After a short trip west, it was time to return for a dive. Tyee was calling, so after gearing up and doing all checks, it was down and off to the left to see grandpa. After film and pictures, a quick trip over the wall toward Dolphin to see the rock cod, then back towards the horses and over to the right to see the other wolf eels. After video and pictures, continued on to the right until the first gravel chute, then up and back, taking shots of interesting things along the way.

Overall a great dive. Shortening the counterlung bungees a bit more this past week really helped the rig's fine tuning today.

Tyee Video 

Lovely day for diving - warm and almost sunny with no real wind. Headed out to Tyee for a dive. After gear and bubble checks, headed left to take pictures and video of the rock cod on boot sponges as well as the wolf eel in his den. Then swam most of the way to Dolphin before turning and heading back. At the sea horses, headed right to see the wolf eels but was not able to find them today. Overall a great dive. New video light is awesome, and gear changes (bungee for HUD and bungees for counterlungs) are working well.

Tyee Video 

NDO dive today featured only three of us with Steve leading on his rebreather and I on my Prism. We headed out at the little V, and after bubble checks started towards the deep wall. Eventually we found it, and then carried on back through the maze towards home.

We started with high tide (very, very high) and the current did affect our navigation outbound somewhat, but wasn't as bad as last week.

On the way out we came upon a rather nice Skate on the bottom, quite oblivious to us all - even to the small flounder that swam across it's mouth area. I took some video and photos to mark the find.

Some gear changes today. Tried out my new SS camera handle and tray with the new SOLA 1200 video light, as well as a new counterlung lower attachment system using bungees. The bungees need to be a bit tighter, but overall the gear changes were sweet! Pictures and info under the Gear Updates link on the main page.

Madrona Skate Video 

Headed to Tyee today with Mike. After gear and bubble checks, headed over to grandpa then along the wall towards Dolphin After a time on the wall, returned to grandpa and then back to the right side of Tyee, then up to the shallows before heading in. Nice 91 minute dive, and also my 200th hour on my PRISM Topaz rebreather. It's still an awesome unit!

Today Mike and I also tested our new Light and Motion Sola 1200 lights. Mike had his on his wrist, while mine was attached to my camera via the lok line. They are incrdible lights, with two light modes (video and spot) and three power settings for each mode as well as a flashing beacon setting. They proved to be excellent for photos and video. Today I also played with camera settings, using '(P)rogram' instead of the underwater (red filter) mode. I'm much happier with the 'P' setting.

Tyee Video 

What a short dive! Mike and I called the dive after 21 minutes, and then had fun with the large ebb tide as we returned.

Great 'playing around' dive with Mike on the walls at Elliot Point. Lots to see if you like fish and crabs and shrimp. Went to the deeper wall at 70fsw for an overall time of 74 min.

Nanaimo Dive Outfitters' Annual Underwater Pumkpin Carving and Halloween Bash, held at Neck Point Park. Prizes for pumpkin carving, food and raffles, with all proceeds going towards the Kidney Foundation.

Steve and I were photo divers for the underwater games and pumpkin carving. Three underwater game stations - croquet, golf-ball spoon carry and darts-through-hoops. Once games were done, each team of divers grabbed a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch (also underwater) and carved their prize-winning pumpkin before returning to shore.

Over all dive on my Prism was 78 minutes with a maximum depth for the games and carving of 20fsw. Didn't get too cold, but the weather on the surface was less fun. Glad for the hot chocolate and winter coat!

Neck Point (Pumpkin Carving) Video 

Another great dive at Tyee with Mike! Over to the wall at Dolphin with at stop to see Grandpa, then down to 150fsw, along the wall and back again. Once back at Tyee, we stopped to photograph the wolf eel pair before coming up to do our deco and in. Nice 100 min dive!

Tyee Wolf Eels Video 

Drove to China Creek near Port Alberni to see the imigrant ship artifical reef. Had an excellent 80 min dive.

China Creek Sea Snake Video 

Tune-up dive with Mike, who is here visiting for a bit with his Prism Topaz Rebreather (same as mine).

Usual gear-up, bubble checks and then over to Dolphin for a trip along the wall, max depth 150fsw, total dive time 90 min.

Mike had his super-fancy sony pro video rig, and I had my Canon digital point-and-shoot in the Ikelite housing. We both had a great time

A really nice single tank (open circuit) dive with the NDO club dive today.

Trying out the wide anlge lens again to day revealed that using the internal camera flash is incompatible with the lens. It illuminates the inside of the housing and causes the camera to take a picture of the inside of the wide angle lens in additon to the external subject. In ambient light, or with the external HID light with video reflector, the pictures were OK, the lens requires external strobes for good flash pictures.

Great long deco dive today with Steve, Shirley and Gerald

Good NDO Club dive today led by Gord. Tried out the new wide angle wet lens.

Not too thrilled with initial results - there was a lot of flare and the on-camera flash is inadequate for wide-angle flash pictures. I would have to buy a full flash & arm set to get full use out of this lens, but not right now.

Great deco dive inside the Cape Breton today with Greg, TL and Greg McCuaig. Boat charter courtesy of Ed at Sundown.

No pictures, but video coming soon.

Nice dive today on the deep wall at Madrona.

Great day for diving, so I headed out to do same. Headed out to Tyee, and the weather was perfect. Tide was out but coming in, so geared up at the truck and then headed out. After checks descended to 4 fsw and then out to the cut. Visibility in the shallows was pretty good at around 10-15 feet, and the water was warm.

At 30 fsw I encountered a thermocline and the water became much colder. Headed down and over to grandpa, with visibility now upwards of 20-30 feet. Once at grandpa took some pictures, plus photos of the rock cod inhabiting the boot sponges. Then back to the cut and over to see the other wolf eels and along the wall before ascending back up the cut.

Back in the shallows I again encountered the thermocline at 17 fsw, but also noticed a significant distortion in the water - probably due to the thermocline. Hung out for a while above 17 fsw to take some pictures of the fish and just play with the macro setting. After just over an hour underwater headed back in to the truck and home.

I should note that it's been well over two and a half months since I've done a rebreather dive, so I took extra care performing the PRISM set-up and pre-dive assembly and checks. The unit performed flawlessly.

Overall an excellent day diving!