Saving Lives - The New Team Sport

Yesterday was when we finally put all of the pieces of my four month journey to Rescue Diver together.  After classroom session number one with Virpi in February (The Master Scuba Diver Challenge!!) followed by the confusion of Andrew to the Rescue.... Or Not?, we finally got everything started back up in Andrew to the Rescue part... Doh!! where Ward taught the classroom section again (for the 4 new students that had joined the Recue program) and invited me to join.  Then that following Saturday Denis and Matt taught the in water Rescue scenarios in You are healed!!.  Which brings us to yesterday when Denis and Cheryl lead us through the final in water rescue scenarios but this time we got to put all of the learned items together.

In You are healed!! I got to practice with Matt on bringing a diver to the surface, and finding a lost diver in partners and dealing with a panicked diver.We also had opportunities to practice our in-water rescue breaths with the pocket mask while pulling a victim to shore and getting their gear off.  Yesterday we got to demonstrate our rescue breaths again, but this time without the pocket mask (yeah, you wanna see a group of guys squirm... tell them they are about to practice mouth to mouth...lol.)  With that skill out of the way (and no, lips did not actually touch...lol, you end up blowing more on their chin or just below), we moved on to the real tests.  Here is where you need to put all your training into action.  One buddy is sent out into the water and is in apparent need of assistance, the other two need to come from shore and bring the first guy out.  Now, in our scenarios we have the advantage of knowing time really isn't of the essence (no one is really dying) and we are more or less mentally prepared and expecting the scenario.  So when Denis said go it was no surprise that most everyone was ready.  But what you realize in the two minutes the scenario takes to start and complete... there is a LOT to think about.... How far out is the potential victim?  Do I take the time to put my kit on? What do I take with me? Is he the only victim?

One by one, here is the thought process: 

How far out is the victim?

• do you have to get in the water
• can he be reached wading
• can something be thrown to him
• can you reach him with a stick

Do I take the time to put my kit on?

• if I take the time he is in the water having issues longer
• if I don't have my kit and he goes under then I may not be able to reach him
• if I have my kit I will be slower in the water
• if I don't have my kit and he gets panicky I don't have the option of going under him

What do I take with me?

• do I grab a floatation device or make one
• do I need my fins and mask
• do I get another diver to come with me or wait for me on shore

Is he the only victim?

• Where is his dive buddy
• Is this a surface rescue or is he signaling for help because he can't find his buddy
• What is the potential of additional victims

After our 3 man practice scenarios we had an opportunity to discuss some of the above topics / questions and work towards solutions (where ones could be found), and where you just need to sometimes go with your training and instinct and do your best, because your best, even if it's only marginally successful, is still better than not doing anything at all.

After our briefing, it was time for the final test... the real test.  You see for this one, Cheryl, our helpless "damsel in distress" is a "missing diver," and our team of six "rescuers" are tasked with finding and rescuing her.  What we know is that she is missing, we have a rough area and a general depth, we also know that visibility SUCKS at that depth.... what we need to do is agree upon a strategy, make a plan and execute it flawlessly... we also have to do it in less than 10 minutes!  Not a PADI requirement, a Cheryl requirement... she gets cold...lol.  So here was my chance to shine... lol, after-all, I had been through the classroom session twice, had the best partner for day 1 (Matt), can't go wrong with a DM as your partner, especially one who makes you work..lol.  With everyone on the beach, and knowing the obstacles, we began to discuss.  The eventual plan that was agreed upon was to go out as a team of 6 each person having a dedicated buddy in case of seperation, drop down to depth and essentially holding hands move parallel to the beach, one of us in the middle navigating with a compass, the guy beside him counting kick cycles and the 2 guys on either end watching to see if they can find Cheryl.  Then after a set number of kick cycles, we would send the message down the line (through taps) and the inside person would stop and everyone would rotate around them to swing back in the opposite direction covering the next section.  Then, once found, the first group of dedicated buddies to reach her would surface her and while one starts pulling her in the other starts breaths.  This allows the fastest pair of remaining swimmers to head to shore to get the first aid and O2 ready and the final pair to work together, without interfering with the dragging or breathing, in getting her kit off before reaching shore.

With the plan in place it was time to stage the scene, to make it interesting we descended first and waited 2 minutes while Cheryl swam to a spot and descended.  At the 2 minute mark we started our search pattern, as we reached the end of our pass, the diver to my far left (I was in the middle) signaled along the line, and one by one we stopped and noticed there to the left of us barely visible in the murky water was Cheryl.  The team to my left secured her regulator and surfaced with the remaining 4 of us following close behind.  On the surface 2 of our divers raced for shore to secure the first-aid and air.  The two divers that brought Cheryl to the surface had already secured the pocket mask and were making their way to shore as the last member of our group and myself started undoing her kit and passing the items off.  By the time we had reached shore her full kit was off as was mine, so while the rest of my team stripped off their gear I pulled Cheryl up on shore to where the guys with first-aid and air were waiting to take over.  After a couple rounds of compressions and breaths... she was revived and safe to dive another day.

All in, this was one of the best courses I could have taken, it took longer to complete than intended but the information is definitely in there to stay.

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!!

To Drift or Not To Drift....

Drift diving to me always sounded like I was going to be pulling a Crush and Spike from Finding Nemo, and be flying along under the surface watching the world fly by.  This weekend I tried it.... not so much!...lol.

For yesterday's dives I was "fortunate" enough, that one of the students from the shop managed to tear the zipper in the suit I normally wear, leading to it needing to be repaired and me borrowing the dreaded neoprene suit...lol.  The last time I wore the Neoprene suit, back in my Advance Open water course way back in It's Dark... Very, Very Dark.... I had a few issues.  So needless to say I was a "wee" bit nervous going out in this suit again.  But given the choice of dive Neoprene or don't dive... I choose diving...lol. 
Sunday morning arrived and with mine and my buddies gear stowed in the truck it was time to set out to Horseshoe Bay, Sewell's Marina, and meet up with Dennis in preparation of boarding my first (real) boat to go diving.  To hear about my other "boat" diving experiences read Row, Row, Row Your Boat Gently Into The Rolling Waves.... Merrily Merrily Off To See The Circus....

The drive to Horseshoe Bay was a quick one and despite me missing an exit, it was an uneventful one that allowed me to get to know more about the friend I was diving with for the day and hear about her Missions trips to South Africa and East Africa and her exciting plans to aid the less fortunate of the world when she graduates medical school.  It's the inspired and driven people like her that are changing and shaping our world everyday, and getting to have a little peek inside that excitement was an honor.  As mentioned, the trip was quick, then it was time to meet up with Dennis, grab our manuals and review our chapter questions and discuss the dives for the day.  Our quick meeting was held in the local Starbucks and was a great place to stay warm and dry as we finished our exercises  and waited for a couple other divers who would be joining us for the day.  Having finished our reviews the three of us headed for the docks to unload our gear and move it in the direction of the boat in anticipation of our departure once the final couple arrived.  Loading up the boat was a new experience, trying to balance the gear while stepping from dock to boat and then following directions on where to strap in some gear and where to stow other gear.

With all the gear stowed, and fastened down, it was time to head out into the sound.  With Kevin Breckman at the helm and his wife Jan as our DM and tour guide we braved the waves of the Howe Sound.  Joining us on the boat were a friend of the Breckmans, joining Jan for a couple dives, and Jim Larsen, the North West Territory Representative from NAUI.  It didn't take long to understand why Kevin and Jan are so particular about making sure everything is tightened down and then tightened again.  Much the same as flight attendants check and recheck doors  because you don't want one opening in mid flight, you do not want to see what kind of damage a flying scuba tank can do...lol.  Yesterdays trip also led me to understand the term (and reasoning) behind battening down the hatches.  With Kevin behind the wheel, there wasn't a lot of lost time.  We got clear of the harbor, and the hammer was down, and man can the Topline fly!  With a relayed message from Kevin through Jan, we were told to hold on, things could get a little rough.... This is when I got excited!!  Moving into the cabin to get a better view of the water we were racing into afforded me the opportunity to not only see the water splashing over the fore-decks of the boat but also to have a good conversation with Jim and hear a little more about NAUI and his visit to Vancouver.  After a few minutes of wave jumping and drawing in closer to the islands, things calmed a bit and it was time to go back and put the rest of the kit together and prep to get wet!  After checking with Dennis to see about how much weight to add to compensate for wearing neoprene it was decided to add 8lbs and do a weight check to ensure it was enough before edging into our final "jump-off" point.  All geared up, Kevin walked me to the back of the boat, did a quick once over of my gear and with a pat signaled for me to jump.  Popping back up I signaled "OK" moved to with-in reach of the ladder and deflated my BCD.  Now for a proper weight check you deflate your BCD and with a full breath of air you should sink to about the mid-point on your mask.  Again... this is if you are properly weighted... which I was not...lol.  I hit the deflate and dropped...lol.  Fortunately I had my hand near the ladder and added some air and popped right back up.  Then up the ladder and (with Kevin's help) back on board.  All of this quite well timed, for you see while Kevin is helping me, he is not at the wheel, so it all requires lot's of attention and experience.  So, once back on board and holding on, the boat is brought back around and in close to the wall for all the divers to quickly jump in, signal their "OK" and then move out of the way.  With my team all in the water, Dennis signals "descend" and we head to depth to begin our "Drift". 

I laughed with Dennis, after our dive, and referred to it more as a slow swim than a Drift dive.  There was a little drift, enough so that you could see it affecting the plant life and see them tilted slightly.  You could also tell there was a little bit of a current as most of the marine life stayed close to the wall and the safety of the outcroppings.  But as far as moving me, there wasn't much, add to that the fact that I was REALLY over-weighted and you can imagine what I looked like...lol  With Dennis being part fish (I think he has a buzzer or something that reminds him to breath...lol) and my dive buddy being in amazing health, they just kicked a little caught what little drift there was and then moved along the wall.  Me on the other-hand, I suck air like a shop-vac, and the additional weight not helping, I would kick 2 - 3 times as often just to keep up and stay balanced out.  But, despite a few complications, the dive was amazing as always spotting some neat life I have never seen before and have no name for yet... I really do need to get better at fish id...lol, and of course just the relaxation of being weightless (yes even with the extra 8 lbs of lead).  The dive ended (or more my air supply did) and we ascended to our safety stop and deployed our surface marker buoy's (thanks to my brother Matt for buying me my marker buoy for Christmas.)  Now for anyone who ever deployed one, you know these are not the easiest things to use at first, for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about here is what they look like rolled up and then deployed:

The idea behind these devices, is that once you hit your safety stop (or just before) you un-clip (this is VERY important) the SMB (surface marker buoy) from you and with it attached to a reel (another important thing to remember) you add air and it races to the surface and marks your location for all the boats around.  This is very important as you really don't want to be ascending into the under-side of anyone's boat, nor do you want to be ascending just before a boat crosses your path.  This is also an incredibly  useful tool for your own boat as it lets your captain know that you are about 3 minutes away from surfacing and where you will be surfacing so that he can be in place to get you out of the water as quick as possible.  Now I say that it is very important to "unclip" the SMB from you first because if your still conected, you're gonna take a ride to the surface and blow your safety stop, putting you in danger from rising to fast and also placing you right in a potential boat lane.  It is also, for obvious reasons, important to attach your SMB to your reel so that when you let it go, it's not off drifting in the waves, but is actually marking your location.

Now, with SMB's deployed and safety stops completed, we broke the surface and kicked out a little ways from the wall and sure enough, by the time we had moved out a safe distance Kevin had spun the boat around and we climbed (with Kevin and Jim's assistance) up the ladder and back into the boat.  Then Kevin did a quick loop and dropped the boat right back where he needed to be to pick up Jan and her dive buddy.  Once everyone was back on board the kettle was fired up, gear was stripped off and coffee and soup were graciously enjoyed while Kevin and divers discussed our next location and moved the boat to accommodate the new drop point.

Dive 2 was very similar in that there wasn't really a lot of current, but more than the first time, that combined with dropping a couple of pounds (still too heavy) allowed me to experience "drift".  Another relaxing dive, not a ton of new creatures but we went in search of the wolf eel that occasionally resides in a grate.  He was unfortunatly away from home but that leaves something for me to look forward to for next time.... and there will definitly be a next time.  There's something to be said for only having to walk 10 feet with all your gear before you're in the water and again a short distance from ladder to bench once you come back in.

All in all it was a very good day of dives, I would definitely recommend every diver trying dives off a boat, especially if you are fortunate enough to get a spot on the Top Line with Kevin and Jan so worth the money even just for the knowledge of the area they can share with you.  Can't wait for my next trip with them, hopefully it won't be too far down the road!  Till my next dives, take care of yourself, your buddy and the wonderful underwater world we all enjoy!

Making Fish Say "Cheese" and Sunstars Smile...

Sunday was our Naturalist dives and (thanks to a quick call from Chloe Boone earlier in the week) I brought my camera with me.  Now the goals for Sundays dives we pretty simple, not a lot of task loading and so having the camera would not be any issue.  So after arriving on site, and getting our gear all out and kits built it was time for a bit of a briefing.  This was mildly entertaining as this also seemed to be the day everyone from the shop went diving...lol.  Different recreational divers I had been out with were there, and many of the professional divers were there as well.  Shannon and Wes were there, and Stuart, Ryder, Dennis, Virpi, and Ward, the whole family was there...lol.  Now when you pack a picnic area with a group like this, we're not exactly quiet, so getting through some of the review questions and instructions for the day   The task for dive 1 of the day was to go for a swim (sounds tough I know..lol) and during our dive find five plants, five vertebrates and five invertebrates, write them down, draw a picture of them or (in my case) take a picture.  Then once on the surface see if, with the aid of Monti, any of the other divers around, or any of the books that were available to use, figure out what we saw.

Now, never one to not have a little stress on a dive, after we completed our briefing and planned our dive and I had an opportunity to get to know the new diver joining us for this class, it was time to gear up.  With my kit all assembled and my camera all ready it was time to turn on the tank.  On she goes and just a moment to wait while my newly repaired transmitter and watch sync up, ok, maybe a couple of moments... maybe five... and I can hear the crowd echo my thoughts... "Oh, no!  Not again!"  Yup, no sync! For those of you who remember from Look Mommy, no hands! I had this similar issue a few months back and unfortunately it took forever to get it fixed but I had been reassured that it should never happen again... Yeah Right!  So here I am, team all ready to get in the water and me without a pressure gauge... Now that huge group of divers that was all hanging about... you guessed it... all in the water already...  So, with a big swallow to get rid of the lump in my throat, it was time to wish my team "Good Luck" and watch them head for the water while I waited to see which group would be up first that might have a reg for me to borrow.  Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long, before Monti made it to the water he passed Ward, my new bestest friend and savior Ward... had not yet gotten in the water with Virpi.  Upon hearing about my dilemma he offered up his spare regulator, and like that... saved my day!!  So with a quick twist twist, one reg was off, the new one on, air turned back on, pressure checked, regs checked, BCD on the back, inflators attached, inflators checked and off to the waters edge while stopping for a quick second to express my undying gratitude to Ward.

Once in the water and teamed up with our new classmate, it was time for the surface swim to the Grant Hall buoy, before our descent to search for life.  If you've ever been diving, especially in Porteau Cove, it doesn't take long to find life, it is teaming all over the descent lines and floating or swimming through the water,  it is crawling, creeping or jumping along the bottom, it is everywhere, you just need to stop long enough to see it.

As mentioned our dives for the day were to find and record various life forms under the water.  Now instead of boring everyone with my on going tales and poor descriptions here are some of the photos that were taken under the water.  The entire group of images in the highest resolution can be found on the Harris Photography Facebook page.  Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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.

Arrrr' We be searching for yer burried treasure!

Ok, so I suck as a pirate, especially a pirate diver... the parrot keeps drowning...lol.  I know, bad joke.  But this was in fact how we spent last Sunday afternoon.  Saturday was my Emergency First Responder course, which as you can see from  I Can Save Your Life... I Just Don't Want To!.  was kind of an intense course.  But Sunday was fun in the sun!  Ok, it wasn't sunny, more rainy, but it was still a ton of fun.  For Sunday, as a continuation to last weeks Hide and Seek! class, in dive number one we had a large object (several weight belts in a milk crate) "lost" by Dennis Chow in Whytecliffe Park in a general direction. Additionally a "treasure" was deposited out in the bay as well for dive number 2 for the day (dive number 4 in the course).  Our objective, using the Jackstay search pattern, cover 40,000 square feet of a search grid, find the "lost" item, secure it using the knots learned and practiced in previous dives and with a lift bag, recover the object.


In my class was myself and two fellow students.  Between the three of us we sorted out who was carrying reels, and who was carrying our pegs.  With that established it was on to planning our search and mapping our grid.  Now with the Jackstay search pattern (pictured below) you create a base line, for us it was 100 feet long, staked at both ends.

Now attaching your second line to a post on your base line you swim directly away in the direction of search using your compass to remain perpendicular to your base line.  While swimming with your partner(s) one navigating, and one running your second line attached back on the base line, you swim out 100 feet.  At the 100 foot mark you secure your reel to a post in the ground and you have created your search axis.  Within that 100 x 100 foot section or 10,000 sq feet should be your "lost" item, if it is not you return to your base line and form a new axis using the other 270 degrees off the base, covering 40,000 sq feet, or the size of a decent warehouse, strewn with rocks, debris and  tree stumps and covered in silt.  By following back along your newly created axis fanned out to search more area you look for your lost item, upon reaching your base line you pull up your axis post move it along your base line a predetermined distance re-secure the post and follow the line back to the past at the other end.  Pull this post, move the predetermined distance, re-secure and swim it again.  This goes on until the item is found or you have covered the entire base line and move on to the next 90 degree search grid.

 
After completing a few runs along our search grid we were able to locate our "lost" item and using our knot skills tied up to the crate, secured the lift bag and added, in short bursts, enough air to get the bag off the ground.  Then with crate in tow, moved back to collect our reels and pegs, stow them and then float our recovered lost item to the surface and move it in to shore.  Now, as with every course I take, there are always moments of particular humor or surprise or both, and Sundays dive one was no exception.  You see to start with, during about pass three or four, we swam over and located our "treasure" that we were to recover in dive two on the day, so we all tried to make note of it's location while Dennis laughed at us.  Then to make our recovery a little more interesting, Dennis' lift bag has a few small leaks so once full and lifting a large weight, it starts to lose air and then sinks.  We did not notice this at first and lifted, as we are trained, using a reel attached to the object so that should it slip loose you can re-recover.  We also, following the rules, ascended out from under the crate to keep from having it, or anything else fall on our heads.  Well, it was a good thing we followed the rules and part of me still wonders if we got this lift bag to test us, but sure enough after we reached the surface and prepared to tow in our recovered object, it was no longer on the surface... a quick glance under the surface allowed one of my partners and I to watch as our crate slowly descended to the bottom of the bay again.  Some quick signals right out of our open water course allowed us to, without removing our regs, signal all was good and descend.  Working together again as a team, my partner and I were able to quickly descend the 20+ feet to the crate and with my partner in charge of the reel, I was able to fully inflate the lift bag and together, my partner, the crate and I all ascended to the surface to join back with our other team mate and Dennis and with my partner towing I swam behind using my snorkel, and with my alternate in hand, fed air into the bag when needed to keep it afloat.  With shore not far off it was a quick swim, lift out our "lost" item and head up to the parking lot for some hot chocolate and food before heading out to "re"locate our treasure. Snacks were in the bellies quick, followed by a touch of hot, hot chocolate and then it was time to gear up and head back to the water.

There is definitely something to be said for over-confidence in a water environment, and obviously our fearless captain was well aware of this as my team of three completed our safety checks on each other and then started our surface swim to where we believed our treasure would be laying in wait.  Shortly before leaving Dennis asked how long we thought we would be, with a large measure of confidence we informed him we would surface in 5 - 10 minutes, if it even took us that long...lol.  During our surface swim we discussed our plan, it was decided that based on our general confidence that we should be able to drop right down on it we decided an expanding square pattern would be best and knowing that our depth at the time of sighting was less than 30 feet we knew that any leg of our search that took us deeper could be cut short.  We had a plan, we had confidence, we were a team.... we were wrong!!  lol... We swam to where we figured we should be right above it and descended figuring we should land right on top of it, then be able to grab it and surface and be the fasted class in the history of this course for finding their "treasure". (Not that anyone actually tracks who the fastest team is).  But as mentioned, upon reaching the bottom, our "treasure" was not there.  A slow rotation in the water as one might do during separation on a night dive, led us no closer to finding our object.  So it was time to get serious, with a quick look at the compass and a few signals between the team we set off as practiced and started our expanding square, noting land-marks (which all look the same by the way), we had a lot of "Oh, look, a rock, let's see if it's behind that one..."  which under water sounds more like "mmm mmm (point point) mm mmm mmm  (bubble bubble) mmm m mmm mmmmm"...lol.  Fortunately we followed our training and instead of doing a random swim after every rock or object that looked like it could be our object, we stuck to our squares, avoiding going deeper than necessary, our shape was more of an expanding rectangle, but sure enough after 10 minutes, we had still not found it....  So on we went, fifteen minutes and still nothing, (good thing I am on bigger tanks, on AL80's I was only getting 20 minutes), then or turn four, the magical turn four, where Cole Trickle passed Russ Wheeler to win Daytona in Days of Thunder.... no sorry... wrong turn four... on our turn four or fourth square, there where we should have looked first, was a rock, like every other rock, except this one had our mesh bag sitting beside it, and inside our mesh bag... our treasure!

Seeing as our treasure was very light it was simple enough to swim to and have one of my team members tie it off to her belt, a gentle ascent to the surface, a quick wave to Dennis to advise we were all good and complete with treasure in had at 18 minutes.  With the confirmation wave from Dennis on shore, we gave each other that satisfying grin, knowing that we had once again, as a team completed our task and it was now time for some fun.  With quick signals and pressure checks, down we went and with one partner in the lead just off my left shoulder and my other partner just off my right we moved out along the bay at a relaxed pace to just enjoy the surroundings, the quietness and the company.

After a good search, a clean recovery and then the return from our recreational / tour portion of the day it was time to return to the vehicles, strip off our gear, pack up our vehicles and then open our mesh bag, and with deliberate and careful hands pass around our prize, one for each of us, a nice, very cold (thank you ocean refrigeration) Granville Island beer.  With another course complete, our prizes enjoyed, and the gear stowed safely away, it was once again, time to call it a day and head home till next the ocean called, and with gear and friends in place we respond.  Of course I happen to know it's gonna be calling about the same time next Sunday, when my same team returns to complete another course and become... Team Naturalist!

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. 

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!

Doing it with your eyes closed....

Take any basic task you do, walking, running, even eating... now do it with your eyes closed.   Whole different experience isn't it... did you feel the nerves?  Especially if you try running, normally you'll run or walk at a casual pace, you won't think about where you put your feet, or what you're doing with your hands.  You may even be talking with someone or listening to them.  But with your eyes closed you are very careful where you put your feet, your hands are generally feeling around in front of you or around you and typically you want it quiet so you can hear whats going on around you and focus.  Now if you were smart about it, you went slow, I had a young man at my house in the summer who learned this lesson the hard way by running with his eyes closed, misjudged his location and ran into a fence, face first.... split his tongue in two (looked like a snake) and chipped teeth... that's one trip to the ER neither he nor his mother will soon forget...lol.  So why is it so much harder to do our day to day activities with our eyes closed?  It's because our eyes are like the scanner on your computer, it's how the information gets to the brain, sure you can type it all, or use a mouse to click one character at a time, but to put a whole page of information, or several, into a computer quickly the best most accurate route is a scanner.  Take eating, you eat without really thinking about it, (this also leads to why more than 60 - 80 % of the population of North America is obese, but that's another blog), you hold your fork in your one hand, knife in the other, cut your food, pick it up, place it in your mouth... simple.  With your eyes closed, you need to really focus to make sure you know where your food is, the placement of your fork, how big a piece are you cutting, finding that piece, picking it up and then carrying it to your mouth... all these tasks... SOOOO much harder with your eyes closed.


Why all this talk about eyes closed.... because Tuesday I was fortunate enough to join Dennis Chow and a fellow student for our classroom portion of our Night Dive certification.  Now this is not my first night dive, for the story about that adventure see It's Dark... Very, Very Dark...., but for this I will not just be doing one night dive as before, I will be doing three over the course of this weekend, one Friday and two on Saturday night.  Each of these three dives will have skills that must be demonstrated including Navigation (yeah my favorite....lol), Buoyancy, Orientation, etc.  Alone most of these skills are no issue and many of them are very natural after you have completed a number of dives.  BUT... much like basic stuff on the surface with your eyes closed, doing all these skills at night on a dive is much harder than in the day.  Under the water at night you only see what your light touches, and unlike in the open air, light does not travel very far under water,  leaving you with a very narrow field of vision.  At night, much like daytime activities with your eyes closed, you spend much of your time "feeling" for your gear as opposed to looking for it.  You need to know where your light, b/u light, compass, knife, BCD inflator, Drysuit inflator, gauges, etc all is, and be able to get it by touch and not by sight.  This adds an interesting dynamic and further emphasizes that you must be familiar with your gear, and must streamline your equipment as much as possible.  Now by streamlining, I do not mean under any circumstances that you want to avoid back-up items or safety equipment, etc, but until one is comfortable with night dives, it's probably a good idea to leave the cameras at home...lol.  With streamlining, you want to eliminate gear that you should not be taking with you (stick to your dive plan), if you're training for night, dive your night dive, don't load up on camera or video equipment.  Try not to have endless amounts of clips and cords all jumbled together, on the surface or even on some day dives you may be able to look to see which item is which and where cords attach, but in the dark, keep things simple and easy to remember, clip your main light in one location, easy to reach and control, simple enough to turn on with one hand and easy to recover should it be dropped (ie, clipped where you can follow the cord to pull back to your hand.)  Your b/u (and you must have at least one) needs to, again, be somewhere easy to locate, especially in the dark as this is used if your main goes out, but is secured where it is not dangling in the way or wrapping around other items and equally if not more important, not dragging where it will disturb, disrupt or injure any sea life.  Make sure your compass can be easily reached and used and that you can access your gauges and/or dive computer easily and read them all in the dark.  For me this has taken some practice, so despite looking like an idiot, I have geared up a couple times and hidden in a dark room to make sure I can find my compass, reach my lights, and control my computer... so far so good.  We'll see what Friday night brings and I'll let you know all about the adventures that await me in the dark, when once again I get "In Over My Head..."

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!