So tried the scooter out the other day.
Me and Jim went on short dive to test and keep current.
It worked on the surface pretty nicely, a bit slow but for intents and purposes, great.
About 30 million open water classes at Cove 2 stirred up the viz to a nice 1-3 feet, which meant when we dropped down Jim got ahead of me while I goofed around with the scooter at 5-10 feet depth. Finally shut down the scooter and decided to go catch Jim. Catching up with him around 35 feet I attempted to show off my new scooter, which no longer worked. No matter how many times I pressed the go button, it did not go.
We left it at 53 feet and continued on the dive. Got down to mid eighties, nothing too interesting or exciting but a decent dive after long dry spell. At our safety stop Jim took a nice video of me examining (testing?) the scooter.
Back on dry ground i figured the battery must've died. It still beeped and after sitting for a few minutes it would slowly spin. Jim got his typical enjoyment out of lambasting me for not charging it before the dive and that was that.
Until several hours later when i took another look at it and it runs perfect. Maybe it just isn't waterproof.
watch the video
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Update
Due to popular demand, the blogs getting updated. A friend of mine and jimmys blew 5k on an awesome high powered scuba scooter. As it happens i found a company in china that had some for sale for under $100. Only good to 30 meters and not necesarily as cool looking as Judds, but might be just the ticket to have some fun and test the waters before jumping on the big scooter wagon. Will update after next dive.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Progress
Todays Date 2/4/2007
Total Dives 203
Dives YTD 2
Projected Year End Total 20
Max Depth 89
Max Dive Time 40
Total Dive Time 75
Average Dive Time 37.5
Total Dives 203
Dives YTD 2
Projected Year End Total 20
Max Depth 89
Max Dive Time 40
Total Dive Time 75
Average Dive Time 37.5
LOST IN COVE 2
February 3, 2007
89 FEET FOR 35 MINUTES
We both got to cove 2 parking lot around 1015am, typical February day in Seattle I guess. Cloudy, chilly with rain in the forecast. It has been a couple weeks (almost a month) since our last dive and we are trailing behind target for our yearly goal of 100 logged dive. Too my shock Jim wanted to do 2 dives today and I reluctantly agreed. We have the 80s fresh back from hydro and loaded with EAN 40 that need to get empty before we head up to Nanaimo next week. My only catch was I had to be somewhere before 1 to pick something up. Both of us got geared up fairly quickly. Loading on all my equipment I felt a little awkward; rusty after not even 4 weeks. Somehow both of us managed to gear up and get in the water. We elected to follow our standard cove 2 dive plan, swim to the ‘safety rope’, follow to third buoy and head over to the I beam buoy under water. We have done it several times. Tanks weighed in at about 2000 lbs each; so just a quick deeper dive, then longer shallower dive on the 80s was the unheralded 2 dive plan.
We reached the familiar third buoy anchor and headed off in the direction of the I-beam anchor. For the record I never looked at my compass, don’t know if Jim did, but for a while I recognized the seafloor landscape. After a bit we got to a strange rope, initially I took it to be the guideline to the I-beam, so followed it. In my semi narced mind (about 65 feet and cold I think) it slowly dawned on me that the terrain looked very different from the “regular” guideline to the I-beams. As I pushed thoughts of sea monsters out of my mind we pushed on. About 85 feet Jim signaled to me to hold and we had a quick conference. My conclusion was that this was a newly planted rope that quickly been covered with sea life in 3.5 weeks. No idea what Jim was saying, but we turned and followed the rope back to our starting point.
From the starting point we went back to the “third anchor”, again no need for Captain Carl to look at his compass. The terrain began to look very unfamiliar and as we reached about 30-40 feet we found ourselves under the fishing dock. That area is off limits in the summer due to the water taxi, and should be avoided anyway due to the fishing line at the bottom that risks entanglement. We headed back in the direction of our entry point and logged in our 3 minute safety stop. We surfaced in the far corner of cove 2. We must have covered the whole darn cove. My conclusion was that we had not actually got lost, but simply hit an underwater worm hole that transported us around unbeknownst to us both. There just is no other logical explanation of how we could have been so misguided.
The second dive didn’t happen; I had to go pick up the package before the shop closed.
89 FEET FOR 35 MINUTES
We both got to cove 2 parking lot around 1015am, typical February day in Seattle I guess. Cloudy, chilly with rain in the forecast. It has been a couple weeks (almost a month) since our last dive and we are trailing behind target for our yearly goal of 100 logged dive. Too my shock Jim wanted to do 2 dives today and I reluctantly agreed. We have the 80s fresh back from hydro and loaded with EAN 40 that need to get empty before we head up to Nanaimo next week. My only catch was I had to be somewhere before 1 to pick something up. Both of us got geared up fairly quickly. Loading on all my equipment I felt a little awkward; rusty after not even 4 weeks. Somehow both of us managed to gear up and get in the water. We elected to follow our standard cove 2 dive plan, swim to the ‘safety rope’, follow to third buoy and head over to the I beam buoy under water. We have done it several times. Tanks weighed in at about 2000 lbs each; so just a quick deeper dive, then longer shallower dive on the 80s was the unheralded 2 dive plan.
We reached the familiar third buoy anchor and headed off in the direction of the I-beam anchor. For the record I never looked at my compass, don’t know if Jim did, but for a while I recognized the seafloor landscape. After a bit we got to a strange rope, initially I took it to be the guideline to the I-beam, so followed it. In my semi narced mind (about 65 feet and cold I think) it slowly dawned on me that the terrain looked very different from the “regular” guideline to the I-beams. As I pushed thoughts of sea monsters out of my mind we pushed on. About 85 feet Jim signaled to me to hold and we had a quick conference. My conclusion was that this was a newly planted rope that quickly been covered with sea life in 3.5 weeks. No idea what Jim was saying, but we turned and followed the rope back to our starting point.
From the starting point we went back to the “third anchor”, again no need for Captain Carl to look at his compass. The terrain began to look very unfamiliar and as we reached about 30-40 feet we found ourselves under the fishing dock. That area is off limits in the summer due to the water taxi, and should be avoided anyway due to the fishing line at the bottom that risks entanglement. We headed back in the direction of our entry point and logged in our 3 minute safety stop. We surfaced in the far corner of cove 2. We must have covered the whole darn cove. My conclusion was that we had not actually got lost, but simply hit an underwater worm hole that transported us around unbeknownst to us both. There just is no other logical explanation of how we could have been so misguided.
The second dive didn’t happen; I had to go pick up the package before the shop closed.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Todays Dive was....
Cove 2, 0 feet, 0 minutes.
Called off! Jim is sick. Anyone can call a dive anytime, for any reason. Funny thing about the type of diving we're doing these days is it is gear intensive. Its a lot of work getting ready, planning the dive, donning the equipment and getting into the water. Once we're in its great, weightlessness and the simple pleasure of floating, as well as the challenge of executing the dive plan. Getting out tired & doffing the equipment is heavy work as well. SO for me getting out of a dive is always a small reward, when its' not me making the call!
Called off! Jim is sick. Anyone can call a dive anytime, for any reason. Funny thing about the type of diving we're doing these days is it is gear intensive. Its a lot of work getting ready, planning the dive, donning the equipment and getting into the water. Once we're in its great, weightlessness and the simple pleasure of floating, as well as the challenge of executing the dive plan. Getting out tired & doffing the equipment is heavy work as well. SO for me getting out of a dive is always a small reward, when its' not me making the call!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
That crazy Don
Back in August i purchased an SSI instructer manual from the course director in CA. It was sent to the store i am affiliated with in Port Angeles and Don offered to pick it up and get it to me. Since i was in no hurry to take the class i didnt push. Satuday i asked Don about it when i saw him and he swore up down backwards and forwards that it was delivered to me; either through Diane or thru UPS.
I gave it up as lost, I dont even know if i am interested in taking the Instructor class anymroe anyhow.
Yesterday he called me to say he found it......
I gave it up as lost, I dont even know if i am interested in taking the Instructor class anymroe anyhow.
Yesterday he called me to say he found it......
Sunday, January 07, 2007
One Boring Dive
Actually I should have titled one boring, freezing dive. The original plan of today’s dive was to complete our training courses – TDI’s Decompression Procedures and Advanced nitrox diving. We were to compete this by planning a dive with myself, Diane and Jim and lake crescent near Port Angeles. Lake Crescent is a very deep mountain lake carved by glaciers back in the day. We all decided to meet at Don and Diane’s house in Kingston at 830Am. That led to our first miscommunication of the dive. Jim told me it took 2.5 hours to get to D&D’s house from his house, meaning we needed to leave at 6 AM! Turns out he meant it takes that long to get to Lake Crescent from his house. We figured out this miscommunication at 6 am at Jim’s house. We probably could have got to Kingston quicker if we wore ice skates rather than drove Jim’s truck. Happened to be a very cold night/morning and once we crossed the Tacoma narrows we started to see wreck after wreck. Some cars were on their roofs and recent, others looked like they had slid into the ditch late the night before. Either way it was pretty dramatic. The ride was mostly un-noteworthy. One time Jim lost control of the back end of the truck but quickly recovered. A few minutes later a bus passed us.
Upon reaching the Petersons household we saw no sign of Judd the instructor’s car and decided to hit the nearby McDonalds. I ordered a couple breakfast burritos and Jim declined after seeing the line at the men’s’ bathroom. Back at the Petersons still no Judd, and as we knocked on the door we saw the generator running and put 2 and 3 together to figure out they had no power. Which means no water from the nearby electric driven pump, which means no water for the toilet, which means no use of the facilities here for Jim? Ha.
Shortly thereafter Judd showed up and we all got together and decided that we would bag the lake crescent trip all together due to the road conditions, probably too icy on the narrow windy roads up there. So instead we elect to head out on Don’s boat. That is after reviewing the deep dive plan that was “the main point of the dive.”
Don’s boat is a Boston Whaler, about 15 feet I think. Not a lot of room for five people and 4 divers deep diving gear – 2 twin 90’s, 1 twin 105s(?), 1 twin 80s, and 4 stage bottles. The boat was launched 15 minutes away and went smoothly, the nearby restrooms were locked.
THE DIVE
38 FEET FOR 40 MINUTES
The NW boat diving book we were referencing gave us a few spots that were not too far from the launch. Basically rock outcroppings. We pulled up on a one and saw a bald eagle amongst the flying rats. It majestically soared away, making me proud to be an American. A reasonable guess might be 45 minutes spend tooling around trying to find a good spot deep enough for Judd’s 18% O2 mix and suitable for our training requirements. There was a spot with a ton of harbor seals but we ended up diving a little ways away that seemed to be deeper.
It was very nice of Don to let us use his boat. However, it is not the perfect technical diving boat. Gearing up requires flexibility and the strength to stand whilst wearing 150 lbs. Fortune shined on me and my gear was positioned in a manner that meant I would be the last in the 40 degree water. After watching Jim perform a full backwards summersault into the water I helped don help Diane into her gear. Again, a chore while on the rocking boat. She hopped in with the grace of a former dance with bad knees. We all watched as the area around her looked like a Jacuzzi. Turns out the plastic tube on her inflator had split somehow. So she had to bag the dive, and we got to watch how to exit the water with no ladder. First you hand up your stage, buckle your BCD to the rope hanging out the boat and the captain pulls 150+ lbs of deadgearweight out of the water. Next is a giant kick up-grab the side of the boat and flop on to the bottom of the boat like a retarded fish.
Gearing up myself was not too bad, a little exhausting but warmed me up. I splashed, clipped on my stage and we dropped down the anchor line. A slight current at the bottom allowed us to kick around the rock and then float back towards it. Very relaxing, drifting on the bottom in freezing cold water. Judd picked up a large starfish and flipped it on its back. It flipped itself over. Aside from a few drills, that was the highlight of the dive. Jim and I blew bags at the end. Flopping into the boat I managed to bust my dry suit pocket’s knife sheath.
We then endured a long ride back to the launch. I had to pee and was on the front (bow?) of the boat bouncing along and trying not to wet myself. Jim was in the back freezing next to Diane. Naturally we had to stop and check out a few other dive sites. Actually the one looked interesting, a quick descent maybe 100 yards from a boat launch/dock. Still not the thing I wanted to do at that moment.
We got the boat back to Don’s house and they went out to dinner, but we wanted to catch the Seahawks game so we jetted.
Upon reaching the Petersons household we saw no sign of Judd the instructor’s car and decided to hit the nearby McDonalds. I ordered a couple breakfast burritos and Jim declined after seeing the line at the men’s’ bathroom. Back at the Petersons still no Judd, and as we knocked on the door we saw the generator running and put 2 and 3 together to figure out they had no power. Which means no water from the nearby electric driven pump, which means no water for the toilet, which means no use of the facilities here for Jim? Ha.
Shortly thereafter Judd showed up and we all got together and decided that we would bag the lake crescent trip all together due to the road conditions, probably too icy on the narrow windy roads up there. So instead we elect to head out on Don’s boat. That is after reviewing the deep dive plan that was “the main point of the dive.”
Don’s boat is a Boston Whaler, about 15 feet I think. Not a lot of room for five people and 4 divers deep diving gear – 2 twin 90’s, 1 twin 105s(?), 1 twin 80s, and 4 stage bottles. The boat was launched 15 minutes away and went smoothly, the nearby restrooms were locked.
THE DIVE
38 FEET FOR 40 MINUTES
The NW boat diving book we were referencing gave us a few spots that were not too far from the launch. Basically rock outcroppings. We pulled up on a one and saw a bald eagle amongst the flying rats. It majestically soared away, making me proud to be an American. A reasonable guess might be 45 minutes spend tooling around trying to find a good spot deep enough for Judd’s 18% O2 mix and suitable for our training requirements. There was a spot with a ton of harbor seals but we ended up diving a little ways away that seemed to be deeper.
It was very nice of Don to let us use his boat. However, it is not the perfect technical diving boat. Gearing up requires flexibility and the strength to stand whilst wearing 150 lbs. Fortune shined on me and my gear was positioned in a manner that meant I would be the last in the 40 degree water. After watching Jim perform a full backwards summersault into the water I helped don help Diane into her gear. Again, a chore while on the rocking boat. She hopped in with the grace of a former dance with bad knees. We all watched as the area around her looked like a Jacuzzi. Turns out the plastic tube on her inflator had split somehow. So she had to bag the dive, and we got to watch how to exit the water with no ladder. First you hand up your stage, buckle your BCD to the rope hanging out the boat and the captain pulls 150+ lbs of deadgearweight out of the water. Next is a giant kick up-grab the side of the boat and flop on to the bottom of the boat like a retarded fish.
Gearing up myself was not too bad, a little exhausting but warmed me up. I splashed, clipped on my stage and we dropped down the anchor line. A slight current at the bottom allowed us to kick around the rock and then float back towards it. Very relaxing, drifting on the bottom in freezing cold water. Judd picked up a large starfish and flipped it on its back. It flipped itself over. Aside from a few drills, that was the highlight of the dive. Jim and I blew bags at the end. Flopping into the boat I managed to bust my dry suit pocket’s knife sheath.
We then endured a long ride back to the launch. I had to pee and was on the front (bow?) of the boat bouncing along and trying not to wet myself. Jim was in the back freezing next to Diane. Naturally we had to stop and check out a few other dive sites. Actually the one looked interesting, a quick descent maybe 100 yards from a boat launch/dock. Still not the thing I wanted to do at that moment.
We got the boat back to Don’s house and they went out to dinner, but we wanted to catch the Seahawks game so we jetted.
2007 Objectives
For 2007 the goal is to complete 100 dives. In order to reach that objective we need to average 2 dives a week, with 2 weeks off compeltly. Most likely we will accomplish that by going on a few multi-day, multi-dive trips. Progress will be tracked through a simple xl sheet that will predict the year end dive total, based on the average number of daily dives done so far in the year.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
June sometime Nathan's Hotdogs
After leaving the lounge at lga with 10 minutes to boarding i decided to enjoy a lovely nathans hotdog. I grabbed it, mustard and ketchup and headed to the gate where to my surprise we were already boarding. I resisted the urge to skip to the front and take advantage of my first class priority and waited my turn, only to find myself at the wrong gate.
May 31, 2006 San Diego fishing
Well no diving in San Diego but did go fishing in the ocean. Apparently the best day of the year for the boat we were on, caught something like 250 fish over 20 people. I caught 1, after about 2 hours, ej got 2. Others had extra so we got lots of sandbass.
May 15, 2006 Slaw Dog to go
Dive 1 67 feet, 34 minutes 200 feet penetration. Today followed the class (Jim & Bob). They practiced Lost diver in the pothole tunnel. Jim clouded things up nicely, i just practiced bouyancy and watched.
Dive 2 40 feet, 42 minutes 500 feet penetration. 12 minute surface interval. We went up the peanut tunnel to the breakdown room. At that point i turned while jim and bob did light failure and air share exit. It is always a bit nerve wracking being solo while cave diving but i quickly returned to the cavern zone. Enroute i found my 1st backup light was very weak, either low batteries or it's pencil beam. I hung out at the edge of the cavern zone covering my light while i watched their lights bouncing on their return.
There next dive was the "final" test at Cow spring after lunch. I chose to pass on tailing that dive and instead got a 6 pack of heineken, a slaw dog and a bacon egg cheese roll. Jim was disgusted as usual. Their dives went fine. We hit ruby tuesdays again, where i wanted a french dip which they did not have. At night we got the movie Munich, which i slept through, AND the tv would not go above 15 so you couldnt here s**t anyway. And it was too small to read the subtitles. The next day we drove back to the airport, stopped at st augustine for a minute. Jim complained about my driving the whole way.
Dive 2 40 feet, 42 minutes 500 feet penetration. 12 minute surface interval. We went up the peanut tunnel to the breakdown room. At that point i turned while jim and bob did light failure and air share exit. It is always a bit nerve wracking being solo while cave diving but i quickly returned to the cavern zone. Enroute i found my 1st backup light was very weak, either low batteries or it's pencil beam. I hung out at the edge of the cavern zone covering my light while i watched their lights bouncing on their return.
There next dive was the "final" test at Cow spring after lunch. I chose to pass on tailing that dive and instead got a 6 pack of heineken, a slaw dog and a bacon egg cheese roll. Jim was disgusted as usual. Their dives went fine. We hit ruby tuesdays again, where i wanted a french dip which they did not have. At night we got the movie Munich, which i slept through, AND the tv would not go above 15 so you couldnt here s**t anyway. And it was too small to read the subtitles. The next day we drove back to the airport, stopped at st augustine for a minute. Jim complained about my driving the whole way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)