I gotta say I love this bag. It holds everything I need for a warm water dive aside from the tank. Everything. It can be carried as a duffel or worn (how I prefer it) as a backpack. Perfect for walking from the hotel room to the dive boat. I wish I had it on my last trip to Cozumel. | XS Scuba's Best-Selling Bag | ||
| New features for 2005 - Large DRY pocket for camera, towel, clothes, etc. - Mesh pocket with XS Scuba Sport Bottle - Interior pocket for BG690 Dry Logbook Cover | |||
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28 September 2009
XS Scuba Mesh Bag
21 September 2009
Aeris Atmos 2 Uplink Cable
I purchased my Aeris Atmos 2 diving computer back in November 2006. It took me a while, however, to cough up the money for a PC uplink cable. I finally purchased one about 2 days ago for 100 bucks. It's a shame that Aeris feels the need to charge so much money for what is little more then a usb cable. In fact, for the money I spent on the dive computer, I feel that they should have included it. Fortunately the software for it is free to download from their website. Establishing a connection between the dive computer and the PC proved to be a bit challenging, however once I got the feel for it and downloaded the dives I loved the additional information. For instance the dive computer will tell me what the coldest temperature was on a dive but the software will show what the temperature was throughout the dive, at different depths. That's just one example. While not a necessity, if you are a techie freak you'll love it. The software and cable also works for the Atmos Elite and the Atmos AI.
14 September 2009
Lake Pleasant Dive 9/9/09
Last week we flew down to AZ to visit 
our friends and families. Since one of 
my dive buddies (Clifford) lives in Phoenix I asked him if he wanted to jump in the lake (Lake Pleasant). Neither of us had been diving since Cozumel in January and we both wanted to get wet so I packed up my gear and brought it with me.
On Wednesday of our stay I drove up
from Tucson to Phoenix and picked up Clifford. We then drove to one of the Sport Chalet's on the north side of Phoenix, rented some gear and finished driving the additional 15 miles or so to the Lake. We dove out of Vista Point, near the marina. The water in the lake is low right now and we had about a 200 foot hike down a 
rocky slope, in the 100 degree heat, to the water before gearing up. Fortunately this is a warm fresh water dive and not a cold salt water dive so I only had to carry 6 pounds of weights down that hill instead of 30+ pounds. Unfortunately we were just about ready to go when Clifford realized he forgot to rent regulators!! We stood there in the heat. We thought about the 30 mile round trip drive to the rental shop. We stared at the rocky slope. We thought about the 6 pack of Longboard Lager sitting in the trunk that were still cold but would not be after our dive (as we had no cooler). Then we decided we had to make the trip. Sport Chalet was not going to refund the money for the gear we already rented and I brought all my equipment from Seattle, on the plane, and made the 2 hour drive from Tucson. So we hauled everything back up the hill.
An hour later we were back in the same spot on the shore gearing up, again, to dive in a low vis lake with nothing really to see in it but a few fish and beer cans but we had big smiles on our faces and cell phone cameras taking pictures. We did our buddy checks, waded into the water, put on our fins and checked our buoyancy.
Of the 3 times I've dove in Lake Pleasant this was the most, ah, pleasant. For starters, it was 2 days after Labor Day weekend, on a Wednesday, at 3 in the afternoon in the 100 degree heat so we had the whole lake to ourselves. Second we weren't diving with any guides, instructors and were free to take our time and enjoy it. We started right in the middle of a little u shaped
cove between Vista Point and the boat ramp. Looking out we faced due West so our plan was to swim out along the bottom following that bearing until a) we reached the bottom, or a maximum depth we were comfortable with, b) we used up 1/3 of our air, or c) it got to cold. Which ever came first. Then we would turn due South, up the slope towards Vista Point until we reached about 35 feet of depth and then turn right and follow the shore back to are starting point, maintaining that depth.
Upon entering the water we encountered what felt almost like a grove of dead trees. Mesquite and Palo Verde I assume. The visibility was between 4 and 15 feet making the water appear a yellowish green. As we swam these trees seemed to materialize out of no where. Their dark forms reminding me of Halloween and Sleepy Hollow.
The last time I dove in Lake Pleasant was in the month of June and the water below 25 feet was cold. This was September and the temperature was about 80 or above until we reached 45-50 feet. Here there was a thermocline but still the temperature wasn't unbearable in my 3mm wet suit. A weird misty looking layer hung at this thermocline. At about 70 feet we came to a small rocky gully where I imagined water once flowed only when it rained. There was a pool of cold water, almost like another thermocline, with in. My computer read 73 degrees. The bottom was a strange, silty, almost spongy sediment. I plunged my hand into it, feeling a bit like a robot probing Mars, and it easily sunk up to the wrist with no solid surface below. Quickly I pulled it out feeling disgusted and fascinated at the same time and also imagining that something just might be under there, ready to pull me in. I turned to Clifford and he was making gestures of being cold and pointing up and to the left.
We turned 90 degrees, South now, towards Vista Point ascending into warmer water. We came across a landscape full of 6 inch craters. I assume these are made by fish, blowing water into the sediment, searching for food. Clifford picked up a beer can and tried filling it with air and sending it to the surface to no avail. It was full of sediment. I took it and shook it a little. Then I squeezed it and clouds shot out like black ink. Then I reshaped it, scraped off all the zebra mussels (which have invaded this lake everywhere), shot some air into it and let it go. It ascended slowly for a few feet then shot up like a rocket into a blue gray abyss.
We then reached 35 feet, turned left again, according to our plan and followed the shoreline back to our starting point. We both reached 7-750 psi at about the same time, turned right (East) and ascended along the bottom to our 3 minute safety stop. We were both pretty sure that we overshot our starting position but upon surfacing we found ourselves about 75 feet short. Still, not bad.
A little note. Lake Pleasant is at an elevation of about 1650 to 1700 feet, depending how much water is in the lake and therefore is considered a high altitude dive. My Aeris Atmos 2 dive computer automatically adjusts for this but needs to be turned on at the dive site elevation to do so. I was glad I re-read the manual a few days before the trip.
Vista Point, Lake Pleasant, AZ
My maximum depth - 81 feet
Visibility - 3 to 15 feet
Coldest water temperature - 73F
Bottom time - 50 minutes
our friends and families. Since one of 
my dive buddies (Clifford) lives in Phoenix I asked him if he wanted to jump in the lake (Lake Pleasant). Neither of us had been diving since Cozumel in January and we both wanted to get wet so I packed up my gear and brought it with me.On Wednesday of our stay I drove up
from Tucson to Phoenix and picked up Clifford. We then drove to one of the Sport Chalet's on the north side of Phoenix, rented some gear and finished driving the additional 15 miles or so to the Lake. We dove out of Vista Point, near the marina. The water in the lake is low right now and we had about a 200 foot hike down a 
rocky slope, in the 100 degree heat, to the water before gearing up. Fortunately this is a warm fresh water dive and not a cold salt water dive so I only had to carry 6 pounds of weights down that hill instead of 30+ pounds. Unfortunately we were just about ready to go when Clifford realized he forgot to rent regulators!! We stood there in the heat. We thought about the 30 mile round trip drive to the rental shop. We stared at the rocky slope. We thought about the 6 pack of Longboard Lager sitting in the trunk that were still cold but would not be after our dive (as we had no cooler). Then we decided we had to make the trip. Sport Chalet was not going to refund the money for the gear we already rented and I brought all my equipment from Seattle, on the plane, and made the 2 hour drive from Tucson. So we hauled everything back up the hill.An hour later we were back in the same spot on the shore gearing up, again, to dive in a low vis lake with nothing really to see in it but a few fish and beer cans but we had big smiles on our faces and cell phone cameras taking pictures. We did our buddy checks, waded into the water, put on our fins and checked our buoyancy.
Of the 3 times I've dove in Lake Pleasant this was the most, ah, pleasant. For starters, it was 2 days after Labor Day weekend, on a Wednesday, at 3 in the afternoon in the 100 degree heat so we had the whole lake to ourselves. Second we weren't diving with any guides, instructors and were free to take our time and enjoy it. We started right in the middle of a little u shaped
cove between Vista Point and the boat ramp. Looking out we faced due West so our plan was to swim out along the bottom following that bearing until a) we reached the bottom, or a maximum depth we were comfortable with, b) we used up 1/3 of our air, or c) it got to cold. Which ever came first. Then we would turn due South, up the slope towards Vista Point until we reached about 35 feet of depth and then turn right and follow the shore back to are starting point, maintaining that depth.Upon entering the water we encountered what felt almost like a grove of dead trees. Mesquite and Palo Verde I assume. The visibility was between 4 and 15 feet making the water appear a yellowish green. As we swam these trees seemed to materialize out of no where. Their dark forms reminding me of Halloween and Sleepy Hollow.
The last time I dove in Lake Pleasant was in the month of June and the water below 25 feet was cold. This was September and the temperature was about 80 or above until we reached 45-50 feet. Here there was a thermocline but still the temperature wasn't unbearable in my 3mm wet suit. A weird misty looking layer hung at this thermocline. At about 70 feet we came to a small rocky gully where I imagined water once flowed only when it rained. There was a pool of cold water, almost like another thermocline, with in. My computer read 73 degrees. The bottom was a strange, silty, almost spongy sediment. I plunged my hand into it, feeling a bit like a robot probing Mars, and it easily sunk up to the wrist with no solid surface below. Quickly I pulled it out feeling disgusted and fascinated at the same time and also imagining that something just might be under there, ready to pull me in. I turned to Clifford and he was making gestures of being cold and pointing up and to the left.
We turned 90 degrees, South now, towards Vista Point ascending into warmer water. We came across a landscape full of 6 inch craters. I assume these are made by fish, blowing water into the sediment, searching for food. Clifford picked up a beer can and tried filling it with air and sending it to the surface to no avail. It was full of sediment. I took it and shook it a little. Then I squeezed it and clouds shot out like black ink. Then I reshaped it, scraped off all the zebra mussels (which have invaded this lake everywhere), shot some air into it and let it go. It ascended slowly for a few feet then shot up like a rocket into a blue gray abyss.
We then reached 35 feet, turned left again, according to our plan and followed the shoreline back to our starting point. We both reached 7-750 psi at about the same time, turned right (East) and ascended along the bottom to our 3 minute safety stop. We were both pretty sure that we overshot our starting position but upon surfacing we found ourselves about 75 feet short. Still, not bad.
A little note. Lake Pleasant is at an elevation of about 1650 to 1700 feet, depending how much water is in the lake and therefore is considered a high altitude dive. My Aeris Atmos 2 dive computer automatically adjusts for this but needs to be turned on at the dive site elevation to do so. I was glad I re-read the manual a few days before the trip.
Vista Point, Lake Pleasant, AZ
My maximum depth - 81 feet
Visibility - 3 to 15 feet
Coldest water temperature - 73F
Bottom time - 50 minutes
27 August 2009
Sailing
A friend
and 
co-worker introduced me to sailing yesterday. 
A few months before we were looking out of the ballroom window, on the top of the hotel we work at, at Elliot bay and started talking about boats, sailing terms, etc. He mentioned he had purchased a boat and even had planned to live on it to save some money. Over the weeks he invited me to go sailing with him a few times and I finally took him up on the offer.
I forget what make of boat he has but it's a keel boat meaning it can't be capsized (or very unlikely), has a small cabin, outboard motor (which we barley used) and is about 22 - 24 feet. I forget but I believe it is 22. It is a Bermuda rigged craft as are most modern sailboats meaning it sports a single mast with a mainsail and, in this case, a Genoa sail. This boat could also fly a jib or a spinnaker instead of the Genoa.
I took the ferry over to Bainbridge and met David at his berth. The first thing he had me do was step into the cabin and find all the rescue stuff. Life jackets, flare gun, whistle, etc. Then I helped some setting up the mainsail and the Genoa. After that we slowly motored away out into Eagle bay, raised the main, cut the motor, waited for the ferry to leave and sailed out into the sound.
It was a pretty calm day, perfect for a first day of sailing and shortly David had me raise the Genoa. Just after this was our first sighting . . . of . . . something. It was either a Dall's Porpoise, Harbor Porpoise or a Pacific White-Sided Dolphin. For a while I was convinced it was a Minke but that was before I learned that these other types of dolphin and porpoise lived in such cold waters. We saw these on one other occasion during our return trip. The last picture shows these.
We spent about 4-5 hours on the water sailing to Magnolia and back. Winds were from the North-Northwest from about 3 to 10 miles per hour. The biggest swells we encountered were from the wake of the container ship Midnight Sun as she rolled through to Tacoma. About that same time a coast guard procession came in to Elliott Bay with cutters from Japan and Russia and a Canadian hovercraft for the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum.
I learned a lot about sailing including the realization that someday I'll end up owning my own boat. You can view more photos here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/neutralbuoyancy/sets/72157622178182996/
and 
co-worker introduced me to sailing yesterday. 
A few months before we were looking out of the ballroom window, on the top of the hotel we work at, at Elliot bay and started talking about boats, sailing terms, etc. He mentioned he had purchased a boat and even had planned to live on it to save some money. Over the weeks he invited me to go sailing with him a few times and I finally took him up on the offer.I forget what make of boat he has but it's a keel boat meaning it can't be capsized (or very unlikely), has a small cabin, outboard motor (which we barley used) and is about 22 - 24 feet. I forget but I believe it is 22. It is a Bermuda rigged craft as are most modern sailboats meaning it sports a single mast with a mainsail and, in this case, a Genoa sail. This boat could also fly a jib or a spinnaker instead of the Genoa.
I took the ferry over to Bainbridge and met David at his berth. The first thing he had me do was step into the cabin and find all the rescue stuff. Life jackets, flare gun, whistle, etc. Then I helped some setting up the mainsail and the Genoa. After that we slowly motored away out into Eagle bay, raised the main, cut the motor, waited for the ferry to leave and sailed out into the sound.
It was a pretty calm day, perfect for a first day of sailing and shortly David had me raise the Genoa. Just after this was our first sighting . . . of . . . something. It was either a Dall's Porpoise, Harbor Porpoise or a Pacific White-Sided Dolphin. For a while I was convinced it was a Minke but that was before I learned that these other types of dolphin and porpoise lived in such cold waters. We saw these on one other occasion during our return trip. The last picture shows these.
We spent about 4-5 hours on the water sailing to Magnolia and back. Winds were from the North-Northwest from about 3 to 10 miles per hour. The biggest swells we encountered were from the wake of the container ship Midnight Sun as she rolled through to Tacoma. About that same time a coast guard procession came in to Elliott Bay with cutters from Japan and Russia and a Canadian hovercraft for the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum.
I learned a lot about sailing including the realization that someday I'll end up owning my own boat. You can view more photos here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/neutralbuoyancy/sets/72157622178182996/
22 June 2009
Peppermint Mead Update
I bottled the peppermint mead today. It is what it is. It's nice, pleasant but it just doesn't have that "punch". I'm also have mixed feelings about the lavender mead that I bottled on Feburary 24th. I think I'm going to steer my mead making away from metheglins for a while and focus more on what really worked for me. I might try some more fruit meads. For sure this summer, if I have the time to pick them, I'll do another blackberry. The 2 blackberry melomels I've produced were probably my greatest meads. Other's I might venture into; strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, pineapple and maybe a cyser.
17 April 2009
Great Blue Heron
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The Great Blue Heron is the official bird of Seattle. I occasionally see them along Alki. It stands 42 to 50 inches.
16 April 2009
Baldy's
A couple Baldy's flew over yesterday. This is what reminded me I wanted to do some posts about birds/birdwatching. There was an adolescent and an adult. Here is a poor picture of the adult. They were probably 300 - 400 feet above me. Anyone who has been a faithful reader of my blog will probably remember the Baldy that came to visit in 2007.
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