Fundamentals | Chanb77's Weblog

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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Tags: Bloggy Thing, Chan's Bloggy Thing, Diving, Diving Goodness, Fundamentals, GUE, GUE Divers, GUE Ontario, Morrison's Quarry, Quarry, Skills
Categories : 2000 + 13

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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Tags: Bloggy Thing, Brockville, Centeen Park, Chan's Bloggy Thing, Diving, Diving Goodness, Fundamentals, Gaskin, Gavin, Gavin Scooter, GUE, GUE Divers, GUE Ontario, Scooter Dive, Skills, St. Lawrence, St. Lawrence River, Technical Diving
Categories : 2000 + 13

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! 😛

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!

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Tags: Bloggy Thing, Chan's Bloggy Thing, Diving Goodness, Fundamentals, GUE, GUE Divers, GUE Ontario, Morrison's Quarry, Quarry, Skills, Technical Diving
Categories : 2000 + 13

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. 😉

After filling tanks and loading vehicles, we made our way up to the quarry. We unloaded too many tanks (that’s 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? 😛

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!

Another Day Of Fun & Training!

11 08 2013

Saturday, August 10th, 2013 ~

Today was more Diving Goodness, at the quarry. Donna and Steve were working on some skillz, and AJ and I went for a swim, so he could try out a Santi Demo suit (and get measured for one of his very own).

We made our way to the quarry, that was extremely busy with OW courses. We found a couple of spots in the second parking lot.

Finding DEMO!

Aj and I started our swim out…

As we got to the piano, AJ decided to play us a tune. He didn’t have a tip jar, so I couldn’t leave him anything.

As we went through the boat, it appears that there has been more damage done to it. 😦

We passed a couple of thermoclines, and went down to the swim through.

AJ, coming out…

I made another pass through, and took a shot, approaching the exit hole…

It was pretty frigid down there, so we ascended some, then made our way back towards the boat.

We were going to swim through the boat, but were met by a couple of other divers…

We then went over to see Morrie, and AJ gave him a hand with a stray bottle nose…

I’d say we had a bit of fun. 🙂

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 1 min.
Max. Depth: 101′
Water Temp.: 44F, at depth; 73F, at surface
Vis.: Better at depth. Milky at the plane, and zero vis., coming to the shallows

We came out, had some lunch, then went back in. This time, we joined Donna for some skillz. I gave Steve the camera.