Much Harder Than It Looks....

What a busy week!! Last week I had my Photography class on Monday, Aquarium Orientation on Wednesday night and Aquarium volunteer interview on Thursday!  Then, to top off my week and start this busy one, yesterday I had my Photography class and the shop BBQ.  Arriving early as always, I parked in the typical lower parking lot, right by the benches and in a perfect spot for a short walk to the shore.  Then within a couple minutes of arriving I saw Dennis arrive and head to the upper parking.  So throwing my fins back in the van I moved up to where he had parked.  Soon after Matt arrived and said Wes had let him know we would meet in the lower lot after all, as there would be more space.  Dennis and I decided to wait to see what Wes and Shannon wanted to do when they got there as they were only a couple minutes behind Matt.  Once they arrived they let us know that we would be using the upper lot as that is what they had mentioned on the original email...lol.  But after reviewing the lot, we decided to compromise and move to the middle lot, giving us the room we would need but keeping us close to our original plan so that no one would be lost or confused...lol.  Lots of work and we hadn't even started yet.

Once parked it was time to assemble kits and review notes and start getting everything ready for our Photography dives.  Once the whole class arrived, and with our gear all assembled we sat with Wes to discuss the plan for the day, buddy up and then get out gear on.

After our short briefing and with gear in place and buddy teams arranged we headed for the water.  Of course with Chloe still out with her foot, there was only 5 divers going in, Matt with the one student and me with the other DM and Wes watching us all.  The idea for the first dive was to have each of us try to focus on Macro photography and get REALLY close to stuff, and then practice getting our lights in the right spots so that we could try to get a few shots that worked.

This is where everything went pear shaped for me, my strobe is apparently VERY bright and the resulting "flash" was blowing away all of my photos, even with my shutter set up really high, and my aperture really low and ISO set at 80 (as low as it goes), my photos were still oddly over exposed.  The only thing that started to work was moving the strobe further away from the object but that resulted in back-scatter, (when all the particulate in the water is lit up and very prominent in the photos.)  Wes did his best to try to help me accommodate to the blasting light and even tried snapping off a few himself helping me get things a little more dialed in.  Then to complicate matters, visibility sucked pretty bad and was not helped by the fact 5 divers were trying to get as close to the ground as possible and then take off again without disturbing the ground... easier said then done.  For much of the first part of the dive we had debris everywhere and were struggling to shoot through it.  Wes led the way most of the time moving back and forth between the two groups and giving tips as he could.  He even flipped a sun star over for me so that I could photograph it as is set itself right again.  Then as we got a little deeper and visibility got a little better we were able to separate a little more and managed to get a few more usable images.  But alas, before long, people started getting cold and air started to run shorter so we headed back in to the shallows capturing images as we did and then headed up for lunch, a debrief and a chance to review some of the images.

Getting my laptop out of the van it took only a minute to download all of my failed attempts and my few success' onto my computer.  Then Wes was able to scroll through them and see what if anything he could tell me that would help me move from being totally worthless at underwater photography to at least somewhat useable...lol.  Everyone ended up with a shot or two that they were happy with and then it was time to eat!

Now I love the Ocean Pro BBQ's, in fact I love BBQ's in general...lol and this was no exception.  For $5 you get a couple of amazing burgers, some salad, a pop, and all sorts of other plate (and stomach) fillers.  Ashley was there to help with the cooking, and Shannon kept everyone organized while encouraging people to eat more...lol.  Amongst some of the other divers in attendance were Dennis, Ward, and Virpi (my supremely incredible instructors) and Stewart (the man who keeps everything running.)  After having my fill of burgers it was time to clean up, stow my laptop, and change the batteries in my camera (just to be safe). 

With everything clean, stowed and changed, it was time to head for the water.  With our team together we waded into the water and this time had the plan to go out a bit further and descend along the wall and see if we could capture images of the life along the rock.  After descending and meeting at the bottom it was time to (in our pairs) move out along the bottom and wall and find exciting life and items and attempt to capture usable images.  After a few feet I went in for a photo of a sunstar and it came out black... so I moved the light in a bit, adjusted a couple settings, and boom... blown out and WAY too bright.... a couple more setting changes... still to bright... again... still bright but better... a couple of tweeks... black again!  Grrrrr!!!

Now that I was one step away from seeing how far I could throw my camera underwater.. I decided to try one more time... this time, while still black.. I noticed something.. I didn't see a big flash...hmm.  So, holding the camera away from me, I pulled the trigger... sure enough, my on board flash went off.. but no strobe...  I flicked the switch back and forth.... nothing... the batteries were dead!!  I had thought to switch my camera batteries but had not thought that the strobe batteries would be that low.... Grrrrr!!!

Well, with my photography done for the day, it was time to follow Wes and my buddy around.  Now my buddy didn't seem to be taking many photos either, she seemed to be mostly following Wes and watching what he was doing... looks like great minds think alike... literally... she had forgot to switch her batteries too...lol.  As it turned out once the dive was done, Wes had a failure in one of his strobes, and pretty much everyone else had battery issues. 

All said and done it was a great day and fun dives and I even got a couple images that I am sort of happy with.  I've attached them below, let me know what you think, and if you have tips.. let me know those too.

You are healed!!

Ok, despite the blasphemous humor, I was not actually healing anyone, more saving their lives... and believe me Mr Matt Mendez needs a lot of Rescuing...lol.  I mean, he got tired all of a sudden, so I towed him in a little way and reassured him, then he went back out and panicked, so I went out and got him and brought him back in, then he panicked again so I had to go under the surface and come up behind him to settle him down.  Then he was tired again but when I got to him he went into a panic and tried to climb on me so again I had to submerge and come up around him to secure him and get his BCD inflated so he could calm down.  No sooner was all this done, then he ran out of air at depth, so being the good buddy I was I shared mine and we made the gentle ascent to the surface. 

The day didn't stop there, Matt first started over-exerting himself meaning I had to get him to calm down, then he tried to make a rapid, panic ascent to the surface so I had to deflate both our BCDs and arrest his ascent and then control our combined ascent to the surface!  A short time later Matt ran out of air again, this time he was in a panic so I had to quickly grab my octo and just about ram it into his mouth, make sure he had it and then control our slow ascent to the surface. 

I think all the activity on the day wore on Matt though, it wasn't long before I found him unresponsive on the bottom and after attempting to get his attention I had to grab his BCD and making sure his reg stayed in place and take him to the surface and inflate his BCD so I could assess further.  Of course this whole time, Dennis was of no help, he just watched me save Matt over and over again and even (I suspect) led to some of Matts precarious situations...lol.  Fortunately I think Matt was paying attention because when Dennis told us there was a "missing diver" (ankle weight), Matt was very useful in counting our kick cycles as I navigated across the bottom in our U shape search pattern.  It wasn't long before we recovered our "missing diver," don't worry the ankle weights recovered just fine and will live to dive again! and Matt and I were even so careful with our recovery that after finding the "diver" we decided to have a safety stop even though we hadn't exceeded 20 feet, and played a couple rounds of Rock Paper Scissors before I felt the need to do a couple Mask R&R's (remove and replace) before taking the victim to the surface. 

Honestly I don't think it was anybody's day, there were unresponsive divers everywhere, or at least in our group it seemed like everyone but Dennis and Matt (he finally learned) were having issues and were requiring their buddies to flip them over to get their faces out of the water, remove their masks and while administering rescue breathes move them to shore while pulling all theirs and their buddies gear off and passing it to someone else in the group to hold.  Even I had a bout of unresponsiveness followed by an immediate recovery in time for me to find my buddy face down and in need of rescue! lol.

As all of you have probably assessed, all of these events were controlled and planned and very well supervised.  This was class number one of two for my Rescue Certification with Dennis instructing and Matt surving as DM and buddy to me. No one was ever in any kind of danger, no one really ran out of air or became non-responsive or truly panicked...lol.  This was probably one of my most exhausting days in the water but despite the sore muscles and hard work, this was probably one of my favorite courses as I definitely feel more confident in the water.  I know I am still a baby as far as divers go but I certainly felt that getting through this first part of the course has raised me up a few bars and combined with my EFR course I am confident that I am becoming a better diver and a better buddy every time I am out.

Next week is Photography, which should be interesting considering I have a fairly solid grasp of photography on the surface, but underwater.... a whole new adventure!

Andrew to the Rescue part... Doh!!

Ok, so last night was classroom take #2...lol.  As those of you who read Andrew to the Rescue.... Or Not?
 you are well aware that in February I completed the classroom session with the one other student enrolled in the Rescue course at that time but the following weekend when Virpi was to take us to Wytecliff to drown us and have us rescue each other.... just kidding Moms, nobody drowns, we just pretend... my partner was unable to join us!  So the course unfortunately, was put on hold until we could find a suitable date.  So, inevitably, in March we finally settled on the end of April to get the Rescue course back on track, so then it was just time to hurry up and wait.... This brought us to Thursday where (since new people had joined the group) we had our second classroom time.  Showing up right in time for class and greeted by my good friend Ward... apparently the Wonder Woman herself, the one who never catches anything and, through absolute sheer will, doesn't get sick.... got sick!!   No worries though, Ward is an amazing teacher... and besides the irony still play true... he was one of the three divers from the shop that went into the water during Seals to Emergencies to demonstrate a live rescue scenario for us brand new students (how kind of them...) I had decided to attend class to brush up on my Rescue theory, besides, if I was gonna rescue you, wouldn't you want me to have as much training and knowledge as possible.... I thought so!

So as Ward took us through the book, the videos and the review questions, taking his time to highlight specific things and open others up for discussion, the group of us all reached a solid understanding of not only what to do, but why to do it and what to expect when it happens.  All in all, as usual, a GREAT class!

The end of Wards class' always come too early, I don't think I could ever talk about diving too much, at least for me, I know it's too much for a lot of people who hear me talk about it but that is also why I type this, so I can talk and for anyone who's interested, they can listen (or read).  Class ended and of course the question comes up, who's teaching on the weekend?  Was Virpi going to be better by then?  Unfortunately this is when things turned, you see Virpi was REALLY sick, so the weekend was out, Ward had a class to teach on Sunday and a previous, unchangeable (believe me we tried to convince him) commitment on the Saturday so he would not be available but as fortune would have it Dennis was available for Sunday!  Another instructor you say.... yes, instructor number 3!!  But would you believe the fates!!!  Dennis, as some of you already knew and others have guessed, was diver number three from the shop that was involved in my famous Whytecliff Seals to Emergencies  adventure.... what are the odds of all three of the shop divers involved in the rescue attempt at Whytecliff to be the ones to teach me how to rescue people!  So it looks like I will only finish half of my Rescue dives this weekend... who knew you could spread a one evening and one weekend course across 4 months...lol.  Talk to you Monday!!

Cuts, Records and Bad Buddies.....

Woke up this morning still feeling a little tired from yesterday with Ward but still totally jacked up about putting in another 2 dives.  For today (thanks to Chloe at Ocean Pro Divers) I had been invited to join Allen Kyte and his advanced class as they ventured into the waters at Wytecliff Park to complete their Deep and their Naturalist dives.  Armed with gear and camera I arrived at the shop (early as always) and waited to see who was up to what today.  Sure enough shortly after arriving Shannon and Chloe arrived, followed shortly by Michael Klaver and Steve Dunn.  Apparently today was instructor training day and some in the class were meeting at the shop before heading to the site.  My first few minutes at the shop were spent chasing Shannon and Steve down to hit them up for signatures in my dive log for my Emergency O2 course and EFR courses followed by catching up with Michael and Chloe and then greeting the people I had never met and being introduced to Allen.  As it turned out the gentleman who was supposed to be in the course today had suffered some bad luck last night with his vehicle and as a result was not going to be able to join us.  This reduced our group down to Allen as instructor, one student and me tagging along behind.  Almost as quick as the shop got busy, it was emptied out again leaving our group to finish loading and head out to Whytecliff Park.

Upon arriving at Whytecliff it was the same ritual as always, take a look at the water, thank God I am lucky enough to have this kind of beauty in my back yard, and grab my gear to get it prepped.  With everything unloaded and kits being assembled it was time to start planning out our day.  The plan was to do our deep dive on what is called the "Cut".  Now the cut is exactly what it sounds like, it looks like someone plunged a knife into the rock of Whytecliff park and drew a line back into the bay.  Once in the water it drops very fast and runs off to the right to incredible depths and on the left you have the wall.  Since this was the deep dive for the advanced certification, depth was the goal.  The plan was quite simple, I would buddy up with the student and swim to her right with Allen just back and to the left.  We would swim out staying along the wall and slowly make our way to a depth of 90 feet and then see how everyone was doing to see if we would go a little further.  Then once in the bay we would circle around the point and head back into the bay making our exit easier....simple!

So with gear on and group together we headed towards the entry and down the rocky path and stairs.  In the water, fins on, masks on, regs in, and down.  It was almost as if we had been diving together a bunch of times, we descended as a group and in perfect position headed out along the wall.  Then with a little signal the student my "buddy" pointed out to the right a bit and we angled a little away from the wall and into deeper water.  With almost perfect control of our buoyancy we moved almost as one unit slowly descending and moving through the cut.  Now I think it was the relaxed atmosphere or my intermittent ADD that caused it but I saw a fish and thought "Oooh shiny" and stopped to take a picture.. then kicked back to the group only to see another thing to take a picture of and another and another and another... Next thing you know I was swimming back of the group with Allen beside my buddy and me busy taking pictures.  This was pretty much how the dive finished, Allen and student together with me bringing up the rear.  At 1500 psi, as discussed, we headed up a bit to 50 feet and continued, by this time, further into the bay until about 900 when we ascended to safety stop depth and swam in further before surfacing and kicking in.

Now, in between dives (good class dives especially) during your surface interval, you debrief and discuss the dive.  What went good, what was not so good, what went according to plan, what went sideways and what would we do different next time.  Allen (much like Ward in Row, Row, Row Your Boat Gently Into The Rolling Waves.... Merrily Merrily Off To See The Circus...)  was great about reviewing the dive with his student and then, bum bum bum, with me....  You see, I broke one of the cardinal rules of diving (and of Top Gun) I left my buddy!  My job was to stay to her right side and I decided to drop off to take pictures (hand slap time...ouch!)

Now for dive number 2, our Naturalist / Navigation dive, the plan for this one was quite simple.  Gear-up, head into the water, finish the "navigational square" that had been incomplete in their dives the day before, and then proceed out along the wall looking for critters.  Not a very involved dive and by keeping shallow and moving slow, this could be a good long dive... boy was I right...lol.  For this dive, being a Naturalist one I elected (with Allen's permission) to just be the tag along photographer and not "dive buddy," this allows for me to take LOTS of pictures of all of the wonderful little creatures we find along the way.  Everything for this dive went as planned, I once again dropped more weight bringing me down to 22 lbs of weight from the original 42 lbs I started with, and was feeling better than ever about my buoyancy.  Down the hill we went and into the water, out to about 10 or 12 feet of water and descend to make a square, ascending upon completion brought us back almost to where we started, always a good start!  Then back down again and over to the wall to do a very slow, swim along the wall looking at all the plants and creatures along the way.  I must admit after about 20 minutes of our floating along I got concerned when I looked at my air and still had over 2000psi, then at 40 minutes with more than 1500psi left.  Now my rational brain didn't take long to figure out that we were shallow and we weren't really kicking, more floating with the current and surge of the tide, so we we're breathing all that much.  By about the 50 minute mark we had already started to head back and not going below 30 feet we didn't need a safety stop so we had time, but the most interesting thing started to happen... I got cold!  Looking around I realized that I was not the only one, Allen and his student both looked cold too, which was funny because as soon as I looked at Allen, he gave me the "cold" signal to which I responded "cold" and we started moving in closer to shore and closer to the surface.

All in I ended dive 2 with close on 1400 psi left in my tank, still enough for another dive...lol, and we had been in the water for 59.6 minutes, a new record for me smashing my old record and nearly breaking 1hr of dive time!

The walk to the vehicles was a quick one, the wind was kicking up and we were already cold.  Up to the cars, gear stripped off, sweatshirts and toques on and something warm in the stomach I was feeling loads better.  Then to pack all the gear, fit it in totes and load it into the van.  All done, it was time to sit and chat a few about the dive, make sure everyone was happy and everything accomplished.  Time for Allen to sign off on the books and forms and then it was time to load up and head home.

Today marked dives 34 and 35, meaning once my Rescue courses are completed later this month (hopefully) and 15 more dives are done (hopefully soon) I will be qualified to receive my Master Scuba Diver designation.  As exciting as that is, it is still a scary fact that according to the industry standards I will be recognized (regardless of association) as a Master Scuba Diver.  That seems to me to be a whole lot of responsibility.  I know it doesn't hold the same qualification or clout and Dive Master but to me it still seems BIG!!  lol.  Well, until the next time I get my nose wet and take my gear for a tour of the ocean, stay safe and I'll update you all soon... Photography is coming up!!!

Diving, Dinner, Demo's and the RCMP...

This past weekend was packed with fun, friends and food.  It was originally supposed to be my Drift weekend but due to some uncontrollable events the training dives were moved. Now Shannon being her usual amazing self emailed my class to let us know that the gear was already set aside for us so we were invited to take the gear for the weekend and go for a fun dive.  So after a quick email to a few of my favourite dive buddies it was discovered that Ocean Quest Diving along with a few other local shops and equipment suppliers were working with Whites Diving to put on a demo day to try out some of their new suits.  At the same time Chloe Boone was in the midst of organizing an evening at Porteau Cove to celebrate with Ryder Heim who was recently accepted into the RCMP and is leaving this week.

So a quick call to Greg at Ocean Quest confirmed my plan to attend the demo and pay my $10 fee.  Another call to Chloe confirmed my intention to join her and Ryder, and any other divers interested, up at Porteau for the night of diving.  Then finally a few Blackberry messenger messages and a few emails to some of my dive friends and before I knew it, Saturday nights dives were planned and Sundays Demo was booked, and partners were lined up for both.

Saturday arrived before I knew it, a quick trip to Ocean Pro was needed to pick up my tanks and the gear I was borrowing for the weekend and confirm times with Chloe.  Then it was home to pack up my gear and head out for Porteau.

As I pulled into Porteau and made my stop at the change rooms to get my thermals on I was greeted by the friendly and familiar voices of Ward and Virpi who were also joining us for the evening.  Needless to say the excitement of diving with Virpi again and finally getting a chance to dive with Ward was overwhelming.  After donning my thermals we all headed to the parking lot to set up our kits and wait for Chloe and Ryder to arrive.  Joining us down in the parking lot was a friend of mine who I had done my Night and Deep courses with so he was to be my dive buddy for the night.  After assembling our kits it was time for some visiting and to have an opportunity to see Wards newest invention, a tester for calculating gas concentrations.  This invention is in addition to his heater (yes a heater) for use under his dry suit, which beleive me, works and is really warm.  These are only a couple items amongst a list of tools Ward has build to aid himself or his fellow divers.  So after a demo of his newest gas tester, which I will surely be buying one of for when I get my Enriched Air certification, we looked at the time and realized it was starting to get late and unfortunately Chloe and Ryder had not arrived yet so the decision was made to gear up and head out for our dive before it got too late.  Of course with buddy checks complete and dive plan in place and just as we reached the stairs to descend to the water, Chloe and Ryder arrived...lol.  As it turned out Ryder was diving his twin set-up and Chloe wasn't diving so Ryder was heading out on his own to video the wildlife so our group of four headed out.

Our dive plan was a pretty simple one, surface swim to the first buoy descend and staying in our buddy team and trying to stay together as a group, we would follow the fire hose and look at the wildlife.  Once in the water it was the dreaded surface swim.  This is the part of diving I am least fond of, my force fins are amazing for moving around and control in the water at depth but on the surface I find that I don't get enough "push" with them to move as quick as many of the divers I dive with.  So, eventually I caught up with the rest of my group at the buoy, caught my breathe, and staying close to my buddy we descended to depth.  Now surprisingly despite being only 30 feet of water, there is an amazing amount of life that comes out at night.  Following behind Ward and really taking our time to move through the water we were able to capture images of some of the interesting life that moves around beneath the surface without any of us really noticing.  The highlight of the night was our squid-a-pus, when we spotted it in the middle of the water column it was carrying a prawn away in it's legs (probably a late night snack)...lol.  We came up on it and started snapping photos and video and I guess it was shy or it's parents told it no snacks after 7:00 or something because it let go of the prawn who, very happily, raced away into the dark, and then our new friend decided to rest himself for a spell on the ground, which is where I got the best of my pictures (still not very good) but after showing the photo around my squid-a-pus turned out to be a juvenile Humboldt squid.  For anyone who doesn't know what a Humboldt Squid is, just think of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Pirates of the Caribean 2 - Dead Mans Chest.  Now of course my new friend was not a man eater nor was he able to sink ships with his massive tentacles, in fact his "massive" tentacles were only a few inches long and he probably would have had trouble sinking a toy ship...lol.  After snapping our fill of video and photos it was time to carry on and see what other wonders awaited us in the depths.  The rest of the dive was much like many dives at Porteau, lots of critters, some a little braver in the cover of darkness.  Lots of ling cod, especially daddy's watching their egg clusters and taking a run at the occasional diver to show us how big and scary they were.  Of course the ling cod of the wonderful underwater world are very similar to many people on the surface in the fact that the smaller you are the tougher you need to make yourself look.  For example if you get in the way of my oldest son at 6'3 and 160 lbs and only 14 yrs old, he'll simply give you the look that says, "I could kill you, if you make me move I will make you pay dearly!" and people usually leave him alone.  My younger two sons on the other hand are little guys just pushing 50 and 60 lbs at 8 and 10 yrs old.  Now those two, people tend to make the mistake of crossing and they find out quickly that you were safer messing with my oldest...lol.   Ling cod are much the same, in that the little ones are the ones you want to watch out for, the big ones look at you and sometimes will do a slow circle around their turf to show you where not to go, but the little guys, you often don't even see them (especially at night) before they are rocketing off the bottom to race past you or even in some cases, ram you to show you that you are in their turf, time to swim away...lol.  The dive finished and we made our short swim to the stairs and excited to the smiling face of Chloe and her crutches.  A quick strip down of gear had us deciding we were calling it a night at just one dive so it was clean up time, stow the gear away time and then head to the stairs and wait for Ryder time...lol.

After a great visit with Chloe where she continued to extol the virtues and advantages of always buying gear, rentals and air from Ocean Pro and no where else, Ryder finally made it back to shore.  It was fun to watch as he approached though, through the darkened water you could make out the ring of light that was his video light as he made his way to the stairs.  Once out it was a short visit while he got his gear stowed and then it was time to head for the cabin.

Well the drive to the cabin lasted all of 10 seconds for me, for as soon as I started driving I heard the recognizable thump, thump of a flat tire.  Quickly turning into one of the parking stalls and checking, sure enough the front left tire of my van was dead flat.  Fortunately the walk to the cabin is short (when you don't get lost the first time, but that's another story, I had to use the washroom anyways...lol) and getting to the cabin I was fortunately able to borrow Virpi's inflator, a great invention that connects to the low pressure hose on your  regulator and can be used to inflate tires.  Ryder was nice enough to accompany me back to my van and assist while I pulled out one of my tanks and filled the tire.  Then we waited as we listened for the inevitable hissing of the air leaking out.  Sure enough it was there and after a quick look at the tire we were able to see where the tire had blown up, literally with metal fibers showing through and not holding air for more than a couple minutes.  Fortunately it was a quick drive to limp the van back to the cabin and park it till morning when I would change out the tire.

Once parked, gear secure, and clothes bag moved inside it was time to join the group.  As I entered the cabin I was met by the smell of cooking, mmm food.  Crackers and cheese and chips and breads were plated on the stool and Ward and Virpi had been hard at work preparing pasta and shortly after sitting down a plate was thrust in front of me heaped with spaghetti and Ward telling me not to be shy, dig in, we were all family.  With that the music started, the beers were cracked, the wine flowed and the evening began....


7:30 the next morning came way too fast... the cabin was super warm, outside was not so much and I still had a tire to change....lol.  So up I got, changed and made a coffee (or as Ward called it "flavored water", and it wasn't even that flavorful...lol), and headed outside to work on the tire.  I was very fortunate in the fact that the tire was quite easy to repair, the spare (a mini tire) drops down from below, the jack (once found) was fairly simple to use, and the bolts came off and back on without too much of a struggle.  With the tire changed and tools stored back in the van it was time to head back inside and have some breakfast and another cup of flavored water.  A little morning visit and then it was time to say my goodbyes and head out to for Whytecliff where i would be meeting up with my next group of friends and dive buddies.

Whytecliff is a nice short drive from Porteau, in fact some of my friends from the night before had joked about filling my drysuit with air and floating me down to Whytecliff park...lol.  Arriving a little late my team was almost already geared up so it was time for me to hurry up a little and get checked in with Greg from Ocean Quest and get my registration completed with Whites and get myself in a suit.  While I waited for my turn in the Whites trailer I grabbed my dive kit from the van and got it built so that I would be ready to go as soon as possible.  A quick visit to the Whites trailer and with the help of the fabulous staff from Whites I was in a beautiful red suit much like this one.  With suit in hand i was directed to a changing and staging area, this was like being back stage at a fashion show...lol, into the changing area (a tent with the flaps drawn) hurrying as fast as possible as there are others waiting for their turn, then out of there in your undergarments carrying your suit to the next tarped area where you are met by several people who help you pull wiggle and otherwise make a fool of yourself as you get into the suit... getting into any dry suit is not an attractive act, this suit is no exception...lol.  Fortunately, Monti Richardson from Ocean Pro was there as well helping out (apparently he works with or has connections to Aqualung and they were part of the weekend) anyways he was there and was able to walk me though the dance of getting into my suit and getting my dry gloves on and otherwise turning me into a Whites Product model, and not a very attractive one at that...lol.

With suit on and kit built it was time to join my team and head for the water.  Now once again this was just a fun dive for me and the girlfriend of one of my regular dive buddies to try out the Whites suits and then for us all to go back and enjoy some BBQ!!!  As planned it was a nice and relaxed dive, swimming along the left side of the bay doing a shallow dive to look at all the critters along the wall.  Not a lot critters to see on this dive, probably due to the large number of divers in the water, many of which were trying out dry suits for their first time ever, understandably this meant a lot of divers bouncing off the bottom and then back to the surface, sometimes more than once...lol. Nothing dangerous of course, especially being in only 20 feet of water, but enough to stir up the bottom, limit visibility and scare all the critters...lol.  


Following the dive, due to a high need for gear, the staff from Ocean Quest needed to get their gear back from 2 of our divers so there was no second dive for us for the day so instead we went for a walk along the shore line to watch the divers from above (always a fun sight to see...lol.)  After seeing a few divers pop up out of the water feet first and enjoying the nice weather something caught my attention out near the day marker.  Now for those of you who have read Seals to Emergencies understand why seeing something pop up suddenly out near the day marker catches my attention.  So immediately my eyes were drawn to the location and quickly pointing in the direction of where the object surfaced and catching my friends attention we all scanned the horizon only to have one of my dive partners point past the end of the rocks we were walking on as something broke the surface, and then again, and again.  It took only a moment for one of our other team, an instructor in training, to identify the objects as dolphins, white sided pacific dolphins to be exact, hundreds of them.  Before long we could see the pod jumping out of the water as they swam back and forth across the opening to the bay.  Soon after some of the boats out in the sound, obviously now aware of the dolphins, started towards the bay.  One of the boats, a zodiac, left a wake behind it that the dolphins found entertaining to jump over as they cleared the water giving all the spectators a perfect look at their sleek bodies as they flew through the air.


Back up top, it was time to clean my gear and stow it away in my van, then accompanying my dive team, head over and grab some food and visit with some of the divers and students in town from school and on-site to aid the new divers and lead the tours.  After my fill of visits and burgers it was time to make my slow limp home in my van on it's mini-tire...lol.  Another weekend done and another 2 dives logged... more to come soon.  Next up, Drift Diving with Dennis... can't wait.  Update you all soon.

Andrew to the Rescue.... Or Not?

Ok, so last week I was able to achieve a new high in diving, assisting one of my instructors in keeping an eye on a diver who had the potential to be under additional (unwelcome) stress.  This week I was to actually  be trained on working with and dealing with people who were under stress.  Saturday and Sunday were scheduled to be "dive" days.  I put dive in quotations as the weekend was going to be less about diving and more about Rescuing.  Not necessarily my favorite topic or class, but one that is necessary to make me a well rounded diver and essential for me to make Master Scuba Diver and eventually Dive Master, Instructor, MSDT, etc.... 

So here I was, meeting one of the best instructors imaginable, Miss Virpi Kangas!  If you don't know Virpi or haven't heard me talk about her you obviously haven't been reading my blog...lol.  Pretty much click on any of my previous blogs and you'll read all about her, or better yet, go back to the beginning and get the whole story from there.  Anyways, I arrive at the site, Virpi is already there and we start building our kits and begin to chat about the day and the plans.  As we start planning out the day she advises that she has pulled some strings and my good friend and another amazing instructor of mine Ward Conley is going to be our DM for tomorrows training, which prompts my question, "Do we have a DM coming today as I am the only diver?"  You see, as a little background, there was scheduled to be two of us in the class, as mentioned in The Master Scuba Diver Challenge!!, but while I was at the shop grabbing my gear the day before I found out that buddy had some family issues and wuld be unable to join us for the weekend... unfortunately due to some mis-communication, Virpi was not aware that I would be the only diver for the day!  So needless to say, her initial answer to my question was a stunned look, followed up with, "Huh?"....lol.  Needless to say, trying to do a Rescue class that requires demonstrating elements is very difficult with only the instructor and student...  So with a quick call to Shannon Virpi set out to sort out our action plan while I completed assembling my kit.  Once completed on her call Virpi confirmed what I figured the suggestion would be, which was to post-pone the in-water part of the training until such a time as all of us could be there.  But Virpi, being the amazing person she is, offered to still go for some recreation dives since we were already there.

Part two of the plan was for me to,bum bum bum, yes you guessed it, write my final....

EXAM!!

So positioned nice and warm in my van, Virpi and I reviewed some of the Rescue material and then, as if I wasn't stressed enough about tests...lol... Virpi sat right beside me in the passenger seat of my van while I wrote the 50 question multiple guess exam on what to do in an emergency.  

Well.... as has been the case before, my worry was for nothing, I managed to write my test and after reviewing my answers and struggling intently over questions 14, 15 and 16 for which I was unsure of the answer, I ended up with a perfect 50/50!

At this time Virpi and I took a look at the water, felt the bitter cold wind and decided, nope... not gonna dive!... lol.  I know, I know I hear all of you out there who have heard me talk about how I would dive every chance I got and how I wish I were a fish so I never had to leave the water... and... and ... and... then I go ahead and call off a dive while already standing in the park with my kit nearly built... but I have it a really good reason... it was freakin' cold!!!...lol.

After deciding to forgo a dive for the day and stowing our gear it was time to head for home, so before heading out I decided to message home to let the family know I was on my way.  You think having to reschedule my Rescue class would be tough to handle, or skipping a dive would be a tough thing to miss... Jenn messages me back to let me know that while I was not Diving and not completing my Rescue class Joshua scored his first ever soccer goal... and I missed it!  Needless to say driving home my 50 didn't feel so special anymore, I had missed his first goal on a quickly ending season and who knows when the next one will come....  Arriving home the first thing I am greeted with was Josh jumping into my arms and with his mouth moving at the speed of light I heard all about the game and how players had gone home because it was too cold (told you it was cold..lol) and how he had been running to the spot he'd been practicing in his FIFA 2010 soccer video game and bang, the ball was right there and right off his foot and into the net.  Apparently he was ok with me missing the goal, and I was ok with him chatting my ear off for the rest of the day as we relived the moment over and over again.  I didn't get a dive in yesterday, but instead of others living their adventure through me, I got to live one through a 10 year old soccer star and his first goal, a goal in a 1-0 victory to send his team into the final game of the play-offs.  One of my greatest loves is diving, that's plain to see, but my greatest love is my family, so it was a great weekend after-all.

Hide and Seek!

Ok... so I am a day late with my update and my apologies to everyone who was looking for it yesterday as promised.  Sunday was day one of my Search and Recovery course, which Shannon and Dennis graciously postponed from December so that I was able to attend.  After meeting up with Dennis and Matt and the other two students in my class at Whytecliff, we got our kits put together and sat down to review the first half of our review questions.  A quick once over of the questions showed that everyone had reviewed their manuals and despite a few questions we were all on the same page and anxious to get into the water.  One final step of the surface review had us practicing and demonstrating our knots for Dennis and Matt.  The three knots used and practiced in the PADI Search and Recovery course are the Bowline, Sheet-Bend and Two Half-Hitches. 

The Bowline (in orange) is used for securing to a lift bag and/or to the object to be recovered from the bottom.  This is a nice knot as (if tied correctly) the loop does not close, it just creates a loop that you can clip the lift bag or item to.  The second knot (blue and white) is the Sheet-Bend, Bends are usually used to tie two lengths of rope together and this one does as good a job as any I have tried.  Finally the Two Half-Hitches (white rope secured around the pole) is another knot used for securing  to the lit bag or object to be lifted yet the key difference is that this knot tightens down on the object or clip it is attached to making this a good knot to use to secure to a section of the object to be lifted when you don't want the knot to move.  All of these knots are fairly easy to pull apart making them good choices for underwater recovery.

For the knots I had purchased myself a few lengths of rope while studying so that I could practice as suggested in the manual.  Of course the saying "Practice makes Perfect" is a misnomer, if you practice something incorrectly you only get perfect at doing it wrong.  Only "perfect" practice makes perfect  and since the book is a little unclear on the knots I was only practicing the Bowline and the Two Half-Hitches correctly.  The Sheet-Bend however I got really good at doing wrong....lol.  Fortunately Matt was able to show me a way to do it that made sense and got me and the rest of the class back on track with the Sheet-Bend while Dennis made sure everyone was comfortable with the other two knots.

With us all reasonably confident with our knot tying ability and after reviewing the skills to be covered in our dives one and two for the day, it was time to finish gearing up and head for the water to play Hide and Seek with ankle weights.

When it comes to diving I would have to liken it to riding a bike, while I have not been in the water in about 6 weeks, it took only a few steps into the surf before the nerves were calm and as soon as I started my descent I immediately felt at home.  Visibility was amazing, the other students were confident in their abilities and along side the instructors we descended to the bottom with zero issues and almost no disruption of the bottom.  After some quick signals between my classmates and myself we all fell into position and started our first search using, a Circular Search pattern.  With one student / partner as the anchor or pivot point holding the rope and myself and the other student as the searchers  holding the end of the rope taut, we start swimming making a large circle.  If the "object" (in this case an ankle weight) is not found after the first complete circular pass then the anchor or pivot person lets out more rope and the searchers make another pass.  In our case my partner found the object on our first pass and returned it to Dennis.  Dennis had us swim a couple passes so that we would know what it was like anyway.   Following this we made the short ascent to the surface, during which Matt had swam away to hide object number two, 16 lbs of weight.  For the second search we were to do the U-Search pattern, where the navigator takes a bearing based on the approximate direction of the object and swims across the search grid with one of the partners counting kick cycles and remaining party members searching.  Upon hitting the set amount of kick cycles you make a "U-Turn" and spacing yourselves out again you swim back along the same bearing searching for your object and turning again at your set distance or kick cycle count.  This moves you in consecutive U's until you find the object.  This time I got to play navigator and see if i could keep us on track and on our bearing, after a few passes we managed to find the weights and it turned out I wasn't to far off my navigation, yeah me for getting better!....lol.  Once we found the object, with Dennis and Matt following behind us, it was time to show off our knots, but this time underwater.  Dennis came up beside us all as we settled on the weights and he passed us all a section of rope which I was able to tie a Bowline in without any issue (1 down, 2 to go), after showing Dennis my Bowline and getting my congratulatory "ok" sign, he passed me another piece of rope, which I tied (thanks to Matt's predive surface tips) a Sheet-Bend to join the two pieces together.  After showing the Sheet-Bend to Matt and getting his approval that the knot was complete, it was time to tie the Two Half-Hitches on to the band attached to the recovered object and then slip back and wait for the other students to finish up.  Once everyone was done it was tie to check the connections and then while one student held the lift bag open and the other held the reel that was connected to the lift bag, I gently put air from my alternate air into the bag, testing it's buoyancy until presto, lift off and the bag was tracked slowly, with all the divers following behind, to the surface to finish a very busy and very successful dive number one.

Dive number two for the day wasn't going to be as busy, for this search we would descend at the same point and with one of the other students on Navigation and one counting I got to play Searcher for this pattern.  For this search we were doing the Expanding Square pattern.  This proves to be a difficult pattern if not thought out in advance.  The concept is, you take a bearing, swim a set number of kick cycles turn 90 degrees and kick the same set of kick cycles, turn 90 degrees and kick adding a set number of kick cycles moving you past your start point and turn 90 degrees kicking a set number of kick cycles past your starting number.  Sounds a bit confusing but the math is pretty simple.  If you start swimming 5 kick cycles, turn and swim 5, then turn and swim 8 (adding 3) and then every time you turn you add 3 you end up constantly expanding your search area until you find the lost object.  Simple right?  Where this does get difficult is staying together....lol.  You see the inside person is always the inside person, so if they turn and keep swimming, if you maintain your distance apart the outside person has not yet made the turn and falls behind and has to swim quickly to keep up, and then falls further behind on the next turn and the next one and so on and so on....  Guess where I was?  You got it... the outside person.  To make things more interesting, the navigator is an incredibly strong swimmer so I was being being left well behind the group.  By turn three I was reminiscing about my fitness test and remembering how much I need to work to get back into shape (and round is not the shape I am looking for...lol.)   After managing to get ourselves organized and making a couple of passes, sure enough I spot the target just out and to the left of us, unfortunately with falling behind I was unable to signal my team and we proceeded to do another, ever expanding, lap.  By the time we had lapped back around the object was now on the inside of us, meaning we were doing the pattern correctly and not going over the same area too many times.  Again the ropes were passed out, knots were tied and with me holding the bag and a different partner controlling each the reel and inserting the air, we managed to once again float our objective to the surface and with Dennis and Matt close behind, made our slow and controlled ascent to the surface to finish dive 2.

Now for those who haven't gathered already, I am not in the best shape of my life.  As such I tend to breathe through my air faster than most which, as mentioned in previous posts, has led to me having to surface earlier than wanted due to lack of air.  So in November I bought myself brand new steel 130's.  These tanks hold WAY more air and, despite their weight, are wonderful to dive with.  After finishing dive one for the day I had a little over 1000 psi of air left, normally I am finishing with just over just under 500 psi so this was incredible.  After dive 2 I had more than 1700 psi left in the tank so, at Dennis' suggestion, my dive buddies and I swam out to the point and descended for a third dive.  This dive was just a calm and relaxed drift back towards shore along the wall of Whytecliff.  There was not a lot to see, lots of starfish, a few crab and a couple of fish, but more than that it was just a great time to take it easy and dive with friends in a completely relaxed atmosphere while enjoying our surroundings.

This weekend should be an exciting one with my Emergency First Responder training at the shop on Saturday and who knows what this Sunday will bring as my dive team and I get back in the water to finish off the last two dives for our Search and Recovery certification. 

Diving the Marker and Experiencing The Cut!

Ok.. so you remember my "little" problem yesterday with getting me ears to clear? Well, it happened again today!

Much like yesterday this day started out amazing, it was a cool crisp morning, still some snow on the ground, but not enough to make driving or gearing up an issue.  We met early as usual and proceeded to get our kits put together.  A short discussion on today's dive to 130 feet (the deepest I have ever been) and the few skills we will review at depth.  Suits on, kits fastened up, gear clipped in place and we were off to the water.  Whytecliff is a great place to dive for the many different levels of divers due to it's gradual bottom, mixed ocean life, walls and last but not least depth!  But for us to fully enjoy the depth we must be out far enough, which means a good surface swim.  Today for dive one, we headed to the day marker.  Now for those of you who have been following my blog and have read Seals to Emergencies you will understand why I am a little apprehensive about being out at the day marker on Whitecliff and even more so when the plan is to descend down to beyond where she was brought up from.  Needless to say I am writing this now so I made it... yeah me!...lol.  So after grouping on the surface, not an easy task with the waves and surf pushing you all over the place, we started our descent, and once again on hitting around the 20 foot mark, the ear just wouldn't clear.  So a short ascent up a few feet and a few more, some pushing and struggling and presto the slow relief of my ear starting to pressurize for the dive.  Yeah, time to catch up with Roger and my dive partner, hit our 130 mark and begin to review a few navigation skills and a short tour.  To finish today's dive Roger has us practicing a new skill, this is where as you approach or hit your 15 foot safety stop, you release your surface marker (attached to your reel) so that it hits the surface an notifies (typically your dive boat) that you are in your 3 minute safety stop.  This is particularly useful as mentioned for boat dives, as you are able to give the boat a 3 minute heads up of where you are going to be surfacing so that they can be there to pick you up.  This is not a difficult skill, just one that is good to practice, you don't want your line held too tight as it can actually pull you to the surface if you are not careful, and you don't want to leave the line spooling after it reaches the surface or you'll end up having the line drop below you or the marker drift away from your actual ascent point.  Ours comes off without a hitch and we make our final ascent, and our surface swim back to enjoy some beverages, and food during our 90 minute surface interval required for our deep dives.

Bellies full, hands warmed up and kits strapped back into place it's time for dive number 4 and our last one required for certification as a Deep Diver.  For this dive Roger and my dive partner are going to show me "The Cut".  There is a decent hike to get to the cut and as we found when we got to the waters edge, there is also a lot of debris to get past before you can move into the water.  This is only further complicated by the surf that comes in to the very narrow "Cut" and makes it difficult to get your fins on.  So... after carrying all our gear along what could laughably be referred to as a goat path and climbing over trees and debris on the shore and fighting to get our fins on while time the waves, we are finally ready to get started.  It takes only a few steps before you are well over your head in the sudden drop of the cut and we start our descent only to again have my ears give me issues....  So back over to the wall, raise up a bit, a couple good pushes and one big whoosh and my ear is clear.  Pushing off the wall and following Roger and my dive partner down through the cut we are signaled by another diver just below us.  Dropping to see him, Roger signals back and forth and then signals for us to drop to the same level as this new diver who points out that there is an octopus, more closely described as a crack-topus, as you can only see an arm and part of an eye in the crack it calls home.  Turning away from the octopus and working along the wall led by my Dive Partner we make the slow swim along the hidden edge opposite of the bay I am used to diving in and around the point to enter the bay covering the area that you don't normally see when you descend in the bay.  Unfortunately my air consumption being what it is the dive is short as usual and we are unable to reach our initially planned objective of swimming all the way into the bay eliminating the long surface swim.   So, alternatively we choose to surface swim back into the cut and climb back out that way, taking the hike and climbing over the long surface swim.  The walks not too bad, even came across a dog that was not too happy to see three grown men dripping wet and dressed in dark rubbery material.  So once again we were back at the vehicles, stripping off gear and packing it away.  Looking forward to the next time the open water calls,  and we are there to answer!

"I'm Diving in the Snow, Just Diving in the Snow, What a Glorious Feeling, I'm Happy Again!"

My apologies to Mr Gene Kelly for killing his song but this is what I was up to earlier today.  Last night brought in a few inches of snow and this morning we were scheduled for day one of Deep Diving with Mr Roger K.L. Fordham, Master Scuba Diver Trainer with Ocean Pro Divers.  Last night he had messaged to advise that much like the postal service we were going regardless of weather, so when my alarm rang just after 5:00 am and I managed to crawl out of bed I knew it was going to be an interesting day.  Grabbing my gear, lunch and a coffee and dressed in warm undergarments it was time to make my way through the snow and clear the van for my drive up to Whytecliff.Park.

Fortunately my dive partner and Roger are like me and like to get going early in the morning so that you can enjoy your dives and still get home at a reasonable time and still have your afternoon free.  So by just after 7:00 am the three of us were gearing up and reviewing the dives for the day.  By shortly after 8:00 we are headed to the water and excited about the first of our Deep Dives.

Dive one was a simple navigation objective, swim out, signal, descend, find a place on the wall roughly 100 feet down and then with my dive partner swim away from the wall in a straight line maintaining 100 feet for 20 kick cycles, stop, turn and return on the same path back to where Roger is waiting for us. Process sounds simple enough, only issue, I apparently developed a cold, not usually a problem if you are sitting at home wrapped up drinking tea and eating soup... but when you're intending on diving beyond 15 to 20 feet you need for your ears to be able to clear... mine were not so willing....lol  I managed to get a little equalization during the first part of the descent but by the time I had hit around the 25 - 30 foot mark my ear was having none of it.  Signaling to my partner and Roger, I ascended a few feet and a few feet more trying to get my ear to clear, nothing!  After a few more tries Roger signaled me over to the rock face where I was able to hold on and with the rest of my body immobile and with a final attempt my ears did what they were supposed to and with a very satisfying feeling my ear cleared and equalized with the wonderful sound only a clearing ear can make...lol.  With my ear cleared we pushed off the wall and proceeded with our decent to 100 feet.  Man I love diving!  So much to see! So much to do!  So after a nice gentle decent to 100 feet we continue as planned, Roger in his spot on the face of the wall, my dive buddy and I hovering at 100 feet, take a compass bearing, and swim directly away from the wall.  Out 20 kick cycles, counted by my buddy, turn and shift into position so i can count cycles while he leads the return swim back to Roger and we are right on the money.  With this dives skill component completed it's time for some fun, Roger pulls out of his bag what was once a normal empty 2 liter pop bottle, it is now compressed like it was run over by a truck, all of the air is condensed and pulled the sides of the bottle in on itself.  Next we look at some pieces of Neoprene, on the surface some are significantly thicker than others, but down at 100 feet they all appear to be almost exactly the same thickness, lastly Roger grabs an egg from his bag, a little tap tap with his dive knife, opens the shell and out floats a perfect yellow ball.  After a few minutes of playing with the egg it's time to leave it for the fish and head off, then after a little exploring, some pictures, a little video we arrive back at 15 feet for our 3 minute safety stop.

After a short surface swim back in and a walk up to the vehicles, it's time to take off our kits, switch tanks and get some food in us while we review the plan for dive 2 and kill the balance of the hour and a half required surface interval to get all the excess nitrogen out of our system.

With the surface interval drawing to an end, Roger gets out his preschool shape sorter...

What a great toy... this little square with individual shapes teaches children to recognize shapes and then focus on finding the similar hole and then coordinate their motor skills to fit the piece in the hole!  This has been used for decades with preschoolers, children with autism and now, Deep Divers!

You see, all gases have a narcotic effect to them and as you descend to 100+ feet nitrogen can build up and cause what is know as Nitrogen Narcosis, or you become what is usually called Narced.  Being Narced is like being intoxicated, your motor skills suffer, you can get tunnel vision, have focusing issues, etc.  So we try the shape sorter on the surface, then at 10 feet and then again at 100+ feet to see what the time difference is and see how bad, (if at all) we get Narced.

Once again, we put on our kits, make the walk to the beach and start our surface swim out to our first descent point.  Sitting in about 10 - 12 feet of water we start attempt number one after just over a minute I am done and all pieces are in the cube.  After my dive buddy finishes his turn it's time to head out to the depths.  When we reach decent point 2 we exchange a signal and start our relaxed descent back down to 100 feet clearing and equalizing the whole way.  This time is much easier and taking it really slow my ear stays clear and equalizes with only minor work.  Once on the bottom it's time to play with the shape sorter again, Roger passes me the sorter, signals, starts the time and opens the bag, one after another the pieces come out of the bag, into my hand and flipping the sorter around each piece finds its home in under a minute.  As it turns out, I am apparently faster at 100 feet then I am at 10 feet... wonder if that would work for my office stuff too...hmm...lol.  After my partner has his turn, the toys are put away and it's off for a bit of a swim before heading back towards shore, our safety stop, surface swim, gear down and drive home.  Another successful day of dive adventures, and half way to being a certified Deep Diver.

Checking Homework and Planning Dives

This will end up being a short addition to the blog posted earlier talking about my first recreational dive without instructor supervision.  After our dive for the day we headed back to my place to move all the rental equipment from Scott's car to my van so that I could drive it out to the shop to return it and meet up with Master Scuba Diver Trainer Roger K.L. Fordham hoah! Every time I see Roger I feel like saluting, which as I later found out wouldn't be to far off as he serves in the military.  I had met Roger previously and as mentioned in If it ain't broke don't fix it.... and from SORTED to super STARS and Shooting Pumpkins and Making Squares.....I had seen him at work as an instructor. Today, though would be my first day to actually start training under his supervision, I was excited and rightfully so.  Roger was quick to get into the chapter reviews and alternating between me and my dive partner for this specialty we reviewed all the answers, made any corrections necessary (not that I had any errors..lol) and answered any questions anyone had.  Next we moved on  to planning our dives.  Seeing as both my dive buddy and I had recently completed our Advanced Certification and on that you end up completing one of your required dives for your Deep Certification we only really had to complete 3 dives.  But seeing as we were already going to be at the site, why not bring the second tank on both days and enjoy the extra dive.  Roger, being very detailed, like a briefing prior to a military operation, walked us through the initial plan for when and where we were meeting, the planned dive profile for each of the 4 dives, and the skills required to complete the specialty.  Needless to say I was excited to be prepping for these dives and can't believe that in less than a week I will be 130 feet deep in the open ocean.  Apparently we get to play with kids toys and crack an egg under water... can't wait to see what that is like.  Maybe I'll see if I can get a camera and try to capture some shots of what I see.  Anyway, time to get back to the family, can't wait to let you all know what it's like at 130 feet, I'm sure it will be an experience.

Gimme eight....

Last night marked one of the most amazing experiences (so far) that I have had diving!  On the final night of my Night Diving certification, and in preparing for my final dives I was, understandably, a bit nervous.  The night was to consist of Night Navigation, essentially for dive one of the evening my dive buddy and I were to lead a tour out along Whytecliff towards the day marker, and at approximately half air, turn around and return back to the start, including the safety stop, with 500+ PSI in the tank.  We almost made it... lol.  We led the tour out, apparently swimming faster than normal, and covering a lot of ground, saw a ton of great stuff and even crossed over the point.  In one area we even dropped below 70 feet (I later found out this was a no no as my buddy was not advanced certified yet...ooops).  The swim back was good, but we went with the rock instead of over at one point which would have had me lead the group parallel to the beach and not towards it.  Fortunately Dennis was there and corrected my trajectory pointing us back on track (Navigation has never been my strong suit).  After our safety stop, and a nice controlled ascent the final 12 feet to the surface I finished with just under 400 PSI, not too bad, but not where I wanted to be.

Dive 2 on the night and #3 for the Night Diving course was where my life was changed forever... at least in the realm of diving.  We were on our tour of Whytecliff, happily following Dennis out through the very dark water and just enjoying a leisurely swim when Dennis' light locked onto something on the ground I could not quite place.  Following tight to his right side with my dive buddy slightly back and left of me and our DM just back of that we started a very controlled circling descent down to see what Dennis had locked in on.  To my surprise, and apparently Dennis', the DM's and everyone else that has heard the story, there in the middle of the sandy bottom, moving at a leisurely pace, perhaps hunting, was a medium sized Pacific Octopus!  Rarely if ever seen out of their dens at the best of times and almost never seen out in the open especially in local waters, this was an opportunity of a lifetime!  Now unfortunately, due to this being a course, no one had their cameras and Dennis did not have his video camera as he was teaching, so no pictures or video footage to show but I can tell you it was SUPER cool!

After swimming with the octopus for a while and watching it chase fish, we carried on for a bit more of a tour and then headed back in for our final skill of the night, and the course.... the dreaded BLACK OUT!!  You see I had heard about this skill in the book and in class, the idea being to mimic and light failure.  Can you sit in the dark for a full 3 minutes, just sitting / laying there, and then in the dark, locate your back-up light, activate it and complete the dive with nothing but the back-up?  When it came to the impending moment, Dennis swung around to face us, and killed his light.  Following suit, we one by one shut off ours and with nothing but the phosphorescent and our tank lights we sat for 3 minutes... or nearly 3 minutes...lol.  I was closest to Dennis, and after a minute or two your eyes really adjust to the low light and darkness and you can start to make out everything.  At about this point Dennis got my attention and signaled to me, not totally understanding what he was looking for me to do, but knowing pretty much the only thing left to do was locate and use the back-up, I found mine and turned it on.  Seeing the light, my dive buddy found and turned on his, followed by the DM and then Dennis.  It wasn't until after the dive that Dennis let me know he was signaling for me to let him know what my air was at...lol, it was not time to turn on the lights....lol.   With lights on, Dennis started a leisurely swim towards shore showing us some of the interesting items in the shallow water and before I knew it, my depth was 4 feet and I could stand and take my fins off.  BEST WAY TO FINISH DIVES EVER!..lol.

Up to the vehicles for one last time, strip off the gear, load up and head home, a certified Night Diver.... yeah me!

Embracing the Darkside...

Last night I faced a challenge and overcame... You see I don't often tell people this, but I have a small discomfort or for lack of a better word fear of the dark....lol.  Now it's nothing where I need lights on in the house or a night light or can't walk somewhere on my own, it is more that I have a VERY vivid imagination, as a child this is a great thing, even as an author this is a useful tool, but as an adult who has spent many a night walking alone, often through dark places, this is not often helpful.  While most people see a dumpster, I imagine all of the horrible things that could potentially jump out or be inside.  People see trees, I see locations to hide my body...lol.  So the thought of the ocean, an already interesting enough environment, in the dark... gets the imagination flowing.  I mean we all grew up with the woman out for the cool evening swim, whose body parts they found washed up a few days later to kick off the first of the Jaws trilogy of movies.  Anyone who has seen a National Geographic has seen the horrors caused by Jelly Fish (who are attracted to light by the way...)  We have Octupus, Squid, Seals, Sea Lions and Killer Whales... HELLO... Lions and Killers....I can't wait!  Now, just so that you can't see them coming, lets go in the water at night! 

So now you can see what my imagination was doing to me the few nights leading up to actually getting into the water.  By the time last night arrived, I was pretty sure I was gonna get eaten, but i was bound and determined to enjoy the dive for as long as it lasted....lol.  After arriving and gearing up, it was a quick briefing, equipment check, and a short walk to the edge of the water (down a really steep hill... in the dark...).  Once in the water, fins on, and a short surface swim along the rocks of Whytecliff Park, it was the moment of truth.. time to descend.  For tonight's dive, Denis (our fearless leader and instructor) accompanied by a soon to be Dive Master, lead the way towards the bottom and along the rocks for our first dive, a short tour and familiarization of the deep dark.  Prawn everywhere with their glow-in-the-dark eyes, and hermit crabs darting in and out of shells.  Fish of all shapes and sizes sleeping in the drift and massive schools of other tiny fish out for their evening swim.  I soon found myself more comfortable under the water than I feel above it... funny how that happens sometimes. After a quick 26 minutes I had consumed my air so it was ascent time and a slow surface swim back to shore discussing my need to get bigger tanks...lol.  Looks like I'll be needing to look at buying tanks sooner than I had planned if I want to extend my dives...lol.  Well, that's it for now, time to grab a quick nap before I head off to do it all over again tonight.  This time two dives, the final of which I get to spend the last three minutes of, lights off, sitting still.. in the dark!

Abort... Abort... Abort...

So health is a fickle thing... take the cold that I have, along with my jaw pain and mix in a little ocean water in the lungs and you end up with a recipe for bad diving!  I started this morning feeling a little under the weather but figured it might just be my jaw, or the slight cold I was working on, but nothing serious... boy was I wrong.  So we get to Whytecliff earlier today, gear up and head for the water, I feel a little tired, nothing too far out of the ordinary but it was definitely a harder trek than it usually is, or at least felt that way.  Out into the surf, if you can call it that.. lol, and along the wall with my group until Virpi gives the word, and partnered up, we descend.  It's so amazing underwater, I know I write this all the time, but until you have been down there, you really don't know what you're missing.  So the plan for today is 3 dives, our first being our deep dive to beyond 80 feet, followed by our Navigation dive and our Peak Performance Buoyancy dive.  Should be another great day!  Our deep goes great, despite the fact I feel a little more tired than I think I should and I seem to be using air faster today, maybe it's the additional buoyancy corrections I'm having to do... needless to say it was great.  As we progressed deeper and deeper and I'm watching my needle tip into the 90+ foot range, I look up... what a sight.  I am blowing bubbles and loosing track of them as they get to small to make out on their journey to the surface.  I am roughly 9 stories under water, breathing and visiting with the fish... life is good!  But inevitably, the party must come to an end, as unlike the fish, I am dependent on the tanks on my back to be able to stay here and air does not last forever.  So we start our return swim, and stop in about 12 feet of water for our safety stop, which involves a quick game of tic tac toe on one of my partners slates... no joke, I have played tic tac toe in 12 feet of water... my mom would be so proud.. lol.  Despite some buoyancy issues trying to stay at 12 feet and not have to work so hard, it was interesting sitting and watching the world move around you. Before long, the 3 minutes is up, we surface and a gentle surface swim (I hate surface swims...lol) back to shore.  Here is where the day started to break down, once shallow enough we stand or get our balance on the bottom and remove our fins, then walk up the beach, remove our BCDs and switch tanks, easy.... not today!  I hit shallow water, and try to stand, it takes all I have to get balanced on one foot and start working on my first fin, I am still on this fin and my partners are already on their way up the beach.  Virpi offered to help and she is floating in the water a few feet away keeping an eye on me.  Finally the second fin submits and it's time again to try to stand, hard enough on it's own, and then walk up the beach in full gear.  By the time I got to the log we were using to switch gear, I was exhausted and fighting to catch my breath.  My partners had already gotten their tanks and headed for the parking lot to switch tanks, so I quickly pulled mine and followed Virpi up the stairs.  This was sign number two, I had to stop!  I have been to Whytecliff diving twice previous, I have been up and down the hills at least half a dozen times with tanks and even once carried 2 tanks in a single trip... I have never needed to stop...  After getting going again from stop number 3 I finally reached my truck, switched tanks, and sat on the back of the truck... After my partners went down, and Virpi came by to check on me before heading down herself I sat and just tried to catch my breath and figure out what was going on.  So I grabbed my full tank, locked up the truck and headed back down to the beach, to start my next dive.... 3 stops later, I reached the log, I am sure by now I was flushed and looked like death warmed over.  Virpi just looked at me and said, "If you're not feeling up to it, call it a day, the last thing you want to do is risk hurting yourself."  That was about all it took, I looked at Virpi, nodded my head and told her I was done.  I felt like the Navy Seal ringing the bell, I felt like I had just quit, given up, chickened out.... I grabbed my gear, wished my team luck and headed for my truck, and home. 

After making it home, I relayed the story to Jenn (my wife), who sent me to bed...lol.  I am such a child sometimes..lol.  Virpi called later in the day to let me know they were all on their way back to the shop so Jenn drove me in to OPD so I could clean and put away my gear.  This also gave me a chance to get my book filled out from the dives I had completed and thank Virpi again for letting me skip my last 2 dives and make them up another day.  Now to just get healthy, O2 training on Tuesday, here we come.

Dived and gone to heaven!

Earlier today marked my last certification dive and the first of MANY, purely recreational dives.  Our final certification dive was not completed last week due to unexpected excitement, see Seals to Emergencies for the full story.  So it was back to Whytecliff this morning to make up for the dive, and Ocean Pro Divers and Shannon, always wanting satisfied divers, not only arranged for the one dive but also supplied the gear for a second, purely recreational dive... I LOVE THIS SHOP!!  Our first dive was more or less recreational as well, with only one skill to complete, and with the awesome class I was a part of  and thanks to the amazing instruction by Virpi, we were able to complete it within a minute or two of reaching the bottom, then off on our tour.

It is hard to describe how truly amazing diving is, is it scary... sure it has it's moments.  But no more or different that trying anything that could potentially end in injury.  Anyone who is a parent and has ever had the wonderful experience of teaching your child to ride a bike, knows what this is like, as can anyone who remembers learning themselves.  Despite the number of times the parent says, "it's ok, I won't let go until you are ready", the child still has fear.  Fear of the unknown ("what happens if.... ") and the known (Wow... that concrete is hard!").... lol.  But once they are riding, wobbling at first, they begin to build confidence.  Here is the breaking point for people though... you see some will stay within reach of their parent, and within their own personal limits, while others will push beyond their parents and their limits until they get hurt or hurt someone else.  This is much the same and often the case in diving, while there is always a chance of an accident, the majority of injuries and issues come as a result of someone trying to push beyond their limits without proper instruction or supervision often resulting in injury to themselves and/or their partner(s).  So for all of you who have contacted me or messaged me, rest assured, I am well aware of my limits as a beginning recreational diver, and I will be staying well within them.  When the time comes for me to branch out and push the limits, it will be done under the supervision and instruction of one of the many wonderful staff at Ocean Pro.  Sleep well, I am in great hands!

So, dive one of the day (dive 5 so far), took us to 60' along the right side of the bay at Whytecliff, with a quick stop along the way to allow us to quickly demonstrate a low pressure hose remove and replace for those of us finishing our dry suit specialty.  Then it was off to explore and follow Dennis through a world experienced only by those lucky enough to scuba dive.  Along the right edge of Whytecliff we moved towards the marker slowly drifting a little deeper, it is amazing what you can see down there, the marine life and colors you'd never think possible.  Starfish and sunfish everywhere, at one point I thought the wall was moving beside me until I noticed it was hundreds if not thousands of little starfish moving across the rocks. 

For our second dive, our first purely recreational dive as Certified Open Water Divers with our Dry suit specialties, we headed along the left side of Whytecliff right along side where three Harbour Seals were sunning on the rocks.  Unfortunately they chose not to swim with us today but i was very surprised to see how close we were able to get to them.  They are so cute!!  There were a few minutes I thought Virpi was going to climb out of the water so she could touch their bellies and play with them.. lol.  So down we went, again to 60' (I actually reached about 62' at one point, but shhh, don't tell anyone... lol).  Again the wildlife was amazing and I have attached some photos of some of the things we saw, (no these are not my photos, these are borrowed from the internet).

Harbour Seal

Harbour  Seal

Kelp Greenling

Kelp Greenling

Lingcod

 

Painted Greenling

Painted Greenling

Plumous Anemone

Plumous Anemone

Red Rock Crab

Red Rock Crab

Rockfish

Rockfish

Sea Cucumber

Sea Cucumber

Tube Worm

Tube Worm

On our surface swim back in, Virpi let us know that if we were interested and knew which specialties we wanted to try, she would help us arrange to do our Advanced course with her coming up.  We will just have to get it arranged with the shop.  Now it's just a matter of me figuring out what equipment I will buy now, and what I will wait a while for.  Plus I need to get into the shop and pay for my next classes...  I never thought i would be this excited to be back in school, the kids don't seem anywhere near as excited as me that they are going back... I just don't get it...

As this concludes my Open Water course, I want to thank my classmates, you know who you are, for making this an experience of a lifetime.  It was an amazing experience getting to know all of you, and I look forward to diving with each of you as we progress further into this amazing activity.  For those who were unable to finish the program with us, HURRY UP!!... no, I mean, it was a pleasure getting to know you as well and I can't wait until you are back in the water as well.  Thank you especially to Ocean Pro Divers, their owner Shannon Kozak, the shop staff Ashley Graham and Stewart Hoyt, my instructor Virpi Kangas, and the amazing Dive Masters I have had the opportunity of meeting and diving with, Dennis Chow, Ward Conley, Michael Klaver, and Matt Mendes you are all such amazing individuals, instructors, mentors and friends, I look forward to many more adventures as you take me "In Over My Head..."