Dive 19: Drysuit Specialty
Date: Saturday, May 19, 2007, 12:18 PM
Location: Whytecliff Park, West Vancouver, BC
Visibility: 10-15ft
Temp: 47°F
Depth: 50-70ft
Duration: 0:41
Surface Interval: 1:39
Tank: Al80
Start Pressure: 3005psi
End Pressure: 560psi
Gear: Bare CD4, Aeris Atmos XT, Apollo Bio-Fins Blue, Aeris Elite T3
Weight: 30lbs
--
The biggest reason that I've always wanted a drysuit is that they are so much more convenient than wetsuits. Never having gotten cold in a wetsuit, even when I dove in the winter, the benefit for me is out of the water. In a wetsuit, you've got 7-14mm of neoprene sqeezed tightly over your body. It makes doffing, donning, and movement a lot more difficult. You remember Randy in his snow-suit from A Christmas Story? That's pretty much what it feels like in a wetsuit around these parts. Once you get out of the water, you have to contort and convulse yourself in order to strip down to your soaking wet skivvies. Then you must towel up and try to get warm. That's not so bad in July, but in February, it's pretty miserable. Also, regardless of the time of year, the only thing worse than putting a wetsuit on is putting a wet wetsuit on. You have to strip back down to your bathingsuit and pull, wrench, and stretch the cold, slimy suit over your bare skin. It's fairly miserable.
With a drysuit however, you've got excellent mobility out of the water. It's relatively loose fitting and quite comfortable. When you're ready to take it off, it's a quick duck out of the seals and then you just let the suit hang by its suspenders around your waist. You're already wearing your nice warm and dry athletic clothing. Put a toque on in the Winter, and you're set. Donning it for successive dives is just as simple a process.
So, after exiting the water and easily popping out of the top half, I let my suit hang by its suspenders and swapped out my tank for a new one. The sun had come out during our first dive and it was now shining brightly and warmly in a blue sky. Overall it was quite a pleasant experience. A far cry better than my previous wetsuit dives on the nicest of days.
The consession stand at the park had decided to stay closed this day. Gary was a little chuffed, apparently their hamburgers were delicious (to be fair though, the extra nitrogen in a diver's blood acts as a perfect condiment to almost any food). Fortunately I had brought a couple sandwiches and we split the two.
Naturally, as we were climbing the path and throughout our surface interval, Prospector Howard (see previous post) was laughing and joking, asking and answering, and rhuminating about a great many topics. Eventually we were ready for the second dive and had to wander away from him to discuss it.
--
The second dive was going to be a fairly normal fun dive around the North slope at Wytecliff. It is a fairly steep sloping bottom/wall down to over 200ft, usually not one recommended for beginners, but since I did well with my buoyancy right off the bat, we decided we were both comfortable with it. We swam most of the way out to the point, and then descended to about 45 feet. I kept my BC deflated the entire dive, and managed my buoyancy with the suit. Gradually descending, we followed the wall/shelf/bottom around and looked at the little critters. I didn't have a light, so Gary clipped his backup on to me as a loaner. He was using his primary light, a canister HID-type device with an mini-nova output requiring somewhere in the order of 1.21 jiggawatts to power.
We saw several octopus dens, but I coudn't see their occupants. It's easy to spot an octopus den, the ground just outside is absolutely littered with pieces of crab shells. To me it looks rather like a white trash front lawn. I can only imagine what it would look like to a passing crab. The poor thing would be scuttling along the bottom with two eyes on the lookout for the various predators that share the seemingly universal taste for crab flesh. All of a sudden his legs would click something that just doesn't seem right. His scuttling would slow to a crawl, then stop. The crab would glance down at its feet and see nothing but crab shells. Bulging black eyes would slowly pan the scenery, and Crabby would realize he was in a mass graveyard. Everything in sight would be piles of shattered exoskeletons bearing resemblance to all the family members and friends he had ever known. Instincts would kick in. Claws akimbo, Crabby would make sideways flight from the charnel landscape. Capture would be swift. Death would not be. Crabby's last thoughts might linger on the question of when the parrot-like beak of his captor would finally find parts vital to consciousness.
While no octopus were spotted, there was plenty of life. Throughout the rocks were snapper, and I saw a baby ling about a foot and a half in lenght. We arrived at a Anenome Garden which was covered in 2-2.5ft white anenomes. There were also several very large orange sea pens upwards of 2.5ft tall. While looking at some brittle stars, I saw one of them move. I'd only ever imagined starfish velocity being measured in days, but the brittle positively scurried along the bottom. Its forward two arms were swept back as it squiggled allong with its other three arms, giving it the appearance of a squiddy from the Matrix movies.
The most interesting thing I saw on the dive was when I shined my light on one of the egg sized jelly-fish that were floating about. They had no tentacles, and had the appearance of completely colourless glass bulbs floating inert through the water. When I shined my light at it, I was amazed. Three ciliated lines down the center lit up with amazing iridescence. The colours were so bright and reflective, it looked like hundreds of tiny LEDs winking and changing colours. The rate of movement was quite quick, and I realized that the little jelly was working hard to go somewhere. As the flaggellae whipped, at first the colours pulsed through all the reds and orange of the spectrum, then when I shifted the light, it was all colours brighter and more vibrant than any rainbow I'd ever seen. It was really remarkable, and has given me a much stronger desire to spend more time looking closely at the life in our waters, rather than glossing over the 'boring' stuff.
We bottomed out at 70ft in a somewhat chilly 8°C (47°F). I felt a little cold, as I was only wearing a very thin layer and had little air in my suit, but was warmer than I'd been when hitting those depths last July in a wetsuit. As we progressed on our dive back into more shallow depths, Gary took me over hill and dale testing out my buoyancy. I didn't have any problems and felt quite comfortable throughout. When we got back near shore, Gary demonstrated, then had me perform a hovering spin in each direction using helicopter kicks. I'd often heard that this is impossible with split-fins, but I accomplished it without losing my buoyancy or drifting off in any direction. I felt a bit awkward, and definitely need more practice, but for my first time trying, I was impressed at the helicopter kick's effectiveness.
We ascended as we did on the first dive of the day. Again, I was a little too light and had to have my suit sqeezing nicely to maintain neutral, but we gradually surfaced under control. Topside I remarked at what a pleasant dive it was. Gary again said that I did surprisingly well, and that he was impressed to see me adding and venting quite naturally throughout the undulating dive. I noted that I seemed to be venting a little more than I wanted, and subsequently was venting and adding fairly often. We agreed that I just needed to practice and get used to my suit.
--
Overall the second dive was surprisingly normal. I didn't feel awkward in the suit, and had sorted out my equipment kinks. I was very pleased that I was able to concentrate on the dive rather than the physical aspect of diving. After these dives, I'm confident that I have the skills required to dive dry, and look forward to more practice.
We trudged back up the incline toward the vehicles and broke down our gear. Howard was there and we heard all about the other classes that were going on that day, and all about the classes he has taken and planned to take. He enquired about the Rescue Diver course, and Gary mentioned that Howard could call Ocean Quest to sign up for it. Howard took to this idea immediately and proclaimed that he'd only be interested if Gary, who had managed to sneak in about five sentences during the whole day, was the one teaching the course. Gary was a fine instructor, and Howard's instincts must have picked up on this, becuase without having seen him in the water, he repeated the proclimation several more times before we drove off.
Edit: I dropped into Ocean Quest a couple weeks after this dive and Gary was there along with Todd (manager and instructor whom I'd met a couple times before when looking into suits). I jokingly mentioned Prospector Howard, and both of them got pained expressions. Aparently he'd been in on the previous Sunday and chatted up the gang for quite some time. It was 45 minutes after closing before Todd was able to shoo him away. No word yet as to whether he's signed up for the Rescue course.
Gary and I managed to finish up our paperwork while Howard was on the phone lining up his buddy for what was now going to be a night dive. I got my temporary drysuit diver card, so that I could now rent a drysuit if I ever needed. Gary mentioned that I should think about the Rescue Diver course, as it was both highly informative, and a total blast to do the practical portion of the course. He explained that it was not merely diving-specific recovery and first aid (which I'd find valuable), but the course also gets you thinking about prevention of issues and how to spot problems that other divers may be having before they become serious. I've heard nothing but high praise for the Rescue course, with many people reiterating how much fun the weekend of the practical dives is, so I'm thinking about signing up for the next one.
Overall with the Drysuit specialty, I'd wished that I'd gone the mentorship route. I know that far too much of my money went towards the plastic card from PADI, but overall I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and felt the training I got from Gary was well worth the money. I look forward to diving with him or others from Ocean Quest again. Read more...
Location: Whytecliff Park, West Vancouver, BC
Visibility: 10-15ft
Temp: 47°F
Depth: 50-70ft
Duration: 0:41
Surface Interval: 1:39
Tank: Al80
Start Pressure: 3005psi
End Pressure: 560psi
Gear: Bare CD4, Aeris Atmos XT, Apollo Bio-Fins Blue, Aeris Elite T3
Weight: 30lbs
--
The biggest reason that I've always wanted a drysuit is that they are so much more convenient than wetsuits. Never having gotten cold in a wetsuit, even when I dove in the winter, the benefit for me is out of the water. In a wetsuit, you've got 7-14mm of neoprene sqeezed tightly over your body. It makes doffing, donning, and movement a lot more difficult. You remember Randy in his snow-suit from A Christmas Story? That's pretty much what it feels like in a wetsuit around these parts. Once you get out of the water, you have to contort and convulse yourself in order to strip down to your soaking wet skivvies. Then you must towel up and try to get warm. That's not so bad in July, but in February, it's pretty miserable. Also, regardless of the time of year, the only thing worse than putting a wetsuit on is putting a wet wetsuit on. You have to strip back down to your bathingsuit and pull, wrench, and stretch the cold, slimy suit over your bare skin. It's fairly miserable.
With a drysuit however, you've got excellent mobility out of the water. It's relatively loose fitting and quite comfortable. When you're ready to take it off, it's a quick duck out of the seals and then you just let the suit hang by its suspenders around your waist. You're already wearing your nice warm and dry athletic clothing. Put a toque on in the Winter, and you're set. Donning it for successive dives is just as simple a process.
So, after exiting the water and easily popping out of the top half, I let my suit hang by its suspenders and swapped out my tank for a new one. The sun had come out during our first dive and it was now shining brightly and warmly in a blue sky. Overall it was quite a pleasant experience. A far cry better than my previous wetsuit dives on the nicest of days.
The consession stand at the park had decided to stay closed this day. Gary was a little chuffed, apparently their hamburgers were delicious (to be fair though, the extra nitrogen in a diver's blood acts as a perfect condiment to almost any food). Fortunately I had brought a couple sandwiches and we split the two.
Naturally, as we were climbing the path and throughout our surface interval, Prospector Howard (see previous post) was laughing and joking, asking and answering, and rhuminating about a great many topics. Eventually we were ready for the second dive and had to wander away from him to discuss it.
--
The second dive was going to be a fairly normal fun dive around the North slope at Wytecliff. It is a fairly steep sloping bottom/wall down to over 200ft, usually not one recommended for beginners, but since I did well with my buoyancy right off the bat, we decided we were both comfortable with it. We swam most of the way out to the point, and then descended to about 45 feet. I kept my BC deflated the entire dive, and managed my buoyancy with the suit. Gradually descending, we followed the wall/shelf/bottom around and looked at the little critters. I didn't have a light, so Gary clipped his backup on to me as a loaner. He was using his primary light, a canister HID-type device with an mini-nova output requiring somewhere in the order of 1.21 jiggawatts to power.
We saw several octopus dens, but I coudn't see their occupants. It's easy to spot an octopus den, the ground just outside is absolutely littered with pieces of crab shells. To me it looks rather like a white trash front lawn. I can only imagine what it would look like to a passing crab. The poor thing would be scuttling along the bottom with two eyes on the lookout for the various predators that share the seemingly universal taste for crab flesh. All of a sudden his legs would click something that just doesn't seem right. His scuttling would slow to a crawl, then stop. The crab would glance down at its feet and see nothing but crab shells. Bulging black eyes would slowly pan the scenery, and Crabby would realize he was in a mass graveyard. Everything in sight would be piles of shattered exoskeletons bearing resemblance to all the family members and friends he had ever known. Instincts would kick in. Claws akimbo, Crabby would make sideways flight from the charnel landscape. Capture would be swift. Death would not be. Crabby's last thoughts might linger on the question of when the parrot-like beak of his captor would finally find parts vital to consciousness.
While no octopus were spotted, there was plenty of life. Throughout the rocks were snapper, and I saw a baby ling about a foot and a half in lenght. We arrived at a Anenome Garden which was covered in 2-2.5ft white anenomes. There were also several very large orange sea pens upwards of 2.5ft tall. While looking at some brittle stars, I saw one of them move. I'd only ever imagined starfish velocity being measured in days, but the brittle positively scurried along the bottom. Its forward two arms were swept back as it squiggled allong with its other three arms, giving it the appearance of a squiddy from the Matrix movies.
The most interesting thing I saw on the dive was when I shined my light on one of the egg sized jelly-fish that were floating about. They had no tentacles, and had the appearance of completely colourless glass bulbs floating inert through the water. When I shined my light at it, I was amazed. Three ciliated lines down the center lit up with amazing iridescence. The colours were so bright and reflective, it looked like hundreds of tiny LEDs winking and changing colours. The rate of movement was quite quick, and I realized that the little jelly was working hard to go somewhere. As the flaggellae whipped, at first the colours pulsed through all the reds and orange of the spectrum, then when I shifted the light, it was all colours brighter and more vibrant than any rainbow I'd ever seen. It was really remarkable, and has given me a much stronger desire to spend more time looking closely at the life in our waters, rather than glossing over the 'boring' stuff.
We bottomed out at 70ft in a somewhat chilly 8°C (47°F). I felt a little cold, as I was only wearing a very thin layer and had little air in my suit, but was warmer than I'd been when hitting those depths last July in a wetsuit. As we progressed on our dive back into more shallow depths, Gary took me over hill and dale testing out my buoyancy. I didn't have any problems and felt quite comfortable throughout. When we got back near shore, Gary demonstrated, then had me perform a hovering spin in each direction using helicopter kicks. I'd often heard that this is impossible with split-fins, but I accomplished it without losing my buoyancy or drifting off in any direction. I felt a bit awkward, and definitely need more practice, but for my first time trying, I was impressed at the helicopter kick's effectiveness.
We ascended as we did on the first dive of the day. Again, I was a little too light and had to have my suit sqeezing nicely to maintain neutral, but we gradually surfaced under control. Topside I remarked at what a pleasant dive it was. Gary again said that I did surprisingly well, and that he was impressed to see me adding and venting quite naturally throughout the undulating dive. I noted that I seemed to be venting a little more than I wanted, and subsequently was venting and adding fairly often. We agreed that I just needed to practice and get used to my suit.
--
Overall the second dive was surprisingly normal. I didn't feel awkward in the suit, and had sorted out my equipment kinks. I was very pleased that I was able to concentrate on the dive rather than the physical aspect of diving. After these dives, I'm confident that I have the skills required to dive dry, and look forward to more practice.
We trudged back up the incline toward the vehicles and broke down our gear. Howard was there and we heard all about the other classes that were going on that day, and all about the classes he has taken and planned to take. He enquired about the Rescue Diver course, and Gary mentioned that Howard could call Ocean Quest to sign up for it. Howard took to this idea immediately and proclaimed that he'd only be interested if Gary, who had managed to sneak in about five sentences during the whole day, was the one teaching the course. Gary was a fine instructor, and Howard's instincts must have picked up on this, becuase without having seen him in the water, he repeated the proclimation several more times before we drove off.
Edit: I dropped into Ocean Quest a couple weeks after this dive and Gary was there along with Todd (manager and instructor whom I'd met a couple times before when looking into suits). I jokingly mentioned Prospector Howard, and both of them got pained expressions. Aparently he'd been in on the previous Sunday and chatted up the gang for quite some time. It was 45 minutes after closing before Todd was able to shoo him away. No word yet as to whether he's signed up for the Rescue course.
Gary and I managed to finish up our paperwork while Howard was on the phone lining up his buddy for what was now going to be a night dive. I got my temporary drysuit diver card, so that I could now rent a drysuit if I ever needed. Gary mentioned that I should think about the Rescue Diver course, as it was both highly informative, and a total blast to do the practical portion of the course. He explained that it was not merely diving-specific recovery and first aid (which I'd find valuable), but the course also gets you thinking about prevention of issues and how to spot problems that other divers may be having before they become serious. I've heard nothing but high praise for the Rescue course, with many people reiterating how much fun the weekend of the practical dives is, so I'm thinking about signing up for the next one.
Overall with the Drysuit specialty, I'd wished that I'd gone the mentorship route. I know that far too much of my money went towards the plastic card from PADI, but overall I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and felt the training I got from Gary was well worth the money. I look forward to diving with him or others from Ocean Quest again. Read more...
posted by Temple at 6:41 PM
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