A decent, if short dive today. Chemainus was horrible - king tide and very windy, so we went to Maple Bay instead. Much calmer and less rain on shore. The dive was very cold and being winter, not many critters moving around. Still nice to dive the repaired FLX Extreme drysuit agian.

Maple Bay Video  

A great dive today on my FLX Extreme drysuit, on it's first dive back from a new plastic zipper at Pacific Scuba Industries (PSI) in Abbotsford. They also installed a new dump valve, replaced a broken crotch strap and marked the leaks in my turbo soles. I patched the feet leaks this past week with aquaseal but seem to have missed the right foot heel leak again! Oh well, something to do this coming week. Still, it was great to be dry and warm the entire dive again. The FLX also fits much better and so was a dream to keep trim.

Chemainus Video  

Chemainus Video (fish) 

Good dive today, but I knew I was going to get wet. Sure enough a full suit flood from the waist down. Otherwise a nice scooter dive to the deep wall and back. After the dive inflation and soap spray indicated the seam, not the zipper needs attention.

Chemainus Video  

Chemainus Video (drysuit bubble test) 

Another good scooter dive today. Again we did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall, back to dock 1 and then home. It was a very cold day both on land and underwater with decent though not great visibility. Water in the suit again indicated the distinct possibility that the TiZip in this DUI TLS350 suit is crap at only 40 dives. Sadly as it was installed in 2017, it's out of warranty. Other than that, it was an awesome dive!

Chemainus Video (buddy & scootering) 

Another good scooter dive today. Again we did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall, back to dock 1 and then home. It was a very cold day both on land and underwater with decent though not great visibility. The new neck seal kept me drier, but I still had a small leak, possibly in the zipper close. Overall another great dive.

Chemainus Video (buddy & scootering) 

Good scooter dive today. We did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall and back to dock 1 then home. Cold day both on land and underwater, but decent visibility. It would have been better except I had a full suit flood starting at 30sec into the dive. Checking on the surface with soapy solution revealed the problem to be the old neck seal.

Chemainus Video A (critter) 

Chemainus Video B (octo) 

Chemainus Video C (buddy & scootering) 

Good scooter dive today. We did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall and back to dock 1 then home. Cold day both on land and underwater, but decent visibility.

Chemainus Video A (octo) 

Chemainus Video B (buddy & scootering) 

Great scooter dive today. We did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall and back to dock 1 and home. Awesome visibility. I tried the G16 with the ring light and no strobe, and it worked great!

Chemainus Video A (octo) 

Chemainus Video B (sailfin) 

Chemainus Video C (buddy & scootering) 

Good scooter dive today. We did dock 1 to the wall, then the deep wall before heading back along the small wall and back to dock 1. Over to dock 2 for a quick tour and then back to 1 and home. Cool day both on land and underwater, but awesome visibility.

Chemainus Video 

Excellent long dive today. Swam dock 1 and 2, then back to 1 and over to the small wall. Visibility was excellent in the shallows but crap down deep. Paired the 4th element underwear with the new dump valve on the 2009 TLS350 and it was good. Awesome dive, just 2 min shy of 2 hours.

Chemainus Video 

Great dive today although the visibility was a lot worse than last week. Still nice and sunny on land.

Chemainus Video 

It was again sunny and warm today, so nice gearing up. Visibility was very decent as we scootered to dock #1 and replaced the line from 1 to the small wall. Then a tour of all four docks plus another visit to the small wall before heading back in. Overall a great dive.

Chemainus Video 

It was sunny and warm today, so nice gearing up. It was a scooter dive with the rebreather and just the go-pro. Tide was going out but visibility was not too bad. The new dump valve in the old drysuit weeped a bit (but I tightened it after the dive), and the rebreather loop took on some water. The dive was nice, covering all four dry docks plus the boom boat and the wall. I could actually see dock 3 from dock 4, which is rare. I went to the wall from dock 2, and as the line is gone between the wall and dock 1, simply headed South from the remains of the line end point, managing to hit the cleat at dock 1 dead on. I spooled up the cut line around the cleat for another dive when we'll try and replace it. Then back in to shore where the tide was really out. Overall a great dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Octo Video 

Chemainus Line Video 

Excellent dive today. The TLS350 dump valve leaks, but at least it functions. Saw lots of great stuff today.

Maple Bay Video 

Not the best dive ever. The dump valve on the TLS350 did not function properly, which meant dumping was extrememly difficult. Still managed a decent dive, but nothing to really see or photograph.

Nice dive today on the scooter. The FLX Extreme is definitely leaking from the zipper, but otherwise it was a great dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Octo Video 

Another hot day. Dove open circuit with the P1 scooter. Visibility was poor and we lost the line to #1 about halfway from the truck rear end. Headed North toward the wall angling to the left (330) and missed the wall but found the log between small wall and deep wall. Circled back to the small wall, then headed along and back to #1 before scootering all four dry docks plus the boom boat. From the back of #2 headed back to the small wall and along the full length before heading back to #1 and home. A nice 90 min dive. My replacement dump valve worked well but the zipper still leaks.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Octo Video 

Another hot day, but we parked in the shade. Swam past dock 1 on the way to the small wall and then swam the wall. Overall a very nice dive, but my drysuit zipper is definitely leaking and will need to be replaced soon.

Chemainus Video 

It was a very hot day today on shore, but quite nice underwater. Visibility was poor in the shallows but decent on dock 1. We went from dock 1 to the reef and had a good look around. Overall a great dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Video (purple flatfish) 

Great dive today. Cloudy at first so not as hot gearing up. Nice long dive on all four docks and the boom boat. Lots of gunnels in the shallows on the way back in. Overall an excellent dive.

Chemainus Video (Mer) 

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Video (gunnels) 

It was sunny and warm today at Chemainus so we parked in the shade. We had an excellent long dive on the dry docks today. Visibility was not as good as the past two weeks, but still good enough for some photos. New mouthpiece o-rings on the Prism were awesome at keeping water out of the loop. Overall and awesome dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Grunt Video 

Another great dive today at Chemainus. Visibility was again really good, and water temps were quite high (50F minimum). We again saw a lot of jellyfish on the line to dry dock #1 as well as on the dry dock. Overall a really great long dive.

Chemainus Video 

Another great dive today at Chemainus. Visibility was again really good, and water temps were high (50F minimum). We saw a lot of jellyfish on the line to dry dock #1. Overall a really great long dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Warbonnet Video 

Warm sunny July 1st, warm sunny ocean. Visibility was as good as last week so we visited all four dry docks and the boom boat. In the shallows, it appears to be gunnel season! One swam right up to me and then headed past my ear to nestle in my rebreather between tank and scrubber. Fortunately he got tired of that and didn't hitch a ride to shore. Overall an awesome dive.

Chemainus Video 

Dove the drydocks today with the P1 scooter in really great visibility. It was 20+ ft in most places. Toured all four docks plus the boom boat and the reef, starting from the back side of #2. Surface temp was 30C and sunny. Overall an awesome dive.

I've also included a picture of my new Piranna travel stand that I built this past week. Like my Gavin stand from Calgary days, this one is made from 2x4 lumber and designed to hold the scooter low and secure in the truck bed for travel. It works perfectly.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Lingcod Video 

Another nice rebreather dive today. Visibilty was a bit better (5-10ft) at depth, but not good on top of the docks or on the reef. Still, a great dive.

Chemainus Video 

Another nice rebreather dive today. Visibility was OK but not great. We did some line maintenance near one of the dry docks and then had a look around. Vis on the small wall was terrible. Overall a nice long dive.

Chemainus Video 

First dive on the rebreather since March, with a new sensor for cell#1. Rainy day but not too cold. Visibility promised to be really good based on the shallows by the boat ramp, but was actually quite bad for the whole dive. There was a lot of particulate in the water everywhere. I got a bit wet from not closing my suit zipper completely (again) but still a good dive.

Chemainus Video 

Good dive today with decent vis compared to last week. Went around docks 1 & 2 before heading home.

Chemainus Video 

Great day on the surface, but horrid underwater. Visibility was inverted; about 5 feet down to 30fsw, 1 foot or less below that. Scootered all four docks but skipped the boom boat due to lack of vis. Could not find the line from #1 to the wall but just headed north and found it about 10ft from the line (found the cleat block). The wall vis was OK so headed along. There are now two trees propped against the wall; a new one on top of the old one. Finally headed to the deep wall (missed but circled back) and then home in super low vis. Hit the bottom a few times trying to keep to mid-water. Cleared up at 30fsw and OK coming in. Overall a good dive.

Chemainus Video 

Diving my FLX Extreme again as it's my primary suit. I did try the wheezle booties to see if they would repel water from the right boot leak better than the 4th element socks. The answer was a rosounding 'kind of'. I also swapped my regs as the yellow primary 2nd stage was weeping last week. Overall an nice dive.

Maple Bay Video 

Nice day. High tide and OK visibility. Overall a good dive. I dove my 2003 TLS350 suit to check it out. I was 210 when I got it (DUI Signature custom) but I'm now 166 and it's just huge. Managing the air bubble was very difficult and the dump valve was caught in folds of the sleeve. I will be selling it as I can't dive due to the hugeness of it.

Chemainus Video 

Sunny and decent on land. Visibility was not as bad as elsewhere last week, so nice to see stuff. Overall a great dive.

Maple Bay Video 

Another good long dive. Swam to Dock 1, then to the small wall and back. Not much to see, but at least visibility was better than the last few weeks.

Chemainus Video 

Dove with Phil and Nancy today. Nice day for diving. Phil extended the line to the wall. The ring light works well, but the strobe function is not very good as it only provides full power. Overall a good dive.

Poor visibility and not a lot to see on the wall. More to see in the shallows, including a photo-bombing 'derpfish' (watch the video!). Still it's always nice to have a dive.

Maple Bay Video 

A very good, long dive today. Swam to dock 1, then over to dock 2 around and back.

Chemainus Video 

It was a cool rainy day today with outgoing low tide, but otherwise nice for diving. We swam to dock 1, then to the small wall before heading back to the top of 1 and then home. I swallowed a bit of salt water on the small wall and had a leak in my drysuit dump valve (again!) that soaked my right shoulder and sleeve. Still, a nice long dive.

Chemainus Video 

Chemainus Video 

We decided to visit Maple Bay due to reports of poor visibility, and Maple Bay is always good for macro photography, even then. It was a nice warm sunny day, but still cold underwater. Overall an excellent dive.

Maple Bay Video 

Showers on the surface, poor visibilty underwater and quite cold. Still, nice to be diving.

Chemainus Video 

It was very windy today at the boat ramp, with white caps evident in the bay and a lot of wave action at the ramp. Immediate visibility was zero, and remained so until descending and scootering to about 20fsw, where it started to clear up a bit. Navigated to all four docks as well as the small wall. Visibility was perhaps 10-15 ft on the bottom, but less than 10ft on top of the docks and the wall. Still, a great dive. No floods, though the usual small leaks (right foot, shoulder dump). All good though.

I tried a new cold-shoe mount for the gopro on the Nauticam - it's a cold-shoe go-pro clip base, and worked really well.

Chemainus Video 

Almost a great dive today. Nice to have a sunny day. Unfortunately another partial suit flood (right leg), again due to operator error.

Nice to take out the rebreather again. This was dive 450 on the Prism, for 511 hours total.

Chemainus Video 

Great dive today. Nice to have a sunny day.

Chemainus Video 

Rainy day, but good dive. I managed to get my zipper not completly closed, so had a full suit flood by the time we got back to shore. Otherwise another excellent dive.

Chemainus Video 

Another cold day on the surface (3C gearing up), and reports of hazy visibility. Still, the dive was great and the visibility not bad enough to dampen our enthusiasm for the dry docks. Overall an excellent dive.

Chemainus Video 

What a great dive today! It was cloudy but warm on the surface, and visibility was pretty good underwater. Lots of small hermit crabs, moon snails and hooded nudibranchs to keep us interested on the swims out and back. Dock 1 was fun as usual. Awesome dive.

 octo  Chemainus Video 

 under  Chemainus Video 

 into  Chemainus Video 

It was supposed to be above zero on land, but wasn't. It was however sunny. The water was cold (46F) but fairly clear. Overall a very good dive on dry dock 1, both on top and swimming under both ends. Lots of fun. Great day.

Chemainus Video 

We've had some really wild snowstorms here in central Vancouver island starting on Christmas Day 2021. Driving has been a real challenge, so even getting to the dive sites has been difficult. It's also been very cold, and I'm now old enough that I don't really have anything to prove trying to dive when it's below zero on the surface.

All that to say that I have yet to dive in 2022!