Many folks reading this are seasoned SCUBA divers, or recreational mariners & have already been exposed to ideas immediately below; perhaps more accurately & in much greater detail. But, it's become obvious that not everybody in our group has that background--until now. It's my hope this blab can stand as a primer, for anyone in the club who's confused by "Spring tides", "Neap tides", low-water peaks (A.N.s), etc. & wonders why we pay attention to that stuff...

Paul and Tony getting ready on the breakwater
On June 4th I walked on to the ferry again, this time to meet up with Paul to Dive the Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria. This taking transit and walking on is a cost-effective, albeit very time-consuming way to get to some good dive spots. This time we were met at the dive site by Tony from Victoria and David who came all the way from Campbell River.

On Saturday, May 21st I went over to Victoria to dive with local resident Paul Lescarmure.

On January 9th, Jen, Todd and I braved the rain and wind and went for a dive at Whytecliff. Despite the weather warnings, the rain and wind held off for the most part and the seas were relatively calm. Very shortly after we got in the water a seal joined us and stayed on as our fourth buddy for the rest of our time in the water. Jen and I both had our cameras and spent most of our time trying to get a good photo of the seal as it played around us underwater. Finally, just as my camera battery was about to die, I descended to find the seal on the bottom, lying still and watching me.

I was in Portland Oregon last weekend
(Fri. Sept. 25, 2009 to Sun. Sept. 27, 2009)
and then drove to Crater Lake National Park, in southern Oregon, on Sunday.
It cost $10.00 US to enter the park. I drove to the only parking lot which
has a trail to the shoreline. It took about 15 minutes to walk down to the
lake. The lake was warm enough that I could swim in it, however it was much colder when I swam underwater. The water was very calm and clear, with about 30 meters of
visibility. Crater lake is also very deep. I think this would a good site for a
freediving competition.

The summer was fresh and laid out before me, but alas, on July 5th I went to the rockclimbing gym and got in maybe 4 bouldering routes to warm up and ended up rolling my ankle on a bad landing. I was off my foot for the most part of that month, and lost 75% of my ankle strength and flexibility for the rest of the summer.

Off work, all that spare time and I was unable to dive!

I ended up missing out on the annual Deeperblue gathering at Telegraph Cove, as well as any other recreational diving to be had with friends and acquaintances!

Today I dove the Strathcona dive site just South of Deep Cove with Sean and Geoff. This was my first time diving at this particular location. The weather was subdued and it really did feel like the last day of summer vacation.

This is my very first blog entry on the new Vanapneist website. As I was developing the concept for the new website I thought it would be nice for club members to have their own blog if they want one.