Chanb77's Weblog

Steve and I headed to the Quarry for our skillz dive, and I was giving the Sheep a trial run in the water. When we arrived, the place was packed with people from Quebec, doing a course. We took our time gearing up, as there were others meeting up to film some free divers. I hadn’t seen free diving before, and was interested in watching.

I had applied the Sheep at home, and actually did a “test” before leaving.. it was definitely in the right place.

When I suited up, I had a bit of an issue connecting the P Valve hose to the Sheep. Steve gave me a couple of tips, and I kept at it, and finally I was.. er… connected…

The gang arrived at the quarry, but the free divers hadn’t, so Steve and I went for our dive. I backfinned backfinned backfinned… like a backfinnin’ fool, we did our valve drills and air shares, and headed to the plane for some more backfinning and happy dances! Steve was trying out his new heated vest that he concocted as well. Well… we both started to get a bit of a chill, and we headed back..

Pffttt!! I didn’t have to go!!!

When we got to the surface, the moment of truth had arrived. It was time to go!!! I made sure the P Valve was open…………………

Ugh… it seems during my fumbled attempt at hooking up, the seal of the Sheep had come up in the front. I hadn’t used as much of the adhesive spray as I did for the “dry run,” as I thought it was a bit too much. I guess too much is better than not enough!

Well… all I can say is that I am soooooo glad I had a diaper on for good luck!!! I would have gotten myself into a bit of a stinky situation…

I peed myself…  but at least I had backup!

Steve’s vest was working, but he had gotten a bit chilled on his dive, and we exited, so he could check it. By this time, the free divers had arrived and were gearing up. For some reason, I was a bit chilled, and sat in the van to warm up.

Alright! Let’s go back in! We both figured we’d be in for a short dive, but we just wanted to check out the free diving peeps! Back down we went! The others had also descended, and we ducked off to the side, for the show! Absolutely amazing! I know these guys train hard both mentally and physically for this kind of thing, but I just couldn’t imagine it. They would dive down to the plane, tool around a bit, then back up to one of their holes. One even went down to the sub, at 60′.

HOLY SMOKES! Nuts!!!

Our friend took some video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgTz…ead.php?t=8043

Ok.. I was right.. we didn’t last long… about 16 minutes…

When I geared down, it appeared I was soaked in the left leg (same leg as my P Valve). We checked the installation of the valve, and it seems fine, so we will have to do the “blow up” test later on, to make sure there are no leaks..

…and no… my undies don’t stink!

Dive #1
Bottom Time ~ 26 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 21′
Water Temp. ~ 39
Vis. ~ Great!

Dive #2
Bottom Time ~ 16 mins
Max. Depth ~ 16′
Water Temp. ~ 39
Vis. ~ Great!