Scuba Diving
Re: Scuba Diving
Only the crabs he brought with him.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Re: Scuba Diving
We bumped into a few perch who let you get pretty close, and we saw a school of whitefish that don't, and a few crayfish and snails.Troy wrote:These are great trip reports. Is there wildlife down there?
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
Perch taste awful, like every bad fish experience anyone has ever had(fishy, mushy) taste like Perch on a good day. Whitefish were the prey, probably had seen divers.
Re: Scuba Diving
Every restaurant in the UP sells two things: pasties, and whitefish. No doubt they are skittish.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
So the second day of the trip I woke up early and spent an hour mowing the grass.... that was the cost of getting to use the cabin we were in, for free.... and then we loaded up the truck and drove back up to Musining. We ate lunch, put on the Scopolamine patches, and hit the charter.
The first day we were the only two divers on the charter, so we left almost an hour early because we were ready to go. But today, Claude and Melissa were joining us.
They were probably 10 years younger than me, and had much more expensive gear, from the drysuits to the LCD dive computers, to fins, to masks. I wondered why they were doing these simple newbie dives that I had chartered a month in advance, but I dunno. Whatever.
Because they showed up late we were a little late casting off, but again, whatev. Me and the kid suited up, loaded the gear, and were kicking it on some patio furniture in the shade by the dock as Cap'n Joe got the new people squared away. He gave us a nod of respect as he walked by us, for being so chill. We nodded back.
First dive of the day was the deeper dive... the The Steven M. Selvick.
Cap'n Joe always gives us a brief before each dive, and it turns out his father was the one who secured the tug and sunk it as a dive spot. Cap'n Joe had stood on the deck before it was sunk, and he said he visited it a couple times a year, since.
Claude and Melissa went first about a minute before us, so they were already gone before we hit the rope.
The line from the wreck to the buoy was at about 75 feet long, judging by the angle from where it was tied off at about 50' depth, to the buoy on the surface. Winds were higher today, we had actual waves, and the line was pretty close to a 45 degree angle. Vis was about 25 feet today... this means that at one point when pulling ourselves down to the wreck, looking up we saw the rope just fade away into the distance, and looking down... the rope just fading away into the distance. It was pretty eerily neat.
But we hit the deck, and we could see pretty much the entire thing all at once. It is lying at a 45 degree angle, as the bottom was rounded. It's all intact. The doorways were narrow.... I could have probably squeezed through them scraping gear, but we were just deep enough that I didn't want to push my luck. The previous dives maxed out at 30 feet, I would be very comfortable doing an emergency ascent with no air. We hit a depth of 59 feet on this dive... just deep enough to want to be extra careful. My kid didn't hesitate to go into the bridge and look around, though.
(If you happen to notice the "bubble" in the video, Cap'n Joe let me borrow his gopro for this day's dives, since I had issues with forgetting my waterproof case in the cabin. I just put my SD card in his camera. But his camera had a magenta filter over the lens, and it wasn't behaving properly, and it didn't flood correctly... there was a bubble. I didn't recognize it as such because it wasn't my equipment)
We messed around a while... kind of a small ship, so you explore it pretty fast. Mast to keel, bow to stern. The dive computers registered 63F degrees at 59 feet, a mite chilly. Will again diving the 7mm suit and gloves, me with just my 3mm suit. I could feel a chill, but not so bad that I thought about it at all. I saw Claude and Melissa once or twice, not sure if I caught them on camera... I haven't rewatched the entire dive, yet.
We spent about 30 minutes at the bottom screwing around, and headed up. We spent 3 minutes at 20 feet doing a safety stop... it isn't a full-fledged "decompression stop" that you do when you are at depth long enough to be in danger of Decompression Sickness (the bends), it's a "just to be safe" sort of thing. We spent 3 minutes there (your computer tells you how long your safety stop should be, and sounds an alarm if you ignore it. The alarm is stronger if you are ignoring official Decompression Stops. Dive computers are neat.), Claude and Melissa holding on to the rope a couple feet below us. I always let Will hit the ladder first in case he slips and falls so I can be in the water to help him, but he made it up easy and I followed. He's getting stronger. We waited for C&M and changed out our tanks heading for the last dive site.
The first day we were the only two divers on the charter, so we left almost an hour early because we were ready to go. But today, Claude and Melissa were joining us.
They were probably 10 years younger than me, and had much more expensive gear, from the drysuits to the LCD dive computers, to fins, to masks. I wondered why they were doing these simple newbie dives that I had chartered a month in advance, but I dunno. Whatever.
Because they showed up late we were a little late casting off, but again, whatev. Me and the kid suited up, loaded the gear, and were kicking it on some patio furniture in the shade by the dock as Cap'n Joe got the new people squared away. He gave us a nod of respect as he walked by us, for being so chill. We nodded back.
First dive of the day was the deeper dive... the The Steven M. Selvick.
(edit - The Sinking of the Selvick)The Steven M. Selvick, a 70' tug intentionally sunk in 1996 in 40'-60' of water. The pilot house starts in 40 ft. of water, making this a great dive for beginners to experts. Divers have access to all areas of the tug. The pilothouse, galley, mess room, engine room, and crew quarters can all be penetrated.
Cap'n Joe always gives us a brief before each dive, and it turns out his father was the one who secured the tug and sunk it as a dive spot. Cap'n Joe had stood on the deck before it was sunk, and he said he visited it a couple times a year, since.
Claude and Melissa went first about a minute before us, so they were already gone before we hit the rope.
The line from the wreck to the buoy was at about 75 feet long, judging by the angle from where it was tied off at about 50' depth, to the buoy on the surface. Winds were higher today, we had actual waves, and the line was pretty close to a 45 degree angle. Vis was about 25 feet today... this means that at one point when pulling ourselves down to the wreck, looking up we saw the rope just fade away into the distance, and looking down... the rope just fading away into the distance. It was pretty eerily neat.
But we hit the deck, and we could see pretty much the entire thing all at once. It is lying at a 45 degree angle, as the bottom was rounded. It's all intact. The doorways were narrow.... I could have probably squeezed through them scraping gear, but we were just deep enough that I didn't want to push my luck. The previous dives maxed out at 30 feet, I would be very comfortable doing an emergency ascent with no air. We hit a depth of 59 feet on this dive... just deep enough to want to be extra careful. My kid didn't hesitate to go into the bridge and look around, though.
(If you happen to notice the "bubble" in the video, Cap'n Joe let me borrow his gopro for this day's dives, since I had issues with forgetting my waterproof case in the cabin. I just put my SD card in his camera. But his camera had a magenta filter over the lens, and it wasn't behaving properly, and it didn't flood correctly... there was a bubble. I didn't recognize it as such because it wasn't my equipment)
We messed around a while... kind of a small ship, so you explore it pretty fast. Mast to keel, bow to stern. The dive computers registered 63F degrees at 59 feet, a mite chilly. Will again diving the 7mm suit and gloves, me with just my 3mm suit. I could feel a chill, but not so bad that I thought about it at all. I saw Claude and Melissa once or twice, not sure if I caught them on camera... I haven't rewatched the entire dive, yet.
We spent about 30 minutes at the bottom screwing around, and headed up. We spent 3 minutes at 20 feet doing a safety stop... it isn't a full-fledged "decompression stop" that you do when you are at depth long enough to be in danger of Decompression Sickness (the bends), it's a "just to be safe" sort of thing. We spent 3 minutes there (your computer tells you how long your safety stop should be, and sounds an alarm if you ignore it. The alarm is stronger if you are ignoring official Decompression Stops. Dive computers are neat.), Claude and Melissa holding on to the rope a couple feet below us. I always let Will hit the ladder first in case he slips and falls so I can be in the water to help him, but he made it up easy and I followed. He's getting stronger. We waited for C&M and changed out our tanks heading for the last dive site.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
Hey Troy, when you freedive, what gear are you using? Mostly I am curious if you have a weight belt to counteract the buoyant wetsuit.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
3mm wet suit
free dive fins + booties,
8 pound weight belt
Mare fish gloves
fish stringer
low profile mask + snorkel
double serrated leg-strapped knife (after listening to advice on my favorite podcast i'm changing this to center belt access on future trips)
One guy in the group brings a hard float with dive flag for shore dives.
I'll likely get into trying a float line for the first time next week. Basically if you shoot a fish that might drown you, you just let the float do the work.
Pictured is a very ill fitted rented wet suit. I'm planning on buying one on this trip to SD. Thinking a green Omer 3mm with Hood.
The weight belt is supposed to be easily detachable. So if you go down and something happens and you are concerned about getting up, you take it off and hold it on ascent. You'll float to the surface and drop your belt if you black out. Not planning on needing to do that, but understand the theory.
free dive fins + booties,
8 pound weight belt
Mare fish gloves
fish stringer
low profile mask + snorkel
double serrated leg-strapped knife (after listening to advice on my favorite podcast i'm changing this to center belt access on future trips)
One guy in the group brings a hard float with dive flag for shore dives.
I'll likely get into trying a float line for the first time next week. Basically if you shoot a fish that might drown you, you just let the float do the work.
Pictured is a very ill fitted rented wet suit. I'm planning on buying one on this trip to SD. Thinking a green Omer 3mm with Hood.
The weight belt is supposed to be easily detachable. So if you go down and something happens and you are concerned about getting up, you take it off and hold it on ascent. You'll float to the surface and drop your belt if you black out. Not planning on needing to do that, but understand the theory.
Re: Scuba Diving
It's neat to watch Will get more confident. You can really tell a difference from the first video to this one. Obvious he's getting more comfortable and seems to be enjoying things more.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
Re: Scuba Diving
I would agree with that. I was rereading what I wrote about the Florida trip, and that very first dive... I remember he was scared to death to go below 40 feet, because 40 feet is the allowed max depth for his certification level. He tends to be a stickler for rules.... which I don't discourage quite yet, at least with scuba diving. And looking at the videos of that FL trip, he is always worrying about his dive computer, keeping his eye on his depth, and his safety stop/deco limits.... yes, I agree very much so that he has loosened up from those dives to this one, and is enjoying it a lot more, and obviously he has gotten over his fear of his official 40 foot basement. As soon as we were driving away from town that night in the UP, he was asking when we could go back and do it again.
Also you should see his "I'm the king of the world!" pose on the bow of that tug.
Also you should see his "I'm the king of the world!" pose on the bow of that tug.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
His not constantly checking his wrist compared to FL was the thing I noticed as well.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
Re: Scuba Diving
One more dive to talk about but iw as out 2nite partying at the preacher's house
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
Curious GWS are still shit-your-wetsuit scary.
Dude handled it well though, dropping the speargun aside. Broken toes worth the extreme ass he's getting in UC Santa Barbara now. If he shoots the shark instead of prodding he's a dead man.
Dude handled it well though, dropping the speargun aside. Broken toes worth the extreme ass he's getting in UC Santa Barbara now. If he shoots the shark instead of prodding he's a dead man.
Re: Scuba Diving
So the last dive of the trip was to the wreck of the Manhattan.
Again, there's nothing that looks like a ship, it's a debris field. At about 8 minutes in this vid a gigantic metal rudder appears... Will was dancing on it, and somehow I wasn't pointing the camera at him. This vid is from the beginning of the dive, obviously, showing our entries off the boat.
Also, that's Cap'n Joe at the beginning, turning the camera on. I thought that was amusing.
(video still processing, may not be ready if you look right now)
Rewatching the video, yeah, it's a little boring... planks and rocks. But I watch Will's form after the end of the video I posted, I see his buoyancy is perfect... he requires no effort to glide effortlessly without ascending or descending a foot over the deck that looks like a cheese grater, with all the metal pins sticking up. Perfect buoyancy is hard to achieve.
Claude and Melissa jumped in a minute before us, but I was kind of proud they returned to the boat about 10 minutes before us, the woman was claiming to be cold. The divers in the dry suits were cold, and the hard mother fucker in the 3mm wetsuit and the 10yo with no body mass stayed down longer. That's fucking right.
Anyway, it was a great dive trip... we are hoping to make it back into Lake Superior again next year, but the truth is there are hundreds of divable wrecks in the Great Lakes. Water retains heat for a long time so end of the year is a good time to dive in this part of the country. Dive instructor says the local waters will still be 66F through October. Maybe we'll get in another dive before winter, maybe not... we spent a shitload of money already diving this summer.... and it is time to start saving for another Florida trip in the spring of 2017. Turns out his 6th grade class at his new school takes a trip to Space Camp for a week right before spring break. There's a good chance there's going to be a Mancation 2017.... and this time I plan on more salt water.
Thanks for watching.
Water was a little choppy, we were closer to the main channel and we were getting a lot of boat wake. It's really noticeable when we're getting out and the boat is rocking hard, but that isn't in this video.The Manhatten, a wooden freighter in 30'- 40', hit a reef in October of 1903. Divers can visit a large portion of the steamer's hull framing. The vessel's enormous rudder, with its depth markings still visible, lies nearby.
Again, there's nothing that looks like a ship, it's a debris field. At about 8 minutes in this vid a gigantic metal rudder appears... Will was dancing on it, and somehow I wasn't pointing the camera at him. This vid is from the beginning of the dive, obviously, showing our entries off the boat.
Also, that's Cap'n Joe at the beginning, turning the camera on. I thought that was amusing.
(video still processing, may not be ready if you look right now)
Rewatching the video, yeah, it's a little boring... planks and rocks. But I watch Will's form after the end of the video I posted, I see his buoyancy is perfect... he requires no effort to glide effortlessly without ascending or descending a foot over the deck that looks like a cheese grater, with all the metal pins sticking up. Perfect buoyancy is hard to achieve.
Claude and Melissa jumped in a minute before us, but I was kind of proud they returned to the boat about 10 minutes before us, the woman was claiming to be cold. The divers in the dry suits were cold, and the hard mother fucker in the 3mm wetsuit and the 10yo with no body mass stayed down longer. That's fucking right.
Anyway, it was a great dive trip... we are hoping to make it back into Lake Superior again next year, but the truth is there are hundreds of divable wrecks in the Great Lakes. Water retains heat for a long time so end of the year is a good time to dive in this part of the country. Dive instructor says the local waters will still be 66F through October. Maybe we'll get in another dive before winter, maybe not... we spent a shitload of money already diving this summer.... and it is time to start saving for another Florida trip in the spring of 2017. Turns out his 6th grade class at his new school takes a trip to Space Camp for a week right before spring break. There's a good chance there's going to be a Mancation 2017.... and this time I plan on more salt water.
Thanks for watching.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
Troy wrote:3mm wet suit
free dive fins + booties,
8 pound weight belt
Mare fish gloves
fish stringer
low profile mask + snorkel
double serrated leg-strapped knife (after listening to advice on my favorite podcast i'm changing this to center belt access on future trips)
I've not yet messed around with free diving in my wetsuit. With scuba there's always gear to be messing with, tieing down, whatever... and then it is time to get out of the way. But the other day on the charter Cap'n Joe was having trouble getting the anchor up, I want to say it was the 25' dive. I offered to free dive down and free it up. But then I wondered how hard that would be without my weight belt, as I have never attempted to submerge in a wetsuit without one.
Next time we're somewhere chill, though, I think we'll put the snorkels on after we get the gear put away and just mess around free diving.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
It's much more difficult. I've managed to do a few YMCA pool trips during this work gig, and you expend a lot of oxygen getting to the bottom even WITHOUT a wetsuit. I was trying to figure out what the difference was early on, and it's totally the lack of weight belt (not having those 3 foot long free dive fins too)
Re: Scuba Diving
I like that pic, Rock Bass? (not going to pretend I knew that, first result when I googled "red eye perch")
Re: Scuba Diving
Now that I think about it, I am comfortable in cooler temps... I could do some messing around without the suit at all, just the booties and fins.Troy wrote:It's much more difficult. I've managed to do a few YMCA pool trips during this work gig, and you expend a lot of oxygen getting to the bottom even WITHOUT a wetsuit. I was trying to figure out what the difference was early on, and it's totally the lack of weight belt (not having those 3 foot long free dive fins too)
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Re: Scuba Diving
Been in San Diego since yesterday. Went to the famous James and Joseph dive/waterman/spear shop. Got a sick Omer, well fitted, open cell wet suit with hood and a new low profile mask/snorkel. Rented some long fins and a gun. Tested the new setup out sans speargun at Mission Beach the day I got there. Everything was great, and jesus there are a lot of rays in the surf area.
This morning all my dive buddies were working, so I tagged along with an intro to spearfishing group at a shop I'd rented from before(promised my wife I would never do it alone). We went to Mission bay, water was gorgeous, 15 foot of vis. The group and instructor were mostly sticking to the 10 foot range of water and were getting lessons on how to free dive, I headed toward the deeper parts of the bay within sight range.
I started easy, practiced breathing techniques and playing with my gear setups. On my 3 or 4th dive at 20 feet, I was about 3/4th of the way into the breath hold when I see a conspicuous mound in the sand. I pointed my pole spear at it (just a 7 foot prong spear w/ a big rubber band) and got as close as I could before it started moving. Fired. Smacked him behind the gill plate, and boom! I got my first Spotted Bay Bass:
This morning all my dive buddies were working, so I tagged along with an intro to spearfishing group at a shop I'd rented from before(promised my wife I would never do it alone). We went to Mission bay, water was gorgeous, 15 foot of vis. The group and instructor were mostly sticking to the 10 foot range of water and were getting lessons on how to free dive, I headed toward the deeper parts of the bay within sight range.
I started easy, practiced breathing techniques and playing with my gear setups. On my 3 or 4th dive at 20 feet, I was about 3/4th of the way into the breath hold when I see a conspicuous mound in the sand. I pointed my pole spear at it (just a 7 foot prong spear w/ a big rubber band) and got as close as I could before it started moving. Fired. Smacked him behind the gill plate, and boom! I got my first Spotted Bay Bass:
Re: Scuba Diving
I ate it for lunch. It was tasty.