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Man what a bummer. Must be rough on his friends too. My old man got me into diving too. I was 12 when he grabbed me by the waist and took me down 15 feet on his octopus. All he said was "Don't hold your breath." I was hooked since and got my junior license when I turned 13. It's funny you mention Sea Hunt, 'cause my old man brings that up all the time. It's without a doubt the reason he got interested in diving in the first place. Cheers to diving dads~
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Jun 28, 2017 04:20
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Nobody in my family or my wife's family dove, but we are going to fix that with our nephew next year when he turns 10. We're also apparently going to fix it with my father in law and sister in law on the same trip. That'll be interesting and we're still trying to decide which island we're going to do this on. Hopefully our nephew loves it and gets hooked. E: and then can tell stories about his aunt and uncle who loved diving and introduced him to it, that's what made me think of this
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Jun 28, 2017 04:28
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Luceo posted:I had been meaning to tell this story to the thread, but figured it would just be depressing. This seems like the time to do it, and maybe it'll help me a bit. Sorry for your loss, it is a bit of a risk to go diving depending on age and fitness levels, but at least it didn't stop you.
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Jun 28, 2017 04:47
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Trivia posted:Man what a bummer. Must be rough on his friends too. My old man got me into diving too. I was 12 when he grabbed me by the waist and took me down 15 feet on his octopus. All he said was "Don't hold your breath." I was hooked since and got my junior license when I turned 13. Yeah, I talked to one of his buddies and the guy was pretty shaken up about it. Lots of people take rescue training and never have to use it. Some have to use it and actually save a life, but he did his best and sometimes it's just not possible. I had actually talked about going home to visit and going along on that dive, but I'm actually glad I wasn't there. I'm not a rescue diver, what the gently caress would I have done differently other than be traumatized? As for Sea Hunt, I got him the box set a few Christmases ago and watched some of it with him. It's actually not bad, if not pretty basic. Since scuba was pretty new, a lot of the problems faced are directly related to the dangers of diving as understood at the time. Some things go a bit over the top, but it's a 1950s TV drama. whaddya expect?
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Jun 28, 2017 05:04
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I love Seahunt. I'm sorry for your loss. The thing that got me into diving was watching Sealab 2020 as a kid. I wanted to be a "Scientist-Pioneer" SO BAD.
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Jun 28, 2017 05:38
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Luceo posted:Yeah, I talked to one of his buddies and the guy was pretty shaken up about it. Lots of people take rescue training and never have to use it. Some have to use it and actually save a life, but he did his best and sometimes it's just not possible. I had actually talked about going home to visit and going along on that dive, but I'm actually glad I wasn't there. I'm not a rescue diver, what the gently caress would I have done differently other than be traumatized? I'm so sorry, that's pretty tragic. I got rescue qualified a few years back but feel like you need to be doing those skills as often as possible (feel the same way about First Aid) so you can react properly in that kind of situation. And shoutout to Dads, mine got me into diving as well!
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Jun 28, 2017 05:38
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Yeah sorry for your loss man but you seem to have a pretty health attitude towards it. I'm glad your dad got to keep doing what he loved up until the end. I think I got inspired to go diving by reruns of Flipper on Saturday morning TV. Loved dolphins as a kid and always wanted to go swimming with them. Oddly I am really not too interested in them anymore, they're kind of assholes. Now seals, there's a marine mammal worth diving with!
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Jun 28, 2017 08:37
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Concur on rescue. I got that a couple years ago too but it isn't like I've practiced it since. I don't even show that c card anymore, just AOW
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Jun 29, 2017 04:06
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Finished all my pool training this weekend. Had no issue with any of the drills and it was pretty fun (tho exhausting). Is it common for the wetsuits to make you stink real bad? It took a lot of scrubbing in the shower to get the smell off. Anyway I'm looking forward to getting up at 5am next week in order to drive 2.5 hours down to Monterey to jump into freezing water!
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Jul 3, 2017 23:21
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Yeah man, get some sink the stink for your wetsuit. If you're renting, just assume it's filthy like your toilet and shower accordingly.
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Jul 4, 2017 03:00
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Neoprene never smells good to start with, and it holds on to funky smells real easy. Make sure you rinse it out/off with clean water once you're done with it, and use some soap (Mirazyme is the good stuff) to get the majority of the smell out of it. When you hang it up to dry, hang it up inside out. If you're going to be using it for a couple of days in a row, this makes it slightly less-funky when you go to put it on. Still no update on our missing diver from 22 June. There are plenty of rumors floating around, but nothing I'm willing to put any weight behind yet. All we can do for now is refocus on the basic rules and general safety guidelines. Don't neglect your buddy checks, get your gear serviced on the proper schedule, stay within the limits of your training/experience, and remember that any diver can end their dive for any reason without fear of judgement.
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Jul 4, 2017 20:15
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Icon Of Sin posted:Neoprene never smells good to start with, and it holds on to funky smells real easy. Make sure you rinse it out/off with clean water once you're done with it, and use some soap (Mirazyme is the good stuff) to get the majority of the smell out of it. When you hang it up to dry, hang it up inside out. If you're going to be using it for a couple of days in a row, this makes it slightly less-funky when you go to put it on. It's probably just me but I love the smell of new neoprene! It could just be that it reminds me of diving and surfing which I love though.
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Jul 5, 2017 05:16
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Anyone else have the DUI Weight Harness system? I bought it, but I can't use my current lead in it. I can't decide what lead to buy. What do you guys think of the bags of lead shot? I've been getting back into cold water diving, and the thing that has been throwing me off the most is how buoyant my legs are, now that I'm in a thick wetsuit. I can see why drysuit wearers often use ankle weights.
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Jul 7, 2017 02:55
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Last week I went with a friend and his family to dive on the cuttlefish spawning in Whyalla, South Australia. The place is a 4 or 5 hour drive out of Adelaide, and is pretty much a steel mill town that makes tourist dollars out of the yearly winter-time spawn. We did 2 dives on the site, the first of which I did as scuba (which I haven't done in 5 years) and the second just snorkelling. The others only snorkelled as none of them had a scuba licence. Given that the cuttles stay in less than 5 metres of water, and mostly in less than 2, I really only put the tanks on because I hadn't done it in so long. My dive buddy (I paid extra to have the hire shop woman come out with me as it had been so long since I last dived) took us out to where it was about 5 metres deep and there was nothing there so we went shallow. It's great diving when the whole thing is one long safety stop. I went through 50 bar of air in an hour! The water was pretty cold, but I only felt it in my fingers and toes after 40 minutes or so. Undersuit, 5mm wetsuit and hood was all it needed, but I'm used to diving around Queensland which is 3mm territory, if not just a rashy. But enough waffle from a guy with only 30-odd dives under his belt - let's get to the photos. The place was swarming with cuttlefish. At one point I counted how many I could see and it was over 50. Usually you saw a dozen or more wherever you looked. These photos are far from professional, made using a tiny point-and-shoot in what was essentially a plastic bag with a velcro seal.           [imgur album link] My mate didn't used any zoom, so any cuttles up close to the camera were simply that close. Most of them were about a foot long, but there were plenty the size of a dog. Gromit fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Jul 7, 2017 |
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Jul 7, 2017 09:38
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Squashy Nipples posted:What do you guys think of the bags of lead shot? Lead shot bags are great, I've got an oceanic pouch belt and they are much more comfortable than blocks. Ankle weights are one solution, heavy fins like jet fins also work. You can try adjusting your buoyancy by having your cylinder a little higher as well, pushing the centre of gravity a bit higher up your body. Also after you get used air in your boots trim becomes a pain going back to wetsuit diving because your legs seen super heavy.
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Jul 7, 2017 13:27
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Also consider finding heavier fins...like Scubapro Jet Fins.
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Jul 7, 2017 15:46
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MrNemo posted:heavy fins like jet fins also work. You know, up until now, my opinion of Jet Fins has been, "Well, they must work, guy's in drysuits use them pretty much exclusively. But they are so heavy! Why would I want heavy fins?" Duh, now I know why you would want heavy fins. MrNemo posted:You can try adjusting your buoyancy by having your cylinder a little higher as well, pushing the centre of gravity a bit higher up your body. Yes, I definitely need to play with cylinder height. I was using a super heavy steel 120, and since I was overloading my BC, I had weight in my upper trim pockets too... so I kept on rolling over. This is the primary reason that I'm switching to the separate weight harness.
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Jul 7, 2017 15:53
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Gromit posted:
Holy poo poo, amazing pics! I love cuttle fish, so this place is definitely going on my list. You can tell how shallow the water is by the gorgeous lighting.
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Jul 7, 2017 17:44
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Gromit posted:Last week I went with a friend and his family to dive on the cuttlefish spawning in Whyalla, South Australia. Goddrat  Someone donated a 120' tug to be the memorial artificial reef for our lost diver  The Brian Davis is going to hopefully be set near the site of the Capt Greg Mickey, which sits ~3/4 of a mile away from Frying Pan Tower (~40 miles SSE of Cape Fear, NC). Greg Mickey was another diver lost in that same area in 2005, and his friends/family did largely the same thing the current dive community is doing. Article: http://portcitydaily.com/2017/07/07/local-community-comes-together-to-sink-a-ship-in-memory-of-brian-davis-our-ht/ Capt Greg Mickey: http://www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com/article.asp?aid=265&iid=43
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Jul 7, 2017 18:32
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Squashy Nipples posted:Holy poo poo, amazing pics! I love cuttle fish, so this place is definitely going on my list. Some of the curious ones would swim up to your hand, but most of them would just leisurely cruise out of your way as you came through. I held my hand out and one swam over it and just hovered there. I could have hoiked him out of the water if I was some sort of weirdo.  e:I forgot to mention that you can fly into Whyalla - you don't have to drive like we did. We just needed a hire car out of Adelaide for other stuff. Gromit fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Jul 8, 2017 |
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Jul 8, 2017 00:21
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Love those cuttle pics. They're by far one of my favorite marine animals. I could follow them for hours.
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Jul 8, 2017 03:04
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Before we went in I was wondering how long my friends would tough it out in the cold. We're talking middle-aged mum and dad and early teens daughter. Next thing you know we've been in an hour and finally decide to get out and warm up. Blue skies both days we went, which helped a lot. Get dry and soak up some sun makes a huge difference, even if the air temp isn't that high. They are there just to make out, so you see a lot of creepy face-grabbing but we didn't see them hunting. Lots of colour-changing of course, and some texture as well which is always awesome to watch. Gromit fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Jul 8, 2017 |
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Jul 8, 2017 04:28
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So what are the exact dates of the spawn?
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Jul 8, 2017 14:30
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They are there from May to August. During my 2 hours in the water in total I saw only 2 or 3 egg sacs stuck to rocks, so presumably the females lay a lot more as the months progress. Then again, for all I know they are just better at hiding them than I am at finding them. Here's the entry point (Stony Point - I think there are a couple of others but this one is the easiest). They have set up a nice little area with some seating and cuttlefish info signs, and you can walk down to the water along a boardwalk and then use the chain and concrete pylons to steady yourself and help with your gear as you cover the wet rocks. It's about as user friendly as you could get without turning it into some sort of over-engineered tourist trap.  As we were getting ready to leave on the last day we saw a couple of pods of dolphins swim past, leaping out of the water as they went. Would have been cool if we'd had that happen while we were in the water, but then we probably wouldn't have noticed them. Gromit fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jul 9, 2017 |
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Jul 9, 2017 02:29
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Gromit posted:Would have been cool if we'd had that happen while we were in the water, but then we probably wouldn't have noticed them. If my limited experience is any indication, you'll know there are dolphins around, but you probably won't ever see them. I've heard/felt dolphin sonar/chatter a couple times, but they seem to give divers a pretty wide berth.
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Jul 9, 2017 03:21
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Someone told me that dolphins really don't like the sound of open-circuit breathing. High-pitched noises that we can't hear, that sort of thing.
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Jul 9, 2017 03:58
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We had bottle dolphins in Belize chasing a boat wake above us while we were at like 30' and that was awesome. Otherwise our only other dolphin encounters were in Provo, coming back from West Caicos - again playing in the boat wake. So we stopped and jumped out and they hung around. Never had an underwater experience with them.
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Jul 9, 2017 04:32
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Icon Of Sin posted:Goddrat Whoa... I didn't see his name before but I think we may have some mutual Facebook friends. :-( This is a real tragedy and I'm glad to see something good come of it at least FWIW. Was this the same ledge where that dive shop owner died a few years ago? In other news, another diver has died in the Keys this weekend: http://www.flkeysnews.com/news/local/article160393249.html It has been a bad year here so far for diver/snorkeler deaths... although the majority of them were likely medical conditions there are some that are mysterious or just plain preventable. The worst was reading the last guy that died on the Spiegel Grove's postings on ScubaBoard about how stoked he was to dive...welp. Bottom line is diving can be hard work and strenuous on your body, it may not always be challenging but it can become so at a moments notice. If you are in bad shape it may bite you sooner rather than later underwater, an event that may have been survivable on land will get you 100% when you're in a medium you can't breathe. Lobster mini-season is coming in a couple of weeks and statistically there will be at least one more death during that time due to a medical condition or issues stemming from OOA situation!.
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Jul 10, 2017 04:37
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Anyone have any experience with cold water lobstering? 98% of the lobstering videos on you tube are of spiny, tropical bugs. Looks like snares of any type are illegal in MA, but tickle sticks are fine as long as they don't have a hook or a sharp bend. I'm most concerned about getting some kevlar gloves; I've never been pinched by a lahbstah, but it seems inevitable if you are catching them by hand. Also, do you have to band them before you bag them? The primary reason for the banding so that they don't rip each other apart, but it seems like banding them under water would be difficult at best. let it mellow posted:We had bottle dolphins in Belize chasing a boat wake above us while we were at like 30' and that was awesome. Otherwise our only other dolphin encounters were in Provo, coming back from West Caicos - again playing in the boat wake. So we stopped and jumped out and they hung around. Never had an underwater experience with them. Once when I lived in Venice Beach, SoCal, I was walking the beach in the late afternoon when the waves picked up. I saw a pod of dolphins body surfing the waves, playing around unusually close to shore and having a great time. So I jumped in and started body surfing with them. It was a ton of fun, and they were just so playful! And then, as quickly as they appeared, POOF gone. I've never gotten remotely as close to them with scuba gear on.
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Jul 11, 2017 16:18
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Well I'm open water certified now. The weather in Monterey was nice both days though the visibility underwater was less than 10 feet which sucked (It did make the compass navigation section interesting). Saw a good number of crabs and sand dollars. Guess I should probably try this again someplace where the water is clearer and above 55F
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Jul 11, 2017 20:02
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Well, hey, speaking from experience, the bright side of having done your training and first few dives in terrible conditions is that whenever you end up diving somewhere actually nice, it'll be really awesome. And a whole lot easier to relax.
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Jul 11, 2017 20:49
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Kuvo posted:Well I'm open water certified now. The weather in Monterey was nice both days though the visibility underwater was less than 10 feet which sucked (It did make the compass navigation section interesting). Saw a good number of crabs and sand dollars. Guess I should probably try this again someplace where the water is clearer and above 55F Monterey can be hit and miss, and sometimes 10' vis is what you get. Sometimes it can be pretty incredible though, and I'd take a kelp forest in Monterey or Carmel on a clear day over a lot of tropical diving. Not to be too defensive, but it gets my hackles up when someone does one or two dives in Monterey and decides there's nothing there worth seeing. I hear it a *lot* from people who got certified in lovely conditions. For whatever it's worth, I've seen a sunfish bigger than I am off the same beach you got certified on. DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 06:07
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Just so I don't poo poo up the thread being defensive about my favorite dive spots or cold water diving, here are more pictures! These are from God's Pocket in British Columbia, Canada (near Port Hardy, off the northern end of Vancouver island). Water temperatures were 8-9C (47-48F), and the tidal currents were pretty intense but the diving was wonderful. The density and variety of life was incredible, and it was a lot of fun to see new (to me) species mixed in with critters I recognized from back home. If you're okay with cold water and living without internet for a week I highly, highly recommend it. It's a beautiful location run by wonderful people, and some of the best diving I've ever done.  This is a Red Irish Lord. There were tons of these guys, in a huge variety of colorations. They made great photographic subjects since they sit so still.  A mixed school of bocaccio and yellowtail rockfish  Another Red Irish Lord, doing a muppet impression  Juvenile wolf eel. There were tons of these guys, and they were out and about, rather than hiding in holes like I'm used to seeing. The focus on this picture isn't *quite* right but I can't bring myself to toss it  A basket star. I hear we have them in Monterey, but only super deep.  Hairy triton laying eggs  A scaly head sculpin (I think). I'd never seen white ones before, they blend in beautifully.  Hermissenda crassicornis. One of my favorites (we get the very similar and until recently grouped together Hermissenda opalescens in Monterey)  A grunt sculpin!!! I'd heard of but never seen one of these before. Apparently they like to hide in acorn barnacle shells. DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 06:54
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Excellent pictures! What was your setup for those?
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Jul 15, 2017 04:18
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let it mellow posted:Excellent pictures! What was your setup for those? Thanks! An Olympus epl 6, with either a 30mm macro or 17mm lens.
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Jul 15, 2017 19:31
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Did you have to change the port for those lenses? I have an EPL-5 and have been debating on macro and fisheye lenses but I believe they take different ports E: also what's your strobe setup?
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Jul 16, 2017 05:55
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let it mellow posted:Did you have to change the port for those lenses? I have an EPL-5 and have been debating on macro and fisheye lenses but I believe they take different ports Yeah, I do. I have a macro port for the 30mm and I use a port designed for the 7-14mm wide angle with the 17mm. It does work with the 7-14, but the edges blur so I'm not happy with it. I've been toying with the fisheye (and even test dove a borrowed one), but I haven't pulled the trigger on it yet because $$$. We're in the same boat, the differences between the EPL-5 and 6 are software, as far as I can tell. I use two YS-01 strobes in TTL mode. I'll try and post a picture of the setup tomorrow, it's all bagged up since I"m diving in the morning.
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Jul 16, 2017 06:26
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Found a local dive club (Massachusetts), been shore diving a few times with some old salts with hundreds of cold water dives. These guys are fearless with the lobsters, they just reach right under rocks are grab them. No stick, just hands and a bag. Also, most of my shore diving experience is from Curacao, and at the time I didn't realize how ridiculously easy the entries were. Most of the shore entries on Cape Ann are loving brutal: carrying all your gear, in a full suit, climbing up over jetties and then down over a few hundred feet of slick rocks to get to the water. Plus, there is a 14 foot tide, so you can't leave stuff near the water. I'm sore all over just from getting to and from the water.
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Jul 16, 2017 14:39
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Squashy Nipples posted:Found a local dive club (Massachusetts), been shore diving a few times with some old salts with hundreds of cold water dives. These guys are fearless with the lobsters, they just reach right under rocks are grab them. No stick, just hands and a bag. I've got a friend that just linked up with a group there! They went to Loblolly Cove with East Coast Divers, when I get back to a real computer I'll snag a few of the pics he took up there.
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Jul 16, 2017 15:03
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:55 |
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Squashy Nipples posted:Found a local dive club (Massachusetts), been shore diving a few times with some old salts with hundreds of cold water dives. These guys are fearless with the lobsters, they just reach right under rocks are grab them. No stick, just hands and a bag. Please god tell me its not the Easy Diver/Fred Calhoun fan club
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Jul 17, 2017 16:47
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