Welcome to Thunderdome

I actually lost my engagement ring at the end of our checkout dives. The water so cold it made my rings slippy on my fingers, and just flew off.

Fortunately, my wife spotted it with the sun glinting off it. (It was a rock quarry, very clear water, not very deep)

Free-dived and spearfished in San Diego today. Specifically La Jolla. Morning session was great - 10-15 feet of vis, better in some spots. Rented a short speargun and my friends got Hawiian slings. Got some perch all around. I took some shots on other fish, but couldn't aim the shorty for shit.

Later in the afternoon we went south closer to Pacific Beach - and the kelp in the water + increase in surge meant vis dropped to 0-5. It was a little freaky at times. Not much luck there and most people were feeling a little queasy.

Still a rad and amazing time.

Found this cool video looking at some free dive videos. I know this is a good place to hook and line fish - seems like a pretty intense dive, though.

[video][/video]

Leisher, I've been thinking about your proposed quest to find the One Ring.

1. How late will your family be doing weekends at the lakehouse, this year?

2. Do they have a pontoon boat or something to get the divers to the area?

3. If not, is it close enough to swim to, then dive? But I'd want you there to show me where.

Troy wrote:Found this cool video looking at some free dive videos. I know this is a good place to hook and line fish - seems like a pretty intense dive, though.

[video][/video]

Wish my Wilmington dive experience was that crystal clear.

That's some pretty great visibility for Wilmington.

GORDON wrote:Leisher, I've been thinking about your proposed quest to find the One Ring.

1. How late will your family be doing weekends at the lakehouse, this year?

2. Do they have a pontoon boat or something to get the divers to the area?

3. If not, is it close enough to swim to, then dive? But I'd want you there to show me where.

Bumping because I don't think leisher saw it.

LEISHER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD ANSWER THE ABOVE QUESTIONS.

++++

Took the kid diving today. Picked up rental gear last night from our old instructor, told him we were going to the quarry in which we did our certification dives. He didn't say anything, just helped me load up all the gear into my truck after I paid for it, then he said, "Oh and they are having an algae bloom, visibility is about 5 feet. Have fun."

Sigh.

So I hit google last night, and found a quarry a little less than an hour and a half away in Gilboa, Ohio. I'd never heard of it, but it was supposed to be some kind of well-known dive spot for this region, so we went there instead.

http://www.divegilboa.com/

We had an awesome time. We felt a little rusty already, still being novice divers, and it being 1 month, 3 days since our last dive. We were a little shaky getting geared up and in the water, and the buoyancy which had been so easy after the Florida trip was no longer second nature.... we embarrassingly kicked up a little more silt than I would have liked. But we shook the rust off and had fun.

Visibility was about 30-35 feet, not perfect, but doable. I think they are fixin for their own algae bloom judging by the greenish tint of my videos, but today it was good.

The quarry is stocked with both fish and things to dive on. We didn't even go below 35 feet but we saw 5 or 6 boats, a jet, a helicopter, a motorcycle, a vending machine, a bus, and a bowling ball. It's practically a junkyard down there when you can float in one spot and be 20 feet away from an airplane, a helicopter, a vending machine, and a sunken boat. The jet was my fave thing, here's a video of us going into it.



Yes, as I enter the plane you can hear me say "Holy shit." There was a thermocline layer at about 20-25 feet... the water was 74 degrees above it, but at the layer it dropped about 12 degrees, instantly. I was feeling it going into the plane. The kid was feeling it harder, having like zero mass to hold body heat, so we were spending a few minutes below the layer exploring things, then we'd pop up to 20 to warm up for a few minutes.


This is a private quarry, and the owner doesn't allow fishing, fishing pole, speargun, or otherwise. And he also encourages feeding of the trout... if you are a fisherman, you're going to love the frenzy of giant, sacred, untouchable trout that show up when I pound on the roof of the school bus where they live.



In fact, we had so much fun today that we decided to come back and make one last dive before winter, the first or second weekend in September. But then we got to REALLY thinking about it, and now we are contemplating sneaking back up to the UP and diving a few wrecks in Lake Superior over Labor Day weekend. I'll let you know.

Great footage. Would kill for that visibility + fish density!

How thick of a wetsuit does your kid have to wear to be comfortable(relatively)? My surfer buddies had to be convinced to wear wetsuits in 70 degree SD waters. They didn't get how cold it can be when you dive bomb and sit at 20-25 feet.

e: Algae blooms are a problem all over the world right now...
http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/somet ... socialflow

e2: wanna shoot those trout and eat them

My kid wore a 3mm suit in NC, and was fine... water about 80 degrees. Today he wore a 7mm suit, and the surface was so warm... and the air temp was 85, so by the time we got the suits on and geared up we (I) were (was) getting dizzy from overheating... so he decided to skip his 5mm hood and gloves. He wished he had them at that thermocline. AGAIN.... we are still in the "live and learn" phase. We had fun, had challenges, and we will know better next time.

As for me, I was in my 3mm suit today w/no hood or gloves, even though I bought my own last night, but I have enough body mass that I didn't feel the thermocline cold anywhere I was covered, I felt it on my exposed head and hands. I could have gone into the ocean in NC without a wetsuit and been fine.

If I could stomach seafood I would have loved being able to reach out to those fish and stuff one of them in a bag. I was literally petting them.

Also I am beginning to form the opinion that people who drysuit dive in water warmer than 65 degrees are pussies.

I dont even bother with a wetsuit at 80. I wore a 3mm shorty for our October checkout dives at a quarry. Water temps like the one you reference. Hit the thermocline, and it felt great. My wife couldnt stay in it. But i heat up a lot when moving.

I also hate to say it but I still also have an extra layer of blubber that keeps me warm, like a whale.

Leisher, I've been thinking about your proposed quest to find the One Ring.

1. How late will your family be doing weekends at the lakehouse, this year?

2. Do they have a pontoon boat or something to get the divers to the area?

3. If not, is it close enough to swim to, then dive? But I'd want you there to show me where.

I had not seen these...

1. Labor day usually marks the final weekend for all the families going up each weekend, but we have access all year. I don't think they turn the water off until October. Meaning the place can be used, toilets and kitchen, until then.

2. We do, but it's not necessarily needed. If you simply want to dive to dive, you can walk right out from the beach. If you wanted to do this next summer, I'd go get my certification to do it with you. As a fisherman, I'd love to see under the water so I know where to fish. Also, no wake hours are...I want to say 10-11 until 7:30. Outside those hours are when you'd want to dive or anytime during the week when it's dead.

3. If you're going for the ring, that thing is gone. No way you're finding that. Although, it'd be fun to look for it.

P.S. I didn't want to say this on FB, but I look forward to the day when your son cuts your air line and assumes his place as the man of the family.

It's in my will that the only way he inherits anything is if he kills me.

LOL - *kid breaks water*

people on the boat "Where's Gordon"?

kid "I am the one true Gordon"

This only works if we pretend normal people don't call you Steve

"He was weak. He is of no consequence."

Just booked two days over Labor Day weekend at this place. Woot.

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/scuba/diving.html

Pray to whatever gods you believe in that we have bright sun and calm seas.

I learned that one can use filters on your camera to put back the reds, to some extent.... and it even works... to an extent... in post production, by just adjusting colors.

Raw image


Image with Red and Blue taken up to "100" and Green taken down "15." I'm not sure if those numbers represent percentages, or what.


I'll keep the raw images for posterity, but the adjusted ones will look nicer in picture collages and stuff.

Hey that's cool. Never though about that - is the green mostly there because of an Algae bloom or just because of depth?