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Post by surflung on Jul 8, 2014 10:43:48 GMT -8
Why Are We Flying...The Canadian Flag?- Took a boat ride July 4th and my daughter asked about the Divers Flag...
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 8, 2014 16:55:11 GMT -8
Canadian flag--I like that, it shows an inquisitive mind. I dove today, mainly to test a few concepts. Dive PlanI want to dive three regulators. The first is my Healthways SCUBA Hybrid, without a duckbill in the exhaust. This has the original Healthways SCUBA case with the innards of a Gold Label, and I have Voit grey hoses on it with a curved mouthpiece right now. I want to find out just how important the duckbill is to the exhalation characteristics. Second, I want to check out my Scubapro Mark VII with the AIR-1 second stage and see whether the added O-ring and new O-ring on the oscillator make a difference. Third, I want to dive my Healthways ScubaAir 300 sonic reserve for the remainder of the dive. ObservationsThe Healthways SCUBA hybrid definitely leaked a bit of water into the exhaust hose when I was head-down, which was a lot in the current and being slightly positively buoyant at the shallow depth. When I was horizontal or head-up, it breathed great on the exhalation. Being head-down was not a huge problem, but was noticeable for higher exhalation resistance. The Scubapro Mark VII did honk initially when I took a breath or two when I was putting the regulator on, but thereafter, it did not. That was even when I got down to noticeable low pressure too. So it still has problems. I think I'll try Bob's advice and put the 109 second stage back on and try it on land. I was diving my twin52s, and started out with 1000 psig in them. I used the SCUBA hybrid using both cylinders, with the reserve up on each one (I am diving a cross-over manifold with J-valves on the tanks). For this dive, I dove only one cylinder "On" with the reserve up. The Healthways ScubAir 300 performed well, though it is a wet breather when head-down. I used both cylinders with the J-reserve down for the rest of the dive. The reserve came on and the sonic was unmistakable. So I have a good impression of the ScubaAir 300 sonic reserve. When I went on reserve, I surfaced shortly thereafter and swam to the exit using my helmet-tied snorkel. When I tested the tanks, there was about 300 psig left. Other observations: I watched a crawdad with a lot of worms on its claws, and a couple elsewhere on its body. I read a paper where these little worms are commensal most of the times, when food is abundant, but when the food is taken away they go for the crawdad's gills and become parasitic on the crawdad, but I'm not sure its the same worms I'm observing. I found another golf ball, and a pair of sunglasses which look new that my wife can use for her bicycling (if I can get her on the bike again ). Kids forget to take off their glasses when they jump from High Rocks (about 20 feet) into the Clackamas River. I also saw one tennis shoe, but decided to leave it there. Special Problems and IdeasThe tank harness is harder to get out of and back into when on a sliding bank of rocks! At one point, I put my arm through the shoulder strap with a twist in the strap, and for a moment thought I might need help getting back out. But after some struggle, was able to make it. I took my tanks and weight belt down first, then got into my wet suit and took the rest of the gear down. That made for an easier time entering. I exited at a small park, and there were two women with four small kids playing in the water--all the kids were in life jackets! I got some interesting looks from the kids when I swam in too. I complimented them on that decision, and told the two women about having my kids, when the tubed the river even as swim team members, in life jackets. We've had six drownings locally in the last two or so weeks; this is very, very important even for adults. We had one adult enter the water from a dock when the lake was fairly cold (55 or so degrees F) without a lifejacket to retrieve a hat. He was seen struggling, then went under and was recovered by dive rescue teams the next day. Here's a newspaper ad I took out in 1997 in The News-Review, our Roseburg, Oregon local paper (RHS is Roseburg High School; gosh, that was 17 years ago--time really flies when we're enjoying the diving): This is a Nikonos II photo, 35 mm lens, probably at 125th second at F-8 or so. Photo by me. Note that this is not copyrighted; if any of you want to use it anywhere, please feel free do to so. John
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 12, 2014 14:34:28 GMT -8
Went snorkeling at Shadow Cliffs this morning, it's a reservoir in Fremont CA: when I tried to go in a second time I was notified that snorkeling isn't allowed--GRRRR! Hmmm, next time we'll get there before the life guards, who get there at 11:00! It was fun to see all the bass in there. Also if we get there early enough, the silt won't be as bad from all the kids playing in the water.
Evidently you can dive there too, but you have to do it through the parks-system. Robb said he dived there once, said it was pretty murky, but I still want to do it: I really like seeing the fresh water fish.
I was used two different masks, my USD wrap around and my Cressi Stabilizator. I used a very simple Dacor snorkel, and Voit Viking fins.
Hopefully we'll be going back in two weeks!
Jaybird
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 12, 2014 16:55:44 GMT -8
dove Thursday again (July 10, 2014) Dive PlanDove my Healthways Hybrid SCUBA regulator, again to make observations about the exhaust. My last dive was only for a few minutes on it. I planned to dive and drift downstream to use up the air in my single 72, which was at about 1200 psig. ObservationsThe Healthways SCUBA hybrid again leaked water in some positions, but I used it this time for 37 minutes. I started the dive and then found out I had only one fin on. I decided to use my White Stag fins instead of my usual scoop-modiifed Mares Power Plana fins, and in the process one slipped off my foot while I was putting my mask on. I started out, realized the problem, and went down-current (which was actually upstream in this river eddy), and found the fin about 20 feet away. I put it on, then commenced with the dive. I got under the rapid, and came upon a large rock which formed a bit of an eddy beside it, and there were the red-sided shiners in their mating colors, congregated around the rock. I held on, and started observing the fish in their mating ritual, and changed my dive plan right there to simply watch the mating of these very beautiful little fish. Other observations: I have watched this mating ritual in the North Umpqua River many times, but this is the first time I have observed for a long period of time these little fish mating in the Clackamas River. As I was watching, i was thinking that I should have a GoPro camera on my helmet to record some of these unique observations. It appears that the females are the larger of the two, and since these fish are identically marked, other than size it is difficult to tell males from females. I did not see any eggs broadcast, but did see the mass of fish (some 10-20 individuals) around one or two females and broadcasting sperm (white milk) into the water. The eggs, from observations in the past, are deposited into cracks between large, fist-sized rocks, and adhere to the bottom of these rocks. I did not disturb the rocks, and acted simply as an underwater naturalist observing without disturbing the rocks or fish. I had my SeawiscopeEY on, and so was able to see them very clearly at very close quarters (less than a foot from my face). My use of the double hose Healthways SCUBA hybrid regulator ensured that I wasn't disturbing these fish too. I noted a large-scale sucker fish come by, and try for eggs where the spawning had occurred, just as is the North Umpqua. I also saw a Northern Pike Minnow coming in, but it did not feed on anything (these fish are too big for this fish to eat, I think, as it was only about a foot long). I'll post a few photos I took years ago in the North Umpqua so you can tell what I was seeing (all these photos are Copyright John C. Ratliff). Special Problems and Ideas--The Healthways SCUBA hybrid regulator performed very well on inhalation resistance, but the exhalation in certain positions was a bit of a gurgle. I'll install a duckbill-type into the regulator (like was in there and I have discussed elsewhere) to correct the problem. But when I was horizontal and tilted slightly to my right, it performed very well without the duckbill. However, the fish were ahead and to my right, so I needed to tilt to the left to see them, which produced more gurgling. --The fin being off was a bit of a problem at the beginning of the dive. --I was using a Scubapro J-valve, set at 600 psig, so I needed to go onto reserve for a while, and decided to stay down observing while on reserve air. I figured that being on a 600 psi reserve gave me about 3-5 minutes of more air before the traditional 300 psi reserve would kick in, so I breathed a bit longer. This dive was vintage, without a power inflator or SPG. --I had a White Stage oval mask with a straight snorkel attached, and it fogged badly when I put it on to cross the river after running out of air. But my work on it meant that it no longer leaked (I had to reposition the metal band to make the mask seal the night before). The fogging was a problem, as the water temperature was about 63 degrees F. --I was using a Healthways backpack/harness, and when I was putting on my fins, the left arm strap came loose. It was held together by two snaps, and since the harness is over 50 years old, the snaps don't snap tight, and came loose when I bent over to put no the fins. This probably also led to me temporarily loosing one fin. The fix--don't dive this harness again in open water unless I deal with the strap's snaps. Loosening the straps is not an option, as they are as loose as they can be currently. I would need to re-rig new webbing to this harness, but because it uses the Healthways quick release and crotch strap, I'm reluctant to do this (it's a unique approach). Actually, I could do it with new webbing, and use a better quick release (weight belt quick release) for the shoulder. But again, then I loose that nice soft blue webbing that is currently on it. Oh well...
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Post by surflung on Sept 2, 2014 7:34:49 GMT -8
Dive Report Lake Victoria on Labor Day - I had a fun little dive on labor day. Used my Twin 38s and Mistral double hose regulator with 3mm wetsuit. I had a D-Ring Keeper on my weight belt and used it with clip-on 2 lb weights to set my buoyancy perfectly for the 8-10' depth... Then I set out from my house and followed the edge of the weeds going north. Visibility was 10+ feet... Not as good as it's been but still pretty good. In the fish department, I saw 1 northern, 1 carp, and several bass, walleyes, and sunfish. In the discoveries department, I found a brown crock-type jug, and four mushroom style anchors. Zebra mussels covered everything solid except under the silt. - There were also these pits dug in the silt... Same as the four I found along the weed line to the south of my dock. They all have a stick or a log in them and a bunch of old broken clamshells. I'm thinking they are a nest or something for one of the fish breeds... When carp are in the area, the water gets all stirred up and visibility goes down... I wonder if they were digging these pits? - Diving that shallow sure doesn't use much air. At 25 minutes, I turned around and came back... A little faster coming back. Ended with a 40 minute dive and used only 800 psi of my Twin 38s... Which started the dive at 1800 psi. Also, I sure didn't need the wetsuit at that depth... I actually felt a little too warm.
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