Bath Time!

9 09 2013

Sunday, September 8th, 2013 ~

Since the guys ditched me on yesterday’s dive, I met up with Jen, and we headed towards Kingston, where we caught the tail end of the Santi Demo Day, before heading a little further west, to DIVE!

We had never been to this site before, and we knew that it was going to be a shallow dive, but we wanted to check it out.

Entry…

We did our gear checks, and descended… well, swam down through a jungle of weeds, in about 5′ of water, and about 5′ of visibility. Did I mention that there were weeds? Perhaps it was the west end’s version of a kelp forest, without the little gaps to swim through. What seemed like an eternity of swimming through this vast lake jungle, and low visibility, we finally reached open water. Yahooooo! With this open water, came even worse visibility, so we finally decided to turn back. I don’t mind low vis., but this went to about 2″, and nothing but jello-like silt… besides the iced tea drink pouch and a piece of tree.

We swam back for a while, then decided to blow a bag, and surface swim… only because we didn’t feel like navigating the jungle, again. Up went the bag, followed by us. When we reached the surface, we noticed how far we had gone. We were way past the far marker buoy, that you can see in the above photo. Ah, well… It was a beautiful day, and we did have quite a few laughs, as we made our way in. We did happen to see a bass, and what we thought were a bunch of little gobies (through the murkiness).

Bottom Time: 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 68F/71F
Vis.: What vis.?
Fun Factor, Anyway: High

We wanted to get a selfie, with the water in the background, so we kneeled down…

How low can you go?

….and we got a water shot!

 

I think we will need to return later in the fall, when the weeds die off! The visibility will more than likely be better, and we won’t have to swim through a wall of jungle!

 

 





Santi Demo Day – Morrison’s Quarry!

7 09 2013

Saturday, September 7th, 2013 ~

Today, we had Michael Gerhartz (Santi Canada) and Harvey Morash come to town, to show off some Santi Goodness!

The day was pretty grey, and there were bits of rain as the day went on, but we soldiered on!

Michael, in the tent, as we were setting up…

Steve, in his new Santi jacket!

Harvey and Steve…

Shawn and Michael…

Adam, modeling the BZ400x…

…and the E.Lite (Nice fit!)…

Going to go and try it out!

Adrian, trying on an E.Motion (all the while, I am plotting to own that red hoodie, in the background)…

Of course, I was keeping warm with a Santi vest!

Then, Adam tried the E.Motion…

Mat, sporting an E.Motion, too!

It will be Elwira’s turn for a drysuit, next year!

Lights out!

Harvey, gearing up…

Michael, gearing up…

Yes… The fellas all ditched me, and went for a splash. *Sniff* I even supplied the Maple Cookies and chocolate, and they still went diving without me!

I guess someone had to guard the fort. šŸ˜‰

Steve, ready to go!

Amusing myself, while the guys went for a dive, and keeping warm in my BZ400 Santi Panties!

While the weather only half cooperated, we still did have a few people come and try on suits, and see what Santi was all about!

Thanks for coming, Michael and Harvey!

Below photo by Adam Kulczycki





Weekend Of Skillz – Day 3 – Scooter Time!

3 09 2013

Monday, September 2nd, 2013 ~

Ok… We just cannot have a weekend of skills diving, without including one fun Diving Goodness day! We packed up and headed to the River!

The van was a little loaded. What you don’t see are two sets of 130s, an RB80, and a few stage bottles.

Eric, with his bed and pillow in a bag!

Dave was wearing his Scuba Steve shirt!

When we arrived, there was a little boat going by. The folks moored up to the Gaskin are in for a bit of an earth-shaking!

 

Dave and I, before the dive!

Our plan was to go upstream for about 40 minutes, drop into the channel, drift, then come back up to the Gaskin, before making our way back in. We had seen some neat things on our last dive out there, and wanted to try to find them again.

So… we did just that! We dropped into the channel, and it was drift time! We found an old wine bottle, a motor, tea cup, metal disc, and Eric and I saw a long, round, painted yellow piece of metal, that was very heavy. We had no idea what it was.

This is one of my favourite dives, and you just never know what you will see on each one. We do leave out of the same place, but every dive is different, depending on how long we go upstream, and where in the channel we start to drift. I don’t think I could ever get sick of this one!

As we neared the bow of the Gaskin, Eric signaled me. I turned to see that his right post was free flowing, and I went to have a look. It appeared to be non-fixable (after two attempts to repair it), so I shut it down. Eric was still on a stage, and we had plenty of gas. No playing on the Gaskin, today! Time to go, and out came the thumb. I guess we did skillz, anyway!

In the shallows, we did a little deco, then in!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 12 mins.
Max. Depth: 109′
Water Temp.: 73F

More cheese!

Julie, Steph, Carm, and I!

We packed up, then went to the Barley Mow, for some dinner! In the parking lot, we saw a very noteworthy license plate…

It was a great way to spend the long weekend! Diving Goodness and friends! w00t!

 





Weekend Of Skillz ~ Day 2

1 09 2013

Sunday, September 1st, 2013 ~

We planned on two dives for today. The first dive, we were going to see Morrie the shark, take some pictures, and have a little fun (with all of our bottles on, of course). The second dive was reserved for more skillz.

Steve approached the unsuspecting shark, and got some rare footage! šŸ˜›

He did not want to push his luck, so Steve moved away. Morrie looked pretty hungry!

Karen and Dave both moved in for a look, but didn’t stay long, as Morrie was looking for lunch…

We let Morrie be, and headed over to the boat. Karen wanted to go for a ride…

Seeking more adventure, Karen then wanted to take the Ski-Doo out!

Ok, Ok… Time to get back down to skillzzzzz.

Back over to the plane, we went…

We did a few more valve drills and rotations, and I parked my camera out of the way of the newer OW divers, so that it wouldn’t get knocked.

Steve, in his new suit!

We then came back in for some lunch!

Bottom Time: 54 mins.
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 66F

We even shared Maple Cookies, with Flat Laurynn…

For the second dive, Eric B joined us! Our T2 team was together! Our team name has been dubbed, “Team: I Got Nothin’.”

We went back in, and went back to bottle rotations and valve drills… bottle rotations and valve drills.

Steve, Dave, and Karen…

Dave and I…

Eric, loaded up…

Some bottles were then dropped, and it was time to go see Morrie, again…

What’s this? Morrie is trying to take my spot on the team???

I think not!

Of course, it just would not be a day of Diving Goodness, without Le Princessi coming out to play…

Bottom Time: 54 mins.
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 66F

Fun group shot!

Team: I Got Nothin’!

From there, we went to Ha Noi Pho for some most excellent Viet cuisine, and of course… Baskin Robbins.

Two days of ice cream, in a row. I think that means more gym time, this week!





Weekend Of Skillz ~ Day One

31 08 2013

Saturday, August 31st, 2013 ~

My Arizona sista came to town, to work on skillz for our upcoming Tech 2 course. Dave M was also visiting, to work on rotations and skillz, too! Steph, Carm, and Julie also joined us, for skillz, skillz, skillz. David J also met up with us, for skillz. You may notice a theme, here. šŸ˜‰

After filling tanks and loading vehicles, we made our way up to the quarry. We unloaded too many tanks (that’sĀ  how it seemed), and were off to the races.

I had a bit of an ankle injury going on, and wasn’t sure what finning would be like, but I figured I would give it a try. Steve, Karen, Dave M, and I loaded up with three bottles each. We were using 130s on our backs, which is complete overkill for the quarry, but we wanted to use what we would be using during our course.

I had my camera with me, but set it down, while we worked on Valve Drills, S-Drills, Bottle Rotations, and Steve even brought out his bubble gun, to surprise us with some scenarios. After our drills, I took some pictures! My foot was sore, from my fin squeeze on the swelling, but I was managing.

Karen, loaded up!

Dave M’s bottles were a little heavier than ours. While peeking through the flaps of the plane, he may have been searching for lighter bottles? šŸ˜›

Steve!

Steve took a pic of me, too!

David J, after some excellent valve drills!

Julie and Steph…

Carm, while moving a bottle around!

I decided to come in, since my foot started to get pretty sore. At least I was able to bang out some drills! Steve, Karen, Dave, and Dave followed me in, then went back for more!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 5 mins.
Max. Depth: 23′
Water Temp.: 69F

Dave M. and Steve…

Karen and Dave J…

Julie, Steph, Me!

When the others got out, we packed up all of our gear, then headed to Jean Burger. Dave M just had to have the poutine experience (even though he didn’t order it, he still got to taste it)! There was a little bit of ice cream talk, so we had to stop at Baskin Robbins, for some Ice Cream Goodness!

Normally, I am all about the chocolate, but I opted for pink and green, this time!

We headed back for fills, and prepared for the next day!