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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 28, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
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I switched from mountains to diving as a career.
We were maybe 50 feet down in the Ohio River and the boat asked what our visibility was. I said, "zero feet minus". A term my friend had coined when you turn your light on shine it at your mask and can't see it! Fun diving!
You guys got stories?
Qball
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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May 28, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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I tried not to have stories to tell.when I returned.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - May 28, 2017 - 05:33pm PT
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Moose,
Love it! I halfway grew up on Roatan, back before the roads and such. Two questions, I saw Anthony's key? and does that dive footage show " hole in the wall"?
Some day I will dive a spot with visibility again!
Qball
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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May 28, 2017 - 05:52pm PT
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We were night diving down at the Channel Islands.
We shone our light up on a ledge where there were a bunch of old huge lobsters.
They panicked (ha ha) and quickly scurried to the back and pushed these smaller younger lobsters to the front. They were no fools!
Another time I was diving on Oahu at an area called Electric Beach because there was a warm water outflow from an Electric plant on the hill above the beach. That warm water and the reef it made created an unbelievable area for the most gorgeous tropical fish. You literally were swimming in a salt water tank....surrounded by thousands of tropical fish.
Off Monterey (brrrr. Cold....dry suit stuff) was my first experience diving through thick kelp beds. Scary and thrilling at the same time. My first experience with literally crawling over kelp beds across the top.
Susan
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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May 28, 2017 - 06:46pm PT
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I spent 2 weeks diving in Northern Sulawesi a few years back.
First thing I saw on bottom on my first dive in Lembeh Strait was a blue ring octopus carrying an egg sack.
Last thing I saw before surfacing on the last Lembeh dive was an upsidedown jellyfish that lives on the back of a crab.
In between tons of great things.
Anyone who likes diving has to go to Indonesia.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - May 28, 2017 - 07:41pm PT
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AP,
Agree with the Indonesia shout. I spent a few days near Lubaun Bajo on Flores. After spending much of my life diving I was blown away at the diversity of critters!
Always wanted to explore Sulawesi. Take care.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 28, 2017 - 07:46pm PT
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I spent a bunch of time working on Guam. I had a sharp crew working with me there and quite a few with a lot of diving experience, so I would take them out diving while I free dove with them. I was pretty serious about free diving at the time and even took some of them to the Pinnacle once which is a reef at 120 ft depth that regularly had schools of tuna around it. Finally they talked me into wreck diving with them so I spent the cash to get certified. After all, at that time on Guam with a mask fins and snorkel, everything else was basically $18 a dive.
So, with my new certification in hand (along with the 60 foot depth limitation), four of us went to dive the twin wrecks of Apra Harbor; the Tokai Maru and sms Cormoran. It's a pretty unique spot as the Cormoran is WWI vintage whilst the Tokai Maru is from WWII. Anyway, as we are heading down the buoy chains to the Tokai Maru, by 25 ft or so I am sucking water in through this rented regulator and I notice my depth gauge doesn't work at all. I have my tongue curled, but it's getting worse so I change out with my octopus and get Dorinda's attention. After showing her all my issues, she get's it and I have a close partner for the rest of the dive. We head down the cargo hold of the Tokai Maru in about 100 ft visability to 120 ft depth and come up through the Cormoran hold with no further issues. Pretty cool dive, and my first after the class. But it taught me to be wary of equipment and the importance of a good partner, lol.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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May 28, 2017 - 10:48pm PT
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^^ Thanks Kris- just bought it.
I don't have any scuba experience, but snorkeling is one of my favorite activities in the world. My best experience was on Grand Cayman, just south of where the cruise ships come in. Eden Rock? It's been a long time. Nice 12' deep reef with channels with tons of fish, including turtles and groupers, and about 1/4 mile out, a sandy drop-off where you can see spotted eagle rays cruising around.
After that, Emerald Point or Cherry Cove at Catalina Island are my favorites for diversity and density of fish schools, great clarity, and rocky cliffs and kelp forests.
I never found amazing places in Hawaii, but have been to lots of ok to pretty good places from just stopping the rental car and going out at random spots or spots marked as snorkel destinations on some map.
I was a bit freaked out in Jamaica about 15 years ago... surrounded by this dense school of tiny orange jellyfish-looking things, like 2-3" or less spacing and each of them was 1/2 to 1". Visibility about 1 to 3 feet in otherwise clear water because of the little buggers. I would have probably panicked more, but I was with my wife at the time and she was very uncomfortable with anything to do with nature, so I had to be more reassuring to her. I later asked a local what they were, and he just said "Tunacat". I never figured out more than that. It doesn't look like pictures of tunicate larvae I've researched.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2017 - 04:25am PT
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I was hookah diving in front of the Bengals stadium in Cincinnati. People were walking the river front going to the game. I radioed up, "stuck in a tree, let me sort this out for a few minutes". On the surface both our tending boats were yelling back and forth about the situation. It drew a huge crowd. When I surfaced, I remember an old man saying, "well, Martha, we ain't gonna see a drowning today". Ha!
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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May 29, 2017 - 08:46am PT
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Diving is fun but not as much fun as rock climbing.
That said there are a few places I want to get to:
Raja Ampat
Komodo
I have met people whose sole focus is diving and have done thousands of dives. When asked their favorite areas the 2 places listed above are always at the top of the list. Plus Indonesia has a number of other legendary areas mainly because Indonesian seas contain the highest areas for marine biodiversity in the world. New creatures are still being discovered in Lembeh, and this is a very small area.
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Bubba Ho-Tep
climber
Evergreen, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 08:54am PT
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Did the Febrina in December 2001 - you will love it! Don't miss the muck diving, it's the best.
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Bubba Ho-Tep
climber
Evergreen, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 09:03am PT
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And AP - Raja Amat is my favorite place to go by a mile.
Just got back from 10 days on the Dewi Nusantara. It's a pricy trip but worth every cent. The Misool area is nothing short of amazing due to the conservation efforts by the Misool Eco Resort. They have established a huge no take zone and the biomass has increased by 300% in the last 10 or so years.
To quote my wife after a dive at Magic Mountain - "I couldn't see the fish for all the damn fish!"
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 09:06am PT
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Yeah, this has been almost two years in the making. I'll get into Kimbe five days before the boat departs. There's a research center next to Walindi. They asked me if I'd assist some high school kids doing some research with my drones.
UW rig is squared away. Now equipped with a Nikon 360 Video camera.
I was talking to a friend of mine that's headed to Raja Ampat at the dive shop the other day. She made the comment something to the effect of "PNG is amazing but Raja is a little more amazing :p".
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Bubba Ho-Tep
climber
Evergreen, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 09:10am PT
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Here's one of the odd things to see in Raja Ampat. It's a Tasseled Wobbegong Shark.
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Bubba Ho-Tep
climber
Evergreen, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 09:16am PT
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You'll see plenty of great stuff in PNG - good place to shoot macro and it sure looks like your are ready for that!
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 09:38am PT
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Actually, I don't shoot macro. Everyone has been telling me I need to be shooting macro. But I've no interest in that. I won the trip (at least the FeBrina) at the Monterey Bay Underwater shootout. My images are beginner WIDE angle :)
http://www.montereyshootout.com/event-results/2015.php
I'm not really interested in learning macro nor do I feel like anything I shoot macro would be any different than what others shoot. I'm feeling that way about photography in general. So I'm hoping to share this place in a different way. So I'm really more focused on mapping/modeling the reefs and creating a virtual tour/experience like I'm trying at Shelf.
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okay, whatever
climber
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May 29, 2017 - 10:34am PT
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Sorry to hear about the ruptured eardrum, but glad she was able to have it repaired. Will it be "as good as new", with time, or does one lose just a bit of hearing in this process? I haven't dived for 14 years, but used to enjoy it about twice a year, in the Caribbean mostly (Cozumel, Grand and Little Cayman, Belize, Honduras, etc.). I also dived that airplane wreck off of the old airport on Hawaii (the "Big Island"), but didn't enjoy it much due to the sharp lava shore entry, sea urchins, turbulence, and limited bottom time since the wreck is at 100+ feet.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2017 - 10:56am PT
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Excited to hear about the PNG trip!
Lake Oconee GA, I was in about 20 feet. Visibility was zero. Brian hollered at me, "Hugh, feel this thing it is nasty!" We bumped into each other trying to feel each other's hands and I grab this thing. It was slipperier than a rotten greased piglet. I couldn't hold onto it and it squirted out of my hands. I hollered something and Brian replied, "it's nasty isn't it!"
I was laughing so hard I flooded my mask. Brian then said, " I squeezed pretty good and didn't feel any bones, probably not a human...but it sure is nasty!". I had to surface because I was laughing so much.
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