Today was a pretty good day, and we again headed to the Chemainus dry docks. I was diving my Prism Topaz rebreather to get some video of me on the Piranna 1 scooter as well as see the dry docks. Overall a great dive.
Chemainus VideoIt was supposed to be warm today, but wasn't. In fact, it started snowing while we geared up! Still, things went smoothly and we had a great dive. One video of me on my P1, one video of Meredith on her Gavin.
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.jpg "Chemainus")
.jpg "Chemainus Video (Richard)"){kind=icon}
Chemainus Video (Richard).jpg "Chemainus Video (Meredith)"){kind=icon}
Chemainus Video (Meredith)It snowed Friday and really put a damper on travel and general "doing stuff". Saturday it warmed up enough to allow some shoveling and Sunday it was good enough to go diving. However it was just cold enough that I opted for open circuit, as I have to rinse the gear inside right now and the Prism is not fun to rinse inside.
We had a really great scooter dive on the dry docks today. We spent almost 55 minutes on the trigger - me on my P1 and Meredith on her gavin. The last 5 minutes the P1 started to slow down a bit, but no problem getting home. We took some video on the dry docks as well as having a bit of fun in the shallows on the way back in.
On the "playing in the shallows" video, I'm not totally happy with the position of my sidemount stage. It is under half full (1400 psi) but my stages usually sit parallel to the leg and much tighter to my body. I'm not sure if it's just the "floatyness" of the stage at this point or something else but I'll figure it out.
There are 5 videos: 'dry docks' (us on the first dry dock), 'warbonnet' (a decorated warbonnet on dock #2), 'gavin chase' (me chasing Meredith on her gavin in the shallows at the start and end of the dive), 'playing in the shallows' (Meredith taking video of me on my P1 at the end of the dive) and 'power low' showing the power change (sound of the P1) between about the 50 minute mark of the dive and the 53 minute mark.
Chemainus Video (dry docks)
Chemainus Video (warbonnet)
Chemainus Video (gavin chase)A mid-week scooter dive to see if trim changes to the gavin worked out, as well as a planned trip to the bottle field. Overall an excellent dive, even if the surface temp was really cold today (below zero).
Maple Bay - Richard on Piranna1Great scooter dive on the Chemainus dry docks today. Bonus - saw a lingcod near dock #1. The new camera tray for the light worked very well. I also breathed down my 40cf of EAN50 in preparation for it's hydro.
Chemainus dry docks VideoAnother great scooter dive on the Chemainus dry docks today. Today we dove with my P1 and Meredith's Gavin and circumnavigated all four dry docks. Video turned out quite dark, so I need to make a tray to hold a light as well. The Prism Topaz worked perfectly with the P1 scooter as well. Overall a great dive.
Today was the big scooter dive day. The plan was to use the P1 to circumnavigate all four dry docks at Chemainus to see how it works on an actual excursion (longer duration) dive. In short - it was AWESOME!
I geared up open circuit because I didn't want to introduce too many variables... I'll dive the rebreather next week to see how it goes with the P1, but for this dive I wanted the simplicity of OC. Besides, I have an 80cf tank full of 21/35 trimix that I needed to empty for it's hydro test, and didn't want to just waste it. So I had my 100cf air back gas, and the 80 of 21/35 rigged sidemount. As I wanted to empty the 80, I started the dive breathing it, and switched only when it was nearly empty (200 psi). That happened about 45 minutes into the dive as the max depth today was 75 ft due to very high tides.
Everything went according to plan, with no surprises or problems - just the way I love to dive. The P1 was excellent on the longer hauls, cutting the initial swim time to the first dry dock from about 15 min to about 6 min. Pretty sweet! Driving around and on the dry docks was really fun. It's surprising how large the 3rd and 4th dry docks really are, but the scooter makes the travel not only fun, but much better for 'looking around'.
I also took the new go-pro clone, the OVRDM camera on this dive. I operated it the entire drive out and again on the drive back in, as well as at other times in the dive. The full footage is around 40 min, so I've only uploaded the non-scooter portion where I was swimming on top of the first dry dock where all the sponges have grown up.
Overall, it was an awesome dive.
Chemainus - Dry Docks VideoToday was a really good photo day at Maple Bay. I took the close-up lens for my G16 and was able to get quite a few nice close-up shots of the underwater life. It was also a day where many fish came out and even some nudibranchs were visible on the dock piers. The rain held off until I got out, which was nice. Overall an excellent dive.
Normally I only show a few of the dive photos, but due to the great life today I'm displaying many more than usual.
Maple Bay VideoAnother great dive today. Viz was decent, though not great. More fun on the scooter, this time with Meredith on her Gavin. I tested the ODRVM (go-pro clone) in its housing on the scooter mount and it worked perfectly.
Another good dive today. Viz wasn't as good as lasr week, but still OK. Again more fun on the scooter. I sewed the crotch strap yesterday and it held up nicely. I tested a new UW gopro clone housing (no camera) and it worked perfectly.
Maple Bay Otter VideoGood dive today, great viz. I had more fun on the scooter, but the Muvi underwater housing is toast. The harness crotch strap needs to be sewn as well.
Yet again, after much fussing and testing, the gavin failed at the dive site. Time for a new reed switch for the trigger.
The dive itself was great. I tried a new weight configuration, with 2x5lb clipped to the backplate plus 2x4lbs in a cam band around the lower part of the tank. This is 2lb less than I've been using and it was just fine. Vis was 15+ ft so a very nice dive.
I tested the muvi housing with a blue towel instead of camera, and it again seeped water, but from the bottom only. It remains to be seen if it can be fixed so it does not leak.
Great dive today. Unfortunately Meredith's gavin again refused to function at the critical moment, so we left it on land.
Visibility was 20ft today, which was great. I used the P1 with my muvi camera attached via the built-in gopro mount. Using my regular camera, I also got a short video of a 5in poacher fish, which I find very fascinating. Overall a really great dive.
On a less happpy note, the muvi is dead. The sad, pathetic little underwater housing that came with the muvi was rated to 100ft, but could not withstand being attached to the P1 while it was operating. At the truck after the dive I could see condensation and then water inside the housing. I confirmed it was salt water. Soon the muvi stopped operating and could not be revived, even after an extended fresh water soak and long drying time. I did manage to save the micro-SD card and pulled the video clips, but the shake from the way the camera was mounted makes the video unusable. Given the cost of a 'real' gopro, I won't be attaching a video camera to the P1 again any time soon.
Maple Bay VideoGreat dive today. Really good visibility after the storm, again nearing 15ft. This was the third dive where I used my new Piranna 1 dive scooter from diveXtras. I think all the kinks are worked out of the scooter diving now. Tried to get some video of me scootering but the camera does not focus well at long distance in the turbid water. Next time we'll try a go-pro or my muvi.
Good dive today. Better visibility than the past couple of weeks, nearing 15ft. This was the second dive where I used my new Piranna 1 dive scooter from diveXtras. Still adjusting tow ropes and harness for optimal scooter experience, and had a few kinks to work out including camera stowing when scootering. Still, a wonderful dive.
Good dive today. Tried out the new Piranna 1 dive scooter from diveXtras. Wonderful.
Good dive today. Again using the new camera close-up lens. Without the o-ring it tends to fall off at inopportune times, but otherwise was fun to use. Vis was about 2x better than last week.
Good dive today. I tried out the new camera close-up lens that attaches to the front of the housing via an adapter. It really does take close-ups! Vis was horrible (5 ft max) but OK for close-up photography.
Tried to dive here Sunday, but the diluent HP hose decided to fail only after we got into the water. We called the dive, and I returned home to replace the hose.
Today (Labour Day Monday) we returned and headed out to the dry docks for a great dive. Visibility was pretty good and the tides were quite high. Overall a great dive.
Chemainus (warbonnet) Video
Chemainus (octo) Video
Chemainus (dry docks) VideoGood dive today.
Maple Bay VideoAnother dive at Maple Bay, mostly because it was too hot to dive Chemainus. Maple bay was a higer but falling tide and visibility not quite as bad as last week. We saw the warbonnet again and a few other critters.
Maple Bay VideoBad Habits Cafe announced that they were closing today, so we had to dive Maple Bay and go for one last coffee afterward.
The dive was OK - low tide and really poor visibility (2-5 ft) but we did see a decorated warbonnet on the wall so it turned out to be a great dive.
Decent vis today. Great dive.
Chemainus VideoPoor vis getting out to the dry docks, but decent once on the dry docks. Overall a nice dive.
Chemainus VideoAnother great dive on the dry docks. Visibility was much better today than last week but there was quite a bit of current the whole dive. I just love swimming sideways to go somewhere.
Another great dive on the dry docks, even though visibility was about 5 feet.
Good dive today.
Notes
Really good dive today on the dry docks. We managed to find all three of them! Vis wasn't too bad either.
Super, super low tide today. The boat ramp was totaly out of the water plus 10 ft more of shore. It was also super hot (28C) and sunny. We probably sweated a couple of litres of water just walking to the water!
However, vis was excellent for Chemainus, sitting at about 20 ft the whole dive. We circled the nearer dry dock a couple of times before heading back.
Evening dive on the dry docks. Again the vis was terrible so no photos.
Nice dive. Terrible vis. We did find the dry docks but could not see much at all. No photos worth showing.
Nice long rebreather dive on the wall and in the bottle field.
Today we joined Paul and Nancy for a brand new dive (for us) - the Cherry Point Marina. Entry is by way of a nice little beach on the right (south) side of the marina. The main feature is a breakwater that surrounds the south and west of the marina and includes a sunken barge. Max depth is between 60 and 70 fsw. Visibility was 5-10 ft and there was a current for the entire dive. It was an interesting dive.
Vis was terrible but we did manage to see one slipper squid.
Maple Bay VideoCool & cloudy on the surface and poor visibility under the water. Also super low tide, but still a great dive.
Great dive!
Maple Bay VideoGreat dive!
OK vis, about the same as last week. However, saw a stubby squid(a.k.a. cuttlefish) on the wall so it was a great dive! I was especially thrilled to see a real cuttlefish in the wild. I think these are one of the coolest animals in the world (octos and wolf eels being two more).
Maple Bay VideoNot so great vis, but great dive. Quite a cold day on the surface.
Maple Bay VideoAwesome vis. Awesome dive.
Maple Bay VideoNotes
Elliot Point VideoAwesome dive. Awesome visibility (30+ ft).
We saw a very strange sight while roaming the bottle fields. We came upon a huge sunken log which had great chunks taken out of it (like giant bites). In each 'bite' was a large crab. There was sawdust everywhere (like fine silt). It would seem as if the crabs were digging dens into the log. Very cool.
Great dive. Really low visibility... almost a night dive.
Great dive.
Great dive.
Great dive.
Great dive.
Maple Bay VideoAnother very good dive at Maple Bay. The water was rather cloudy and cold today, but still a nice trip along the wall then up to the anchor and back.
Another great dive at Maple Bay. Sun was shining, which is always nice, and we finally found the anchor off the end of the wall.
I led the Nanaimo Dive Outfitters (NDO) club dive today at Maple Bay. It was a very nice dive. The tide was very high and visibility wasn't too bad.
A very nice dive today at Maple Bay.
Maple Bay VideoIt was cold but sunny as we geared up for a dive to the Chemainus dry docks. We entered at the kinsman boat ramp and swam over to the riprap at hospital point, then headed out to 60fsw to seek the dry docks. The first pass we ended up on a flat at 64fsw and missed the dry docks. On the second pass we found them at 60fsw almost immediatetly. Not much to see today as it was quite cold. We were all glad for our thermalution heated vests. Overall a very good dive.
