Where did you solo dive today?

[Zieg]

Got back in the water today after a couple of weeks away. Didn't make it out for mini season. Today was the first opportunity. Beautiful day. Flat calm. Rolled into the water on one of my favorite little spots and there below me was a nurse shark. She stayed with me the entire dive. As soon as I got to the reef there was a lobster, then another and another. I guess this spot was missed during mini season. Not complaining, may hit it first day of regular. Found a nice fillet knife without any corrosion. Spent an hour down just cruising along with the current watching the fish and finding my sanity.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Joined my normal drop in group today, but was disappointed that the fill on my tank was a just under 2400psi in a HP tank. I looked over at the group leader and told him that I was going to go solo and watch my air. McKenzie Bight in the Saanich Inlet, on Vancouver Island is normally a wonderful dive site. The vis today, however, was horrific. Normally, once one drops down 20' ish, the vis opens up. NOT TODAY. I got down to 92' and determined the vis sucked all the way down. I did not stay there long, my average depth was 38' and my dive was 39 min long. I climbed out of the water at 500 psi after swimming around in 20' of water for 10min. The surface vis was occasionally a little better, up to 6'.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Aug 2nd, a small group of dive buddies drove from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, up to Parksville, to dive at Madrona dive site. We did two dives there, both of which were started with buddies. The reason for me getting my Solo cert though, was so that I could stay and dive with my buddies who are better on air than me, and when my air levels dictated, I could wave bye and return to the shore.
1st dive I made it down to 91', with an average depth of 58'. Shearwater made me do a 5 min safety stop. 2nd dive, I made it down to 93', with an average depth of 59'. Again I had to do a 5 min safety stop. The 2nd dive, I played around at 1 min to NDL for quite a while, and also had a 5 min safety stop. Of course the Peregrine adapts as one changes depth.
A few in the group, ended up going into deco for a bit. They were the tech ppl or instructors in the group. I enjoy being able to look over at them and say see ya, and finish my dive solo.
I lost count of the number of huge GPOs that were found, and numerous wolf eels too.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

McKenzie Bight in the Saanich Inlet, on Vancouver Island is normally a wonderful dive site.

Your post brought back some great memories. I went for an absolutely amazing dive off Sawluctus Island in the Saanich Inlet back in 2007. Penetrated a zero-viz thick layer of some kind of algae that we broke out of passing the 50 foot level going down. Made for a very dark dive at Noon. Huge Cloud Sponges easily 12 to 15 feet across were on a slope between 100' and 130'. I'll never forget that dive. With the eerie darkness it seemed very otherworldly. Thanks for reminding me of that dive.

 

[Wibble]

Dived on a German mine laying submarine in mid English Channel - UC68. It's conveniently been split into two parts so you can see inside the two cylinders (which lay about 30m/100' apart) and is missing the bow and stern.

Lovely dive with lots of fish and crustations and decent visibility (9m/30'), interesting seeing inside the submarine which is pretty intact for the two main pieces; gun still in place, the conning tower open and with the four ends (two cylinders) you can see the engines and mine laying equipment, etc.

I dived with another bunch of people off the boat, but all diving solo on that wreck. Occasionally saw other divers, but mainly spent time having a good poke around. ~1h on the wreck, ~1h at deco.

Lovely day. Nice to share the experience when back on the boat.

 

[BoltSnap]

Dived on a German mine laying submarine in mid English Channel - UC68. It's conveniently been split into two parts so you can see inside the two cylinders (which lay about 30m/100' apart) and is missing the bow and stern.

Lovely dive with lots of fish and crustations and decent visibility (9m/30'), interesting seeing inside the submarine which is pretty intact for the two main pieces; gun still in place, the conning tower open and with the four ends (two cylinders) you can see the engines and mine laying equipment, etc.

I dived with another bunch of people off the boat, but all diving solo on that wreck. Occasionally saw other divers, but mainly spent time having a good poke around. ~1h on the wreck, ~1h at deco.

Lovely day. Nice to share the experience when back on the boat.

How deep?

 

[Wibble]

How deep?

Nice easy 42m/132'. On the rebreather so using some helium memory gas.

 

[Tripp]

Aug 2nd, a small group of dive buddies drove from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, up to Parksville, to dive at Madrona dive site. We did two dives there, both of which were started with buddies. The reason for me getting my Solo cert though, was so that I could stay and dive with my buddies who are better on air than me, and when my air levels dictated, I could wave bye and return to the shore.
1st dive I made it down to 91', with an average depth of 58'. Shearwater made me do a 5 min safety stop. 2nd dive, I made it down to 93', with an average depth of 59'. Again I had to do a 5 min safety stop. The 2nd dive, I played around at 1 min to NDL for quite a while, and also had a 5 min safety stop. Of course the Peregrine adapts as one changes depth.
A few in the group, ended up going into deco for a bit. They were the tech ppl or instructors in the group. I enjoy being able to look over at them and say see ya, and finish my dive solo.
I lost count of the number of huge GPOs that were found, and numerous wolf eels too.

What is a GPO?

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

What is a GPO?

A GPO is a Giant Pacific Octopus.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Your post brought back some great memories. I went for an absolutely amazing dive off Sawluctus Island in the Saanich Inlet back in 2007. Penetrated a zero-viz thick layer of some kind of algae that we broke out of passing the 50 foot level going down. Made for a very dark dive at Noon. Huge Cloud Sponges easily 12 to 15 feet across were on a slope between 100' and 130'. I'll never forget that dive. With the eerie darkness it seemed very otherworldly. Thanks for reminding me of that dive.

That island is just a little further inside the Saanich Inlet from McKenzie Bight. I still have not seen the glass cloud sponges here. I have seen glass boot sponges around the 100' level. One day I will do the deep cert, so I can go a little deeper. This summer, the thick algae layer has given vis issues.