvous, I would choose a scooter over technical diving though.
It was a 2 hour ride to the Rendezvous, and we spent the time getting to know the boat and Peter. Jim had been out with them before. It was a pretty relaxing trip. Once we arrived, the Rendezvous was fascinating with the tour we received. Kathy showed us the in's and out's and all the pets. Riley the black dog, and Bug the tabby cat. Both were quite friendly and they obviously knew how to take advantage of diver's affections! The Rendezvous was perched on a cliff, and quite the interesting bit of building. Fresh water was at a premium, as the spring that fed the resort was limited. Three minute showers were the mandate! There were five rooms, and each of us doubled up. I stayed with Daniel, with a great view of the water. Jason and Jim opted for 'the cave' which had no windows at all. Waking up to the sounds of nature and the view of the water was much more appealing to me.
Jim and I did one dive on the evening we arrived. The diving off Peter's dock was supposed to be pretty good, and it didn't disappoint. We saw a few ratfish off the bat, and the visibility was crystal clear. I was stoked for the diving the next day!
Arising early, we had another long boat ride ahead. The plan was to do 2 dives, then return. The first dive was at a site called Christie Reef. It was pretty good, and we found more ratfish, octopus, and wolf eels. The visibility was not as good as the dive the previous night, but it was quite enjoyable.
The next dive was the Vanlene, a real wreck that when down in the 70's. Here is a description:
http://shipwreckexplorationteam.ca/Wrecks/vanlene.html
The draw for the Vanlene were the Dodge Colts that could still be seen, and the immense size of the wreck. Jim and I did a technical dive, and investigated the deep portion of the stern. The wreck was at about a 45 degree angle, with the stern at the deepest location. On the way to the stern, I looked to my right and saw a gleam of green. I thought that it was a Liquivision Xen dive computer, but it turned out to be the reflection of a ratfish eye! I laughed. We spent about 10 minutes checking out the stern at 40 meters. There was no prop, but it was interesting seeing how intact that portion of the wreck was. We also saw some of the tires and rusting transmissions from the cargo of Dodge Colts. We moved from there to one of the deck cranes that lay across the bottom, then started to follow the depth contour up to our decompression profile. On the way, we came across Alan and Johnathan who had found a large giant pacific octopus out in the open. The visibility was great, but it was super dark. Pretty much a night dive! I wished that visibility had been what Peter had reported the week before, unlimited and you were able to see the dive boat. Still, it was a reason to come back. Also, the wreck was so large, that there was plenty left to explore.
On the boat ride back, we were lucky enough to see hump back whales. I don't have any good pictures, unfortunately.One of the whales breached very close to the boat and surprised everyone. So surprised that no one had a camera ready to capture it! Just before it happened, Peter was joking about how it would be really funny if one did that, and it did.
Once back at the Rendevous, we had dinner and turned in pretty early. It was a fabulous sunset.
The next morning found us motoring nearer to two sites called Renata's Reef and Tyler Rock. At Renata's Reef, Jim and I saw two wolf eels and two octopus. One of the octopus was very curious, and I had a great encounter with it. There is a section of video below. I'd never had an octopus crawl up my arm before! I was a small bit apprehensive at first, but knew they were just curious creatures and could do nothing really to harm me. Jim was also standing by just in case. Still it was a wild animal, so you never knew. I was ready to drop the camera and hang on to my regulator in case it started to get too curious. Later I asked Jim why he didn't have a turn, and he flat out said no way! At Tyler Rock, Jim and I did our second technical dive to 140 feet for 15 minutes. Not a lengthy dive by any means, but it was gas-dependent. It was worth it, because the visibility was just stunning. I wished it was like that for the Vanlene! These two dives were pretty much the best ones of the trip.
Once back at the Rendevous, Jim and I turned the rest of our deco gas into recreational nitrox by having Peter top it with air. Then we did long dive off his dock. With our back gas as reserve, we could breath our aluminum 80s to nothing, and our depth was quite shallow. We saw a one or two ratfish, and quite a few nice nudibranchs. One was a giant swimming one. The visibility wasn't as good as the night before, but it was still quite nice. We would have stayed longer, but Jim had to go to the bathroom! Once we surfaced, it was very dark. Everyone had gone to bed, so it was extremely quiet. Peter came down to hang a light for us, and Jim and I hung out in the dim light chatting for a bit. Then it was bed time.
The last day found us having a fabulous breakfast, then it was out hunting for six gill sharks. Peter took us to Pill Point Wall, an area that was known for them. Jim and I went the opposite direction to the rest of the divers, and were treated to a sandy slope that ended in a bottomless wall and very good visibility. I counted 23 rat fish on the dive. If six gills ate rat fish, it would have been a prime spot. Alas, no six gills. We found a nice puget sound king crab clinging to an interesting rock formation, but that's about it. He was imitating Spider Man, clinging vertically. Since we went the opposite direction, we covered a great deal of distance so were the last group to be picked up. We deployed my giant surface marker buoy and just relaxed and joked around.
The last dive was Chup Point Wall, not far from the Rendevous. On this dive, we all ended up on the wall at the same time, and I got a great bit of video with everyone just hanging there. I always loved shots like that, it reminded me of astronauts. There was a great deal of life, and it was a very nice dive. We saw a few lion's mane jelly fish as well, and made sure to admire them from afar.
Far too soon we were back in Port Alberni, unpacking the boat and saying goodbye. It was a wonderful trip, and I would certainly do it again!
Here is the compilation of video I took. The first creature in the dark is a ratfish, the blue-ish looking eels were the wolf eels, the octopus encounter is in the middle, there is a short clip of Jim at Tyler Rock, and the last creature was a big puget sound king crab that we found on the last dive.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Willis Point 18/07/2012
Jason and I decided to do some diving on the island, and it worked out that Jim Dixon and the Vancouver Island Underwater Explorers group was planning on diving Willis Point. I fell in love with Willis because of its great vis. Alas, not the best vis on this trip, but more on that later.
Jason and I took the 8am ferry out of Tswassen and made it to Willis Point for the agreed on 10am start. We were first to arrive, and were very surprised to see zero parking spots. There were three divers there already, Richard Parker was the one I recognized, but I only knew him in passing. They said that the local residents had taken to parking their spare vehicles there to try and drive out the divers. Seems pretty silly to me! I suppose it could get annoying with it being such a popular site, but still.
Jim showed up shortly, along with Greg Nuttal and Peter. I had not met Peter before, but knew Greg from the Nautical Archaeology Society 1 class that I took with the UASBC. Richard and his crew were heading down for their dive, and graciously said that we could use their truck gates to gear up on. So we all parked where we could up the road after unloading our gear and started getting ready.
We did two dives, and both were pretty good but similar. There was not a lot of unusual things to see, but one thing were the clouds of larvae in the water. I had seen clouds of them before, but usually they were quite small. These clouds were enormous, and didn't seem to end. It made the visibility even less. The great Willis Point vis wasn't so great on these dives. Jim said that the previous week it had been near unlimited. Go figure! On both dives we went to the left, and just saw what we could see.
There were huge numbers of moon jellies, and a lion's mane mixed in. We steered clear of the lion's mane, but one of the moon jellies crashed into my face, and I did feel a bit of a sting. Not much, though. Moon jellies are not stingers, but apparently if you got one right in the face you can feel it!
The shallows were fun to muck around in. The kelp fronds were festooned with kelp crabs. There was also a great ascent to the surface with small bubbles covering all the vegetation, and the sun making them shine like tiny pearls. It's hard to see on this bit of video, but it's near the end.
Jason and I took the 8am ferry out of Tswassen and made it to Willis Point for the agreed on 10am start. We were first to arrive, and were very surprised to see zero parking spots. There were three divers there already, Richard Parker was the one I recognized, but I only knew him in passing. They said that the local residents had taken to parking their spare vehicles there to try and drive out the divers. Seems pretty silly to me! I suppose it could get annoying with it being such a popular site, but still.
Jim showed up shortly, along with Greg Nuttal and Peter. I had not met Peter before, but knew Greg from the Nautical Archaeology Society 1 class that I took with the UASBC. Richard and his crew were heading down for their dive, and graciously said that we could use their truck gates to gear up on. So we all parked where we could up the road after unloading our gear and started getting ready.
We did two dives, and both were pretty good but similar. There was not a lot of unusual things to see, but one thing were the clouds of larvae in the water. I had seen clouds of them before, but usually they were quite small. These clouds were enormous, and didn't seem to end. It made the visibility even less. The great Willis Point vis wasn't so great on these dives. Jim said that the previous week it had been near unlimited. Go figure! On both dives we went to the left, and just saw what we could see.
There were huge numbers of moon jellies, and a lion's mane mixed in. We steered clear of the lion's mane, but one of the moon jellies crashed into my face, and I did feel a bit of a sting. Not much, though. Moon jellies are not stingers, but apparently if you got one right in the face you can feel it!
The shallows were fun to muck around in. The kelp fronds were festooned with kelp crabs. There was also a great ascent to the surface with small bubbles covering all the vegetation, and the sun making them shine like tiny pearls. It's hard to see on this bit of video, but it's near the end.
Porteau Cove 18/07/2012
Heather and I went out to Porteau Cove to do some more work adjusting her new gear. Unfortunately, I had never seen worse visibility. The water was milky white with some kind of suspended particles. When we descended in 5 feet of water, Heather disappeared immediately, and I could not see my hand in front of my face. It was that bad!
We braved the conditions, and things did improve under 30 feet. However, the adjustments weren't quite right yet, and we turned the dive.
Very interesting to be in such low visibility conditions though! Also, I was sure that the next time we went out that everything with Heather's new setup would be sorted out.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Side mount demo night 13/07/2012
An interesting opportunity came up from Oceanquest. Trying out side mount diving. Greg McCracken organized a talk by Jeff Lofflin, and arranged to have equipment from Hollis to try out.
One night was a lecture from Jeff. It turned out to be pretty interesting. He went over the ideas behind side mount diving and why it could be a useful tool. What I didn't realize was the fact that since it could use regular Aluminum 80 cylinders, it could be a very versatile travel setup. It could also be safer, because you could take 2 times the life support equipment with you, rather than taking just one cylinder. He also described some of the more advanced scenarios if you did the training, to actually swap regulators between cylinders if you had a failure and needed access to the other gas supply. It was a bit of a sales-pitch too, but not too bad. The travel aspect did appeal to me. The setup seemed to really lend itself to that. Along with cave diving, where side mount diving got it's origin.
The next night, we got a chance to try out side mount in the pool at Simon Fraser University. I had never been to SFU pool before, and it was pretty nice. Their deep pool was nice to do dive training in. Other pools with a deep and shallow end were kind of hard to maneuver in. Even though this pool was a bit smaller, the constant deep depth made it quite nice to putter around in.
Jeff got everyone into the gear, and we got some time in the pool to try it out. I found it not too bad. I wasn't completely sold on it being way better than regular back mounted diving, but it did seem fun. I couldn't resist un-clipping both cylinders and pulling them forward like Jeff was describing in his lecture. This maneuver could make it easier to get into smaller restrictions.
Heather and I had a fun time! Here is a bit of video that Heather took of me in the pool. I didn't get very good video of her, unfortunately.
One night was a lecture from Jeff. It turned out to be pretty interesting. He went over the ideas behind side mount diving and why it could be a useful tool. What I didn't realize was the fact that since it could use regular Aluminum 80 cylinders, it could be a very versatile travel setup. It could also be safer, because you could take 2 times the life support equipment with you, rather than taking just one cylinder. He also described some of the more advanced scenarios if you did the training, to actually swap regulators between cylinders if you had a failure and needed access to the other gas supply. It was a bit of a sales-pitch too, but not too bad. The travel aspect did appeal to me. The setup seemed to really lend itself to that. Along with cave diving, where side mount diving got it's origin.
The next night, we got a chance to try out side mount in the pool at Simon Fraser University. I had never been to SFU pool before, and it was pretty nice. Their deep pool was nice to do dive training in. Other pools with a deep and shallow end were kind of hard to maneuver in. Even though this pool was a bit smaller, the constant deep depth made it quite nice to putter around in.
Jeff got everyone into the gear, and we got some time in the pool to try it out. I found it not too bad. I wasn't completely sold on it being way better than regular back mounted diving, but it did seem fun. I couldn't resist un-clipping both cylinders and pulling them forward like Jeff was describing in his lecture. This maneuver could make it easier to get into smaller restrictions.
Heather and I had a fun time! Here is a bit of video that Heather took of me in the pool. I didn't get very good video of her, unfortunately.
Topline 08/07/2012
Heather got some new gear, and we decided to take it out on the Topline for an easy check-out. Funny enough, a person was on the boat that Heather knew from dragon boating. Scott and Ocean Pro divers were the other divers on the boat.
The day was pretty nice, but the visibility was pretty bad. We did South Bowyer Island first, and found the wolf eel. After that, we just poked around a bit. Once back on the boat, we realized that Heather's new gear needed some adjustment.
On the second dive I went with Mike Juren, and Heather decided to stay on the boat because it was going to take a bit of time to adjust the gear. We went to North Bowyer island, and our plan was to follow the pinnacle back up to the surface after poking around a bit. We saw a very nice puget sound king crab, with an interesting white shell. It might have been molting. The visibility was not the greatest again, and we actually got a bit "lost". We missed the pinnacle, and ended up back at the upline. Not a bad thing!
A fun day of diving!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Topline - Dragon's Den 03/06/2012
I had not been out diving with Mihai in a long long time, so took the opportunity to accompany him on the Topline.
The boat was not very full at all, so it was very comfortable. Mihai had a friend of his along, Scott I think. We ended up diving as a foursome with one other diver.
It took a bit of discussion, but we finally settled on Dragon's Den for the first dive. The visibility wasn't as good as it was on my previous dive here, but it was still good. We didn't discover any impressive critters, but it was still a great dive. The small caverns in the rock were again very interesting.
The second dive took us to find a wolf eel, at Mihai's request. We visited South Bowyer Island for that. This time, I was determined not to miss it! And we didn't. I found the eel pretty easily this time with updated instructions. The rock he was under was not very big at all. It was definitely not boulder sized. He was a pretty big specimen, but it was hard to tell since he was hidden pretty well. I led our dive around the back side of the canyon, and we came across two very nice puget sound king crabs. Then we came across a barbecue that must have fallen off someone's boat, and finished up at the small power-boat wreck.
All in all, it was again a fun day of diving! Here is some video:
The boat was not very full at all, so it was very comfortable. Mihai had a friend of his along, Scott I think. We ended up diving as a foursome with one other diver.
It took a bit of discussion, but we finally settled on Dragon's Den for the first dive. The visibility wasn't as good as it was on my previous dive here, but it was still good. We didn't discover any impressive critters, but it was still a great dive. The small caverns in the rock were again very interesting.
The second dive took us to find a wolf eel, at Mihai's request. We visited South Bowyer Island for that. This time, I was determined not to miss it! And we didn't. I found the eel pretty easily this time with updated instructions. The rock he was under was not very big at all. It was definitely not boulder sized. He was a pretty big specimen, but it was hard to tell since he was hidden pretty well. I led our dive around the back side of the canyon, and we came across two very nice puget sound king crabs. Then we came across a barbecue that must have fallen off someone's boat, and finished up at the small power-boat wreck.
All in all, it was again a fun day of diving! Here is some video:
Sponge Bioherm in Howe Sound aka Sponge Bob 27/05/2012
Jim Dixon and I had a chance to re-visit the sponge bioherm that we were supposed to do as our first tech dive after finishing GUE Tech 1. We were pretty exited to see what we missed the first time around! I found a link to some material on the sponge bioherm here. Looks like it is the only sponge reef in Howe Sound. Pretty interesting!
http://www.ualberta.ca/~jwchu1/
I had seen glass sponges a lot, but did not realize that they could form reef structures like that. There is some video on that site as well. The Vancouver Aquarium is monitoring this bioherm too.
For the Topline, it had become a very popular dive site. They had nick-named it "Sponge Bob". It was a tricky site to dive, since it was in the middle of Howe Sound a bit south east of Halket bay. There was no mooring line, and you had to find it with GPS and depth soundings. Currents were a problem, and the tides had to be right for it to be dive-able. The reef started at about 70 feet, and went well below 150 feet. The usual plan for the Topline was to drop a shot-line to give some visual reference on the way down. If you didn't, it would be very likely that the current would blow you off of the reef and you'd totally miss it.With the deep waters in the area, it would make for a disorientating blue-water dive. You couldn't hang on to the line either, as it was not anchored like regular descent lines. Also, due to the fragile nature of the reef, everyone had to be very careful not to disturb anything. Buoyancy and propulsion control were key. This was not a dive for novices.
I was talking to Ken and on the last trip, someone grabbed the shot line and pulled it loose. That meant that the first group found the reef, but everyone else was blown off of it before they even saw it and totally missed it. It was very important not to touch the line!
Jim and I had a tech dive planned with an average depth of 45 meters for 30 minutes, and using 18/45 Trimix. 18/45 was just the tool to do such a long deep dive. That obligated us to 30 minutes of decompression, with an additional 5 minutes added in from 6 meters to the surface for added conservatism.
With the dive plan set, the Topline dropped the shot line and Mike Juren went in first to make sure it was relatively secure and to attach a strobe to the line. He sent up a marker buoy when all was well. That signaled the start of diving!
The first team of Alan and John went in, and then Jim and I. There was also Jason Kolba and Dave doing a recreational dive (and one other fellow whose name I keep forgetting!), along with another group of divers up from the US I think.
Jim and I followed the line down, and the reef quickly loomed to meet us. The visibility was pretty good, and there was indeed some current but it wasn't too bad. I was leading the dive, and once we reset our timers and average depths at 70 feet, we continued on down. I took us north west-ish down to our planned depth and we followed that out to our turn time. The reef was not what you'd expect. It was like a big pile of mud or ooze pock-marked with large sponges. The really impressive sponges were around 40 meters. The bigger ones were at least the size of an easy chair. Some of the more impressive ones appeared to be "melting" like candle wax. I had never seen glass sponges like this before. I would say the glass sponges in Agamemnon Channel up by Egmont were a bit more prolific, but these made up for that in their Doctor-Seuss like shapes. We passed Alan and John during our dive as well. The visibility was good, and I always liked how it seemed like you were meeting astronauts in space when you came across another dive team. I got some video of the dive, and I hope it will give some sense of what we saw:
We found the up-line with no difficulty and our deco to the surface passed uneventfully. It was a pretty dull 30 minutes though! There was nothing but murky water to stare at, and the small up-line. Still, what we saw on the dive made up for that.
The next dive we did after a nice long surface interval was at a site called Stairway to Heaven. It was a wall on the back side of Bowen Island, and I had not dove there before. Jim and I took our remaining gas and planned a 20 minute dive to an average depth of 38 meters. We were putting what we learned in our GUE Tech 1 class to good use, planning the dive on the fly. The dive itself was nice, but nothing too memorable.
Back on the surface we headed home. The sponge dive was a success!
http://www.ualberta.ca/~jwchu1/
I had seen glass sponges a lot, but did not realize that they could form reef structures like that. There is some video on that site as well. The Vancouver Aquarium is monitoring this bioherm too.
For the Topline, it had become a very popular dive site. They had nick-named it "Sponge Bob". It was a tricky site to dive, since it was in the middle of Howe Sound a bit south east of Halket bay. There was no mooring line, and you had to find it with GPS and depth soundings. Currents were a problem, and the tides had to be right for it to be dive-able. The reef started at about 70 feet, and went well below 150 feet. The usual plan for the Topline was to drop a shot-line to give some visual reference on the way down. If you didn't, it would be very likely that the current would blow you off of the reef and you'd totally miss it.With the deep waters in the area, it would make for a disorientating blue-water dive. You couldn't hang on to the line either, as it was not anchored like regular descent lines. Also, due to the fragile nature of the reef, everyone had to be very careful not to disturb anything. Buoyancy and propulsion control were key. This was not a dive for novices.
I was talking to Ken and on the last trip, someone grabbed the shot line and pulled it loose. That meant that the first group found the reef, but everyone else was blown off of it before they even saw it and totally missed it. It was very important not to touch the line!
Jim and I had a tech dive planned with an average depth of 45 meters for 30 minutes, and using 18/45 Trimix. 18/45 was just the tool to do such a long deep dive. That obligated us to 30 minutes of decompression, with an additional 5 minutes added in from 6 meters to the surface for added conservatism.
With the dive plan set, the Topline dropped the shot line and Mike Juren went in first to make sure it was relatively secure and to attach a strobe to the line. He sent up a marker buoy when all was well. That signaled the start of diving!
The first team of Alan and John went in, and then Jim and I. There was also Jason Kolba and Dave doing a recreational dive (and one other fellow whose name I keep forgetting!), along with another group of divers up from the US I think.
Jim and I followed the line down, and the reef quickly loomed to meet us. The visibility was pretty good, and there was indeed some current but it wasn't too bad. I was leading the dive, and once we reset our timers and average depths at 70 feet, we continued on down. I took us north west-ish down to our planned depth and we followed that out to our turn time. The reef was not what you'd expect. It was like a big pile of mud or ooze pock-marked with large sponges. The really impressive sponges were around 40 meters. The bigger ones were at least the size of an easy chair. Some of the more impressive ones appeared to be "melting" like candle wax. I had never seen glass sponges like this before. I would say the glass sponges in Agamemnon Channel up by Egmont were a bit more prolific, but these made up for that in their Doctor-Seuss like shapes. We passed Alan and John during our dive as well. The visibility was good, and I always liked how it seemed like you were meeting astronauts in space when you came across another dive team. I got some video of the dive, and I hope it will give some sense of what we saw:
We found the up-line with no difficulty and our deco to the surface passed uneventfully. It was a pretty dull 30 minutes though! There was nothing but murky water to stare at, and the small up-line. Still, what we saw on the dive made up for that.
The next dive we did after a nice long surface interval was at a site called Stairway to Heaven. It was a wall on the back side of Bowen Island, and I had not dove there before. Jim and I took our remaining gas and planned a 20 minute dive to an average depth of 38 meters. We were putting what we learned in our GUE Tech 1 class to good use, planning the dive on the fly. The dive itself was nice, but nothing too memorable.
Back on the surface we headed home. The sponge dive was a success!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Topline 26/05/2012
After Heather's Rescue Course, Ken at Ocean Quest had a special deal for the people who completed it: a boat dive with the Topline at a reduced rate. Too good to pass up!
We met at Horseshoe Bay as normal at 8am. It was a pretty good looking day, calm and not too warm. The sun was out periodically, but it was mostly cloudy all day.
Ken had method in his madness: some of the divers on the boat were Dive Master candidates, working on their program. Heather and I were paired with a fellow named Dale. He had won the coin toss to accompany the experienced divers instead of the new open water students who were along. We both thought it was very amusing that people were fighting over us.
Kevin and Jan were their usual awesome hosts. There were 18 divers on the boat, and even with all those people it ran extremely smoothly thanks to their organizing and Ken's. The first site we went to was South Bowyer. The idea was to look for the wolf eel that had taken up residence under a rock about 5 minutes north of the tie-up line. Ken told Heather and I to spring some tasks on Dale during the dive, but we didn't have the heart. I made a mistake looking for the wolf eel. What you were supposed to do was descend the line, then head north up the canyon, sticking to the right hand wall. When the canyon ran out, you had to follow it on to the right almost to a saddle of rock that was covered in plumose anemones. There was a metal grate on the bottom, and not far from that was a small rock. Under that rock was the wolf eel. If you went over the saddle of rock and hit a drop-off, you had gone too far. We ended up going too far, oops. Even though we missed the wolf eel, we still had a very nice dive. We went around the back side of the canyon and saw lots of plumose anemone beds. Then, coming back around to the up-line, we came across a small power boat sitting on the bottom. Not much of a wreck, but still a wreck! Even though we looked under it, there was nothing interesting there to be found.
After a nice long surface interval and lunch, we dove the North Bowyer site. On that dive, Ken came along too. Once again, it was a very nice relaxing dive with a lot more plumose anemones and some pretty decorator crabs. The highlight was two lion's mane jelly fish. One small one that had some of its tentacles trapped by a plumose anemoe that Dale cut free, and one really big one with tentacles stretching maybe 10 feet. We kept our distance, but it was awesome to see.
Dale was more worried about someone doing something, and nothing happened at all. I think Ken did a good job of psyching him out!
An awesome trip with the Topline! Here is a bit of video:
We met at Horseshoe Bay as normal at 8am. It was a pretty good looking day, calm and not too warm. The sun was out periodically, but it was mostly cloudy all day.
Ken had method in his madness: some of the divers on the boat were Dive Master candidates, working on their program. Heather and I were paired with a fellow named Dale. He had won the coin toss to accompany the experienced divers instead of the new open water students who were along. We both thought it was very amusing that people were fighting over us.
Kevin and Jan were their usual awesome hosts. There were 18 divers on the boat, and even with all those people it ran extremely smoothly thanks to their organizing and Ken's. The first site we went to was South Bowyer. The idea was to look for the wolf eel that had taken up residence under a rock about 5 minutes north of the tie-up line. Ken told Heather and I to spring some tasks on Dale during the dive, but we didn't have the heart. I made a mistake looking for the wolf eel. What you were supposed to do was descend the line, then head north up the canyon, sticking to the right hand wall. When the canyon ran out, you had to follow it on to the right almost to a saddle of rock that was covered in plumose anemones. There was a metal grate on the bottom, and not far from that was a small rock. Under that rock was the wolf eel. If you went over the saddle of rock and hit a drop-off, you had gone too far. We ended up going too far, oops. Even though we missed the wolf eel, we still had a very nice dive. We went around the back side of the canyon and saw lots of plumose anemone beds. Then, coming back around to the up-line, we came across a small power boat sitting on the bottom. Not much of a wreck, but still a wreck! Even though we looked under it, there was nothing interesting there to be found.
After a nice long surface interval and lunch, we dove the North Bowyer site. On that dive, Ken came along too. Once again, it was a very nice relaxing dive with a lot more plumose anemones and some pretty decorator crabs. The highlight was two lion's mane jelly fish. One small one that had some of its tentacles trapped by a plumose anemoe that Dale cut free, and one really big one with tentacles stretching maybe 10 feet. We kept our distance, but it was awesome to see.
Dale was more worried about someone doing something, and nothing happened at all. I think Ken did a good job of psyching him out!
An awesome trip with the Topline! Here is a bit of video:
Porteau Cove 21/05/2012
Heather and I went out with one of her old friends from Dragon Boating on a night dive. Jason was looking to up his dive count before heading to Michigan to teach scuba diving at a boy's camp. We decided on Porteau as one of the most relaxing places we could think of. As was sometimes the case, the current at Porteau didn't make it that relaxing in the end!
Genessa was just coming out with a student when we got there. She didn't have a lot of good things to say about the vis, but such was diving around Vancouver in the summer.
Our dive plan was pretty simple: head to the firehose and follow that out to the wrecks. The current had other plans, sweeping us to the north east. By the time I thought we were supposed to see the firehose, we actually bumped into the Grant Hall wreck. Visibility wasn't that bad, and the current did let up a bit on the way back in. We saw some nice decorator crabs, and the obligatory giant ling cods.
The Ford Ranger worked out great with 3 people. It was the first time we had it out with a third diver along. A bit cramped, but very doable.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Tuwanek 20/05/2012
Jason Kolba and I headed out to Tuwanek because we had not been out that way in a long long time. Also, BC ferries had their cheap ferry deal going on, so it was good to take advantage of that too. I always forgot how much those ferry rides could add up!
The day wasn't the best, a bit cloudy and drizzly. When we arrived, I was quite surprised to see about 4 cars already there. It was a full house, and we had to park further away. I didn't quite catch where the divers were from, but I think it was a club or shop trip.
We geared up and decided to try the North island first. Our original plan was to circumnavigate the island if the visibility was good. When we descended and started out, we quickly realized that we wouldn't be doing that. The visibility was really not that great at all, certainly not what was expected at Tuwanek. It was maybe 30' or so, which was better than back in Vancouver at least. The dive was pretty good apart from that small disappointment. We found the wolf eels at the back of the island, and then turned around and came back. The shallows were quite nice, with a lot of aquatic plants waving in the current.
After some lunch, and a bit of rain, we decided to do the south island and see if we could find the octopus that could be over there. On the swim out, I had a small problem with the o-ring in my low pressure inflator. I ended up having to get out of the water and do a quick repair at the truck. The experience and equipment courses I had were paying off! With that fixed, Jason and I swam out to the white marker buoy and descended. Again, the visibility was pretty bad, but at about 60 feet it cleared up immensely. The vis actually was better than on the first dive. We didn't find the octopus that was sometimes near the marker buoy chain, but we did come across a skate! I had never seen this relative of the ray before, and neither had Jason. It was a really great find. We also came across some large clouds of baby shrimp larvae that were quite impressive.
All in all, the wolf eels and the skate made the trip one to remember! Here is a bit of video:
The day wasn't the best, a bit cloudy and drizzly. When we arrived, I was quite surprised to see about 4 cars already there. It was a full house, and we had to park further away. I didn't quite catch where the divers were from, but I think it was a club or shop trip.
We geared up and decided to try the North island first. Our original plan was to circumnavigate the island if the visibility was good. When we descended and started out, we quickly realized that we wouldn't be doing that. The visibility was really not that great at all, certainly not what was expected at Tuwanek. It was maybe 30' or so, which was better than back in Vancouver at least. The dive was pretty good apart from that small disappointment. We found the wolf eels at the back of the island, and then turned around and came back. The shallows were quite nice, with a lot of aquatic plants waving in the current.
After some lunch, and a bit of rain, we decided to do the south island and see if we could find the octopus that could be over there. On the swim out, I had a small problem with the o-ring in my low pressure inflator. I ended up having to get out of the water and do a quick repair at the truck. The experience and equipment courses I had were paying off! With that fixed, Jason and I swam out to the white marker buoy and descended. Again, the visibility was pretty bad, but at about 60 feet it cleared up immensely. The vis actually was better than on the first dive. We didn't find the octopus that was sometimes near the marker buoy chain, but we did come across a skate! I had never seen this relative of the ray before, and neither had Jason. It was a really great find. We also came across some large clouds of baby shrimp larvae that were quite impressive.
All in all, the wolf eels and the skate made the trip one to remember! Here is a bit of video:
Rescue Course 13/05/2012
I went out with Heather to finish off her rescue course at Whytecliff. We couldn't have asked for a better day, sunny and dry.
All she had to finish was the scenarios, and the group that we had was great. I got to play the victim again, and it was a lot of fun as usual. Not only did Heather finish off the course and do great, but I also got a chance to practice some search and recovery skills. The previous day, one person had lost a fin, and lost another one again. I was able to find the missing fin on one search. Then, my mask was accidentally dropped on the last scenario, and I managed to find that, along with the fin that was lost the previous day, and a 2 pound bullet weight! Not bad!
I do remember when I was running the search that I thought I'd look pretty silly if I couldn't find all this stuff. So I worried for nothing. Guess all the practice and training had paid off!
All she had to finish was the scenarios, and the group that we had was great. I got to play the victim again, and it was a lot of fun as usual. Not only did Heather finish off the course and do great, but I also got a chance to practice some search and recovery skills. The previous day, one person had lost a fin, and lost another one again. I was able to find the missing fin on one search. Then, my mask was accidentally dropped on the last scenario, and I managed to find that, along with the fin that was lost the previous day, and a 2 pound bullet weight! Not bad!
I do remember when I was running the search that I thought I'd look pretty silly if I couldn't find all this stuff. So I worried for nothing. Guess all the practice and training had paid off!
Kelvin Grove 09/05/2012
Jim Dixon and I decided to see what kind of tech diving opportunities that Kelvin Grove had to offer. I was a bit worried about the weather as there was a lot of wind that day, and the ocean was very rough. Still it wasn't raining, and it was a nice enough evening.
When we arrived, we scoped out the site, and deemed it dive-able even with the rough sea. Kelvin Grove is quite sheltered.
After gearing up and hitting the water, we followed our dive plan. After talking to a few people, and drawing on what we already knew of the site, we decided to swim out to the right hand side and follow the rock wall down to a max depth of 45 meters, and just see what it was like.
It turned out to be quite a nice tech dive. The bottom kept sloping down past our planned depth, so you could definitely keep going. The one problem was that it did take quite a few minutes to get to depth, because the bottom sloped quite gradually. Not too much of a problem though, and certainly a nice easy tech dive.
In terms of what we saw, there was nothing beyond the usual. There were nice large boot sponges, and the nice rock wall topography. I liked Kelvin Grove quite and bit, and it still didn't disappoint. In the end, it was probably not worth a second tech dive. You can see all that Kelvin has to offer in recreational depths.
We had a great time though, as always. There was a lot to see in the coming up on our deco stops. Always a bonus to be able to look at something instead of just blue water or a line!
When we arrived, we scoped out the site, and deemed it dive-able even with the rough sea. Kelvin Grove is quite sheltered.
After gearing up and hitting the water, we followed our dive plan. After talking to a few people, and drawing on what we already knew of the site, we decided to swim out to the right hand side and follow the rock wall down to a max depth of 45 meters, and just see what it was like.
It turned out to be quite a nice tech dive. The bottom kept sloping down past our planned depth, so you could definitely keep going. The one problem was that it did take quite a few minutes to get to depth, because the bottom sloped quite gradually. Not too much of a problem though, and certainly a nice easy tech dive.
In terms of what we saw, there was nothing beyond the usual. There were nice large boot sponges, and the nice rock wall topography. I liked Kelvin Grove quite and bit, and it still didn't disappoint. In the end, it was probably not worth a second tech dive. You can see all that Kelvin has to offer in recreational depths.
We had a great time though, as always. There was a lot to see in the coming up on our deco stops. Always a bonus to be able to look at something instead of just blue water or a line!
Porteau Cove 06/05/2012
Heather and I went and did a nice dive at Porteau Cove to make sure that the wrist seals on her suit were better now that they were trimmed. I don't recall too much from the dive, but we followed the firehose and checked out the sailboat and the jungle gym. It wasn't raining and it was a good day of diving!
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