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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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Ain't no flatlander
climber
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May 29, 2017 - 12:12pm PT
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"Looks like a macro dive" was our euphemism for visibility sucks.
When the water is clear, the kelp beds off Santa Barbara Island offer world class diving; far superior to all the other islands. San Miguel offers the most fun when it's pupping season for the sea lions. Both are hard to get to.
Trivia question: who knows what "Going to Italy" means?
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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May 29, 2017 - 01:25pm PT
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Moose- sorry to hear about her ruptured ear drum. But somewhat crazy coincidence... I just reserved 2 pairs of diving slots at Point Lobos for next Saturday, for my kids and me. We have one unused spot if you want it.
We'll be taking 2 inflatable kayaks, and just snorkeling (no SCUBA). Not sure what we'll see, weather forecast is patchy fog clearing to sunny and a high of 59F... we all just got new surfing wetsuits but won't keep us warm for long term submersion. As long as we get full sun, it should be nice but cold.
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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May 29, 2017 - 02:18pm PT
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Wow Moose... sorry to hear about her ear drum. I didn't realize they did that "replacement". Guess I don't blame her for not wanting to dive.
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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 - 02:54pm PT
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Dang Moose! I hate to hear that, but glad she got it healed up.
I screwed up my right ear dropping down in zero vis and not holding the anchor line. It healed up and now clears better than it has for years! Best of luck to you guys.
Q
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 30, 2017 - 09:51am PT
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Moose! Sorry to hear about your daughter's ruptured eardrum. Sux big time!
I was a water baby from the age of 5 on, but scuba never really captured my interest outside the tropics. Free diving was another story. But if I lived close to Moose, I would get re-certified just to dive with him. So I really only have that one scuba story.
An old college mate of mine had a good one tho. After getting her BS in Geology, she swung a gig in Antartica diving under the ice sheet. I am not familiar with gear she used (mid 80's) so I may have some terms wrong, but here goes. About two weeks into the stint she goes in for another routine dive, puts on her dry suit and tank, checks that her gear works and heads under the ice. Once in she decides she wants more buoyancy and tries to fill her BC/drysuit. But there is a piece of ice or something stuck in the device and she continues inflating until she is pinned to the bottom of the ice sheet. Finally she gets the thing to stop inflating, and puts a hole in her drysuit with a knife so she can get back to her starting point safe and sound. That day is over as her drysuit needs to be repaired.
A couple days and routine dives later, she's done the basic gear check and heading under water but doesn't mentally register that tank weighs more than normal. When she goes in, she sinks to the bottom like a rock some 50 ft down. The tank was filled with water and after a short blast to try and fill the drysuits BC on the way down, she is out of air. At the bottom she strips off her weight belt and tank and heads back towards the surface. Luckily, she gets back safe and the diving gear guy caught holy hell from the project lead. Thank goodness the rest of her diving in Antartica was "uneventful" in comparison.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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May 30, 2017 - 10:15am PT
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Diving used to be my favorite sport, way before climbing.
I had my best ever high visibility experience at Pt Lobos. Somehow there was this thermocline or whatever about 20 feet down that apparently settled (downward) or unsettled (upward) the sediments. Anyways at the surface the visibility was more or less average, then as my buddy and I descended further there was a dramatic step change and suddenly the 20' opened up to about 150'. Blowing our minds. It was magical, a magical moment, and I've never forgotten it. 25 years ago now.
Ocean kayaks are the way to go along the CA coast. Monterey to Big Sur. We had two. Fun times.
NutAgain, get your scuba training and certification, you won't regret it! Your kids neither.
So, finally, submerge! As we slowly descend, I can barely see my daughter from the distance of two feet! Visibility is 3-4 feet. But, sine we put so much effort to it, I didn't want to quit. As we were going down,
Moose, I initially thought your post was going to second my experience from the way it was reading, lol!
PS.
I would guess this sharp high visibility (150') low visibililty (< 20') thermocline barrier experience was a 1 in 500 dive probabiity - or at least statistic - it was that rare in my diving career along the CA coast.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2017 - 11:27am PT
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My father was diving with Jacques Cousteau in Belize. He had been making fun of my dads octopus rig (regulator with a spare). At 100 ft he grabbed my dad and gave a signal running his hand across his throat. Dad simply reached over and stuck his spare regulator in his mouth.
They surfaced and Jacque never said thanks. My father still gets a sneer on his face when you mention that guys name.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 30, 2017 - 01:04pm PT
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Hmmm, Jacque should have said thanks. And an octopus saved my first dive experience.
Moose, the water in the tank still sounds strange to me, but I believe her story. A couple of facts; first, she was an experienced diver diving 6 days a week and had her "going in" pattern down which included giving the BC a couple squirts of air before going under. Second, they recovered the tank and weights and evaluated the incident. The tank was not completely full of water and had enough headspace to allow some compression of air. She was never prone to exaggeration when I knew her. And she did say the tank felt heavier than normal when she put it on, but the weight did not register mentally until after the fact. My recollection is that they never did really figure out how the water got in there. So to summarize, I believe the second event happened and the tank somehow ended up about 3/4+ full of water. :) pay attention to your equipment, lol.
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surfstar
climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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May 30, 2017 - 03:51pm PT
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I got my wife (then g/f) to climb with me, so it was only fair that I got certified. She loves to dive and I love her, so it works out quite well :)
The charismatic megafauna are always highlights at the Channel Islands (she's also a great U/W photog)
Me, somehow not looking intimidated (remember u/w things appear larger and closer!)
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nature
climber
Boulder, CO
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Jun 12, 2017 - 10:30pm PT
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My new stories start tomorrow. I board the MV FeBrina in an hour. Can't believe I made it with all my gear.
So... until I get underwater here's a few shot of this area.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jun 13, 2017 - 02:12am PT
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Gotta love diving.
Every trip, for me, has been magical, with no really scary moments. The feeling in the body after all that pressure is also magical. Pissing feels like every toxin in the body is being eliminated.
My very first ocean dive was at night, in the Molokini Crater, with sharks cruising around the big lights mounted to the keel of the dive boat. Then, I got separated from the group because I couldn't clear my ears, and get to the bottom fast enough to keep up with the group. I accidentally found another dive group, and was with them. The grass eels were so strange, I thought, "Oh, this is one of those LSD flashbacks they've been promising us for all these years". Later, at the surface, the confusion about which group I belonged to was solved, and the appropriate boat motored over, and picked me up.
Another story is diving the wrecked SS Yongala at the Great Barrier Reef, and coming around the port side of the wreck to the stern, passing the rudder, and coming face-to-face with a giant grouper that looked like Andre The Giant's big brother. His mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. So, I used my arms to back up, turn and go back the other way.
The worst diving experience I had was making the mistake of having one margarita with lunch, before going out for the second dive of the day. The cliff reef dropped down, and down, and down. I wasn't paying attention, and at about 120 feet, I became nitrogen-narced. I looked down, and wondered, "Gee. I wonder what is way, way, way down there?" Luckily, I remembered my PADI training, and reduced my depth, and soon enough, my head cleared right up. I never dove after drinking alcohol again. And, I have never narced since.
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BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
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Jun 13, 2017 - 09:09am PT
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Been scuba diving ALOT longer than climbing...and I have a few stories.
One: Were lobster hunting off of the channel islands on a small chartered craft.(for those that don't know you hunt lobster at night in the great BIG DARK pacific ocean, and its typically done alone not on the buddy system, akin to free solo?)During the day I decide to do a solo check out dive of the area to get my bearings for the night dives. As I'm motoring along I notice a medium size cave. When I peer in I see lobsta like lots and lotsa of lobsta... I'm giddy(for those that hunt, I have buck/lobster fever) I know from experience that I wont be able to catch them in the daytime as they'll just back into a hole and be gone in the back of the cave. So, I decide to leave be and promise to myself to hit the spot on the night dive. Well like most "sporting" things between friends there's a lil competition, and with lobster its who catches the biggest bug or the most bugs for the trip. Needless to say you don't go blabbing about what you saw or where you saw it. Come nighttime and we do our first dive so probably around 11pm. I must have been showing my nervous excitement prior to entering the water because as I'm descending I notice that one of my dive buddies is following me... I think no worries he'll get distracted by the one and two bugs in the broken rock structures and kelp forest before finding the cave. So, I fin quickly for the cave so I can maximize my time there. As I enter the cave I start seeing bugs and more BUGS, I'm in a honeypot!:D I literally start grabbing them two at a time and as I'm stuffing my bag, I notice that there's a current in the cave and its pulling me rapidly towards the back of the cave. I realize that I've put myself in a "not-good" situation and instantly drop to the sea floor and start to climb 5.10 along the bottom of the ocean. The sand patches between the boulders were like climbing slab...no holds! As I'm coming to terms with what I have to do to get back to the entrance, I see....yep... you guessed it. My buddy coming into the mouth of the cave and he sees some of the bugs, that I've now forgotten about. I start to signal with my light but to no avail, he has lobster fever and assumes I'm waving my light to notify him of our big score.....not! I'm now trying to control an almost panicky feeling because even finning as quickly as I can I'm only making headway when I can grab actual anchored rocks and pull myself forward HARD..my buddy drifts past ...fast. I make a decision to go after him knowing it could cost me. I quickly catch him and show him what's happening...as the severity of the situation slowly creeps into his thick skull. We both start clambering our way towards the entrance...luckily this time I knew what we were in for and I directed us towards the wall of the cave where it met the floor ...because of this, we were able to use more hand holds along the wall and 10 min later were both looking at each other in 15' of water doing our safety stop with the eyes the size of saucers and only 300psi in our tanks. When we both had gotten on the boat and gotten our masks/bcd's off neither of us talked for like 5 min or so... just kinda sat staring blankly at each other. Then we both stood up simultaneously and gave each other a hell of a bear hug, and decided that we had had enough diving for the night.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Jun 13, 2017 - 09:39am PT
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I'm going to Indonesia in a couple of months!
The wildest dives in my experience are the drift dives. You're flying over the site like it is skydiving. In a shallow divesite, there can be a heavy current as the tides go in and out. But that will be where the shallower wrecks are. Some other stuff.
In Scapa Flow, in Northern Scotland, we waited for "slack tide". All dressed up on the deck waiting for the time. Time came, and everyone punched in off the high deck in a "negative entry" straight on down. The current grabbed us and we went flying by the wreck. Had to grab it on the fly. Otherwise, you'd be past the wreck and have ascend to shoot up a sausage. Get picked up before you drifted out to the open ocean.
Once inside though, it was quiet, no current, it was a big boat lots of decks and structure.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 13, 2017 - 09:46am PT
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I've done some pretty cool drift dives in the South Pacific after I finally got certified. The outer reefs near Pohnpei were some of my favorites. Heard a horror story in the news while I was in the S.P., where a couple was lost during a drift dive. They searched for them a couple of days before giving up.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Jun 13, 2017 - 12:35pm PT
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The big thing now, is diver/shark inter actions. We did this in 2015 went to "Tiger beach" in the Bahamas.
I floated up and lensed this one ritf.
It's a Tiger, you can see the stripes.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2017 - 12:16pm PT
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Last night a guy jumped from 65 feet into a quarry that is 200 feet plus deep. He never surfaced. My buddy on the rescue squad was first in and at 60 ft he called it off due to safety reasons. Another individual somehow lost their weightbelt and rocketed to to the surface.
That individual is now in ICU. Please pray or send good thoughts to the family.
Also please give time to think of the individual who passed. A ROV was used to locate the other individual in approx 200 ft of water.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Jun 19, 2017 - 01:12pm PT
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BigB fantastic story. Q-Ball hoping for a full recovery.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2017 - 09:01am PT
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In the 50s my father lived on Bloody Bay Tobago. His friend went on a single diver drift dive with the boat following his bubbles.
The guy in the boat lost sight of the bubbles, and blamed it on the Russians because he was so smart (found them a spy) Terrifying way to go.
Edit my dad was not on the boat
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 26, 2017 - 01:32pm PT
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Lived at the beach as a kid, either surfing or snorkeling. Was about 12' down
swimming along the edge of a thick kelp forest off Corona del Mar when I
came face to face with a ginormous grouper. I swear he coulda swallowed me!
I almost swallowed my snorkel!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 26, 2017 - 01:42pm PT
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There was an intense write up on Nat Geo about the fresh water dives in Australia to retrieve another diver. Hard read. Serious challenges at 900+ foot dive.
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
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Mungeclimber,
I would love to read that Nat Geo article if you have a link?
Reilly, my mother and father spent several years sailing the South Pacific. My father was doing underwater photography for nat geo, so my mom spent the time diving and collecting seashells. She had a good sack full off of the Solomon Islands and ran into a giant grouper that swam up and inhaled her haul! : )
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 26, 2017 - 09:55pm PT
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sorry, yeah, outside online is the article.
thx original!
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2017 - 06:54am PT
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Wow, that article pulled my heartstrings. Thanks for posting...trying to get tears out of my eyes
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 27, 2017 - 09:21am PT
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That Nat Geo article said 8:40 of decompression? Are you kidding me? That’s crazy!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Oct 27, 2017 - 11:09am PT
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Been diving all around the western Pacific including Northern Sulawesi where they were still fishing with dynamite even in remote villages. At this point I think the best diving is from liveaboards as far from human habitation as possible.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Oct 27, 2017 - 01:44pm PT
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Got my first cert in '69 using a J valve.
Like wall climbing one becomes equipment dependent.
I still have Layton's SCUBA tank and it still has some of "his" air.
Once, at breakfast with Karen, Jan and me, he said, "You know I dove around Guam for 3 or 4 years."
I said, "Wow! Didn't you even come up for air?"
EDIT
When the women cracked up he shot a glare at me before he realized that I was making him out to be superman.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 27, 2017 - 01:58pm PT
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lol, Toker lol
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Oct 27, 2017 - 04:25pm PT
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I tried scuba diving but just never felt comfortable with it. Drowning and fire are my mental nightmares. Kathy Dicker posted up some beautiful cave diving shots awhile back but then disappeared. I ended up buying her Yos wall rack for a measly $400. It had over 40 pieces including a ton of metolius cams and stoppers. I kinda felt bad for getting it at such a bargain basement price.
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Hubbard
climber
San Diego
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Oct 27, 2017 - 09:04pm PT
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After his Navy pilot career my Dad taught scuba diving in the 1970's in San Diego. We had Jaque Coustue over for dinner one night. I was never actually certified, but was around the whole show so much that I learned what I needed to know.
Using my dad's gear and his air and his Zodiac boat with a twenty-horse mercury engine we went diving in the kelp beds off Point Loma. I was 15 at the time.
Swam down to sixty feet and broke open a bunch of urchins and swam away for about five minutes, all things I was told to do. Dad was off grabbing lobsters so I felt very much alone. I circled back around and peered over the rock edge and was shocked at how many big fish had arrived and were feeding in crystal clear water. I picked out a huge sheeps-head and speared him with my sling spear, pinned him on the bottom and with gloves on my hands, grabbed the spear tips sticking out the back of the fish. This fish wouldn't die. He spun around and around on the spear until he had a golf ball size hole through him, but he kept thrashing for all the time it took to ascend and stop to decompress. The fish knocked my mask off and cut my face but I finally flopped him up into the boat and watched him die.
This was my first actual ocean dive. It was so beautiful and traumatic at the same time. I did other dives after this but none of them were as good. Either no fish or murky water or gnarly currents. I drifted away from diving and surfed instead and then was introduced to climbing at age 16. I cherish the memory and gift of it.
Reading all the stories on this thread fired me up to share.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Oct 29, 2017 - 05:29am PT
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My wife got me into diving. So far my quals include master diver, gas blender, fill station operator, cylinder inspector, advanced decompression, and full cave diver. I have a full dive shop in my garage, including a compressor, and can blend any gas that I desire.
I routinely dive in local reservoirs, where the silt reduces visibility to 1-2 feet but at time drops to 1-2 inches. It's totally dark below 40 feet.
I go out alone, because it's pointless to have a buddy in those conditions. Usually I'm in a dry suit, wearing double steel 130s (260 cubic feet of gas) with two sets of regulators, an AL40 decompression cylinder, 3 lights, two compasses, and multiple cutting tools.
I dive by feel, with my left hand finger-walking along the bottom and my right hand protecting my face in case I run into a tree or something.
I carry a plastic bag filled with fresh water. In order to see my gauges I have to place the bag of clear water between my mask and the gauge, and shine my light into the water bag.
I've been below 120 feet, but I get so narcotized at that depth that I usually don't go deeper. At 150+ feet I'm a complete idiot.
On the Big Island in Hawaii I could see whales swimming by all day, about 100 yards offshore, so I decided to swim out there and Swim with Whales. Their songs were extremely loud, but I once I got out there I never saw them. I was out past the reef, so I sank to the bottom (120-130 feet) and relaxed in the sand on my back looking up at the surface. I was really narcotized and really enjoyed the whale songs.
I really like dive photography, too, and have a Nikon D300s.
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Oct 31, 2017 - 11:14am PT
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I started scuba diving at 12 y/o, and have dove many parts of the world. One of my most memorable dives was a drift dive at Maria la Gorda in Cuba. I was there with a certain Cuban American climber who posts here.
The boat was an old 50' Bertram. I was with a group of strangers using rented Cuban dive gear. The dive was a 55 min drift at 110' on a single 80 cf tank. I was the first in the water and, as I swan to the anchor line I noticed bubbles coming from every fitting and from numerous holes in the BC. At the anchor line I noticed the boat had a two foot diameter hole just above the waterline.
The dive master warned that is was essential to stay submerged, as a 15 k current headed straight out to sea. We dropped to 75', and cruised along the bottom among amazing corals, with thousands of tropical fish, nurse sharks, giant grouper, etc. then dropped over the edge of the wall. My trail of bubbles got bigger and bigger as we dropped. Twenty minutes into the dive my air was already way to low, so I alerted the dive master who was diving with twin 100s. At 35 mins I was almost out of air, and by 40 I was dry. I shared air with the divemaster for the last 15 mins, the first time in almost 40 yrs of diving.
The lesson is, if you dive in Cuba, take your own gear
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Oct 31, 2017 - 12:02pm PT
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On my first certification dive with my friend, some fool tried to pull my friend's fins off when we were about 30' down. I dragged the fool to the surface and gave him a piece of my mind. He disapeared after that and was later found at the bottom of the lake; apparently he let all of the air out of his BC and turned his air off.
I'm still not sure how to feel about that. The fool was a prik and looking for attention. I am very defensive of my friends and felt I did the right thing, but I also pushed the guy over the edge. I was 15 at the time and still remember it all vividly at 59. Watching him being pulled out of the lake had a profoung effect on me.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Oct 31, 2017 - 03:12pm PT
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I did some dives in Cuba once. Pretty sketchy operation
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Oct 31, 2017 - 11:23pm PT
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I've only dived in Indonesia, 60 or 70 times. Just about every one was incredibly memorable. Drift dives, like floating weightless through the rain forest canopy, with so much diversity it makes your head spin. Wrecks. Stonefish. Everything.
Sometimes memorable for the sketchiness: at Candi Dasa, the dive boats are these skinny ass little dugouts with outriggers lashed on, and a motor that couldn't have been more than 25 cc. Somehow (with the two passengers doing a lot of leaning hard to one side or the other) they punch through the waves and motor out to these cool rock towers off shore. There's a roiling swell, and the boat and gap between hull and outriggers are too small to gear up on board, so you cinch on your weight belt, the guide holds your gear in the water so it doesn't fly away in the current, and you gear up pitching around in the swells. If you don't execute, being already weighted, you plummet to the bottom or maybe manage not to panic and dump the belt but thereby lose your dive too. Once below surface, it is fantastic though the currents are wild (one dive spot is called the Toilet for what the current does at times). Indonesia has giant currents and when they hit those rock towers underwater, it swirls around crazily. With all that current though the fish and soft corals are absolutely incredible. One of the spots is a known reef shark dormitory, you go there early and are guaranteed to encounter at least 10-20 of them sleeping and one by one lazily awakening and swimming gracefully off to eat somebody. Gorgeous fish.
Sulawesi is as good as land-based gets. Saw the mimic octopus in Lembeh (and tons of other cool stuff). At the end of the trip, they asked what we'd like to go see, so I piped up with mandarin fish, they look so wild in the fish book. They knew right where to go, a heap of coral rubble, an area of staghorn coral that was shattered by an earthquake/mini-tsunami. Shallow. You just settle on the bottom and wait. And wait. And then one, and another, and soon enough hundreds of the little tykes emerge from the rubble and start spawning. Hardly any other species, but zillions of mandarin fish.
But by far the most other-worldly are night dives. I suppose at any minute you could become shark dinner without warning, but the cool stuff to be seen at night is just not to be missed. Huge bizarre organisms that it's hard to imagine what phylum they're in. Millions of delicate prawns of every description. A whole different fish fauna than daytime.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Sulawesi is as good as land-based gets. Saw the mimic octopus in Lembeh (and tons of other cool stuff).
Neat stuff! We went this August past. Followed a mimic around 20 or so minutes. Lembeh, has that mud bottom and it had no where to hide. This species only got discovered in the 1990s.
One of the guys on my boat, did this video
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2018 - 08:35am PT
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I froze my butt off doing a survey on the North Fork of the Holston. Didn't find many mussels, but did find a wagon wheel, rifle, old jars, and my first dragon wing! Haha!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 16, 2018 - 08:46am PT
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Anybody done drifts in some of the crazy tides of British Columbia or Norway? I know it’s
dark and cold but just imagine ripping along at 15 knots! What could go wrong?
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 16, 2018 - 10:55am PT
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Mongrel:
I have a guidebook by David Pickell on Bali diving. Great stories in this book including a section on the "Toilet".
I got my OW ticket at Tulamben and was the only student so it was a pretty good introduction. Learning to dive in Indonesia is kind of like learning to climb in Yosemite. The bar is so high that you visit other areas and they are just not as good.
Lembeh was incredible and Bunaken was pretty fine. My ice climbing buddy did a trip to Komodo a few years back and came back pretty amped up.
I met people who are dive addicts with 5000+ dives. Ask their favorite places and the same 2 names are always at the top of the list: Komodo and Raja Ampat. I would love to go but my attention and money will be going towards building a house on my land at J Tree. Maybe in a few years. I wonder how climate change is effecting Indonesia?
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Mar 16, 2018 - 01:41pm PT
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I don't think climate change has anything to do with it, but there is an exponential amount more plastic in the water in Indonesia and elsewhere. Both floating and in the water. It's killing animals that mistake it for jellyfish and the like.
As far as the currents in the Northern climes (upthread), this is what Orkney diving looks like in Northern Scotland. Around 300 miles away and the same latitude as Southern Norway. I wouldn't mind diving Narvik further North.
You can see how the weed is bent over from current and this is slack tide.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 16, 2018 - 03:25pm PT
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Night diving is spooky, but catching octopus is fun.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 16, 2018 - 05:18pm PT
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Night diving is great. Different fauna than during the day. I saw tons of good stuff in Sulawesi.
One weekend it rained an insane amount. Manado, the nearby city to where we were on Bunaken, had 6 feet of water in low spots on the street. Homes were destroyed by mud slides.
Monday we do a night dive.
The mainland was draining into the ocean and we were maybe 10 km away.
Wicked pockets of current while moving along a steep wall.
Like being in a washing machine for 2 cycles then all is cool again for a few minutes.
Hang on to that flashlight and don't contact the reef.
Stefan is 6"6" tall and gets pushed into the reef during one cycle.
He is stuck.
The guide, a well trained local by the name of Juliette, is all of 98 lbs but she drags Stefan out.
We did not let him forget it during the bar session after the dive.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Mar 16, 2018 - 10:36pm PT
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Snorkeling way off some beach in Oahu a few years ago in deep water with friends and my wife, I suddenly had that tingly feeling and headed back in, asking my wife and friends to follow. Just didn't feel right. They went in with me.
On the beach they asked, "What's up? Why did you want us all to go back in?"
No good answer. Just didn't feel right.
About half an hour later, as we were loading up the car to leave, a guy about 100 yards from where we'd been gets bit bad by a big tiger shark. I read in the paper the next day that it seemed he would survive.
Trust the spidey sense when it knocks on your door. No explanation of it.
Sometimes stuff in the ocean wants to eat you.
Otherwise, GOOD times!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 18, 2018 - 02:20pm PT
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Was diving a wreck off Longboat Key in '87, and emerged to see a 12' hammerhead 30' above me near the surface.
I ducked back in and signaled my partner with my hands doing "jaws". She peeked up and went wide eyed. I pointed to the gauges (lots of air) and my watch.
Sure enough, gone 3 minutes later.
Not much of a close call, but that and a few eels are it.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Mar 18, 2018 - 03:44pm PT
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^^^ The hell is your issue? You sound drunk.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 18, 2018 - 04:24pm PT
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Maybe an aggressive drunk
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2018 - 06:56am PT
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Doing a Unionidae survey in an Alabama quarry, the landowner informed us it was 87 feet deep. We all thought "crap!" Wading out it got up to my neck in the middle then gradually got shallower! After finishing the survey the owner came back down. He stated, "it's a good thing they didn't have you survey the one behind my house, it's bottomless!
We never told him his quarry was 5 feet deep, but made me wonder that bottomless may be around 15 ft for that fellow. :)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 19, 2018 - 09:45am PT
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^^^^ Ya, sure, that was some craziness!
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