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.

In Search of Whiskey and The VT-100....

I discovered this past week that if you ever want to go diving and have nothing planned... post to Facebook and/or call Ocean Pro...lol.  I posted on Thursday, while waiting for Jenn to try on clothes at the mall, that I wanted to go diving this weekend and followed that up with a call to Chloe at the shop to see if there were any fun dives planned.  Chloe let me know that nothing had been planned for fun dives but she would make some calls for me and let me know.  Before long I had gotten a bunch of messages on Facebook.  Ward telling me we should plan a boat dive, Ashley inviting me up to Sechelt to dive with her for the weekend, a couple people letting me know they wish they could go and even an invite to dive in a friends bathtub!....lol.  No sooner had I read and responded to these messages, and Chloe called me back to let me know she had gotten me dives...lol.  Again, I am very fortunate to have the friends I do and the shop I go to.  So my plans for this weekend were to dive on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday with friends if it could be sorted out, and Sunday with Allen Kyte (an instructor from Ocean Pro) and his advanced class up at Whytecliff.

As it turned out Ashley was leaving to Sechelt before we could get anything arranged and that bathtub just didn't have the depth I wanted nor (I hope) any critters....lol.  But I was very fortunate to have an amazing offer from Ward to take his boat out for a dive, this was going to be an epic weekend!  So out to the shop following work yesterday to pick-up my drysuit rental and get all the times from Chloe for Sundays dives, then home to get a hold of Ward to get the details on where the boat was.  With details all gathered and equipment all put together and me bouncing around the house like a kid on Christmas eve, bedtime couldn't come early enough!  But, just before bed, Jenn (my much better half) made a comment to me that I probably should have caught hours earlier when speaking to Ward about his boat... it was in the US.... I don't have a passport... this was going to be an issue!  With a quick message to Ward to ensure my wife was correct (which she was) and let him know I was unfortunately  unable to cross  the border we decided to leave the final decision on what to do until this morning.  Morning arrived soon enough and with a call to Ward we discussed options and finally decided he would meet at my house, I would drive from there and he could show me a couple new locations I have never seen before.

It wasn't long before we were on our way and headed towards Burnaby and the mysterious Whiskey Cove in the Village of Belcarra.  With Ward as navigator it was a nice quick drive and we were on-site in no time with gear ready and changed into our drysuits.  A short walk through the woods and down to the shore line brought us out between a few houses and their docks of beautiful boat which I will never be able to afford...lol.  For the first part of the dive we decided to go out to the right and work our way along the wall to see what we might find down along there and see if we could get any decent pictures.  As it turned out there was not much to see along the wall, a few critters here and there but in the murky water it was difficult at times to see ahead and times when the only thing you could make out of your buddy was the outline or the occasional flash of the camera.  Eventually we could see a shelf or a reef just out from the wall heading into slightly deeper water so we turned and followed it to see if there was anything more exciting.  With a few fish and an amazingly huge sole laying still on the ground.  Good thing Ward pointed it out or I would have swam right past....lol.  At about half air Ward signaled for us to ascend for a moment to find our exact bearing, only being in about 25 - 30 feet of water this was no issue.  Once we had established our location (not where we thought we were...lol) we realigned with shore (not off by much) and descended back to depth to continue our exploration of the reef, heading in the direction of our exit.

With dive one complete we headed back to the vehicle to strip down our gear and figure out what was next.  After a short discussion we concluded we would go and dive the VT-100.  Now on the trip up to Belcarra this morning Ward was telling me a bit about the VT-100.  You see originally it was called the YMS-159 and served as wooden hulled mine sweeper in the 40's before it was decommissioned and sold to the Vancouver Tug Boat Co in 1955.  Now the story goes that back in the day  when a ship was decommissioned the weapons had to be shut down but not necessarily removed, so this tug was motoring the waterways with 50mm and two 20mm guns on deck.  Now apparently the residents at the time were not fond of having this ship in their marina and according to legend it was set on fire by vandals and burned below the water line and left to sink to the watery grave where it remains to this day.

Now upon arrival at the new site and parked along the side of the road in one of only three available spots for the public along this road, we did a little site tour before donning our gear.  Ward took me along the road back about 30 feet behind where we parked to where a small path (more of a goat trail..lol) was cut between the low blackberry bushes and down a steep path to the rocky beach.  Now this was our entry point and we would be traversing this with all our gear on...weee.  Despite this I was excited, any dive is a good dive, one with a friend is even better, so I was ready to go regardless of the entry and exit.  Now again, understand all I can see as I am changing and gearing up is the beautiful houses lining the opposite side of the road and lining our side... well built, gently sloping, stairwells leading to docks right at the water level.. and on the street level... little gates marked "Private".  All these beautiful "potential" entries, with their easily accessible docks right on the water and here we are rock climbing with a ton of gear strapped to our backs...lol.  Needless to say, it was not the easiest entry to traverse but with the help of a little rope someone tied up, we made it down and across the rocks and into the water.  Now,  Wards best recollection of the approximate location of the VT-100 was quite a surface swim from the entry point about 300 feet from shore in about 55 - 60 feet of water (sometimes deeper, tide dependent) .  Now, keeping in mind that the shoreline and locations of many of the docks changes from year to year we were relying on best guess to find the boat.  When reaching the approximate location, masks went on, regs went in and we signaled down...  After a slow descent we reached dead on 60 feet and set off, me following behind Ward and keeping my camera ready in case we came across anything of interest.  It wasn't more than a few kicks and Ward signaled with his light,  right there in front of us was debris... debris of the wooden ship kind... debris of the sunken wooden ship kind...lol.  We knew we were close!  A little further along was some more debris, and then more, sunken bottles, boards and even an old boot!  We continued our swim and photographed many of the items found including a weight pouch with weight inside...lol, but alas, my air was not meant to last forever (Wards apparently is meant to last a lot longer than mine though...lol) and we were forced to head back and start towards our safety stop depth of 50 feet.  Then maintain depth and head in the direction of our exit slowly ascending towards safety stop depth.  At 750 psi it was time for our safety stop at 15 feet.  At depth Ward released his SMB (surface marker buoy) for details on the use of these see To Drift or Not To Drift.....  Watching our computers closely and monitoring our time we hovered at 15 feet for our 3 minutes and then making our way to the surface VERY carefully, as not everyone knows what the marker means, we surfaced and looked towards shore to evaluate our surface swim.  We were WAY out there...lol.  Now with Ward weighed down with an extra 10lbs with the recently found weight pouch he was off center in the water and I am not all that centered at the best of times...lol, this was looking to be an interesting swim in.  It didn't take long for Ward, (who's mind never stops working) to realize he could attach his SMB to the weight pouch and float the bag back in saving him a lot of the work... YEAH!!.  Our surface swim gave us a chance to look at the docks we would love to have if money were no object and think about the boats we could have if we had those docks... and money were not an object...lol.  Back on the beach it was time for the climb... this actually took some talent, timing your steps and pulling on the rope and trying to keep all your weight straight up and down so as to stay balanced... and Ward had to do it twice as he left his SMB and newly acquired weight bag, back on shore to reduce the strain of the first climb. 


Again, back at the vehicle, stripping off gear, and packing it away in our totes, cases and bags.  It was a great time to reflect on another amazing day of diving.  We didn't find the VT-100, Ward is fairly certain that we were right on it when we dropped but swam away from it instead of in to it.  For me it just means there are more mysteries for me to uncover in Bedwell Bay and more reasons for me to return to see if I can locate the boat of legends and be able to say that I too have seen the wooden hulled minesweeper of 1942 that calls the sands of Bedwell Bay home.

Everything I know about being an Underwater Naturalist, I learned in High-School!

Last night the team and I, yes the same team from Search and Recovery, got together to start our Underwater Naturalist course and our first chance to meet Monti Richardsen.  Now Monty is a Master Instructor, so this is like getting in the water with the Yoda of Diving...lol. To fill you in on where he is in relation to me... here is the progression (sorry PADI if I miss something) as well as where some of the greats I have worked with are.   

Open Water Diver -
Adventure Diver -
Advanced Open Water Diver -
Rescue Diver -  This is where I am now, and will complete this in a few weeks (hopefully)
Master Scuba Diver -  This is my Goal for the end of the year (getting there)
Dive Master - Michael Klaver, Matt Mendes, Steve Dunn
Assistant Open Water Instructor - Stewart Hoyt
Open Water Instructor - Virpi Kangas, Ward Conley
Specialty Instructor - 
Master Scuba Diver Trainer -  Dennis Chow, Roger Fordham, Wes Kozak
IDC Staff Member - Ashley Graham (and I believe Dennis is just about here)
Master Instructor - Monti Richardsen
Course Director - Shannon Kozak (only about 1200 people World Wide hold his title)

As you can see from the list and the chart, Monti has been at this for a very long time and to hold the Master Instructor title you have to have taught a whole hoard of students.  So I was very excited when last night arrived so I could have the opportunity to meet a new instructor, catch up with my team again and prepare for what, for all intents and purposes, should be a fairly relaxed dive.  Formal class time was a brief overview of the chapter on Underwater Naturalist from the Adventures in Diving book, and then some review and discussion of some of the things we were going to look at and how to interact with them.  This is where class become a sudden flashback of high-school and I realized that "Everything I know about being an Underwater Naturalist, I learned in High-School!" You see much like being in high school the rules are the same:

• If it's really beautiful or really ugly... stay away it's probably dangerous

• The big fish will eat the little fish... but there is always a bigger fish

• Most injuries suffered are caused by provoking the wrong animal

 Can you think of any more similarities?  Add them in the comments field.

Sunday is dive day so the team and I will be out with Monti and another student to complete our dives, explore our world and hopefully come back in one piece...lol.  Talk to you soon.

Shooting Pumpkins and Making Squares.....

Yesterday marked my long awaited return to the water after being sick and having to scrub my last two dives of my Advanced Certification.  Yesterday was originally scheduled to just be a fun dive, it was Ocean Pro Divers "Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest" and I was going to take pictures, but a couple days before the dive Virpi, my wonderful Open Water and Advanced Instructor, called to ask if I would like to use the BBQ as an opportunity to finish my Advanced dives.  Of course I was all over this and responded to let her and Ashley, OPD Dive shop manager, know that I would finish my Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy dives on the weekend to complete my Advanced certification.  Sunday morning arrived before I knew it and after a great sleep I packed my gear and all the rental gear into the truck and headed off to Porteau Cove.

Arriving shortly before 9:00, Ashley invited me to join a group from the shop as they headed towards the water for their dive briefing under the direction of their instructor Roger Fordham. Joining the Open Water group along with Ashley, Virpi and I for the dive briefing were many of the shop Dive Masters and Staff including Stewart Hoyt,  Dennis Chow, Ryder Heim, Kevin McEachnie, and Matt Mendes. Despite the minor disruptions from the staff  playing around at the back, Roger was able to get through his orientation with his class and get them prepared for the last of their Open Water certification dives.  It seems like just yesterday that I was standing on the edge of the water listening to my dive instructor walk me through the last of my dives and here it is 2 months later and I'm heading in for dives 10 and 11 already.

After a few more minutes of goofing around with the staff and other divers, it's time to suit up and get ready for the first dive of the day.  A quick meeting with Virpi to discuss the plan, first it's the PPB (Peak Performance Buoyancy) dive with the added challenge of testing those buoyancy skills to stop myself in the water and hover right above divers carving their pumpkins so I can shoot pictures.  This proves to be more difficult than originally planned, and much harder than it sounds.  Upon entering the water and starting our surface swim. it is discovered that the previous nights storm in the cove not only left behind several branches the size of trees floating on or just under the surface (always fun to try to avoid) but also disrupted the sediment leading to almost zero visibility.  The plan was for those carving to head out towards the tower of Porteau and spread out in that area so that after "mastering" my buoyancy, I could hover around and get photos of the pumpkins and carving in action.  What happened, is that most divers went out far enough to reach 30' in depth and went down there instead of the swim to the Tower and the one group that did go to the tower wanted to stay real close to the chain for easy ascent.... those that have been diving can see the comedic moments in motion already.  For those of you who don't see it yet here is the scenario, there is a group of 2 divers sitting at approximately 30' at the bottom of the chain, carving pumpkins.  At the top of that chain is me, not aware of where the divers are, about to descend, down the chain, through 30' of water with no visibility and try to stop without hitting bottom or the divers....lol.  Now you see the humor!

The descent wasn't too bad, I didn't crush anyone and no one got stuck with a knife, so that was a success.  My new BCD worked out amazing and was so nice to control, as soon as I saw the head move less than a foot below me I was able to quickly add air and slow my descent stopping only inches from Kevin's head.  A quick move to the left and I was able to join Virpi as she pointed to the area of the chain she wanted me to focus on, and then using only breath control (inhaling and exhaling), stay right there and then follow her light and descend and ascend up and down the chain again using only breath control.  Next was circling, for this you kick slowly to one side hovering in a circle around the chain, maintaining buoyancy and still using only breath control for adjusting height.  After practicing these skills for a bit it was off on our tour to find people, pumpkins or something to take pictures of to practice both the skill of moving in to take a picture and then back out all with only breath control.  No pumpkins or people were found on our little tour, but I did manage to take a few pictures of star fish, a sun star, a couple plumous anemone, a crab and even myself (which also happened to be the best of the photos.)  Keeping in mind that this was the first time I have taken photos under water, and the visibility and learning buoyancy... these still suck... lol, but I posted them anyway.

Plumous Anemone

Star Fish

Crab

Sun Star

ME!!

Ok, so photography under the water is going to take some time, but this is one thing I don't mind having to spend a lot of time practicing.  After our surface swim back into shore we managed to catch up with Ashley and Stewart and get photos of the pumpkins from their groups, again, not my best work, but pictures of lit pumpkins underwater are cool anyway you take them...hope you enjoy.

After my Buoyancy dive and some fun with the camera, it was time to enjoy some hot chocolate, a couple of sandwiches and a ton of fun with the other divers as we talked about the days dive and diving in general. The biggest treat was being able to talk cameras with Wes Kozak, co-owner of the shop and shop photographer, the things I will learn from him will be incredible (he is teaching my Dive Photography course in April.)  After a good surface interval and with a full tank (air and tummy) it was time to head back into the water for what is generally my least favorite skill, Navigation.  This has always been my least favorite skill primarily I think because I struggle with the compass being on the back of my gauges.  For yesterdays dives, I had my new retractable compass.  So again after a short surface swim and a briefing on the skills we are going to practice, Virpi and I descend and get to work.  Skill one, Virpi ties off her line on the chain and we swim in a straight line as she measures 50' and I count kick cycles, then on the return she winds back in her 50' of line and again I count my kick cycles, 24 kicks out, 26 kicks back, this gives me a basic unit of measure.  Assuming I kick at approximately the same on all dives I am moving about 2' per kick so if i need to go aproximatly 20' I kick 10 times, 100 feet, 25 times etc.  Skill 2 starts back at the chain and we swim in the direction or heading that Virpi points, this time I keep us on that heading through the use of my compass and Virpi counts kick cycles.  Then, on Virpi's signal, we turn and reverse our direction and, on my lead, follow the compass back to the chain.  Remembering of course that there is almost zero visibility you learn very quickly how useful this skill can be, outside of my kick count and compass reading I am completely unaware of where the chain is.  Fortunately, with the new compass we end up back close enough to our original location to find the chain... yeah me!  Skill 3 takes us to Natural Navigation, for those who have ever dove Porteau you know that there is a fire hose that leads from one marker through some of the interesting sites and ends at one of the further yellow markers.  For Natural Navigation, this is what we use, not a tough skill unless you take your eyes off the hose, in this kind of visibility it only takes a second of distraction to lose the hose in the murky bottom and be left guessing where you went wrong.  After a short tour it's on to our last skill, skill 4 making squares.  For this you take your bearing, swim till you kit your kick cycle count or your partner does and signals you, then you turn 90 degrees swim your kick cycles, turn 90, swim, turn 90, and swim.  Now if you have stayed on course and you and/or your partner have counted well, you should be back at your starting point.  If you are like me and over-shoot one side, you end up a little off course.  I was actually very fortunate in that we ended up very close to our start, apparently some people make some pretty wild shapes under water or get lost all together.  Well that ended dive 2 and finally my last 2 required courses to certify me as an Advanced Diver!

Once out of the water, and still smiling ear to ear after finishing dive #11 of my dive career, and now being Advanced certified, it was back to the tent for some much needed and very much enjoyed soup and conversation with my friends and dive family from the shop.  Tuesday will come all too fast and that will mark the start of my next journey and newest challenge and certification... NIGHT DIVING!

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..."

"Fitness... I don't need no stinkin' fitness"

For anyone who has ever completed the fitness requirement to start diving, you know how untrue that title is... but I'll get to that later.

So here's the story of my first night of diving.  I was more excited than a child on Christmas morning, Jenn (my wife) is watching me bounce off the walls, I'm packed for class with my swim shorts on, I've double and triple checked my homework, ensured I haven't missed anything on my student folder and even reread some of the highlighted areas of my dive manual and I still don't get to leave for nearly 2 hours!

So the grueling 2 hours go by, I make the quick drive from Delta to White Rock to get to Ocean Pro and head on in.  At first I thought I was late, Shannon is standing in front of a class teaching... oh no... did I get the time wrong, did I miss something.. could Ashley have written it down wrong... impossible.  Shannon see's me coming in and confirms I am there for the Open Water Course and upon confirmation she lets me know she is just finishing up with another class, lots happening tonight. (Apparently I am not the only one that realizes how great this shop is.)  Shannon then points me into the shop and encourages me to look around... muhahaha... this is like opening the candy store for a child and telling him to look around to see if there is anything he wants... I WANT IT ALL!!

After playing with some weights, and trying on gloves, and looking at accessory after accessory, I am introduced to, what I will later learn is one of the best instructors around, my instructor Virpi Kangas. She lets me know we'll be starting in a few minutes and to... you guessed it... have a look around... lol.

By the time class starts (and I've only been in the store 15 minutes) I'm researching having my paychecks direct deposited to the store so that I can buy one or two of everything. Not that I'm greedy, but it all looks so much fun!

So class starts, there are 6 in my class including me, Virpi introduces herself, says her name once and I realize... I'm gonna need options.  Such a beautiful name and the way she says it adds that extra something to it, I start saying it in my head and I realize we have a problem...lol. Fortunately Virpi advises we can call her Virpi (can you see the difference, one has a fancy roll to it and the other, not so much... lol) or we can call her V.  Without the roll I'm ok and I feel less worried that I'm going to kill someones name.  We all get out our folders and Virpi reviews to ensure everything is complete.. and who is the superstar who has everything completed... you guessed it.. ME!  (Thanks to Ashley not letting me leave the shop the Thursday before until after I had completed most of it and she had walked me through the rest putting a star * beside everything that needed completing.)  So after folders are done, we start to go through the units 1 & 2, most of us have our homework done and we review question by question, then on to Quiz #1.... 10 out of 10, yeah me, this diving stuff is easy... lol.  Boy was I wrong.. now we were off to the pool....

Here is where the title fits in and my thoughts on the physical requirements go out the window, now the weight of the equipment was, as expected, not a problem for me.  My problem came with the announcement of a Fitness test.  Not a "Hey can you comfortably lift a BCD, tank attached and support it while your partner gets in"... this was a, swim 8 lengths (4 laps) of the pool, no stopping or you start again. So off we go... I'm on length 3/8 (1.5 of my required 4 laps) when the thought hits me... "I'm out of shape"... by length 5/8  (2.5 of my required 4 laps) I'm praying "God strike me dead, I'm not gonna make it"... at the end of 6/8 (3 of my 4 laps down) I am swimming on my back (and have been for a bit) and look up to see Virpi cheering me on from the side, "Only one more to go!"  Ok, great, now I can't quit, I've got a cheering section... lol.  So we finish the swim, I get out, and I am feeling muscles in my legs I didn't know existed and remembering joints that were hurt so long ago I can barely remember how I hurt them.  I'm not feeling so much the superstar at this point... I'd have given up my 10 / 10 on the quiz and being all done my worksheets and folder for a slightly easier time with the swim... at this point I want to die.  We are now fortunate enough to have a break, a few minutes while Virpi shows us the equipment set-up, how to get the tank attached to the BCD, attaching regulators, clipping in hoses, etc.  I'm getting excited again... then the announcement... "Ok, now on to our 10 minute tread..."  Good news!... now I get to tread water with already sore muscles for longer than I have ever tried before, without touching the sides and not drowning....  I won't walk through the gory details but that 10 minutes seemed like 20 and by 20 I mean hours!  ~ note to self: FITNESS IS IMPORTANT ~

So 10 minutes is up, out of the pool we get, muscles are sore, breathing is off and I'm thinking I'm going to die before this night is over....  I think I did.  Died and went to heaven that is!  Under the supervision of Virpi and Dennis Chow (one of the shops most highly qualified and trained Dive Masters and Instructors), we start to build our kits, dawn our wetsuits and boots and then assist our partners into their gear.  Then grabbing masks, snorkels and fins (never call them flippers, Flipper's a Dolphin, Divers have fins!!), we head off to the shallow end of the pool, climb into the pool, put on our fins and masks and upon instruction lower into the water and breathe for the first time.. under water!  What an AMAZING experience!

I won't go through all the details of the skills we covered, aside from saying watching the video and reading the required chapters does help, but most important of all, is having a great instructional team and paying very close attention to what they tell you and show you.

Is my life any different after one class, you bet it is.  I learned to breathe under water, communicate under water, recover my regulator, clear my mask and even share air with my partner if it was needed... what did you do Tuesday night?

My only question at this point... outside of tank changes, why does anyone ever surface? I love this new world. Thursday can't come quick enough, and who knows what the deep end of the pool holds.

I can't wait to dive again, but I won't hold my breath... cause that breaks rule #1 of diving "NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!"

It all starts with a dream….

I have always loved the water; my parents have often been heard telling the stories about our pool in the backyard.  As the story goes, by the time the winter cover was off, I was in the pool.  60 degrees, green with algae and filled with bugs, it never bothered me, it was all about the adventure under the water.  Over the years I have been a little slower in getting in, the water feels a bit colder and I’m a little keener than I used to be to jump in the shower to wash off the grime.  But despite my love for the water, and my search for adventures, diving is something I never looked into seriously… until now!

It wasn’t long ago one of my closest friends Scott returned from a trip to Hornby Island where he had an opportunity to swim with the sea lions, and see the abundant and spectacular life that lays beneath the waves, that no one ever truly experiences unless they are there, 30 - 60 feet under water.  After hearing of Scott’s experiences and seeing the photos and videos, the spark was set in place, the thought, however distant, that I too, could experience the vast wonders of life below the waves.

It has now been a few months, and that little spark has grow to a dream, a dream that I could combine my great passion for photography with my new found excitement for diving and capture the images of the deep.  Now through much research into Organizations, Certifications, Shops, staff, equipment, etc and the dive sites of BC, I have decided to get my training and certification through Ocean Pro Diving in White Rock.

Not only is the owner of Ocean Pro, Shannon Kozak, one of only 1200 people in the world to hold the designation of Course Director for PADI (the world’s largest dive organization) but the store staff are incredible as well.  Every staff member is very highly trained and each were willing to take all of the time necessary to ensure I had all of the details about equipment, how the program runs and how to get started.  Both of the staff (Ashley Graham and Stewart Hoyt ) that I met on my first visit to Ocean Pro emphasized one major key to the Ocean Pro philosophy, and that is the importance of not just great instruction but getting back in the water as much and as soon as possible following your course to really ingrain the knowledge and skills learned.  They did not try to get me to sign up for anything nor buy anything, I hadn't even committed to diving with them, yet much of the time spent was in inviting me to their free group dives, letting me know about the discounts on rentals available for those group dives and even encouraging my family to join them for the barbecues that occasionally follow the dives.  It was apparent that it was less about pumping through as many new divers as possible and more about introducing individuals to an amazing new world. Little time was spent trying to convince me they were the best shop to dive with... maybe they realize that the shop, and their attitudes, speak for themselves, and that is why, in early August I will start my Open Water course with Ocean Pro and they will get me “In over my head."