Chanb77's Weblog

August 7th, 2007 ~

Ok… so yesterday’s dive didn’t happen quite as planned… We were heading to Dive Tech first, so Francois could get some goodies for his stages and a couple of manifold servicing kits. We ended up being quite a bit longer than anticipated (as always when travelling to the Diver’s Candy Store). I think they have a chemical in the air conditioning that makes you want more more more…

Francois also decided to buy himself a Helium analyzer, which we thought was incredible, as he’s leaving it at our house… *All hail the mighty Francois* (ok.. it almost sounds like the “mighty poisson..”)

The boys were going to do the Daryaw from the zodiac, and go inside, and then Steve and I were going to do the Gaskin on our way back home, as a night dive.

Welllllllllll……. we ended up arriving at the public launch at about 6:30 pm, and the boyz readied themselves for the dive…

They finally set out at 7:25, and I was left to guard the fort… so to speak. I sat back, relaxed, and read a bit of a book.

I caught a couple of pics of this little gem that was coming out of the water…

Well, it started to get dark and the mossies started biting, so it was into the van I went. I realized how dumb that was… me, sitting there, in the dark… er.. uh.. …

Ok.. 3 hours had passed. Not uncommon, but I should expect them back soon. I walked around the bay for a bit, and looked for lights.. nothing… Ok.. starting to get a teeny bit worried… Pft.. they’re fine, they’re fine… Don’t be silly… (convincing myself). I must say that the thought of calling the Coast Guard did cross my mind.

Finally, another half hour later, and I saw a bright light in the distance. I had my LED scout with me and signalled to them. As soon as they saw my light, the boat turned and headed for shore. *Phew* In they came, but I sure as ‘eck wasn’t getting my dive in tonight.. pfttttttt…

At least they were safe.

We rolled in at about 1am, unloaded the Dive Transportation Unit, and crashed.
We still haven’t watched the video footage, but both Steve and Francois got video. Can’t wait to watch!

Sunday, August 5th, 2007 ~

We didn’t end up in the water today. Instead, we went all over the place to get more bits and pieces for our new toy. We had it running yesterday, but we found out the hard way that we need an air dryer…

They are now working on finishing part of the wall to mount the booster! It seems to be looking for a home, just sitting there on the cart.

Soo.. even though we didn’t get in the water, we still got to play with the toys and scored an inexpensive work area!! w00t w00t w00t!!!

Until the next chapter!

Soo.. we ventured out to Princess Auto to get a Dessicant Air Dryer, and as we pulled up, we saw a bunch of their countertops for sale on the front step.

LIGHT BULB!!

They only wanted $50 for each piece, and we saw one that would go perfect in our on-going Dive Garage project. We couldn’t make a work space for $50! So.. we purchased what we needed, went home, hitched up Francois’ boat trailer to the Dive Gear Transportation Unit, and the boys headed out to pick up the counter!

When they got there, there were others loading other pieces ~ and.. well… it wasn’t as easy as they had thought. Apparently they were way too heavy even for 5 big muscley brute type fellas to lift, and they had to resort to a forklift!

They loaded it up and headed home. Luckily, our driveway has a slight downward slope to it, and the boys were able to back up to the garage and use Steve’s ramps and hand pump to get it in. Whatever works!!

Saturday, July 28th, 2007 ~

Well…. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a charter in Kingston, and Steve, Leigh, Sarah, and I had finished our surface interval, after an awesome dive on the City Of Sheboygan. Water temperature was 55, with a thermocline at about 70′, Maximum Depth of about 95′, very slight hint of a current, and a bottom time of about 37 minutes.

We were on the descent to the Davie, and I was descending pretty quickly ~ more quickly than normal. I was getting quite the squeeze from my drysuit, and was inflating it, as well as my wing. My stage reg got a bit tight to breathe from, so I looked down at the gauge, as well as checked the valve. After Thursday’s “learning” dive, I wasn’t going to make that mistake again (even though I knew I had checked it on the surface). It was on. I got a couple of good breaths again, then it got tight to breathe again. Then… nothing. There was no gas. Ok… switch to back up. I guess I had grabbed it a bit hastily, and ended up with part of the bungee in my mouth, as well as the reg. No problem, just want to get a few breaths… I was taking in water as well as air… again… So I removed the reg, replaced it again, and hoped for better this time. Nope… still getting water in, and the reg just wouldn’t sit right in my mouth. Steve donated his reg, I caught my breath, and up we went, back to the surface.

This all transpired at 88′.

Steve took the stage bottle down with him (he and Leigh went back down), and didn’t have a problem with it. Upon discussing it later on, he said that he does have a 2nd stage that does not have a pin, and if opened up, will “act funny.” Seeing as I was having trouble getting air out of it, I did open it up. I guess it did “act funny.”

Soo… the first thing I did, was go buy a new mouthpiece for my backup reg. It had one of those Apeks Comfo-bite ones on it before, and I can see now why they are garbage.

I have been diving this back up reg for over a year, and have not had a problem with it during drills and air shares. I guess when push comes to shove, and you really need your reg, the comfo bite is not the best option. Not for me anymore, anyway. That’s twice I’ve needed my reg in the span of two days, and both times, I couldn’t use it effectively (meaning, I couldn’t get it in my mouth properly).

Safe diving…

Thursday, July 26th, 2007 ~

Steve and I headed up to Morrison’s Quarry in Wakefield, QC. I’ve been practising using stage bottles, and Steve handed me his last night. We were going to practice back finning, air shares, and valve drills. We ventured out to the plane, to the tug boat, then down to the submarine, where we met up with Kevin and Jeremy, also working on skills. We milled around while JJ was deploying a bag, and went back to the plane, to work on air sharing with a stage.

Steve called “OOA,” and I donated my stage reg and switched to my backup reg. I then deployed my long hose, stowed the stage reg, and we hovered there for a second. What I didn’t know, was that Steve had turned off my stage. When I put the stage reg back in my mouth, I had no gas. I went to my back up reg, which I had a hard time with, as I had already swallowed some water, so Steve shoved his primary in my hand, to which I was able to stick in my mouth.. Phew…

Ok… a few things to learn from here… I am new to stage diving, and did not know that I am supposed to shut it off when donating long hose. I do know that it is off when not in use and charged. What I did not know, was that Steve had shut it off. He did notice that I was putting the reg in my mouth and was tempted to turn it on, but decided not to. He wanted to see what I would do. Not a bad thing to do, but I think that he should have either shown me that he was turning the stage off or told me that I needed to shut it off myself. Another lesson, was that I should darn well purge that reg before shoving it in my mouth. Afterthought too… It would have been much easier to just reach down and turn on the stage reg. Being half-arsed new to stage diving, it wasn’t my first reaction… something I will practice.

Anyway, once I got a few breaths in me, I reconfigured everything, clipped off my long hose etc., and carried on with the dive. Everything was ok, and lessons learned.

I didn’t feel so bad during our dive debrief with our buddies… Apparently, they had practiced a stage gas donate as well, and also had things to work on.

Next dives.. Kingston and Ivy Lea! The weekend is almost here!