Vlad and I had been talking about doing a scooter dive at Porteau for some time, and it was finally time. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was sunny, fairly warm, and the tide was good. Visibility had been reported to be pretty good as well. Unfortunately, I had scooter problems for the first time in two years. No matter what I did, I couldn't get any response. Time to bring my T-16 in for fixing!
We modified our dive plan, and Vlad towed me out to the Nakaya buoy and we descended there. Unlike the last time I was out at the Nakaya, this time we found it :-) I was scratching my head on how we didn't find it the last time...
The dive itself was good, as always. The visibility wasn't extreme, but it was pretty good. we spent about 20 minutes poking around the Nakaya. We saw some nice big ling cod and some nice nudibranchs, but nothing much else of note. Vlad towed me to the Grant Hall, and we continued from there. We went to check the concrete blocks for octopus, but had no luck. After poking around at the tug and the sailboat, we headed back in.
All in all, a fun little dive! Now, to get my scooter fixed!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Project Baseline Artificial Reef Saskatchewan - 20/10/2013
I joined Jim Dixon as part of the BC Underwater Explorers to participate in Project Baseline Artificial Reef Saskatchewan. It was an exciting goal, to start documenting the growth of life on an artificial reef. Hopefully this information could be used to promote more artificial reefs in the future.
It was an extremely early start to the day for this. I met Dave Williams at Vlad's house, then we piled everything into Dave's truck to make the 6:30am ferry. I had to get up at 4am! It was also quite amusing in that I didn't get Vlad's phone number and relied on Google Maps to find his house. My phone crashed several times on the way, and Google had a very hard time putting me in the right location. In the end I had to use my brain to find the place. Even then, Vlad's house had no house number! So I was left peering in the windows of a strange house at 5am in the morning. In the end, I emailed him my phone number and we got it sorted out. A good thing too, because Dave had problems finding the place as well.
Vlad made us some excellent coffee, and then we were off to the ferry. Everything was going better, until we went to the coffee shop. When we were leaving, Dave saw all the cars loading! We started to run, but found all the doors and gates closed! Thankfully, hiding off to the side was one open ticket booth door, so we were able to get back to the truck and get on board. Whew.
The trip across was uneventful, and we spent the majority of it planning our dives, as well as some good old fashioned BC Ferry breakfast.
We got to the Sea Dragon without incident and started loading. Kevin and Jan of the Topline were over, as the Sea Dragon was not running that day. It was good to see both of them. Once everything was loaded, we were off. Jim gave a dive briefing on what we wanted to accomplish. There would be two stations set up, one forward of the observation tower, and one aft. Zip ties would attach plastic markers to the location on the railing where a line would be run across to the other side. Then video and still images would be taken up and down this line as a reference. These video and images would be used to document the change and growth of life on the wreck. Temperature would also be taken.
Dave was not feeling well, so did not end up diving. Myself, Vlad and Guy Shockey were the team that set up the station to the aft of the tower. Visibility was excellent. Guy had to do some MacGuyvering of the zip ties and plastic markers. The plastic was too thin and the zip ties ripped through the hole that was made. Nice improvisation Guy! I never thought a dive knife would be used to make holes like that. Vlad then did video and pictures up and down the line. Once all that was accomplished, we went and checked out the other team. They were finishing up too, and we all surfaced basically together.
With the goals we needed accomplished, the next dive was just for fun. Vlad and I teamed up, and explored the wreck mostly where the hull met the bottom. We poked our heads into the cutouts, and just took in the sights. I really enjoyed seeing the keel, where it seemed to knife into the bottom. We found a tremendously large ling cod as well. It was at least 5 feet long, and very wide. It started to look kind of grumpy at our intrusion, so we moved on quickly. Under the stern where the propeller shafts were was also very interesting. I had never explored that area before. It provided a very neat swim-through.
One thing that I found quite depressing was some graffiti on the starboard hull of the ship, about mid-ships. Someone had drawn some rude pictures, and scrawled some names as well. Whoever these inconsiderate divers were really should be ashamed of themselves. It reminded me of the happy face someone had drawn in the floor on one of the Mexico caves. These drawings would not disappear any time soon, and now would mar the experience for everyone who came to experience this grand wreck. It was very sad.
However, that was the only low point. Vlad got some very good video, and I hope to post some of it soon. The ride back to Vancouver was very nerve wracking. We had gotten into the 3 pm ferry line up, and the chances of getting on were low according to the ticket agent. It really came down to the wire, where we were watching rows of cars load, and it was getting closer and closer to us. But the lines kept stopping and pausing so we had no idea if we'd go or stay. Finally, we ended up being four of the last cars let on. We were literally almost hanging off the back of the boat! But we made it.
Kisenia posted her video from the day on Vimeo.
HMCS Saskatchewan from Ksenia on Vimeo.
It was an extremely early start to the day for this. I met Dave Williams at Vlad's house, then we piled everything into Dave's truck to make the 6:30am ferry. I had to get up at 4am! It was also quite amusing in that I didn't get Vlad's phone number and relied on Google Maps to find his house. My phone crashed several times on the way, and Google had a very hard time putting me in the right location. In the end I had to use my brain to find the place. Even then, Vlad's house had no house number! So I was left peering in the windows of a strange house at 5am in the morning. In the end, I emailed him my phone number and we got it sorted out. A good thing too, because Dave had problems finding the place as well.
Vlad made us some excellent coffee, and then we were off to the ferry. Everything was going better, until we went to the coffee shop. When we were leaving, Dave saw all the cars loading! We started to run, but found all the doors and gates closed! Thankfully, hiding off to the side was one open ticket booth door, so we were able to get back to the truck and get on board. Whew.
The trip across was uneventful, and we spent the majority of it planning our dives, as well as some good old fashioned BC Ferry breakfast.
We got to the Sea Dragon without incident and started loading. Kevin and Jan of the Topline were over, as the Sea Dragon was not running that day. It was good to see both of them. Once everything was loaded, we were off. Jim gave a dive briefing on what we wanted to accomplish. There would be two stations set up, one forward of the observation tower, and one aft. Zip ties would attach plastic markers to the location on the railing where a line would be run across to the other side. Then video and still images would be taken up and down this line as a reference. These video and images would be used to document the change and growth of life on the wreck. Temperature would also be taken.
Dave was not feeling well, so did not end up diving. Myself, Vlad and Guy Shockey were the team that set up the station to the aft of the tower. Visibility was excellent. Guy had to do some MacGuyvering of the zip ties and plastic markers. The plastic was too thin and the zip ties ripped through the hole that was made. Nice improvisation Guy! I never thought a dive knife would be used to make holes like that. Vlad then did video and pictures up and down the line. Once all that was accomplished, we went and checked out the other team. They were finishing up too, and we all surfaced basically together.
With the goals we needed accomplished, the next dive was just for fun. Vlad and I teamed up, and explored the wreck mostly where the hull met the bottom. We poked our heads into the cutouts, and just took in the sights. I really enjoyed seeing the keel, where it seemed to knife into the bottom. We found a tremendously large ling cod as well. It was at least 5 feet long, and very wide. It started to look kind of grumpy at our intrusion, so we moved on quickly. Under the stern where the propeller shafts were was also very interesting. I had never explored that area before. It provided a very neat swim-through.
One thing that I found quite depressing was some graffiti on the starboard hull of the ship, about mid-ships. Someone had drawn some rude pictures, and scrawled some names as well. Whoever these inconsiderate divers were really should be ashamed of themselves. It reminded me of the happy face someone had drawn in the floor on one of the Mexico caves. These drawings would not disappear any time soon, and now would mar the experience for everyone who came to experience this grand wreck. It was very sad.
However, that was the only low point. Vlad got some very good video, and I hope to post some of it soon. The ride back to Vancouver was very nerve wracking. We had gotten into the 3 pm ferry line up, and the chances of getting on were low according to the ticket agent. It really came down to the wire, where we were watching rows of cars load, and it was getting closer and closer to us. But the lines kept stopping and pausing so we had no idea if we'd go or stay. Finally, we ended up being four of the last cars let on. We were literally almost hanging off the back of the boat! But we made it.
Kisenia posted her video from the day on Vimeo.
HMCS Saskatchewan from Ksenia on Vimeo.
Egmont 11-14/10/2013
I am putting the video, and the picture album here at the top so that you don't have to wade through my long-winded trip report if you don't want to!
My trip photos are here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/103220399355688115810/albums/5935516061902728513
Francois Keen who was also on the trip posted his pictures here. They are very good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/106879217@N06/sets/72157637032405226/
I was very excited about this trip. Heather and I had originally met on this same trip three years ago. At that time, we didn't dive together, so it would be great not only to have an anniversary trip but also to dive together!
Our hosts were once again Kal and Anne of Porpoise Bay Charters, and the trip was organized by International Diving Center. IDC had run a trip to Egmont every year for the last while called the "Strongwater Retreat". It was a small group with six of us: Heather, myself, Alan Johnson, Jonathan Gormick and two divers I didn't know, Francoise and Alex. We began to call the the "International Contingent" during the trip. Francois was French, but had spent many years in New Zealand and Alexei was Russian.
We met up on the Friday at the Egmont Government dock. Alexei and Francois were already there, so we introduced ourselves and started to haul gear onto the dock. Jonathan and Alan showed up not long after, as did Kal and our boat.
We were also greeted by the rest of the boat "crew", Nanuk and Nemo.
We also took the obligatory group shots, which every real trip needed!
We dumped off our gear and picked our accommodations (yurts again!) and then went for a quick evening dive at North Sutton Island. The visibility was excellent, and it was a good indication of the great diving to come. That evening, we had a late dinner and retired quite early in anticipation for the diving the next day.
The morning brought an excellent day. In fact, the whole weekend would be clear and sunny. Some mornings were extremely foggy, but that burned off quite quickly. The clear skies just added to the great weekend.
That morning, we discovered some clever racoons had gotten onto the boat, and had made a partial meal out of Francois' zipper wax. Kal said that they would get into anything if there was something edible. Chief culprits were people leaving snacks on the boat over night. After a hearty breakfast thanks to Anne, we were off for a great day of diving! Heather and I sure were happy!
The first stop was one of my favorites, the Power Lines in Agamemnon Channel. The cloud sponges were amazing as always, and the dwarf gorgonian corals were everywhere. I thought there was a lot more coral than I had seen previously, but it could just be that I was paying attention more. On the way back, we stopped and looked at the pictographs painted on one of the rock walls. Kal gave us a nice talk on some of the things they had learned about these ancient pictures. The next dive was after lunch at Courtnel's Folley, so named because of the man who built a large warehouse that never succeeded. Or at least the story was something like that! I believe we found the wolf eel that I have in the video on this dive. it was quite a surprise to see it. We had stopped to look at something else, then I looked down and there he was!
Nemo's Leap was next, and it was here I think we encountered some sea lion's at the end of the dive. We were on the surface, and Heather pointed excitedly behind me. Low and behold, a sea lion was curious about us and was quite close. Francois and Alexei were at their safety stop, and the sea lion came even nearer them. Francois got some excellent pictures of the sea lion. For me, I wasn't able to get my camera out quick enough to get any good video. It was a great experience!
That night we watched a video I had brought along, "The Land the Devours Ships", a National Geographic Explorer video that was done in 1993. It was about the finding of one of the ships that was sent to find the lost Franklin Expedition. It was a bit long, but was ultimately quite interesting.
The next day had us going to Captain's Corners first, then through the famous Skoocumchuck rapids to the wreck of the Chaudiere. The rapids were quite tame thankfully, and Heather got some video of our crossing them. It's at the start of the video at the top of this page. The Chaudiere was a less interesting wreck in my opinion due to the fact that it seemed to have a lot less life on it. The fact that it was on its side meant that a lot more of the hull was exposed, which seemed difficult for life to get a foot hold on. There did seem to be more growing on it this time though. Anne said that a group of pacific white sided dolphins had cleaned a lot of the life off of the wreck at one point. Maybe it was recovering. Anyway, it was still a very good dive. I found a shaggy mouse nudibranch on this dive, but didn't get any video! I must have turned off the camera instead of turning it on. Oh well, they were not the most interesting looking nudibranchs, but I loved the name and I did not seem them very often.
On the ride back, people got quite sleep in the beautiful day.
The last dive of the day was at South Sutton Island, because the sites that we looked at first were all not optimal. South Sutton was a nice little dive, with a lot of urchins and nice clear water. A perfect little dive before Thanksgiving Dinner!
The dinner was fabulous. Anne made us turkey and stuffing, and we had a great blackberry cobbler for desert. Too full to do much else, we again went to bed pretty early.
The next day dawned very spookily with even more mist and fog. On this the last day, we visited Jaggy Crack, and Swede's Reef. At Jaggy Crack the sheer number of feather stars was just incredible. They covered the wall with their waving tendrils. There were some excellent and very large nudibranchs as well, with a giant orange peel nudibranch, and sea lemons.
The last dive was at Swede's Reef. I was very excited about this dive, because of past experiences. I had found a puget sound king crab carapace on this dive, and I still had it. I was hoping to find another! Octopus used this area as one of their favorite hunting grounds. The deep side of the sea mound provided upwellings of nutrients that contributed to a very productive site. Heather and I found a very nice brown box crab, and a lot of large puget sound king crabs. I did find a carapace, but the crab that was making it had just shed it. It was extremely flimsy, but was quite interesting to see. Then Heather found the octopus! It was under a rock, but was exposed quite well. We got some great video of it sleeping. It was one of the high-lights of the trip. We also found a little moss-headed warbonnet, and lots of other little fish and critters. Swede's reef was one of the high-lights of the weekend.
All in all, the trip was again amazing. Hats off to Kal and Anne for being such gracious hosts, and IDC for organizing the trip! I can't wait for the next one!
My trip photos are here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/103220399355688115810/albums/5935516061902728513
Francois Keen who was also on the trip posted his pictures here. They are very good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/106879217@N06/sets/72157637032405226/
I was very excited about this trip. Heather and I had originally met on this same trip three years ago. At that time, we didn't dive together, so it would be great not only to have an anniversary trip but also to dive together!
Our hosts were once again Kal and Anne of Porpoise Bay Charters, and the trip was organized by International Diving Center. IDC had run a trip to Egmont every year for the last while called the "Strongwater Retreat". It was a small group with six of us: Heather, myself, Alan Johnson, Jonathan Gormick and two divers I didn't know, Francoise and Alex. We began to call the the "International Contingent" during the trip. Francois was French, but had spent many years in New Zealand and Alexei was Russian.
We met up on the Friday at the Egmont Government dock. Alexei and Francois were already there, so we introduced ourselves and started to haul gear onto the dock. Jonathan and Alan showed up not long after, as did Kal and our boat.
The morning brought an excellent day. In fact, the whole weekend would be clear and sunny. Some mornings were extremely foggy, but that burned off quite quickly. The clear skies just added to the great weekend.
That morning, we discovered some clever racoons had gotten onto the boat, and had made a partial meal out of Francois' zipper wax. Kal said that they would get into anything if there was something edible. Chief culprits were people leaving snacks on the boat over night. After a hearty breakfast thanks to Anne, we were off for a great day of diving! Heather and I sure were happy!
Nemo's Leap was next, and it was here I think we encountered some sea lion's at the end of the dive. We were on the surface, and Heather pointed excitedly behind me. Low and behold, a sea lion was curious about us and was quite close. Francois and Alexei were at their safety stop, and the sea lion came even nearer them. Francois got some excellent pictures of the sea lion. For me, I wasn't able to get my camera out quick enough to get any good video. It was a great experience!
That night we watched a video I had brought along, "The Land the Devours Ships", a National Geographic Explorer video that was done in 1993. It was about the finding of one of the ships that was sent to find the lost Franklin Expedition. It was a bit long, but was ultimately quite interesting.
The next day had us going to Captain's Corners first, then through the famous Skoocumchuck rapids to the wreck of the Chaudiere. The rapids were quite tame thankfully, and Heather got some video of our crossing them. It's at the start of the video at the top of this page. The Chaudiere was a less interesting wreck in my opinion due to the fact that it seemed to have a lot less life on it. The fact that it was on its side meant that a lot more of the hull was exposed, which seemed difficult for life to get a foot hold on. There did seem to be more growing on it this time though. Anne said that a group of pacific white sided dolphins had cleaned a lot of the life off of the wreck at one point. Maybe it was recovering. Anyway, it was still a very good dive. I found a shaggy mouse nudibranch on this dive, but didn't get any video! I must have turned off the camera instead of turning it on. Oh well, they were not the most interesting looking nudibranchs, but I loved the name and I did not seem them very often.
On the ride back, people got quite sleep in the beautiful day.
The dinner was fabulous. Anne made us turkey and stuffing, and we had a great blackberry cobbler for desert. Too full to do much else, we again went to bed pretty early.
The next day dawned very spookily with even more mist and fog. On this the last day, we visited Jaggy Crack, and Swede's Reef. At Jaggy Crack the sheer number of feather stars was just incredible. They covered the wall with their waving tendrils. There were some excellent and very large nudibranchs as well, with a giant orange peel nudibranch, and sea lemons.
The last dive was at Swede's Reef. I was very excited about this dive, because of past experiences. I had found a puget sound king crab carapace on this dive, and I still had it. I was hoping to find another! Octopus used this area as one of their favorite hunting grounds. The deep side of the sea mound provided upwellings of nutrients that contributed to a very productive site. Heather and I found a very nice brown box crab, and a lot of large puget sound king crabs. I did find a carapace, but the crab that was making it had just shed it. It was extremely flimsy, but was quite interesting to see. Then Heather found the octopus! It was under a rock, but was exposed quite well. We got some great video of it sleeping. It was one of the high-lights of the trip. We also found a little moss-headed warbonnet, and lots of other little fish and critters. Swede's reef was one of the high-lights of the weekend.
All in all, the trip was again amazing. Hats off to Kal and Anne for being such gracious hosts, and IDC for organizing the trip! I can't wait for the next one!
Whytecliff 09/10/2013
Vlad and I went out to Whytecliff for a short skills dive. I had to get some more practice in for my upcoming Tech 1+ class in November. We did some valve drills, ran some line, and did gas switches. It went pretty well. It was getting darker a lot sooner, so it was more challenging doing valve drills in mid-water.
We didn't see a lot of anything interesting. I did learn that I needed to practice more on my line-work and on my valve drills. Slow steady improvements!
We didn't see a lot of anything interesting. I did learn that I needed to practice more on my line-work and on my valve drills. Slow steady improvements!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Porteau Cove 02/10/2013
Dave Williams, Jim Dixon and myself went out to Porteau Cove for a quick scooter dive. It had been a long time since Dave had his scooter out, and same with me. Dave had gotten some new batteries, so it was a good test. Poor Jim had his scooter away for maintenance, so we did some practicing towing. Jim announced the up-coming launch of GUE-BC. Exciting times for diving in the Vancouver area! It was great to see that the community was building. I was looking forward to some of the projects that were being planned. Especially the marine life monitoring project on the Saskatchewan.
The plan was for me to tow Jim, and we'd follow the firehose, then make for the Nakaya. Things went a bit sideways when Jim and I arrived at the concrete block near the Nakaya and discovered that Dave was no where to be found! I had mistaken Jim's light for Dave's, and had not stopped on the way out to check if Dave as still there. It certainly reminded me how easy it was to lose someone while scootering! I also re-enforced the good practice of proper awareness. Being on the trigger full blast all the time was not the goal! Jim and I surfaced and quickly located Dave, who had surfaced as well. We met up at the marker buoy for the Nakaya and Dave explained that he had turned the pitch down too far on his scooter and couldn't keep up. We descended back down, and Dave re-adjusted his pitch and did a few practice loops. All was well from that point. We tied off our scooters on the concrete block, and set out to find the Nakaya. I discovered that my estimate on my suit inflation bottle was not adequate. The extra surface and descent drained the last of my gas from the bottle, so I was getting quite the suit squeeze! I got the team to hold, and connected my LPI hose briefly to get enough gas into my suit so that it was comfortable again. Ahh! Much better! I knew that I would only have to vent gas from my suit from that point on, so it was all good.
It was a night for incidents, because the next thing was that we could not find the Nakaya! You would think such a large object would be pretty easy to find. I am embarrassed to say that it eluded us this evening. Visibility wasn't that bad, but we must have just missed it. I knew it was near, but it wasn't meant to be. We even lost the scooters for a bit of time! Finally we found the concrete block again, and retrieved them. Then it was a short ride back to the Grant Hall hull. Dave almost ran right into it, it came up quite fast. For the rest of the dive after that point, we put the scooters away and just swam. There were no octopus that I could find, but at the end of the dive there were quite a few fish carcases in the shallows. They were being devoured by an army of various crabs of all sizes. The feeding frenzy was so violent that the fish seemed to be moving! I had never seen crabs so active in feeding before, and in such numbers. There were large schools of perch in the shallows too, that were surprised and confused by our lights. I chased them around a bit with my scooter. Unfortunately Dave said he sucked a few through his prop blades. Poor fish!
All in all, a good dive, where I learned a lot, yet again. I was glad to be reminded of the importance of team unity and communication.
The plan was for me to tow Jim, and we'd follow the firehose, then make for the Nakaya. Things went a bit sideways when Jim and I arrived at the concrete block near the Nakaya and discovered that Dave was no where to be found! I had mistaken Jim's light for Dave's, and had not stopped on the way out to check if Dave as still there. It certainly reminded me how easy it was to lose someone while scootering! I also re-enforced the good practice of proper awareness. Being on the trigger full blast all the time was not the goal! Jim and I surfaced and quickly located Dave, who had surfaced as well. We met up at the marker buoy for the Nakaya and Dave explained that he had turned the pitch down too far on his scooter and couldn't keep up. We descended back down, and Dave re-adjusted his pitch and did a few practice loops. All was well from that point. We tied off our scooters on the concrete block, and set out to find the Nakaya. I discovered that my estimate on my suit inflation bottle was not adequate. The extra surface and descent drained the last of my gas from the bottle, so I was getting quite the suit squeeze! I got the team to hold, and connected my LPI hose briefly to get enough gas into my suit so that it was comfortable again. Ahh! Much better! I knew that I would only have to vent gas from my suit from that point on, so it was all good.
It was a night for incidents, because the next thing was that we could not find the Nakaya! You would think such a large object would be pretty easy to find. I am embarrassed to say that it eluded us this evening. Visibility wasn't that bad, but we must have just missed it. I knew it was near, but it wasn't meant to be. We even lost the scooters for a bit of time! Finally we found the concrete block again, and retrieved them. Then it was a short ride back to the Grant Hall hull. Dave almost ran right into it, it came up quite fast. For the rest of the dive after that point, we put the scooters away and just swam. There were no octopus that I could find, but at the end of the dive there were quite a few fish carcases in the shallows. They were being devoured by an army of various crabs of all sizes. The feeding frenzy was so violent that the fish seemed to be moving! I had never seen crabs so active in feeding before, and in such numbers. There were large schools of perch in the shallows too, that were surprised and confused by our lights. I chased them around a bit with my scooter. Unfortunately Dave said he sucked a few through his prop blades. Poor fish!
All in all, a good dive, where I learned a lot, yet again. I was glad to be reminded of the importance of team unity and communication.
Whytecliff 18/09/2013
Vlad and I planned to do a Wednesday night dive at The Cut. Dave Williams was going to join, but got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it. There was some crazy traffic that evening on the Iron Workers bridge.
Living in North Vancouver again was really paying off. With Vlad living nearby too, it really made getting to the dive site a lot easier. The park was a lot less crowded since summer was over. The weather was quite good, sunny and not rainy. It was getting noticeably darker during the evenings, and this would be a real night dive!
We planned for a 70 minute dive with 10 minutes of deco on O2, and an average depth of 25 meters. The visibility was pretty good, but the current was pretty strong when we started to the right of the Cut. There were a great number of dead star fish. I didn't know what they were until later, though. They looked like patches of blue-ish slime. Not much like a star fish at all! There shear number of them was quite different, I had not seen something like that before. Later in the week I asked the Vancouver Aquarium staff about it, and they said that die-offs can happen for a lot of different reasons.
Apart from that, I don't think there was much else of note to report. It was a pleasant dive, and nice to get out of the water when there was no rain!
Living in North Vancouver again was really paying off. With Vlad living nearby too, it really made getting to the dive site a lot easier. The park was a lot less crowded since summer was over. The weather was quite good, sunny and not rainy. It was getting noticeably darker during the evenings, and this would be a real night dive!
We planned for a 70 minute dive with 10 minutes of deco on O2, and an average depth of 25 meters. The visibility was pretty good, but the current was pretty strong when we started to the right of the Cut. There were a great number of dead star fish. I didn't know what they were until later, though. They looked like patches of blue-ish slime. Not much like a star fish at all! There shear number of them was quite different, I had not seen something like that before. Later in the week I asked the Vancouver Aquarium staff about it, and they said that die-offs can happen for a lot of different reasons.
Apart from that, I don't think there was much else of note to report. It was a pleasant dive, and nice to get out of the water when there was no rain!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Kelvin Grove 11/09/2013
Dave, Jim and I did an evening tech dive at Kelvin Grove. I didn't bring my camera along, and I ended up regretting it because we saw some really great stuff.
I led the dive, and we came across a stubby squid. I didn't take this picture, but this was a good representation of it.
The stubby squid was super cool. We watched it for a few minutes, and then left it alone. There were a lot of sailfin sculpins as well, which I had not seen that often in the past.
I led the dive, and we came across a stubby squid. I didn't take this picture, but this was a good representation of it.
The stubby squid was super cool. We watched it for a few minutes, and then left it alone. There were a lot of sailfin sculpins as well, which I had not seen that often in the past.
At the end of the dive, a salmon surprised us. I had never seen a salmon on a dive before. We were in the shallows and I saw something dart quickly to my right. The salmon swam quickly around us a few times, then vanished. It was very cool!
Sponge Bioherm 25/08/2013
Myself, Vlad, and Jim went out on the Topline to dive the sponge bioherm again.
It was an excellent day for a dive. There was a fair amount of surface current, so the descent was quick, and I was a bit worried that we might miss the bioherm. However, it worked out great in the end. Jim and Dave dove together and went first. We were going to stay as a group of four, but that didn't work out because of the current. We did end up meeting up on the dive, passing each other. The sponges were amazing as always. I remember seeing some of the biggest ling cods I had seen in a long time. Vlad got some good photos.
https://plus.google.com/photos/103220399355688115810/albums/5916839587767052033
The second dive we did was on the back side of Boywer Island. I'd never dove back there before, so it was quite cool. It was a nice wall, and Vlad and I had a good dive. I didn't find anything particularly interesting, but it was still a nice dive. All in all, it was a successful day of diving.
It was an excellent day for a dive. There was a fair amount of surface current, so the descent was quick, and I was a bit worried that we might miss the bioherm. However, it worked out great in the end. Jim and Dave dove together and went first. We were going to stay as a group of four, but that didn't work out because of the current. We did end up meeting up on the dive, passing each other. The sponges were amazing as always. I remember seeing some of the biggest ling cods I had seen in a long time. Vlad got some good photos.
https://plus.google.com/photos/103220399355688115810/albums/5916839587767052033
The second dive we did was on the back side of Boywer Island. I'd never dove back there before, so it was quite cool. It was a nice wall, and Vlad and I had a good dive. I didn't find anything particularly interesting, but it was still a nice dive. All in all, it was a successful day of diving.
Friday, August 16, 2013
The Cut 07/08/2013
Dave Williams, Jim myself and a GUE diver I had not personally met before, Valdimir, decided to do a technical dive at the Cut at Whytecliff.
It was great to finally meet Vlad, who had moved to Vancouver a few months ago. The parking was scarce at Whytecliff, summer had made it very busy. We didn't get great spots, but it wasn't bad. The evening was perfect. It was warm, but not scorching. I wore a thinner undergarment thinking that the water temperature would be quite warm with the constant sun we had been getting. I was wrong!
The dive went great. We planned for a 40 minute dive with an average depth of 39 meters. The visibility was not bad. It certainly wasn't horrible! Dave and myself dove together, but we did stay together as a "team" of 4. Vlad and Jim formed the second team. On the wall, I found a very nice golf ball crab who promptly got skittish and dropped off the ledge he was on into the abyss. Oops! I also found two very nice decorated warbonnets in crevices. We didn't come across any octopus, but we did find a giant giant ling cod. The glass sponges also looked bigger than normal.
It was a pretty cold dive, I must say. Deco at 6 meters was warmer, but not as warm as I was expecting. There was also quite a bit of current. We came back into Whytecliff bay to do our deco, so eventually we got out of the current. Dave had a problem with his deco reg and was low on deco gas. He ended up running out near the end of the deco, so it gave some good practice sharing deco gas with no real risk
All in all, a very fun dive!
It was great to finally meet Vlad, who had moved to Vancouver a few months ago. The parking was scarce at Whytecliff, summer had made it very busy. We didn't get great spots, but it wasn't bad. The evening was perfect. It was warm, but not scorching. I wore a thinner undergarment thinking that the water temperature would be quite warm with the constant sun we had been getting. I was wrong!
The dive went great. We planned for a 40 minute dive with an average depth of 39 meters. The visibility was not bad. It certainly wasn't horrible! Dave and myself dove together, but we did stay together as a "team" of 4. Vlad and Jim formed the second team. On the wall, I found a very nice golf ball crab who promptly got skittish and dropped off the ledge he was on into the abyss. Oops! I also found two very nice decorated warbonnets in crevices. We didn't come across any octopus, but we did find a giant giant ling cod. The glass sponges also looked bigger than normal.
It was a pretty cold dive, I must say. Deco at 6 meters was warmer, but not as warm as I was expecting. There was also quite a bit of current. We came back into Whytecliff bay to do our deco, so eventually we got out of the current. Dave had a problem with his deco reg and was low on deco gas. He ended up running out near the end of the deco, so it gave some good practice sharing deco gas with no real risk
All in all, a very fun dive!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Madrona 28/07/2013
Heather and I joined Jim and Greg at Madrona for a very nice two dives.
On arrival, we noticed wedding party activity. Folks were cleaning the beach, shuttling in people and all manner of activity. We joked that we might end up being part of the wedding photos!
The first dive was excellent. We went to the big wall, and found three octopus. Jim and Greg found a wolf eel that Heather and I missed. The visibility was great, and the sun was awesome.
Heather found she had a bit of a leak in her suit, so she sat out for the second dive. Greg, Jim and myself went to the smaller wall to see what we could see. There was a nice buffalo sculpin, and another small giant pacific octopus. We also found an interesting rock overhang, and could not resist "cave" diving.
All in all, a very very fun day!
Here is a little bit of video. Heather's new light came in very handy making things look a lot less green!
On arrival, we noticed wedding party activity. Folks were cleaning the beach, shuttling in people and all manner of activity. We joked that we might end up being part of the wedding photos!
The first dive was excellent. We went to the big wall, and found three octopus. Jim and Greg found a wolf eel that Heather and I missed. The visibility was great, and the sun was awesome.
Heather found she had a bit of a leak in her suit, so she sat out for the second dive. Greg, Jim and myself went to the smaller wall to see what we could see. There was a nice buffalo sculpin, and another small giant pacific octopus. We also found an interesting rock overhang, and could not resist "cave" diving.
All in all, a very very fun day!
Here is a little bit of video. Heather's new light came in very handy making things look a lot less green!
Capilano and Gulf Stream 21/07/2013
I had really been looking forward to this dive. Jim Dixon had arranged to go to the Capilano and Gulf Stream with Bill Coltart from Pacific Pro Dive. The plan was to do two technical dives on these wrecks. Very exciting!
On the trip was myself, Jim, Greg, Dave, Guy and three folks from Pacific Pro Dive. Bill had made some changes to the boat, the Ata-Tude which I had been wanting to see. You could now stand up to put your gear on if you liked, and that made using doubles a much easier proposition than before. A great change Bill!
I car-pooled with Dave Williams and Jim to Comox. Dave was getting his last two experience dives in to complete his Tech 1. It was a perfect day, sunny but not too warm. When we arrived in Comox, we loaded up the boat and headed out. The tide was a bit against us due to a later start, so there was some question on whether we were going to be able to do the Gulf Stream at all. The first dive was on the Capilano, and the visibility was excellent. Greg and I did a 36 meter average dive for 30 minutes and did our deco on oxygen. The plan was to spend more time on oxygen, and have a two hour surface interval to maximize our time for the subsequent Gulf Stream. Sometimes you just couldn't do the dive you expected first, and that's where planning and applying your decompression knowledge was invaluable.
The Capilano was a lot of fun. Greg found a very nice giant pacific octopus in the wreckage of the forward hold. I don't have any video of that, but here is some of the video I did get.
We had a very enjoyable surface interval in Lund after. Nancy's Bakery there made the best cinnamon rolls around! We did have a small problem with a horde of wasps, but it was a great lunch.
We aimed for the Gulf Stream as Bill thought it was doable. There was quite a bit of current in the upper 60 feet of water, so it was very interesting getting down. We were hanging off the anchor line the whole way. The Gulf Stream was one of Greg's favorite wrecks, and it didn't disappoint. Once we were on the wreck, the current died down to almost nothing, so it was a great dive. I saw some of the biggest ling cod ever on that wreck. One was at least 6 feet long! According to Bill later, the really big ling cod were on the wreck of the Scepter Squamish. I couldn't imagine how big those could be! We also found a really nice puget sound king crab hanging out on the hull. The Gulf Stream was awesome. I didn't get any video, because I was busy taking it all in with my eyes. Our dive profile was an average of 45 meters for 25 minutes, and it worked out great. In theory you were supposed to be able to do your deco up the wall beside the wreck, but the current was too strong, so up the line we went. It was a great deal of fun doing a one-handed gas switch while hanging on to the line! Guy commented after that it was a great learning experience, hahah!
Dave passed his Tech 1, so that was an added bonus to a truly great day of diving. Congratulations Dave!
On the trip was myself, Jim, Greg, Dave, Guy and three folks from Pacific Pro Dive. Bill had made some changes to the boat, the Ata-Tude which I had been wanting to see. You could now stand up to put your gear on if you liked, and that made using doubles a much easier proposition than before. A great change Bill!
I car-pooled with Dave Williams and Jim to Comox. Dave was getting his last two experience dives in to complete his Tech 1. It was a perfect day, sunny but not too warm. When we arrived in Comox, we loaded up the boat and headed out. The tide was a bit against us due to a later start, so there was some question on whether we were going to be able to do the Gulf Stream at all. The first dive was on the Capilano, and the visibility was excellent. Greg and I did a 36 meter average dive for 30 minutes and did our deco on oxygen. The plan was to spend more time on oxygen, and have a two hour surface interval to maximize our time for the subsequent Gulf Stream. Sometimes you just couldn't do the dive you expected first, and that's where planning and applying your decompression knowledge was invaluable.
The Capilano was a lot of fun. Greg found a very nice giant pacific octopus in the wreckage of the forward hold. I don't have any video of that, but here is some of the video I did get.
We had a very enjoyable surface interval in Lund after. Nancy's Bakery there made the best cinnamon rolls around! We did have a small problem with a horde of wasps, but it was a great lunch.
We aimed for the Gulf Stream as Bill thought it was doable. There was quite a bit of current in the upper 60 feet of water, so it was very interesting getting down. We were hanging off the anchor line the whole way. The Gulf Stream was one of Greg's favorite wrecks, and it didn't disappoint. Once we were on the wreck, the current died down to almost nothing, so it was a great dive. I saw some of the biggest ling cod ever on that wreck. One was at least 6 feet long! According to Bill later, the really big ling cod were on the wreck of the Scepter Squamish. I couldn't imagine how big those could be! We also found a really nice puget sound king crab hanging out on the hull. The Gulf Stream was awesome. I didn't get any video, because I was busy taking it all in with my eyes. Our dive profile was an average of 45 meters for 25 minutes, and it worked out great. In theory you were supposed to be able to do your deco up the wall beside the wreck, but the current was too strong, so up the line we went. It was a great deal of fun doing a one-handed gas switch while hanging on to the line! Guy commented after that it was a great learning experience, hahah!
Dave passed his Tech 1, so that was an added bonus to a truly great day of diving. Congratulations Dave!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Cape Breton and Riv Tow 06/07/2013
Jan and Kevin from the Sea Dragon called me and asked me to come along for a dive. NDO had a diver that was without a buddy, and they were stuck, so they asked me. I was happy to oblige.
I was diving with Jesse, who was used to diving in the cold waters of the Saint Lawrence. They were quite a good diver, and I was impressed.
It was a rough trip out to the Cape Breton. The wind was up and there were quite a few swells. Steve from NDO was out doing a class, as well as Christine from the Sea Dragon. Jesse and I had a good dive on the Breton, looking for the wolf eel that had been recently seen. We didn't find it, but did investigate the impressive cloud sponges and other life. There was a fried egg jellyfish that was caught on the railing. It was quite large and it looked like someone had thrown an egg at the side of the ship.
Since it was a bit too rough, we went back in and did the Riv Tow. I had never done it, so it was a welcome opportunity. We checked the starboard hull for the octopus den, and did find the octopus. However, he was very far back in the den, and a kelp greenling kicked up the silt right in front of the den so it completely obscured the octopus. Too bad!
The rest of the Riv Tow was quite nice. The prop was interesting, and the micro life was great. I found several large mosshead warbonnets in the deck channels. There were also rainbow shrimp that I did not see very often.
The weather was amazing, apart from the rough ocean, and it was a great set of dives.
Thank you Sea Dragon!
Tyee 01/07/2013
Heather and I went to Tyee to attend the Nanaimo Dive Outfitters Canada Day dive and barbecue.
When we arrived, we were a bit worried that it might be too hot to dive. It's funny that summer diving might be too hot! But when you had to get into such a lot of gear and undergarments, you could quickly overheat and hot days are a big consideration. The good thing was that there was a nice cool breeze, and the sun was hidden by periodic clouds.
Once in the water, it was a different story. There was a pretty decent thermocline, with the surface layer being quite warm. Under that, it was a lot colder than normal. It turned out to be a very good dive. The visibility was nice, maybe 30 feet. We went looking for the wolf eels on the right wall, but missed them. Later, I'd ask Steve from NDO where they were. If I recall, you should swim out south, following the sandy chute. Then look for a big rock like an anvil, and follow the wall down keeping it on your right. At the anvil rock go down to 80 feet and they should be right there.
We didn't see them, but did see a nice big puget sound king crab and some nice nudibranchs. Heather was trying out a new Sola dive light that worked quite well for video.
After the dive, we got a burger and some corn on the cob thanks to Nanaimo Dive Outfitters. Thanks guys!
When we arrived, we were a bit worried that it might be too hot to dive. It's funny that summer diving might be too hot! But when you had to get into such a lot of gear and undergarments, you could quickly overheat and hot days are a big consideration. The good thing was that there was a nice cool breeze, and the sun was hidden by periodic clouds.
Once in the water, it was a different story. There was a pretty decent thermocline, with the surface layer being quite warm. Under that, it was a lot colder than normal. It turned out to be a very good dive. The visibility was nice, maybe 30 feet. We went looking for the wolf eels on the right wall, but missed them. Later, I'd ask Steve from NDO where they were. If I recall, you should swim out south, following the sandy chute. Then look for a big rock like an anvil, and follow the wall down keeping it on your right. At the anvil rock go down to 80 feet and they should be right there.
We didn't see them, but did see a nice big puget sound king crab and some nice nudibranchs. Heather was trying out a new Sola dive light that worked quite well for video.
After the dive, we got a burger and some corn on the cob thanks to Nanaimo Dive Outfitters. Thanks guys!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
China Creek 16/06/2013
Greg, Jim and I decided to do China Creek again. We met at my place, and car-pooled up. Unfortunately when we arrived, Jim discovered he left his backplate and wing at home! Luckily he brought his own car, so didn't have to stick around all day.
Greg and I did the bigger wreck first. We brought O2, and planned to maybe use it if our average depth warranted it. We ran a line and did a short penetration of the wreck. It was a lot of fun, and good to put our cave training to use. It was a pretty short penetration, maybe 5 minutes. There really wasn't much to see since the wreck was quite small, maybe a hundred feet long. We poked around for a while, then headed back to the beach.
Chris and Kim met us for the second dive. We did the wall next. One thing I did notice quite a bit was how cold the water was. But when you got to the beach and into 20 feet of water, it felt like a hot bath, since the water there was so much warmer. Greg and I did some valve drills and s-drills in that warm water, to take advantage of it! The dive on the wall was nice. It was fairly barren of life, and I still thought it was more fun to scooter it, but it was still good. Greg found a very odd translucent formation. We had no idea what it was. It wasn't an anemone, possibly an egg case? It was not soft, but quite hard. At the end of the dive, we did some mask removal and backup mask deployment drills. Boy was that cold!
Here is a bit of video:
Greg and I did the bigger wreck first. We brought O2, and planned to maybe use it if our average depth warranted it. We ran a line and did a short penetration of the wreck. It was a lot of fun, and good to put our cave training to use. It was a pretty short penetration, maybe 5 minutes. There really wasn't much to see since the wreck was quite small, maybe a hundred feet long. We poked around for a while, then headed back to the beach.
Chris and Kim met us for the second dive. We did the wall next. One thing I did notice quite a bit was how cold the water was. But when you got to the beach and into 20 feet of water, it felt like a hot bath, since the water there was so much warmer. Greg and I did some valve drills and s-drills in that warm water, to take advantage of it! The dive on the wall was nice. It was fairly barren of life, and I still thought it was more fun to scooter it, but it was still good. Greg found a very odd translucent formation. We had no idea what it was. It wasn't an anemone, possibly an egg case? It was not soft, but quite hard. At the end of the dive, we did some mask removal and backup mask deployment drills. Boy was that cold!
Here is a bit of video:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
