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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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


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

Andrew to the Rescue.... Or Not?

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

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

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

EXAM!!

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

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

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

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

Row, Row, Row Your Boat Gently Into The Rolling Waves.... Merrily Merrily Off To See The Circus...

As crazy as this sounds this is exactly what I was up to on Sunday.  The day started with all sorts of confusion (which should have been a sign), Ward was still sick and as such would be unable to dive.  He was still coming to the site as the instructor and to make sure the day went well but since he wasn't going to be in the water we were being joined by Chloe Boone as the Dive Master for the day and another friend of the shop who would be assisting in the water.  The boats were at the shop, unfortunately  we couldn't find pumps... Finally we got a hold of two of the divers who were already on their way to the site and found out they had a manual pump from the shop and also had an electric pump for air mattresses.  So it was just a matter of throwing all the gear in vehicles, mounting up and heading out to the site.

Once on site it was evident it was going to be an interesting day,  as we pulled up we could see the white caps on the waves rolling into shore and feel the wind and see it bending the branches.  Now if you've ever been kayaking or in an inflatable boat in waves you know that going up and over and crashing into the waves is not the easiest thing when attempting to move a fair distance and secure to a buoy.

As mentioned fortunately one of the divers had his electric pump along which aided greatly in the inflation of the boats and then the manual pump was used to top up the boats.  A tank attached to an adapter was used to inflate the back-rests and with a little "chain gang" process all of the boats were completed and ready for use.  The next step was getting kits built, it was at this time that it turned out one of the divers had forgotten to check his gear and was missing his fins... normally an issue but ta da... I had a rental set and my force fins which meant I could loan out my rentals and we were back on track.  Now, with all the kits built and accessories gathered up it was time for the briefing.  Standing at the top of the stairs and viewing the water we went through our plan and groups for the first dive.  The plan, originally, was that Chloe as lead would be with me and my typical team and the other DM joining us for the day would dive with the father / son team. The whole group of us would stay together as a soft team but each of us had our hard team partner that we were not to get separated from.   With the plan in place as far as which buoy we were tying to, and how best to stow, release and don your gear, we headed off to grab our boats and start moving gear down to the beach.

Now once your gear is strapped in and you have waded out far enough and then jumped onto your boat and grabbed your oar and started paddling you can easily see who has done this before and who was not so experienced...lol.  I spent so much time trying to get the boat through the waves and pointed in the right direction I could feel myself getting tired long before reaching the buoy.  Meanwhile one of my typical dive team and my direct partner for this dive was able to pull far ahead of the group and easily reach the buoy before the balance of the group.  Now to add humor to the day my partner, the first one to the buoy, the one who was supposed to get us tied to the buoy, was also the diver on my Search and Recovery dives who had some issues with tying the knots, so as you can imagine this just added to the confusion and entertainment.

What we looked like from shore I can only imagine... six boats and seven divers all trying to stay clustered together around a buoy while scrambling to tie the boats together and tie one end onto the buoy.... Needless to say, despite the added excitement, we ended up tied together and secured to the buoy.  With that step completed it was time to get our gear on... the idea for this is to unstrap your kit and (after ensuring air is in your BCD) slide it into the water and tie it, clip it, hold it, close to your boat while, with your fins on, you slip into the water and put your kit on.  Now for a few people on Sunday this turned into quite the spectacle and was even worrisome for me, but after a deep breath and with flashbacks to my days with Virpi in my open water class (Seals to Emergencies) "I went one step at a time, pushed my tank down, sat on it, spun it around behind me, put my arms in the straps and slid off letting the tank and BCD rise to my back... bing, bang, boom... straps done up and I was done..."  Smiling probably almost as much as I did the first time I put my BCD back on in the water, I  established buoyancy, secured my accessories and headed over to where Chloe was getting the group all together.  With my team in place, and group two assembled (wow, starts to sound like a military operation...lol) we signal to descend and meet at the bottom.  After a beautiful slow and relaxing descent with eyes on my partner we settle in just above the bottom and wait.... and wait.... and wait... after a few minutes we conclude that the rest of our group is not joining us and must have had an issue so we start our very slow and relaxed ascent... back up to the surface.   On the surface is where all of the real excitement was happening.  Apparently with the switch from Neoprene suits to the Bare Nexgen suits and from steel tanks to aluminum tanks, two of the divers had dropped too much weight and were now not heavy enough to get down.  So, with the aid of our guest DM who stripped his weights and split them up amongst the under-weighted divers so that they were be heavy enough.  Of course without his weight his dives were done for the day so he became the surface manager, and the two divers that were supposed to be with him, now more heavily weighted, got to join up with the rest of us as one big group.  Now to try it again...  Descent attempt number two... after a bit of a struggle with fins, which were switched out with our guest DM's, as he wouldn't be needing them, we managed to get down a fair way towards the bottom, but unfortunately due to a couple more issues one of our previously under weighted divers returned to the surface and needed to call off that dive.  So down a diver and a DM it was off for the third attempt of dive number one...lol.  (Welcome to the circus) Now that we were all (with the exception of the two on the surface) making our descent to the bottom together the dive had officially begun.  Descending down to 80 feet and swimming just a short distance off the bottom we started looking for the sunken Sailboat the Nakaya, it took only a few minutes to find it and start our swim around it.  We had discussed some of the dangers of the Nakaya while on the surface and decided to make a hard rule about no one closer than 10 feet to the boat, it's rickety condition did not bode well for any kind of in depth exploration nor the safety of any diver who tried.  I did manage to get off a few pictures but the water was pretty murky and I'm still not very good with the lighting underwater.   But before I could get off too many shots we got to the next phase of "fun,"as I rounded the corner of the sailboat, my main focus on capturing a picture while my partner was just ahead and to the right of me, when something caught my eye.  One of our divers was almost right upside down facing towards the bottom with Chloe holding him down and trying to reach something in her pocket.  Quickly dropping my camera to my side I cut down beside her along with one of our other divers and at her indication, forced open her pocket (by the way neoprene sucks under water, it condenses with the pressure and makes neoprene pockets next to impossible to open.)  With my hand wedged into Chloe's pocket I managed to pull lose the weight she had stowed in there and pass it to her to be secured to the diver in issue.  Unfortunately with all the activity I had burned through more air than I planned to and needed to signal to ascend.  As I signaled it became apparent that the additional weight added was still not enough and the diver with Chloe close behind slowing his ascent went straight to the surface.  With only the three of us still down at depth (my usual team that I have been diving with for a while) we each signaled and very slowly and collectively made our way to our three minute safety stop then on to the surface to end dive number one.  Once on the surface confirmation was received from Chloe that everyone was fine just a quicker trip to the surface than they would have wanted to.  Now with the dive complete, it was time to strip off our kits, ensuring air still in the BCD (I can only imagine the results of forgetting to do that and dropping your tank and fully weighted BCD into the water...lol. Guess I'd be making good use of my search and recovery skills learned in Hide and Seek! and Arrrr' We be searching for yer burried treasure! then...lol).  With kits off and floating in the water close to your boat, it's again time to practice skills from Open Water to use fin kits to assist with getting back on board your boat.  Then haul up your kit, secure it in place and head for shore.


Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, yes this day could have gone better, but it also could have gone WAY worse... I learned a lot on these dives and felt so much more confident as a diver after the day.  You see unlike many of the dives before where much of it could be done without thinking, today really made me pay attention to not only myself, and my buddy, but also learn to pay close attention to what other divers are doing around me as I experienced in dive 2.

Now with Ward sick and unable to dive, one DM without weight and fins (loaned out to one of the under-weighted divers) and Chloe having just made a quicker than planned ascent, we were without staff divers looking at one more dive on the day.  This is when the true skills of the OPD staff shone through and why I will always be proud to say I am an Ocean Pro Diver (maybe even one day honored enough to join the elite divers pictured on their website).  While enjoying our surface interval Ward posed the question and challenge in saying: "Ok, you're all Open Water certified so you don't need in water supervision, you are here to learn and practice the use of the boats and the staff will be present for that but for the actual dive you don't need us with you so tell me what your plan is."  and at that he just looked at us.  Though it took only a second, I saw divers grow in confidence ten fold.  Suddenly we were responsible for the dive, we had signed up for Boat Diving lessons and were getting everything we paid for.  We were learning how to load and secure gear and dive off boats, that's Boat Diving, but we were also learning so much more.  We were divers, we didn't need our hands held, we knew how to dive, it was the boat part they were there to supervise.  So after that quick second (and some prompting from Ward) it was decided to do the fire hose, a simple dive, fairly close in and not very deep.  This would allow us a short row, conserved energy and due to the delays on the first dive this would help us recover a little time so that we could be out of the water and on our way back before dark.  The second thing that happened that absolutely made my weekend, was when Chloe pulled me aside and asked if I would partner up with the diver who had experienced some challenges on his first dive and perhaps as a result could be feeling a little more stressed than normal.  Well... this shot my confidence (and my ego...lol) up about 14 notches... a Dive Master... and Ocean Pro Dive Master... was asking me, to keep an eye on one of her students.  WHAT A DAY!!!

Well... I have discovered the fastest way to take a guy (me) who over-thinks everything and make him a better diver... give him someone else to worry about...lol.  On dive two we rowed out the short distance to the first buoy, now practiced with our tying techniques we were tied up and ready to don gear in just a few minutes.  With gear in the water and all of us functioning as a team we all got our kits on, gathered around the buoy, partnered up, signaled and descended.  Now I don't know whether it was because I was so intent on not letting anything happen to my team or what it was, but I seemed to have no issues with anything.  My descent was perfect, just before bottom I added a short puff of air to my suit, and slowed to an almost dead stop.  My buddy... not so lucky... he decided to take a close (VERY CLOSE) look at the ocean floor...lol, no problems with being under-weighted this time...lol.  Readjusting his buoyancy and finding his "hover" we were ready to go.  With the other two divers in the lead, my partner just in front and to the right of me and me bringing up the rear, we headed out along the fire hose at a very relaxed pace enjoying the scenery.  With our plan in place to turn back at 2000 psi, my buddy signaled me, and with a quick signal to the divers up front, we circled and headed back to the ascent line, back to the boats, kits off, resecured and paddle back to shore. to stow the gear and head back to the shop.

Now some people will read this and see the issues on the day, or comment on the potential dangers of diving.  But those who see it from my stand point, those that understand and accept that no course just like no dive, is ever perfect.  It's not about perfection... at least not for me.  If you learn Navigation in 30 feet of water with 40+ feet of clear visibility, did you really learn to navigate or did you practice opening your eyes and swimming...lol.  For those of my long time readers you will have noticed that nothing ever goes exactly as planned and that is when the "real" learning happens.  We finished the night with Ward having us go around thr room to list off what we learned in the day, not surprisingly, no one mentioned learning to dive from a boat.... everyone learned something else whether it was to always check your weighting, or always check your gear before leaving for the site or in my case, ways to be better prepared to tie up the boats... everyone learned something... and that is what made it such a success!

The Master Scuba Diver Challenge!!

So Many Things To Think About... So Little Time! For anyone who has ever said this to themselves or out loud... you are one step closer to becoming a Rescue Diver.  Thursday night was my Rescue class with none other than Virpi Kangas, for any of you who are not aware of who Virpi is, you need to go back to the beginning of my blog and start over again, she is mentioned in almost every blog and is the reason I made it through my Open Water course and one of the ones who got me started on my road to Master Scuba Diver.... in short, she is a very important diver in my life.  Now again, having Virpi as my Rescue instructor has a little irony to it, for any of you who don't know why this is ironic, you probably didn't take my advice from a moment ago to go back and re-read my blog so you could get to know a little more about Virpi.  But for those of you who just like the direct route, those of you who watch Daytona and are left wondering why anyone would drive 500 laps around a course only to end up where they started... read this entry Seals to Emergencies and you will understand why it is interesting that Virpi would be teaching me to rescue people.  So this was a small class, me Virpi and one student whom I had met when we did our EFR class together back in January.  So after short introductions and some chat about diving experience and what we were hoping to achieve through the class we moved on to our chapter reviews... all 5 of them.... plus video.... all leading up to the... dum dum dum...

TEST!!!

The evening went by surprisingly quick, moving through so many questions and discussion points and video clips that your head began to spin... and this is where the title comes in.  You see, to be an effective rescuer you need to be able to make split second decisions and follow through on them while being alert to everything that is going on around you.  When you hear that call for help... you need to start making decisions and answering the internal questions immediately.  You need to figure out are they panicked or just tired, what's wrong, where are they, can you reach them, what if you used a branch or an oar, can you wade in and reach them, can you throw them something, do you have to swim to them, can you use a boat, is a boat available, etc.... the list goes on of internal questions to ask yourself so that you can successfully plan and execute a rescue without getting yourself or anyone else in danger.  So your brain is full of questions (and hopefully answers) and you haven't even started the rescue yet... this is why it takes split second timing, reactions, and thinking.  So once you have decided on your course of action... like Nike said... Just Do It!  Put your action plan in place, delegate responsibilities, coordinate responses, assign tasks.  Then will all the action over, you need to be able to slow your mind down and rethink back through every step of the process so that you can document and report exactly what happened and only what you witnessed and not what others are telling you happened. 

They say that as you move through and complete the Rescue and EFR programs you begin to view yourself and other divers differently.  You start to evaluate and look closer at things you never would have thought about before.  Is that persons gear on right, does it fit right, has it been altered, is that alteration going to be an issue in an emergency or cause an emergency...  It all sits in your head when you look around.  But for me it also hit me personally,  I started to look at my personal health and well being.  I'm not going to be much help if my excessive weight tires me out before I can get to them or get them back.  What if my lack of Cardio or poor swimming is the difference between getting to someone in time and not.... So, it is my new goal, not only to become a Master Scuba Diver this year, but to look the part as well.  When I enrolled in the Master Scuba Diver challenge I read the requirements, complete 5 specialty certifications, 50 dives and become a certified Emergency First Responder and Rescue Diver.  I thought that would be an uphill battle, and on my own it would have been, but with support from home and my dive family I have completed more than the required certifications, more than half the dives, I am EFR certified and, if all goes well, next weekend I will be Rescue Certified as well.  With all that considered I am a little less than 25 dives away from certifying as a Master Scuba Diver.  But when I think Master Scuba Diver, I am left with the image of Gerard Butler in the shape he was in for 300.  

So... all that considered, I am going to create my own "Master Scuba Diver Challenge" and commit to working hard on my own physical fitness so that should I ever be in a situation where I am needed I can perform with maximum efficiency and if I am unable to make a difference then I will know that it was not because of my training or conditioning.  So I guess, long and short, I have only just begun my Master Scuba Diver Challenge and only learned that it is me that needs rescuing as much as anyone I will meet in the water.  Hopefully before long I will be able to proudly accept my certification as a Master Scuba Diver and will somewhat resemble Mr Gerard Butler... without the chest hair, I can't grow chest hair.. but that's another conversation.  This weekend is Boat Diver, should be a whole new adventure, but I'll tell you all about it next week as I prep to write my Rescue exam and complete my dives.

"All Aboard...!"

Ok, so a few weeks ago, I was searching for sunken treasure and now I am captaining my own boat! I'm on my way, look out world here I come!... Ok, so my boat is only going to be about 10 feet long and a couple feet wide... and inflatable....lol. But who knows, Napoleon was small and he was still effective...lol.  

Wednesday night was the start of my Boat Diver course and as expected, when ever boats are involved, Ward was the instructor.  This turned out to be a fairly full class, my usual team with the addition of a new father - son pair of divers made for five divers plus Ward as the instructor plus whomever joins us as dive master for our course. Ward, being the full on boat guy, started class by giving everyone the manual used to pass your safe boater course (also taught by Ward through the shop).  Apparently the typical Safe Boater test is easy so Ward has added to it to ensure that everyone who passes his course has a firm grasp on the world of boating and will be as safe as possible, the same cannot often be said some who are able to randomly take the easy / basic test, pass, and still not have the knowledge to boat safely but are licensed to do so.  Now in the spirit of safe boating, and as this was a "Boat" diver course, we received additional information to compliment the knowledge received from out Boat Diver manuals,  We covered not only Windward and Leeward, Port and Starboard, but also transoms, keels, masts, sails, lines, midships, steering, and more than I could possibly squeeze into my brain in one night.  We then talked about the marine radio, which you need a license to use, which (you guessed it) Ward teaches a course for....lol.  Now as a side bar cause I can already see my fiends out there rolling their eyes and quoting the over-used invented acronym for PADI, Put Another Dollar In... the courses I have mentioned (Boater Safety and Marine Radio Operator) are not PADI courses, in fact they are not really even dive related courses , they are however required by law for anyone operating a boat under any kind of non-man generated power and required for anyone who will be or may need to use a marine radio.  Ward and Ocean Pro Divers have put these courses together and offer them as a service to their divers and the community to ensure the on-going safety of their divers and customers.

Anyway, with that out of the way, class was amazing as always, some individuals did not have their homework completed so Ward was good about ensuring they were thoroughly picked on for answers to the questions... including teasing one of my usual dive team by saying things like: "So Mister Dive Master in Training, whats the answer to 4?" or "Mr Dive Master in Training, can you elaborate on why it might be important to ......?"   This made for a very entertaining class as I had completed my homework and was only asked to share a few times.  Following our review we turned our attention to deciding on our dive location and comparing the pros and cons of each dive site finally settling on Porteau Cove with the thought that if everything went smooth it would be a nice paddle out, fairly easy to tie off to the float and a great opportunity to see the Nakaya (a sunken decrepit sailboat that will soon be destroyed due to it's dangerous condition). 

With the decision on location made and gear hunted down, most of the divers called it a night with the exception of Ward, myself and one of my dive partners.  We were fortunate enough to sit and relax with Ward for a few extra minutes to discuss diving, and safety and upcoming courses and trips and fun dives and equipment and whatever else popped into our heads to discuss for a while.  Finally it was time for Ward to go home and attempt to get over his cold and for me to get home to bed.  Tomorrow is another day, and another class.

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!

I Can Save Your Life... I Just Don't Want To!

Now as bad as that title sounds, it's absolutely true!  I am now officially a certified Emergency First Responder!  Yeah me!  This means that in case of emergency I can do CPR, perform rescue breaths and even use an AED  (Automated External Defibrillator).  Then once the life is out of danger I can control bleeding, apply splints, address bites, burns and blisters.  But, I Just Don't Want To!   It's not that I don't want you to be safe, harm free and  healthy, it's that I don't want you to hurt yourself in the first place! and if you do insist on hurting yourself, then don't do it around me...lol.  You see unlike my other dive related skills, specialties and certifications this is one that I hope to practice and never actually use!

Saturday was kind of an intense day, a full class of 7 students, including Chloe Boone, new shop employee, (she doesn't have a profile yet for me to link you to, but trust me, she works there...lol) all led by our fearless EFR instructor Steve Dunn, who (as you'll see from his profile) has been diving since before the days of BCD's and back-up regulators, etc.  As he calls them "the wild west days," when you had a "J" valve and hoped it was done right or you were making an unplanned emergency accent to the surface so you could get air....lol.  (If you have questions on "J" valves, send Steve a question, I'm sure he'd be happy to walk you through it, even maybe arrange for you to see one if you sign up for Open Water Certification and he can show you the advancements in equipment.)

So of course, as with all OPD staff, Steve was amazing right out of the gate, making everyone comfortable and  walking everyone through the expectations of the day. A quick chance for everyone to share their names and dive experiences and why they are in the EFR class.  Amidst the varying responses there was a  common underlying theme, we all believe we will be safer divers if we, and those we dive with, are trained to handle emergencies.  Of course this is probably a universal understanding that applies to every walk of life, you are inherently safer in the company of trained individuals.

Much of the start of the classroom time was similar to the other classes I have taken with Ocean Pro Divers, in that we started by pulling out our books and reviewing the knowledge review sections of our two manuals.  But pretty much everything following the chapter reviews was all unique to the EFR course.  Time was spent on the breakdown of equipment, the uses of the equipment and what to do if you have no equipment.

Through it all there was one recurring statement, doing something only partially right, is WAY better than doing nothing at all!  Very simple concept, and remains that way after reviewing all the information and details.  It has been proven that even if you forget steps, even if you make a couple of mistakes, by doing something you are giving them a chance, by not doing anything you could in fact be sentencing them yourself!

This topic and course are incredibly serious and as such, as some of you have probably noted, I have minimized the humor and reduced the fluff.  I cannot express enough how much I believe that everyone, despite what activities you are involved in, should hold a valid first-aid or emergency first responder certification and practice and review regularly. While I will always extol the virtues of Ocean Pro Divers, their courses and especially their instructors, where the topic of life saving comes into play, don't let the fact that they are a dive shop be your excuse for not getting certified.  If you don't dive PADI, go to a different shop, if you don't dive and don't want to be taught by divers (you don't know what you're missing) don't let that excuse you from being prepared.  Look up Emergency Primary and Secondary Care and find a certified agency who can teach you and get it done!    

The life you save, may be your families!