Thursday, June 20th, 2013 ~
Christian and I met up for some more skillz!
Not much to say, really… We did valve drills, went down near the sub, did an ascent, back to the plane, and we called it a night!
Bottom Time: 51 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 51F
Vis.: Great!
Sunday, June 9th, 2013 ~
Today was the final day of North America’s first GUE Fundamentals course, in French.. or… En Français!
I decided to join in on the last day, and take some photos. They had planned on two dives, which gave me plenty of time to play with the camera. Descent drill, fin kicks, s-drills, valve drills, blowing a bag, an ascent drill, followed by doing the rescue techniques. Then… “The Final Dive!”
Skillz…
After the ascent…
The first of the two dives went well, as did the Rescue portion of the dive. Steve was demonstrating, with Eric V. as his “victim!”
Bottom Time: 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 30′
Water Temp.: 51FVis.: 30′
Then it was time for the FINAL DIVE! The guys worked really hard, and went through all of their skillz ‘n’ drillz for the final dive, before the exam.
Bottom Time: 34 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 51FVis.: 30′
Group shot!
Félicitations, Christian et Stéphane!!!
Diving is serious business, you know. It’s not.. Mickey Mouse! 😛
Friday, May 31st, 2013 ~
After picking up one of my bestest buddies from the airport the previous night, I brought Karen to work with me, on Friday. It became, “Bring Your Dive Buddy To Work Day!” We were able to leave a little early, and we made our way up to the quarry, to mess around a little, and do some skills. Christian met us up there, too!
Our dive plan was to do a few skills around the plane, drop down to the sub for an ascent, then mess around at the plane again. I did have my camera with me, but put it down for skillz.
We then went down to the sub, where we very quickly noticed one of the thermoclines. *Shiver!* We stuck around there for a bit, then practiced an ascent from 50′. Coming back up through the warmer water was a very welcome thing!
I did take some pictures, too!
Karen… I guess she’s moderately squared away… 😀
Christian is OK!
On our way back in…
….of course, we had to goof around, just a little…
When we surfaced, the sun had begun its descent…
Bottom Time: 42 mins.
Max. Depth: 56′
Water Temp.: 46F (below first thermocline)
Visibility: A little bit crappy
Group shot!
Karen and I headed back, and readied our gear for the weekend!
Saturday, June 1st, 2013 ~
We had loaded the van on Friday night, so we were ready to roll, around 7am, to head down to Mallorytown Landing. We were hitching a ride with Rick Lymer, to the Daryaw!
Joining us, were Lisa, Karen 2, Donna, Hong, Ivor, and Shawn.
The Landing…
When we got to the Daryaw, there was a small boat passing. We waved…
Karen and I splashed in. The surface current wasn’t too bad, but we had drifted a bit, doing our gear checks. We had scooters with us, so we weren’t really concerned. As we descended, we were a slight bit downstream of the wreck, so we made our way over to it. We did a full turn of the wreck, then underneath, where we tied off our scooters and stages, then ran a line inside. We peeked into a few rooms, where there was absolutely no shortage of freshwater eels. A few of them were poking out of their holes. We turned around, made our way out, then checked out one of the holds. We wanted to do a little more looking around, but were getting close to the end of our planned dive time. Very much fun!
On our way out, we did our gas switch, then drifted off. We didn’t follow the line up, so I blew a bag, and we ascended. What a blast!
Bottom Time: 1 hour, 4 minutes
Max. Depth: 93′
Water Temp.: 53F
Visibility: 30′ (a bit milky)
Current: Not as strong as usual, for the Daryaw; low surface current
Karen C., checking out the River!
After we were all on board, we headed over to the Lillie. Some did a drift, some.. well… a few missed the current, but still had a good dive! Karen and I chilled on the boat, and helped the others with their gear.
Shawn and Ivor had a good drift!
Rock on, Hong!
Karen H. got photobombed!
Donna had fun, too!
Lisa “forced” me to taste that Vanilla Coke… For someone that doesn’t drink pop often, I was quite liking it!
Lisa, with Mike and Rick, up top!
The gang, minus me! There did seem to be quite a few “Karens,” on the boat. What a fun day! Boston Pizza was our dinner menu!
Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 ~
Today, to the Jodrey!
First, to customs – Leaving Boldt Castle…
There were only four of us, and we had the wreck to ourselves. The visibility was not the best, but at least we could see more than 5′ in front of us. As we descended onto the wreck, there was absolutely no ambient light, thanks to the clouds and to the thunderstorm that hit, earlier that morning. At least the storm had stopped, by the time we were loading gear.
Karen and I did a tour of the bow, peeked in the wheelhouse, and a bit of the crane. There was hardly any current at all, which was very surprising. We were even able to hover on the port side of the wheelhouse, which is usually a place where the current wants to push you up and over the wreck! Craziness! It was pretty cool to show it to Karen, though!
Myself and Karen, on deco. Taken by Kevin Abe.
Bottom Time: 55 mins.
Max. Depth: 175′
Water Temp.: 55F
Neil, chillin’. Is that a Sears catalog pose? 😛
“The Abe,” hangin’ on the bow…
Karen and I, after most awesome Diving Goodness!!!!!!!
Once we got back to Caiger’s, cleared customs, and unloaded, we went to the Family Restaurant, for a delicious meal! Lisa, Karen H., Donna, and Merv joined us too, since their charter was back around the same time as ours.
It was most awesome to have one of my AGGAST sistas visiting, and to meet some really fun and good people! *Cheers,* to next time! 🙂
Sunday, May 19th, 2013 ~
I decided to head to the quarry, where Steve was running a GUE DPV 1 course. I joined the guys for a couple of dives, and took some surface shots!
There were quite a few people bungee jumping, too. Even though people say, “Never Say Never,” to which I usually agree. I can safely say that you will never catch me doing that. I would sooner jump out of a plane (with a parachute, of course).
Scooters for everyone!
Doing GUE EDGE!
Hong is A-OK!
Going back in!
Bottom Time (for me): 57 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 53F (above first thermocline, at 13′); 48F (below first thermocline)
Some after dive smiles!
Sunday, May 20th, 2013 ~
Today, to the River! A few skills, then the Experience Dive! Eric joined us too, to go for a bit of a scooter run!
Hong, bringing gear down to the water.
We were doing a couple of dives today!
For the first dive, there were some skills to get finished up. All went very well!
Bottom Time: 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 31′
Water Temp.: 51F
The second dive was the Experience Dive, which was really fun. We scootered upstream, dropped into the channel, and seeing how much this was enjoyed, as a first scooter run, was pretty amazing! We finished up on the Gaskin, where we did a small tour, then made our way back in.
Bottom Time: 58 mins.
Max. Depth: 100′
Water Temp.: 51F
I have a feeling that Hong may have really enjoyed this one…
Way to go, Hong!!! Great job!
Saturday, May 18th, 2013 ~
Today, I decided to go and meet up with Lisa, and a few members of the Clayton Dive Club. We were going to go for a fun dive on the Islander, so I brought my camera with me. Getting over the border took quite a long time, since it was a Saturday morning of a long weekend. There were about 10 rows of 50 cars each, and it took me about an hour to get to the customs agent. Of course, I have a van with dive gear, so they opened the door for a quick check, and off I went.
I finally arrived, and geared up for Diving Goodness! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, too!
Entry…
Lisa was my model for the day!
The water was pretty murky, but I still like this one…
The wreck is pretty busted up, but it is still fun to see.
Peek-A-Boo!
After doing a few spins around the wreck, practicing finning techniques, and having a few laughs, we made our way in.
Bottom Time: 49 mins.
Max. Depth: 45′
Water Temp.: 50F
As we came in, Timraughly (you will forever be known as that, Tim) was waiting for us, in case we needed a hand.
Group shot, taken by an onlooker…
…and of course, the “Snuggle” shot…
As we were packing up, Rick pulled in, so he joined us for some lunch, along the River. We went for some pizza!
We walked around for a bit, playing tourist. Most of the shops and stands were just opening up for the season.
Lisa was showing Psy how it’s done….
Giddyup!
We also found this very dangerous place.
We mostly behaved, and got some gelato and sorbet. There were some pretty amazing treats in there!
What a fun day, playing tourist! Thanks for the treats and a great day, Lisa!
As I made my way back over the border, there was absolutely no line going either way. It was smooooooth sailing!
Until next time!
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