Cavezzz, It Shall Be – Part Four – Rabbit Holes and Haloclines

12 12 2013

Wednesday, December 11th, 2013 ~

The usual: Breakfast, then onward, to the shop!

I wonder who these guys are, in front of us? 😛

Everyone gathered and loaded up various vehicles, for the day’s projects.

Today, Kata and I had a few tasks to complete at Xtabay. We loaded up, and away we went. The roads were slick, thanks to the ongoing rain, but we made it safe and sound. There had been a few very scary-looking accidents, with the rain.

We each brought a stage with us, to use for the first dive, and then would use just our back gas for our second dive.

In our first 6 minutes, Kata had run the reel, we located the sensor spot, replaced the first sensor, and began to make our way to the second task point.

We swam through the Wizard’s Den (which is one of my absolute favourite rooms), through the Halocline Room, and then to our second destination. We still had stage gas left, but since we still had work to do on the surface, we decided to turn the dive.

Bottom Time: 46 mins.
Max. Depth: 46′
Water Temp.: 77F

We had brought “field equipment” with us, and worked on our “secret mission.” Ok, it wasn’t a secret, but it adds a little more fun to the story. 😀

Once we were finished, we had lunch, some laughs (speedo!), then went back down for our second dive.

As we were gearing up, it appeared that Agent Kata had an issue with her spg. Basically, it was pooched. Luckily, Kata had a backup, and I had a Sea Spanner, so all was well with the world, again. Away, we went.

We returned to the furthest point of our first dive, completed our mission, and carried on into the cave. We reached the end of the main line, so made our way back, playing in the halocline.

When we surfaced, there was quite a bit of rain. We were thankful for the palapa that provided us with shelter, while we got changed.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 25 mins.
Max. Depth: 47′
Water Temp.:  77F

Thanks for being my partner in crime, Kata!

Back to the shop, where we waited around for the truck to come back, to help with the unloading.

Then, to the resort, where Forest, Stretch, Steve, myself, Manu, and Peter went to the Grill restaurant – Awesome Empanadas (I think that’s what they were called)! The lemon dessert was one of few that I had on the entire trip, and it was absolutely incredible. 🙂

Thursday, December 12th, 2013 ~

After breakfast, we had to change some Canadian cashola into pesos, which took a little more time than we had figured. We finally made it to the shop, and myself, Steve, Kata, and Joakim were going to Temple Of Doom, today! We had some sensor business to attend to, and then some pics!

At breakfast – A juice rainbow!

We finally arrived at Cenote Calavera (meaning: Skull – named for three circular openings in the cenote), and as we went to check out the entry, I was surprised to see this rather large fellow, chilling in the sun. He was wary, but he didn’t run away. I think we both caught each other by surprise.

The walk to the water…

The opening…

There is a bit of a drop to get in, and since Steve and I hadn’t been to this spot before, I was a little nervous, on the drive. Once we arrived, and I saw it, it didn’t really seem like that big of a deal (which it wasn’t – it was pretty fun).

The ladder, to climb out…

They also had a couple of parrots, in the parking lot. One of them was very friendly, and the other was a little shy… at first.

Mr. Friendly…

The shy one was shy… until we were all gathered around him. Then, he was whistling and flirting with us. The owner said that he whistles when girls get changed… which we found to be true!

There were also a couple of bunnies…

…and a friendly dog (it was really hot out)…

We worked together, to put our stage bottles and Jo’s camera in the water, and finally geared up!

Kata ran the reel, and then Joe went in first, to film and take shots (although, Jo was in a few different spots, working his camera magic). There was quite a stretch of going through halocline, and since I was in the back end, I got to see quite a lot of “gasoline.” We reached the spot where the sensor was supposed to be, and Jo and I held our positions on the line, while Steve and Kata located it. Once all was completed, we carried on, and reached the end of the line. Jo took some shots and video on the way back, too!

Kata, running the reel, through the halocline. Steve, second; myself, third.
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

Another view of the halocline. Kata, Steve, me…
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

Bottom Time: 41 mins.
Max. Depth: 53′
Water Temp.: 77F
Vis.: A little tannic in the basin, but cleared up, inside – apart from the gasoline halocline. 🙂

Another shot, through the thick halocline. Kata, Steve, and myself in the back (in front of Jo).
Photo by Joakim Hjelm.

We surfaced, tied off our stages (which we still had usable gas in), and went over to the other line. I had a 100w LED light mounted to the back of my tanks, Steve had the Go Pro (with dual 24s), and Jo had his camera. Kata was in the front, then Steve, then me (lighting up the back), and then Jo (who moved around, a little). It was a lot of fun!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 3 mins.
Max. Depth: 58′
Water Temp.: 77F

We still had some gas to burn, so Steve, Jo, and I went back in to take some pics, near the Madonna stalagmite. Jo took the LED light from the back of my tanks, and I was hand-holding it, so I was able to move it around, a little. This was a really  neat learning experience, for lighting, for me. Having taken all of my shots with ambient light, I have a lot of lighting learning to do!

Bottom Time: 26 mins.
Max. Depth: 61′
Water Temp.: 78F

A video, done by Steve…

*NOTE* There are many more photos from this shoot, to come! I will make another post, when they are available! *END OF NOTE* 🙂

You can see more of Jo’s shots, here (you need to enter your e-mail addy, which is not a giant deal):
http://joakimhjelmphotography.instaproofs.com/store/ or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joakimhjelmphotography

Some of our gear!

From here, we made our way back to the shop, dropped our tanks, to the resort, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then met some of the gang at The Pub, then back to meet some more of the gang, then to sleep!

That sure is a lot of tanks for those guys to fill! Jorge and Eduardo, you guys are awesome! Thank you!


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Smells Like Centeen Spirit

14 10 2013

Sunday, October 13th, 2013 ~

We packed up, and made our way down to Brockville, for some scootering and drifting Goodness! We brought the gear to the water, geared up, and away we went, upstream.

Frankie, Eric V., Christian St-P., and Dave were heading out to the truck, too.

As we made our way up, the “Little Red Rocket” scooter seemed to be struggling, a little. At 15 minutes, it just didn’t seem to be running right. At 18 minutes, it really felt tired. So… I passed it to Cas, and Steve towed me into the channel. Since we were on a drift dive anyway, it wasn’t a big deal.

We drifted for about 40 minutes, and saw a bunch of different things. I found a cooking pot lid. It didn’t make a great frisbee, so I tried it on as a hat. Since it wasn’t great for either purpose, I placed it back down onto the periwinkle shells. We found a couple of pieces of broken china, some bottles, barrels attached to wooden planks (they looked like they had been there for a while), and we even saw a Gar Pike. I haven’t seen one of those in quite a while, so it was neat to see it. He even opened his mouth, and we saw his razor-sharp teeth!

As it was time for us to start making our way in, I tried my scooter again. It was trying, and I was at least able to make it back up, for most of the way. Then, it was just sleepy, so I passed it off to Cas again, and Steve towed me back up into the shallows. We hung out at 20′ for a few minutes, met up with Frankie and Eric, and went up and in.

Quite a fun dive! I tried out my new Santi 9mm hood today, and it was really warm! It felt like I had a heater on my head!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 62F

Cas, bringing up some gear!

Sofie, with the dolly, guarding the sthcooterthz!

Duo selfie…

Some of the group! Eric V., Dave, Frankie, Steve, Christian St-P…

I hope my Little Red Rocket is ok! Until the next dive!


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To The Power House!

10 10 2013

October, 2013 ~

Ahhh…. an afternoon dive, out of Guindon Park. We unloaded our gear at the water, moved the van and car to a parking spot, and got ready to dive!

We did our gear checks, and away we went. We scootered south, down the “trench,” drifted for a bit, then south again, where we reached the Overflow Bridge. This meant that we had gone a bit too far, for the Power House. Steve had the Go Pro, so as he was tending to something else, I decided to make some funny faces for the camera (it was on a scooter mount).

We changed our direction, and made our way a little further west, and finally found it! w00t! We tied off our scooters, and went inside a large opening. We swam around, checked out a few different spots, and even came upon a very large eel. He didn’t really want to spend any time with us, so we left him alone.

We exited, removed our stage bottles (added them to our scooter bouquet), and went inside a smaller opening. This was a lot of fun, and we came out another hole, which was right below our gear.

Time to turn back! As we got to the shallows, we surfaced to confirm where we were, and we happened upon an absolutely gorgeous red sunset. We were right on track, so we descended again, and made our way through the weeds, back to the boat ramp. There was a boat coming in, so we went to the other side of the dock to exit.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 58 mins.
Max. Depth: 77′
Water Temp.: 62F

It was a lot of fun, and great to show our visitors some of the sunken villages!

“This is how I roll…”

After our dive, we settled on Pizza Hut as our after-dive nourishment spot… and we noticed that they actually moved it. From there, Sofie and Cas had a date with the border folks, while Steve and I started on our way home, and unloaded gear! Until the next dive!


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Another Day At Mo’s Quarry – Camera Day!

29 09 2013

Saturday, September 28th, 2013 ~

We met David J. at the quarry, with Hugh, so that Dave could do his Fundies Rec to Tech upgrade, which went really well! We also did some rescues, which were a lot of fun.

Congratulations, Dave! You have worked very hard, and come a long way! w00t! *Clap Clap*

First Dive
Bottom Time: 51 mins.
Max. Depth: 58′
Water Temp.: 55F (below thermocline)

Second Dive (Rescues)
Bottom Time: 20 mins.
Max. Depth: 13′
Water Temp.: 64F

Steve and I had a little snack, then got back in. We recently upgraded our camera system from Tom W.’s old backup system, to the system that he had upgraded to, when he sold me his old one. We now have both generations of Tom Wilson cameras. Thank you, Tom! If I can only shoot half as decent as Tom, I will be a happy camper. This would be my first time ever using strobes, so it is a totally different ball of wax, for me! Shooting with ambient light, for the last 5 years (wow… I can’t believe it has been almost 5 years, since purchasing the Nikon D100), and switching to the Nikon D200, with…. STROBES, is going to be just a little bit different!

We got in on the far side, and we each took a couple of shots.

Me…

Steve…

We swam across the quarry, towards the plane, where we kicked on the strobes. We each took a few shots, that didn’t exactly turn out very well. We will need to work on positioning the strobes, and getting them to a good place, using a wide angle lens.

One, that turned out, of Steve…

I notice that in the above picture, my habit of using ambient light is still there. 😛

Me, in front of the boat…

Steve, in mid-water, as we made our way down to the sub…

Time to play…

I spy a Steve, hiding in the Shark Sub’s mouth!

Then, it was my turn!

Out, I come!

w00t!

We made our way back up the wall.

In this pic, it looks like I am about to do a somersault. I have no idea what I was doing, here…

Steve…

Bottom Time: 35 mins.
Max. Depth: 61′
Water Temp.: 55F

Well, there is a wide margin of improvement to be made, with regards to the camera settings, and I am really looking forward to some fun winter shots, this year!


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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!

 


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