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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 25, 2021 8:21:20 GMT -8
Well said scubastefano.... lots of ball breaking going on lately here. Like I said in my previous post, Ill do what I can to help out, not many areas to plan here in TX, but Ill help out with anywhere else as much as possible. Where are you in TX?
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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 25, 2021 21:11:29 GMT -8
Guys, I don’t mind putting something together. I’ve been running a dive trip for collectors of DOXA diving watches since 2007, so I know how it all works. Since nine times out of ten, people are going to have to travel to get to it, it needs to be in a location with conditions that people can count on and there’s other fun stuff to do. Sure we’re dealing with Mother Nature, so there are no guarantees, but the odds have to be well above average for the dives.
Let’s look at the West Coast. Is Catalina pretty solid? I’ve dove out of Monterey and the day I was there we had maybe six foot of viz. I’ve also dove Laguna and we had great viz, but I heard that was a very rare day. Could we bank on Catalina?
If we do East Coast, what about Ft. Lauderdale? I’ve dove there and the conditions were really good. It’s a fun town with plenty of cool restaurants and great hotels, so definitely worth traveling for.
Does anyone else have any other location suggestions that would make for a successful event?
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Post by scubalawyer on Jun 26, 2021 7:13:02 GMT -8
Guys, I don’t mind putting something together. I’ve been running a dive trip for collectors of DOXA diving watches since 2007, so I know how it all works. Since nine times out of ten, people are going to have to travel to get to it, it needs to be in a location with conditions that people can count on and there’s other fun stuff to do. Sure we’re dealing with Mother Nature, so there are no guarantees, but the odds have to be well above average for the dives. Let’s look at the West Coast. Is Catalina pretty solid? I’ve dove out of Monterey and the day I was there we had maybe six foot of viz. I’ve also dove Laguna and we had great viz, but I heard that was a very rare day. Could we bank on Catalina? If we do East Coast, what about Ft. Lauderdale? I’ve dove there and the conditions were really good. It’s a fun town with plenty of cool restaurants and great hotels, so definitely worth traveling for. Does anyone else have any other location suggestions that would make for a successful event? Catalina Island in the Fall is usually consistently good weather and conditions. Although I have seen the odd storm come through now and then. Diving the Underwater Park in Avalon is always fun. Not sure how much the LA County Lifeguards would appreciate a bunch of no BC, no SPG, backplateless divers jumping in. I've never had an issue, but I just mind my own business and get in and out as unobtrusively as possible. It would just take one diver to yell out, "Look Ma, J-Valve only!" to get us noticed.
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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 26, 2021 7:40:21 GMT -8
Guys, I don’t mind putting something together. I’ve been running a dive trip for collectors of DOXA diving watches since 2007, so I know how it all works. Since nine times out of ten, people are going to have to travel to get to it, it needs to be in a location with conditions that people can count on and there’s other fun stuff to do. Sure we’re dealing with Mother Nature, so there are no guarantees, but the odds have to be well above average for the dives. Let’s look at the West Coast. Is Catalina pretty solid? I’ve dove out of Monterey and the day I was there we had maybe six foot of viz. I’ve also dove Laguna and we had great viz, but I heard that was a very rare day. Could we bank on Catalina? If we do East Coast, what about Ft. Lauderdale? I’ve dove there and the conditions were really good. It’s a fun town with plenty of cool restaurants and great hotels, so definitely worth traveling for. Does anyone else have any other location suggestions that would make for a successful event? Catalina Island in the Fall is usually consistently good weather and conditions. Although I have seen the odd storm come through now and then. Diving the Underwater Park in Avalon is always fun. Not sure how much the LA County Lifeguards would appreciate a bunch of no BC, no SPG, backplateless divers jumping in. I've never had an issue, but I just mind my own business and get in and out as unobtrusively as possible. It would just take one diver to yell out, "Look Ma, J-Valve only!" to get us noticed. Then maybe for the actual dives it can’t be “living history” authentically vintage, but more modified. My dive boat compliant rig is a backplate and 30# wing, breathing either a PRAM or a Kraken with SPG, back-up 2nd stage and an inflator hose. Still plenty of vintage feel but checks all the boxes for the safety requirements. All the “dangerous” gear we bring along for the evening banquet/swap meet/meet-n-greet. Maybe tie it in with the diving museum there and it should be a good event.
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Post by Seahuntjerry on Jun 26, 2021 11:35:47 GMT -8
I contacted some of my Vintage friends and are diving Lake Wayzee this Monday! I know its hard for people to go during the week,the weekend traffic kills us here in Mn.
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Post by fishnbeer on Jun 26, 2021 11:37:28 GMT -8
I'm all in for a fall West Coast dive in at Catalina Island. I've never seen LA County Lifeguards at the dive park, only the beaches near by. In May 2013 Jon Council, who runs the dive museum & I dove the park in vintage style w/o bc's and didn't have any issues with anybody there. Catalina has several dive friendly hotels but the issue would be carrying extra vintage gear on the Ferry due to possible weight limits. Of course Monterey is always good and we have had several Monterey Dive ins that were a load of fun with a decent turn out. Another option for NorCal could be a Lake Tahoe meet. Not too bad of a drive from the Bay area. Of course it would be a longer drive for Mark from SoCal. I believe the more vintage dive meets around the country could possibly get more interest into vintage style diving among those who are curious about it. I know some locations are not possible for many due to travel distances, but that it only takes two for a meet.
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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 26, 2021 20:07:55 GMT -8
I'm all in for a fall West Coast dive in at Catalina Island. I've never seen LA County Lifeguards at the dive park, only the beaches near by. In May 2013 Jon Council, who runs the dive museum & I dove the park in vintage style w/o bc's and didn't have any issues with anybody there. Catalina has several dive friendly hotels but the issue would be carrying extra vintage gear on the Ferry due to possible weight limits. Of course Monterey is always good and we have had several Monterey Dive ins that were a load of fun with a decent turn out. Another option for NorCal could be a Lake Tahoe meet. Not too bad of a drive from the Bay area. Of course it would be a longer drive for Mark from SoCal. I believe the more vintage dive meets around the country could possibly get more interest into vintage style diving among those who are curious about it. I know some locations are not possible for many due to travel distances, but that it only takes two for a meet. So from the middle of October to the first of November, which would make for the better location, Monterey or Catalina?
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Post by scubalawyer on Jun 26, 2021 21:44:49 GMT -8
Either, however Catalina has more logistics involved.
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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 27, 2021 5:44:53 GMT -8
Either, however Catalina has more logistics involved. Ok, then we just need to kick back off the Monterey event that Jay posted photos of earlier. Where’s Crabby Jim?
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Post by surflung on Jun 28, 2021 8:18:41 GMT -8
Fortune Pond Dive Report- We had six divers turn out for this terrific diving weekend at Fortune Pond. Ron met a new guy named Tony on line and Tony came and dove with us both days. We also had Mark with his re-breather... It's really neat to have someone with such a high degree of technicality that likes diving with us. Then we had the Intrepid SwimJim (see photo)... Jim did one Full-out Tech Dive to stay in practice and then dove nothing but vintage the rest of the weekend. SheriffDiver Ron came prepared with a variety of vintage gear. Seen here in his silver Sea Hunt suit... He also has a neat Techna suit we all envied for its smooth black skin with yellow and white accent decals. Rich 50,001 Questions came prepared for adventure. He had his new twin steel 45s and actually got two dives out of them. He brought along his DIY Snuba/Hookah system which we dove from the pier with a 50+ feet long hose. Rich dove it with a single hose reg. But he set it up for ME to dive with a DA AquaMaster. And, he had along the Tekna DV3 scooter with brand new batteries. Myself, I (SurfLung) came prepared to dive nothing but Twin tanks and double hose regs all weekend. Had my BEAST Submerge UV-26 scooter, too. - Weather was supposed to be partly cloudy Friday and Rain on Saturday. Instead, we go blue sky and calm wind all day Friday. And Saturday was bright overcast and calm all day... Really about perfect weather for diving. Warm air temps between dives so no freezing and shivering. - Visibility was up to 100 feet I think. It varies with where you are and how much has been stirred up. But it was really good at just about all depths. One of my dives was a slow speed scooter ride all the way around the lake at about 13 feet deep with great visibility. Another one was a scooter dive all the way around at medium speed and 85 feet... with a swoop down to 95 feet at the "Grim Reaper" formation. That one I had to go medium speed because I can only take the 39 degree temperature for 30 minutes! Let's see, we did a double hose twin tank bounce dive down to 134 feet. I dove my Snark II single hose for the first time it worked great down to 80 feet. - Vintage Equipment... Wow there was lots of variety. Above you see a Snark III double hose on a set of Twin 48s. SwimJim and I dove DivAir regs on one dive. I dove a Voit 50 Fathom, a Royal AquaMaster, and a Japanese Kowasaki DA AquaMaster. Oh and I dove my YELLOW AMF Swimaster mask and it worked even better than my usual favorite Pacifica. - Food and Lodging... We stayed at our favorite the Lakeshore Motel and we ate out both nights at Alice's... Fabulous. - Good Deed by Vintage Divers - While diving the Hookah rig we discovered the big, heavy park picnic bench had been jammed under the pier by vandals. Us old farts managed to muscle it down, over, and out... Then we floated it to shore, lifted it out and put it back where it belonged. - After Thoughts: I really treasure these trips. Got some great diving friends to talk diving and vintage with... Always enthusiastic over this or that latest acquisition or diving method they're trying. We don't have another FP trip scheduled but we're hoping to do some shorter day trips until then.
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Post by snark3 on Jun 28, 2021 13:49:18 GMT -8
Anybody up for a vintage dive on Cape Ann?
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Post by surflung on Jun 29, 2021 9:49:20 GMT -8
Here's a nice video from last weekend at Fortune Pond by my good friend Jim Bach. We had 6 of us diving. 5 regulars and one new guy. Weather was great. Diving was some of the best.
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Post by nikeajax on Jun 29, 2021 13:57:06 GMT -8
Fire season has officially arrived in California and Oregon: hopefully it won't be nearly as bad as it was last year because fire crews are able to travel as they are now vaccinated. I bring this up because when we have these mega-fires being outside can be very unhealthy. Jus' sayin'... JB
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Post by Aquala1 on Jun 29, 2021 16:39:16 GMT -8
Ok, as we tentatively put back together the Monterey event, anyone going to Diving Heritage Days at White Star Quarry in Ohio at the end of August?
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Post by vance on Jul 1, 2021 14:41:35 GMT -8
Please post area specific threads in the Regional Interest category. I applaud all efforts to get people together, but this thread is all over the place. We have Texas, Florida, CA, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. I can't keep up!
I just posted a Monterey, CA get-together thread there.
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