| Limey Diver |
"Some Reef" Red Sea 2008While I was distracted, someone voted us into a reef dive."OK," I thought, "I can deal with this :)" And so here we are .... My ugly mug. One of the few you will see of me in a wetsuit :)  Some part of a reef with some fish...  A different part of the same reef with some divers ...(Ari, Andy & Kim I think)  Silhouette of some divers on the reef ...  Some kind of fan thing .... yes, on the reef!  And another for good measure!  Divers divers everywhere ... but this is before they all got hooked on scooter diving :)  Huber (and maybe Kim ?) ... on the reef  Ari ... practicing good trim in case Huber pops out behind a sea fan and starts castigating him ...  Huber in an under/over manner  i had one of a moray eel around here somewhere also but it seems to have disappeared. Not a great pic but i was just surprised to see that kind of eel in such warm waters. 12:05 PM - 8/26/2008 - comments {6} - post commentRed Sea 4Wrecks Part II reduxOK, a few more (all from the same dive still -- yeah, maybe I should be more selective but given that the camera only lasted 3 days ... screw it)Olga Scooters to the wreck of the Ghanis D (yah, the vis is decent -- the top is at 15 feet, the bottom at 80 or so)  Chris & Kathy on the Ghanis   Olga on (I think but not sure) the mystery 4th wreck...  Divers scootering through a wreck (may need to see this one bigger to make much out -- it's pretty cropped tho) 
6:43 PM - 8/21/2008 - comments {0} - post comment4 Wrecks in one dive ...One of the coolest dives we did was on a circular (ish) reef that has (at least) 4 wrecks that have fetched up, all in recreational depths.The Zodiac drops you off at the furthest wreck (of which not a whole lot is left), and if you are canny, you can easily scooter back toward the boat, taking in all 4 wrecks before ending up back at the swimstep. And if you run out of juice or get slightly off course -- no matter, one of the circling Zodiacs will be over to fetch you. Riding out on the Zodiacs is a bit of a PITA in doubles, scooter & camera (although not as bad as also carrying 2 stages) but a necessity when diving off of such a big boat and on such crowded reefs (upwards of 6 100 foot+ boats anchored up in whats supposed to be the "off" season) Kim on the 1st Wreck  Scootering from the 1st wreck (forgot its name) toward the wreck of the Marcus...  Divers approaching the Marcus  Monsieur Huber hovering over the prop of the Marcus  Zoom on the prop  Scootering along the side of the Marcus (just past where the prop has ended up)  Some kind of blue-spotted ray we almost ran over on the way .... these things are cool.  Crazy Ivan (Olga) in "Devil ears" hood on the Marcus  The Ghanis D (I think)  Chris Gini (and I think Kathy behind) scootering the Ghanis D  Ari (I think) scootering the Ghanis D  Scootering toward the final wreck ... 
8:47 AM - 8/21/2008 - comments {0} - post commentRed Sea 2008 (Topside)Just a few topside photos.The Hurghada skyline (where the M/V Tala is located) at night. Not the best image, but I had no tripod and a slow lens ...  Hurghada is an interesting town, but unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore it. Faisal told us that it's extremely safe for foreigners, and everything we saw seemed to back this up. The streets are full of crazy traffic (although nothing on the scale of Cairo as we were to find out in 7 days :) Apparently June through August is low season for Eurpoeans coming through Egypt in general, but peak time for the Russians (including plenty of advertising and billboards in Russian) Hurghada seems to have essentially be carved directly out of the desert, and I was told that it doesn't have any natural water sources, and all water has to be trucked in. The row of shops by the Marina is very clean and modern, and the local beer (Stella but not the Artois version) plentiful, reasonably priced and decent! The Sheraton Palace (Hurghada). Quite.  Kim couldn't resist a nice up of tea @ McDonalds  Borios anyone ? (Yup, not just the name is a clone of Oreos -- they are actually pretty decent)  The Tala's dining room  Gearing up area with plenty of room for doubles, scooters etc.  Next trip, we might have one more wreck to dive :)  Sunrise over the Red Sea 
5:17 PM - 8/17/2008 - comments {2} - post commentA little trip to Victoria, BCTook me a little trip to Canada recently, and happened to lug along the video camera.Despite the airlines losing most of my bags for 30 hours (on a 2 hour flight), leaking dry gloves in 44F water, and ending up in wet gloves, and a lot of hauling tanks around, was a very fun trip. Our first day, we did three dives in the Saanich inlet, looking for boot worms and cloud sponges. We found some on dive 1, a few dead ones on dive 2, and a few possibly baby ones on dive 3. Dive 1: McCurdy Point, Depth, 160ish max, 130 average, runtime 65 mins, 44F Dive 2: White Lday, Depth, 150ish max, 130 average, runtime 89 mins 44F Dive 3: Forgot the name reef, Depth, 120 max, 110 average, runtime 80 mins, 44F This is far colder water than I am used to, and with that much in-water time, by the end of the day I was the kind of cold that makes me think I will never be warm again. I've edited up some video from the first dive. nickambrose.com/diving/movies/2008-4-victoriabc-mccurdy-point-web.mov Hopefully will be able to post some from dive 2, 3 soon (when I get back from mexico  Day 2, was wreck day. We only managed two dives on this day, as I was so excruciatingly cold after the second. Richard did his magic and figured that the currents allowed us to dive the HMCS McKenzie (a sister ship to the HMCS Yukon off of San Diego), but only if we splashed in less than an hour (maybe, if he was calculating the tides correctly) When we tied up, the current looked a little strong for a huge video camera, but a local charter boat was doing the same dive, and told us the current would lessen off. Had a very pleasant 30 or so mins dive, including a bit of exploration inside, but discovered that a huge HD camera does not fit very well down "Burma Road" (a passageway that runs along the side of the ship) Dive 2 was on another wreck called the "GB Church" and we took a look in the engine/pump room before scouting the outside: Dive 1: HMCS McKenzie, depth 90 feet ish, runtime 45 mins ish Dive 2: GB Church, depth 70 feet ish, runtime 40 mins ish We followed this up with a visit to a pub (for coffee )on some kind of resort island, which was a bit posh and did not especially appreciate me tramping past their rather well-dressed customers in my stinking festering drysuit (oh well). Also got a potential new dive site with some sea caves nearby ... Video: McKenzie nickambrose.com/diving/movies/2008-4-victoriabc-mckenzie-web.mov GB Church http://www.nickambrose.com/diving/mo...church-web.mov Larger res videos can also be found on vimeo www.vimeo.com/user446955/videos 1:14 PM - 4/29/2008 - comments {5} - post commentMexico Mayhem in Multiple parts. Part V: Day 2 Nohoch Na Chich (Giant Birdhouse)And now for my favorite :)Before I get too carried away, I think it needs to be said but none of the video or still images (and that goes for other systems too) can truly capture the beauty that we got to see down there. The best they can do is to give but a small teaser. We arrived at Nohoch a little before Kevin and his bunch decided to grace us with their arrival :) It's a bit of a hike to the Cenote, so we decided to stage all the gear (spare batterie, full tanks etc.) before gearing up into the wretchedly hot drysuits. We compared notes with Kevin, Don and Elissa, and decided that us, being the first team in would attempt to dive Parkers line, while the second team would take mainline, and then we'd switch. All good, assuming we could actually find Parkers line, that is! This cave is truly stunning. It looks (to me) like someone went crazy with wedding-cake icing and some tabs of LSD. None of the other caves I have seen so far look anything like the first 20-30 mins of this system. Also, average depth being 15-18 feet means that even with a ridiculously-sizes camera, I can get 25-30 mins back in. Usually I try to edit videos to be 5-7 mins, and keep to as few photos as I can so people don't get bored. However, this cave is so beautiful I just could not bring myself to do it -- sorry. From what Danny was telling us when he guided us in May, Nohoch is one of the few remaining places where you can see a significant amount of the original exploration line and (until people started stealing them) the original line markers. Sadly, apparently a lot of people feel like they have to have memento's, and this is all subject to change -- very sad. Nohoch is also the land of the "reach gap" a series of terrifyingly short jumps meant to be "reachable" by hand. Above ground  Looking down on the gearing-up benches   The gearing-up hut at least provides some minimal shelter from the sun.  The only kind of "staging" tanks we are qualified to do :)  We attempted to hit Parkers line, and I *thought* I had remembered where Danny made his tie-offs, but apparently not. We paralleled the mainline for a while, but then hit a big boulder. Andy spotted a line off in the distance, and we made for it. However, it was the downstream line and not Parkers. I realized that when I reached a jump after 1-2 mins swimming. I thought initially the jump was into the mainline, but once we actually managed to find Parker's line later in the day, it was obvious the jump was onto Parkers line. The downstream line is very very nice, but is pretty small and silty, and it only took a few minutes before I called the dive on "going the wrong way" and we re-grouped in the cenote. Tying in  The cave here is much smaller than upstream  But just as beautiful    You can actually see out to the (a?) cenote at one point  Once back on the surface, we debriefed with Kevin/Don and discovered our mistake. Kevin said they would follow the mainline and place a cookie where he thought Parkers line was, so we could see if it was the same jump we had seen. Meanwhile, we decided to also follow the mainline (as we could actually find this one :) but gave the other team a 10 min headstart so we weren't all up each others rear-ends the entire time.  There is some amazing structure on the mainline, right from the start.  Huge blocks of rocky formations    and then delicate speleothems   Then there are places like this which look like clumps of "rock people" watching on ...  .... and then Jaws. Sadly he is missing his lower "teeth"   There is also the "christmas tree" unfortunately I didn't really get any good stills/video of it. It's on the right of the frame here (hard to see)  And then heaven's gate. Sadly, this is so big and far from the line that it was really hard to capture well on camera. This is about 10 mins into the cave, and is lit up by streams of light coming in from a hole in the roof. Spectacular.      More "people" -- this area beyond Heaven's gate is called Disneyland, and looks the part!     Then there's the pillar. I think that of all the spectacular formations in this cave, the pillar is my favorite. Shockingly white and simple, sitting right next to a 90 degree turn in the line (so close I am amazed it is still standing). I cannot imagine how something like this can just form in such isolation with nothing else around it. Sadly it's a bit big to easily get good video shots with this camera ...this thing has to be 20+ feet tall and about the same around as a baseball bat.    After disneyland, the cave goes quite "smooth" and gets less decorated, but then starts up again   Stuff like this just blows my mind ...  A reach gap ... is that maybe 10-12 inches? Scary.   We decided to approach Parkers line in brute force. Kevin's cookie had told us where it was. This time, instead of trying to sneak up on it (from where we could not see the mainline), we ran our line within sight of the mainline, even though it gets a bit tight to run two lines in there. We were *very* glad we did .. Parkers line is money. We also saw the jump off to the downstream line also, and the layout started to become a little less of a mystery.      The wedding cake/christmas tree. Phenomenal ...so big I cannot get it all into shot   These look (to me) like soldiers manning the battlements ...  The gazebo (with inner-gazebo) ... imagine taking this one to the beach on the weekend?   ...and then back to the cenote. Tired, but sated (for now).    This cave is absolutely stunning, and I would say should be on everyone's to do list! Sadly, we didn't get to to Alberto's line this time as we had intended to come back to No Hoch but never made it. Next time Alberto! 2:10 PM - 12/9/2007 - comments {0} - post commentMexico Mayhem in Multiple parts. Part IV: Day 1 Dos OjosI have always heard awesome things about Dos Ojos, mainly about the cavern lines, but also that the cave lines there are fantastic.Andy was keen too, as we'd gotten an open-water teaser back in Jan 2007 when we did a quick weighting and skills dive there in prep for cave 1. There was some confusion at the gate, as someone from the dive store was trying to insist we needed a guide. However, on production of cave1 cards, they were finally convinced we would be allowed to dive. So we hauled the "Super minivan" down the dirt road, cringing the entire way as it sounded like we were dragging the thing by its suspension (more on this later!) I half expected a trail of torn-off undercarriage parts to be strewn down the road (but the times I dared to look, didn't see anything) We had heard that the parking situation at Dos Ojos had changed, with all parking moved further back from the cenotes due to fears of a collapse. The change is far less drastic than I was thinking, and it's at most 100 feet more to walk in my opinion. The only plan we had to go on were some vague recollections of a map Danny had drawn for us in May, including us going along the Barbie line, back-tracking to open water, then running our reel in parallel to the cavern line (since we are cave1 and cannot do the 30-foot or so jump off the mainline). The only problem was where the heck is the barbie line? We asked around and were told it was in "Ojo dos" -- ulp, the steps are way harder to navigate there than uno. We were resigned to the hike, when I happened to spot a guy gearing up in a drysuit and DC 200G thinsulate. I had been in contact with Kevin (KMD) and we planned to meet up at No Hoch the next day (Sunday). However, I figured "how many other crazies are in drysuits and brought their thinsulate" so on a hunch I yelled out to him "Hey, Kevin" And indeed it was KMD and Don/Elissa. Perfect, they showed us how we could get to Barbie from Ojo uno, and helped us pick out the right line (which we still almost managed to screw up) Huge thanks to Kevin, Don and Elissa (Hope I am spelling that approximately right) as they shared their knowledge of all the systems, including maps etc. completely freely and this really allowed us to set out on our own on this trip and find almost every single lines without having to pay for guiding. We dropped into the cenote, located what we thought was the correct Barbie line (and it kind of was, but we got the "long" way around). If you go on the Right-side (looking at Ojo uno) then it takes about 400 psi to get to Barbie (we turned it just short as a train of 6 cavern divers was approaching). The left side of the "U"-shaped line will take about 150-200 psi (for us -- less for others) I do admit, I was not as blown away by the cavern line as I was expecting. However, the mixtures of brown and white rocks are definitely very cool. Also, I think this line is stretching the definition of "cavern" somewhat ... but maybe that's just me ... Descending down onto the Barbie line, you can already see the whiteness of the rocks. This line was the first where I had felt actual flow in Mx -- at first I just thought I was out of shape, but after the free drift dive on the way out, realized what was going on ...  Dos Ojos has a lot of *really big* boulders littered everywhere in spots.  But also a lot of delicate structure.   I will never understand how certain formations could even come to be ...  The whiteness is startling...  And somehow these patches of brown rock show up mixed in with the white...    Poor barbie, looks like she is in bad shape...   Again, the brown and white rock all mixed in -- how does it know to do that ?  Columns are one of my favorite things to look at ..   This looks like some kind of christmas-tree scene just waiting for the tree to be put up...   All in all, two very nice dives here, and we will definitely come back. Maybe my expectations were a bit too high though (and lugging the camera in the flow didn't help matters) Video: http://www.nickambrose.com/diving/movies/dos-ojos-november-2007.mov 10:43 AM - 12/9/2007 - comments {0} - post commentMexico Mayhem in Multiple parts. Part III: Day 1 Taj MahalWe had originally planned to dive Garden of Eden in the Ponderosa system as our first set of "warmup dives" partly because the diving and the cenote are beautiful, but also because this is where our class started and is almost like a "home base" for us.However, Danny had informed me prior to the trip that the cenote is closed on Saturdays, so we decided on Taj Mahal instead, which we are also quite familiar with, and is close to both the store and the fill station. Taj Mahal has (at least) 1 cavern line, 2 (I think upstream lines) and 1 downstream line (which we did not learn of until late in our trip) Our favorite line for our cave1 dives is the upstream line, "DCS dome" which after about 10 minutes of swimming, rises sharply to about 5 feet of depth, and actually has an air dome where you can surface. Unfortunately, due to the lens on the video camera not being very wide-angle, I dont have any good shots/footage of the dome. Also, for some reason a lot of these stills were very dark, so I've had to monkey with them in photoshop a bit. Descending into the cavern zone.  STOP! (or not )  The (in)famous "polar bear" rock that lets us know we are on the right track  Through the halocline  I love the "mercury effect" as bubbles collect on the ceiling. Sadly, I think this does damage the cave somewhat but is unavoidable on open circuit.   I also love just how white the rock is below the halocline layer. Gorgeous.   And the "curch organ" effect of the speleothems hanging from the ceiling  Unfortunately, since this is a family website, I cannot repeat the name lame buddy #3 gave to this room, which was into "new territory" for us beyond the DCS dome ...    More ceiling structure, but of a very different kind -- these caves are so diverse.    And the views on the way out are pretty good too...    Bubbles hitting the surface in the dome. Very odd to see when we are still 10 mins from the exit.  And then back to the cavern zone    Two very nice and relaxing dives to get us warmed up for the days ahead! And one final piece of possible news is that Taj Mahal may (may) be getting bathrooms! There was definitely construction of some kind of bathroom-like building going on, but given the rate of progress, I wouldn't count on them being finished too soon ... 11:16 AM - 12/8/2007 - comments {0} - post commentMexico Mayhem in Multiple parts. Part II: Day zeroThe trip got off to an irritating start when the alarm went off somewhere close to the horrors of 4am.Also, due to some "cultural issues" (despite living in the US for 10+ years), I had mis-timed Thanksgiving, and arrived at the airport only to find every single lot jam-packed full of parked cars. 40 mins of driving and cursing later (and my refusal to pay the $17+ per day "valet" parking costs) and I finally found some dodgy-looking hotel parking lost that claimed to be airport parking, if only I'd leave my keys with them, which I reluctantly did, wondering if I'd ever see my car again. Then, as I was unloading my bags from the car, the handle on my luggage snapped off, and I was beginning to wonder if the entire trip was doomed. I felt a little better once I had finally struggled to the checkin desk (carring my 40+ pound carryon bags!) it's lucky I already got a full refund from American Express when the other piece in the set did the exact same thing on my last trip to Mexico! However, it then turned out that due to "holiday hours", the airport lounge wouldn't open until we had already taken off (who makes up these policies?) so we were forced to pay for our own bloody mary's at the bar downstairs. On arrival in Cancun, the 1st thing to occur was the traditional change into flip-flops -- our standard footwear for the rest of the trip (excepting drysuit boots of course), and proceed to the rental car. In true Cancun style, the car we had rented was "not available" but "here's a minivan you can have for the same price" We inspected the car (for once not finding an assortment of rusted cutlery resting on the roof, or 1/2 of Akuma beach in the trunk), and tried to gauge whether it would make it over the gigantic speed-bumps and dirt roads (answer: not really!) The rental car guy did offer to drive to Akumal the next day to exchange the minivan for the SUV we had rented, but I assessed the actual chances of that happening smoothly as minimal so we took the soccer-mom option. Then it was time for our 3+ hour wait in CUN as "lame-arse buddy #3" had delayed getting his flights for so long that he had to connect via Miami, and arrived much (much later). Thankfully, we found a very nice argentinian restaurant serving infinite amounts of meat, and tucked in, adding to the alcohol consumed in the bar and the endless bloody mary's on the plane. Arriving in Akumal was extremely pleasant -- the wind was warm, the temperature extremely pleasant and the rooms at Vista Del Mar exceptionally clean and well-prepared (until we arrived and unloaded a metric tonne of dive gear). Of course, our lovely buddy #3 had also meant that we needed a bigger hotel room, which wasn't available for the 1st night, so we were all forced to get cosy in a room designed for 2 (which necessitated getting extremely drunk at the bar next door to make the sound of snoring even slightly tolerable) Is it "DIR" to get slaughtered on bloody mary's and margs the night before you go cave diving (and repeat for 9 days) ? 12:18 PM - 12/5/2007 - comments {0} - post commentMexico Mayhem in Multiple parts. Part I: OverviewThree people, 9 days of diving.30 cave dives, 2 cavern dives and 1 open water dive. Number of Mini-vans almost destroyed: 1 (although it did start off with very dodgy shock absorbers) Number of ginormous speed bumps taken way too fast: 3 (would help if all the paint hadn't been scraped off by the undercarriages of cars taking them too fast) Number of DUI drysuits taken on trip: 3 Number of DUI drysuits that leaked: 3 Number of 1st stage failures: 1 (Thankfully not in the cave) Number of gas stations we ripped off: 1 (yup, we finally got some revenge after almost being taken for a ride last time). Amount of money we had to pay for "repairs" to our rental: $93 USD Dive Summary: Taj Mahal (DCS Dome) : 2 dives Dos Ojos: 2 Dives No Hoch: 4 dives (Main line, Parkers line and downstream line) Carwash: 4 dives (1 Upstream and 3 downstream) Ponderosa/Jardin of Eden: 3 dives (Little Joe, River Run) Chac Mool: 2 dives (downstream) + 1 cavern dive X'tabay: 2 dives (wizard's den) Gran Cenote: 2 dives Temple of Doom: 2 dives (Madonna, The Canyons) Mayan Blue: 4 dives (2 Tunnel A, 2 Tunnel B) Angelita: 1 (Open Water) Naharon: 2 Dives Dos Palmos: 2 Dives (Upstream and short line) Number of ears in serious pain by the end: at least 3 Number of hours delay (for me) in CUN airport: 4 Sorry to be such a tease, but photos and videos are still "in progress" 1:50 PM - 12/4/2007 - comments {4} - post commentWreck of the Olympic Aug 5, 2007Continuing on from the rigs, we were successful in convincing the boat to go to the Olympic, despite it being dah dah dah "a reverse profile" (most of us had stuck to 60-70 feet on dive 2)We quickly changed from our stroke-gas (air) to 32% as the Olympic sits in about 95 feet. The vis was "so so" for the Olympic -- about 30 feet of greeny water with a mild current. The boat captain (claimed) he deliberately set the anchor a little way off the wreck to avoid getting snagged up as he had done in the past (maybe his definition of little is different). Generally boats anchor on this wreck, rather than drop a shot line (most divers are just going to yank the shot line off the wreck as they pull themselves up/down it). Bearing in mind we are in one of the busiest shipping lanes (I think 40% of all cargo containers that come into the USA come via this harbor), it's a really nice idea to come back up the line. So we definitely take the reel. Pete jumps in and all I hear is some rather coarse swearing. Pete has just dropped the reel in 100 feet of water. It's the only reel we have and we are 99% sure that no one on the boat has a spare. We decided to descend anyway and see if we can make out the wreck from the anchor line. We get to the bottom, look in the direction the captain pointed us and I see a vague fuzzy black object. However, I've been fooled chasing these things before (the mysterious black fuzzy objects that seem to move away from you as fast as you chase them). Pete waited on the anchor line while I swam twenty feet away. Meanwhile "team 1" is gone into the ether. I start to lose sight of the anchor, so decide we definitely need a line, and end up cannibalizing my SMB/safety spool (great, it's not like I'm going to need *that* if we lose the anchor!) I tie off  and we start our hunt for the wreck (which we failed to find on a previous dive when another team laid a parallel line to ours, forcing us off in the wrong direction ...)  Thankfully, the black fuzzy thing is indeed the wreck, and I tie off (thanks Danny -- the cave class really has increased my confidence in working with line) Vis on the wreck is not that great (hence the doctored up video with fake blue added) and lack of lights really doesn't help much.  We can vaguely see the hull (or superstructure?) in the distance, so vis is not wretched, I am just used to being spoiled at this site!   The wreck is covered in places with fishing nets, giving it something of an eerie feeling   We head toward the bow (I think) and bingo! Now we are talking Ling Cod! (Nothing like those in Seattle though). It heads inside the wreck pretty quickly though.  The bow ( I think -- it certainly looks more pointy than the other end)  A very rare kind of scorpionfish (scorpionus-notoftenus)  On the way back, we pass over what I think of as the "ribs" of the ship -- probably the hull with it's welding points ?   It's always nice to find the line right where you left it :)   We had a bit of gas and a few mins left, so went the other direction (toward the stern I think)     Then a quick exit back to the spool. A quick "discussion" on whether we should pull the line (I was going to) but Pete was concerned there were other divers on the wreck relying on our line (even though we had not discussed sharing a line) As we were running (really) close on bottom time, I went with his plan and we got back to the anchor at 28 mins. I said my last goodbyes to my SMB and spool (since i was in a hurry to tie off, I had left the bag attached) and we started the ascent. Despite being second down, we were the last divers on the boat. Thankfully the DM was persuaded to go back and get my SMB/spool (even though he had to cut the line -- well, he claimed it had snapped due to the anchor moving but ...) A pretty nice dive overall. 11:02 AM - 8/8/2007 - comments {2} - post commentOil Rig Eureka Aug 5, 2007I don't dive the oil rigs that often, even though they are covered in life, as they can get very "samey" despite the often excellent vis.However, with no other diving scheduled, we managed to sneak on a last minute trip to the rigs, with the (slim) hopes that we could talk everyone into doing our third dive on the wreck of the olympic (which is a really excellent wreck dive). There are three rigs clustered together that we are allowed to dive, although all diving is done only with the permission of the rigs owners as they are still active. Some (or all?) of these rigs are near the end of their lifetimes/leases and soon will be removed. Apparently, the original agreements are such that the owner of the lease (Chevron?) is required to remove the rigs down to the seabed, as though they were never present. However, there are also proposals to just lop off the tops, and leave the structure in place. Given the huge amount of life on them, I cannot imagine getting rid of them completely (although maybe with the current desire to reduce foreign oil usage, maybe GWB will just extend their leases for another 50 or so years as an amendment to a bill to provide milk for kids or something). I do agree that Chevron shouldn't get a "discount" for not removing the entire rig (seems it would be way cheaper to just lop the top off). Maybe they could use the extra money to actually clean up some of the disgusting pollution in that area. Anyway, on with the report! We usually dive rig "Eureka" first as it is furthest from shore (so on average better conditions) and in much deeper water (although I am not sure diving in 300 feet is much "safer" than 500)  Ellen and Elly are joined at the hips and in shallower water. One is a rig and the other I think some kind of pumping station.  The water looked pretty blue from the boat, which is a good sign, but there is often a really murky layer around 20 feet, coupled with the rigs notorious "vertical surge" can make things a little unpleasant. The plan was to descend to around 100 for 10 mins, then work our way back up to 50-60 feet (where there is a horizontal "cross beam"). Generally the best vis is on the first beam, and the second at 120 is too deep for 32% Vis was pretty good for the first 70 feet or so, but as we neared 100, just got worse and worse (some people said it opened up at 120 or so, but they may have just been narked). Since my video lights are in for repair (again), I was getting no light into the camera at 100 (the video has been lightened up some from these stills), so we ascended up to 50 pretty quickly. The vis was "good" (probably 50 feet vertically and a cloudy 40 horiz) but the horizontal vis was mainly reduced only by the sheer numbers of fish being chased around by Sea Lions!  It's kind of hard to see from the stills, but there was a pack of three sea lions herding the fish      There were just hordes of small fish everywhere we looked.   The fish were so numerous that they could even hide entire divers.   The sea lions stayed with us the entire dive, zipping around our heads.  On the ascent, the vis started to lighten up a bit   All in all, a really nice dive, but I am definitely done with the rigs until next year! 10:31 AM - 8/8/2007 - comments {2} - post commentSan Miguel Island July 23rd, 2007We knew the chances of making it out there were slim, but you have to try, right?Besides, even if we didn't make it, it had been a while since we'd dove Anacapa etc. so the backup plan was looking pretty good too. San Miguel is pretty far off shore (for us) -- a 7 hour boat ride or so, and very exposed to the elements. Fortunately, we set off at midnight, so at least got to sleep for one direction. We were back on the Peace boat, and I'd forgotten how cool the boat was. Really nice crew, really nice food, the bunks have been redone and they fill nitrox -- what more could we need?   We had some concerns about the amount of spear fishers that were on board. I don't have anything against people catching some food for their lunch, but as a buddy pointed out "I hadn't seen that many spears since Lord of the bloody rings." I do kind of get a little ticked off when I have to kick like heck around the reef trying to see the fish before someone has shot them all! (And honestly how can shooting Sheepshead -- the underwater cows -- be much sport?) Maybe I'm just ticked off that those guys did not want to share their catch :D The Island (pic I think is courtesy of the parks service)  I believe our first dive was in or around Adams cove (Captain said we were on the far west side of the Island) I must admit there were plenty of times during the night that I was certain we would not make it out (the boat seemed to be fully out of the water at times), but we did wake up at 7am or so, cruising our way toward the island, albeit with a bit of a swell, and no sign of the sun (yeah, we are spoiled !) The Island   On dive1, the current was pulling a bit westward and toward the shore. Staying with the anchor line on the surface was tricky, so we descended ASAP into .... well, not the best vis. The current was running on the bottom, and the vis was interrupted by millions of tiny little fish that basically scuppered any chance of video.  I did manage to get a couple of decent shots, but not much  The water temp was a chilly 54-55F (chilly for us :) and I was regretting not adding my 200 thinsulate vest! The Island definitely reminds me of Northern California, and even Seattle diving. Some kind of rockfish? We saw plenty of these lemony ones.   Dive 2 was far better (vis-wise) than dive 1, and we did 2 dives at the same spot. I think I heard the captain call it "Killer Kelp" -- or maybe that was just how it felt trying to make our way through it! This spot had not only clearer water, but less current and much better rock formations.  Llama rock. My buddies insist I was narked and it is quite clearly moose rock. Or camel rock.  From the side  Poor sheepshead tries to avoid the crosshairs of the intrepid spear-fishers.  I love the strawberry anenome's. Well, that's what I think they might be. Maybe.  No idea what this strawberry thing is, but there sure were a lot of them!  Some weird thing  This weird starfish with way too many arms/tentacles/feelers reminds me of Seattle    The strawberry things have tentacles inside them!   Vis wasn't wretched, but the water was kind of green  A very rare yellow rockfish  A spotted brown rockfish  A very nice biscuit (kind of a lemon oreo?)  Turns out the strawberry things eat kelp. Who knew.  Our fourth dive was pretty shallow and mostly under the boat. Really nice for macro diving tho! Abalone ?  Some weird white rock  Weird grey rock/playdoh!  Another Seattle-ish beastie!  Not sure what this is (a vicious white-pointed upside down crown of spikiness?) Lemons  And for the nudi fans! (Don't say I do nothing for you!)  Browny whitey   And a white one  After dive 4, we were famished (lunch had been delayed until after diving just for the logistics of actually getting home before midnight) However, we had already been fed breakfast and then 4 kinds of never-ending (and endlessly spicy) soup! Lunch was followed by brownies, ice cream and chocolate sauce! Followed by a quick read of Harry Snotter and a kip before getting back to Ventura for the 2 hour drive home. All in all, a really nice trip -- this island is probably better done as part of a 2-dayer tho! If you do one thing this summer, dive on the Peace! (And no, I am not on commission!) 10:12 PM - 7/26/2007 - comments {4} - post commentCessna (Catalina Island) July 4th, 2007We decided to celebrate independence day in style with a couple of dives before the drunk crazy boaters made it out onto the water.Sadly, the captain of the boat vetoed our #1 and #2 spots before we'd even got our gear onto the boat (we wanted to do the Caissons and the Moody, both in 140-160, but local conditions apparently were not going to allow it). However, the mysterious swell that was going to come up later in the day never did materialize, and we could have easily done these two spots. Our first dive was on Shiprock (again -- the standard backup for when the local conditions suck). The water on top was nice and blue, which gave us a good feeling, but things got progressively darker as we descended through 70 feet. At 150, vis was maybe 10 dark feet, which normally is OK, but the only real "good points" of doing this as a tech dive is because the vis is usually decent, and a lot of the structure and schools of fish can be seen. Not this time. Two of us had come equipped for a recreational dive as the second dive (for just this eventuality), but then someone suggested we do the Cessna. I've meant to do it before, but never quite gotten around to it (and it's pretty small, so the bottom time is pretty short). The captain anchored up. We had been joking about a particularly bad piece of anchoring we'd been on the wrong end of (on more than one occasion) by another local boat. Evidently our current captain had been eavesdropping as he suddenly put on something of a sheepish grin, and started giving disclaimers about how close (or not) he might have anchored (more on this to come!) The Cessna is in about 130 feet, and pretty much sits on its own in the middle of nowhere. Since it's so small, we figured a 20 minute runtime ought to do it. I began to get a sinking feeling as we dropped down to 120, then 130, then 140 on the anchor line, finally ending up at 150 with not the best vis, and the chain going up and down 2-3 feet. I swore under my breath at boat captains in general (although this is not an easy one to anchor on as it's not very high off the bottom, and you dont want to snag it with an anchor as it's quite fragile) Andy tied off the reel, and we began making circles, looking for the plane (after going up to 130 -- making for a rather ugly dive profile I am sure). After 10 mins, we were about to give up, when Andy signaled to me to have one last go at it. Sure, I thought and signaled him in an arbitrary direction. Finally, something started to go right as we found the wreck about 2 mins later (a good 70-80 feet away from the anchor) Andy ties the line in.  The fish like to look out of the windows ...  Moving around to the nose, the propeller is still present    Andy and Kim started "discussing" something quite vigorously ... not sure what.  The engine cowling seems to be missing.  The pilots seats are also still intact    Since we knew we had to follow the line back down to 150, we cut our time quite short.   The deco was a bit ugly, with 4 of us on the line, the chain bouncing up and down and a current running. We ended up stacking in pairs, me calling the deco and Pete signaling to Andy/Kim who were just below us. I added a couple of minutes to account for the time at 150, and a 6 min ascent. All in all, not quite the days diving we had hoped for ... 7:11 PM - 7/19/2007 - comments {2} - post commentFarnsworth Banks June 10,2007On June 10th, 2007 I was lucky enough to get to dive one of my favorite reef dives ever.Farnsworth banks is (as far as I know -- and I am far from an expert) essentially one huge pinnacle on the backside of Catalina Island, that then "forks off" into a number of smaller pinnacles. Here is a small topographic map (Courtesy of I believe Phl Garner aka MaxBottomTime but I think he swiped it from somewhere else :)  I believe we dove E.Ridge 72 as another boat was anchored on the shallower E.50 (in these cases the 72 and 50 represent the depth of the tops of the pinnacle) This is known as an "advanced" dive site because it is on the windward side of the Island, and conditions can turn very easily. It is noted for pretty strong currents, and due to it being offshore and a lot of boat traffic, it's vital to come back up the anchor line. But. But but but. It is one fabulous dive! The main attraction is the presence of the purple coldwater coral (Or Blue hydrocoral as I've heard it described). This is one of the only spots in Southern California where you can find substantial amounts of it (I believe it is present in smaller quantities on San Clemente Island) The spot is also known for large hordes of stingrays, large offshore fish, tunas etc. etc. So we were pretty excited when we arrived at the spot without too much rocking and rolling! The first 10 or so feet of water was really clear, and I was pretty excited that we might have some good vis on the bottom. That feeling turned a bit sour though as we descended through 70 feet of murky water and a reasonable current. But conditions on the bottom opened up quite a bit, giving us 30 feet or so of vis. We released the cup to alert the boat that the spot was divable (they had sent us in first because they knew we would have no hesitation to call the dive if it sucked -- not sure if that's a compliment or not!) The end of the anchor line. There was still a fair current on the bottom, which seemed to change directions at will.   A closer-up view of the hydrocoral. Unfortunately my video lights give it a reddish tint  The plan had been to do 12 or so minutes out at 120 feet, and then come back at 100 or so (yes, probably violating the "clarified" MOD rules for 30/30) However, the interesting parts of the reef contrived to save me from having my GUE cards revoked, and stayed put at around 100-110 :) In the end we did about 30 mins at 100 feet. We headed off into the current, and around the side of the reef.  There was plenty of coral around, although I heard there is even more below 100 feet (we need to come back here for some deeper diving!)  Just as we were turning the dive, we were treated to a school of baitfish in the distance...   And then got divebombed by a sea lion looking for lunch!     Much to my shock, we actually managed to find the anchor line! A couple of last shots of the reef before we had to start our ascent    Unfortunately, the camera white balance was not really set right so the foregrounds look way too red.    All in all, a rather nice dive, but we didn't get to see any stingrays! Sadly, conditions were picking up a bit and we only got to do a single dive at this spot. The next spot was a bit of a "washing machine" and not conducive to much video-work 7:47 PM - 6/27/2007 - comments {1} - post comment160 Caissons June 23, 2007Had the pleasure of diving the 160 foot Caissons.We had dived these once before (just over a year ago) as our experience dives for tech1. Sadly on those dives we somewhat "wasted" the stellar vis with our nervousness about diving so deep. For this time, surface conditions were pretty rough, but the water looked blue and the dive seemed doable. There are conflicting histories about what the Caissons were and how they got where they are: California Wreck divers has a page about them: http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/Caissons.htm And there is some more information here: http://www.ub88.org/thecaissons.html Regardless, the Caissons are three concrete tubes about 40 feet tall, and 35 feet in diameter. They are upright, and standing next to each other. The third Caisson is quite badly damaged. They are a quick boat ride from shore, and so far I am two for two on awesome bottom conditions. There was quite a surface current running, but by the time we hit 160, it had disappeared (around 30 feet and around 60 feet were noticeable dropoffs in the current). On the bottom, there was basically zero current and 40+ feet of visibility. The drop line was not on the caissons, so we had to tie off and run a line. Caissons 1 and two  We swam down the side of the three caissons, accompanied by plenty of schools of fish  And some larger ones lurking around. I guess these fish dont see too many divers as they are quite happy to pose for some pics!  This one is a Ling Cod ? Or maybe a wrasse of some kind.  Schools of fish in the background   A vermillion fish ?  Finally, we reached the 3rd "broken" Caisson. This one was teeming with fish.    These vermillion fish just like to hang out for photos! I love their vibrant colors.  Toward the end of the dive, we discovered that our old friend the wolf eel was still hanging around! We had seen this eel on our previous dives a year ago.   A view "Up" the Caisson    Finally, right at the end of our bottom time, I added one of my "most want to see" creatures to my list! I looked up and over the Caisson and there right behind us was a huge Mola Mola! What an awesome fish. Just swimming around at 130 feet or so (it followed us up to 60 feet) Unfortunately I didn't really get any video of it (was "busy" with other things) but I do have some blurry stills from when it happened to wander into frame!    
11:41 AM - 6/27/2007 - comments {2} - post commentGrandaddy "Carwash" (Upstream) May 2007And last (but for 100% not least), the magnificent "Carwash"This cave is deep(er) dark(er) silty(er) but will always have a special place for me (and I think a lot of other people) We spent day 2 of our (first attempt) at our cave1 class here in Jan/2007, doing 4 dives. I can honestly say that without the "guidance" of our instructor, we could have wandered around in there for a week and not found the line! The Cenote periodically has a lot of algae growth in it -- which was absent in Jan, giving some awesome lighting, but this time it was pretty murky. This dive is upstream toward Luc's Hope A topside shot of the cenote.  Entering the cave   This cave is awesome -- it kind of looks (to me) like the rock has melted in place.  Simply amazing columns  STOP!  Pete floating between columns  The cave is actually quite open in a lot of places.  But does close in too...   Thanks to Richard (and Uli) for laying the line (we'd never have made it this far if we had to lay it and video). We leave our cookies to let them know we are still in the cave. This is the start of the mainline 300+ feet in.   Three women?  Huge hunk of rocko  Yet another post that I seem to like so much   This one is a bit dark  Looks like part of a kneecap or something  And the cenote ...  What an awesome dive this is, and with Luc's hope and Adriannas room lurking just around the corner (and maybe after an eventual cave 2 course, the room of tears !) Apologies for the darkness -- only my second dive in a cave with a camera (and the first involved exiting on a backup light) 10:01 PM - 5/29/2007 - comments {0} - post commentTaj Mahal (Room of Reflections) May 2007And what a simply awesome dive this one is...After all the torture and indignities we were subjected to during class (lost buddy, unconscious diver, blind OOA exit), it's maybe a wonder that we come back. But then you look inside and well ... maybe it is obvious after all! I think "Room of reflections" line is also called DCS dome because the line moves from 30 feet to about 5 feet and back down to 30 again pretty rapidly. Surfacing inside the room is cool, some amazing formations in there. Sadly, lugging the camera around and only using 400 psi as we were in a team of two on our second dive on the same set of tanks, we didn't make it to the room with the camera in hand. Next time! A nice shot of divers hanging in the cenote.  Descending down to make a tieoff  Yes, our (German) buddy really does have a wing with the Swedish national colors on it ... Fred's class was already tied in on the left side, so we took the right side, using one leg of the sign as a good tieoff point  The beginning of the cave...  You can just see collected bubbles on the ceiling up ahead (more on this later)  The white limestone here is simply startling.  And then out of nowhere, stuck up in the ceiling everything goes brown. What awesome structures...   This weird brown thing sticks out in the middle of nowhere...  This reminds me of the roof (inside) of a really old church or something    More of those air pockets...   They look like liquid mercury stuck to the ceiling  And then ... you can see the reflection of the cave in them!   I still cannot get over just how white the limestone is ... (it is limestone, right?)    Looks like the landing gear on some kind of space ship  The "Polar Bear" rock  And cavern zone -- as awesome as these dives are, it is still a nice feeling to see home up ahead!  And back to the sign   The beautiful Cenote  it is dives like these that make all the pain and expense of the training well worth it. So far, that's been *every* dive (especially the dive when both my video lights went out, and I had to exit on a backup -- felt like home!) Video: 85M http://nickambrose.com/diving/movies/taj-mahal-room-reflections-may-2007.mov 9:30 PM - 5/29/2007 - comments {0} - post commentGran Cenote (Straight behind sign) May 2007On the exit from the "Left side" dive, we left the reel locked at the "Have a nice day" sign in anticipation of our second dive.Richard had dived this line with Chris in dec 2006 so he had a pretty good idea of where to lay the reel. We surfaced in the Cenote, debriefed a little, reviewed the plan for dive 2, and quickly descended again.  We (obviously) reached the sign much more quickly this time, and set off looking for the other line (sorry, no map in front of me to get the name of this line)        I love the formations in Gran Cenote -- much different than the other caves we visited. In fact, all caves so far seem very different in their characteristics.   This weird hunk of rock seemingly didnt want to fall from the roof!  The shapes in this cave remind me of some kind of Disney Cartoon, big old gnarly monster-things.   Yet more ant hils too.  Pete -- looking very serious!  I just love the posts that stick up -- they remind me of Gandalf's staff.   This part of the cave looks like a monster with big teeth is lurking back there.  It's a pity this shot is not level because it really is an awesome sight to suddenly see these hundreds of column thingies.  Pete on the way home...  and back to the sign   And back to the cavern   This is a much longer line than the "left" side, but the density of "amazing" stuff is a bit lower. We made it to about 1-2 mins past where the line arrows change direction (right at a jump also?). Not that far, but hauling the camera definitely adds some drag (we tried to set the camera up in the car, but when extended, the lights were too wide to fit in the trunk/boot). Definitely need to work at being more efficient getting through the cave. 8:56 PM - 5/29/2007 - comments {0} - post commentGran Cenote (Left side line) May 2007And now for something really different.Richard, Pete and I did two dives at Gran Cenote. The first was on a very short line that forks off to the left side behind the "Have a nice day sign." We paralleled the left side of the cavern line for a while, ran our line underneath the cavern line (about the only way to do it) and then forked off left at the sign. I have no idea what to call the tunnel because it seems to be unnamed on the map. Swimming the actual tunnel takes less than 10 mins, so it's a very short dive, but the density of "really amazing cool structures" to simple "amazing cool structures" seems higher than the other line (the one that is mostly straight behind the sign) Since I was running the video, I hung out as #3 to start with while Richard and Pete put the line in. Then I took over as #1 on the way in. After a bit of mucking around in Carwash, we discovered that having video guy behind does not work too well as the lights just don't penetrate much distance, so it's very hard for the diver in front to keep track of them. Also, who really wants to see minute after minute of the diver in fronts butt? The water is so amazingly clear here, in most of the video you cannot even really tell we are submerged (the water temperature is also significantly better than California!) The platform before setting off.  Descending to put in the primary tie.  Some of the awesome structures in the cavern zone.  Tying into the main line. The main line is white exploration line, and the initial tie-off does not look very stable. We ended up tying in to the far side of the line arrow, so if the primary mainline tie-off somehow failed (which it looked like it could), our line was going nowhere.  This tunnel is quite narrow and tall, so really giving the impression of "being in a cave" -- in places it was significantly narrower than the video lights.   Some parts toward the ceiling however, are a bit more open.   There are some awesome delicate-looking posts sticking up in all directions, and plenty of columns  Pretty soon, the line goes through a pretty significant restriction before ending in a cenote (Not sure the name of the cenote). Wisely, I called the dive at this point! I would have like to have shown Pete and Richard the restriction but didn't feel like re-ordering the entire team.  On the way back, I moved to position #2 and got some shots of Richard.  The posts rise up quite close to the line, so careful finning is needed so as not to damage them.  Coming back into the end of the cave/cavern zone   And we can see daylight again...  and back to the steps  Link to the video: http://nickambrose.com/diving/movies/gran-cenote-left-line-may-2007.mov As mentioned, this is a really short dive (runtime was less than 30 mins, even with us spending 10 mins tying into the main line -- none of us had dived this line before and we had a bit of scrabbling around finding it and making sure our reel line was routed so it would not affect cavern divers) But it is absolutely beautiful in there... 8:29 AM - 5/29/2007 - comments {0} - post comment
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