I have just spent the last 2 days diving over in Nanaimo, exploring the Saskatchewan, the Rivtow Lion, and Snake Island.
Day 1: 07/12/06
Dive 1 - HMCS Saskatchewan
Max depth: 98ft, Bottom Time: 36 mins, Mix: 32%
This was my first penetration dive (and last dive of my wreck diver specialty) and all I can say is WOW. It is truly amazing inside a wreck. My buddy (S. starfish) and I entered the wreck on the No. 2 deck, and headed into the Ward room. It's hard to say exactly where we went, because the map is different from the actual ship, what with walls knocked out all over the place, but we made our way deeper into the wreck, and only turned around because we hit a dead end (neither of us has hit 2000psi yet and we still had plenty of bottom time left - oh lovely nitrox!). I did discover that it is indeed difficult to turn around inside a small room of a wreck without silting the place up. I did turn around, but I did leave a silt cloud (only silt cloud i left on this penetration, however!). I followed the line back out. We then went to search for the GPO that supposedly lives near the ani aircraft guns, but he was not home, or we couldn't find his home, because there was no sign of him anywhere. Back to the ascent line, a nice safety stop, and then to the surface we headed.
Dive 2 - Rivtow Lion
Max Depth: 85ft, Bottom Time: 38 mins, Mix: good old 21% air.
We descended onto the wheelhouse and made our way to the engine room, entering on the starboard side. This is where I discovered that wrecks can be really silty even before you enter them. There is virtually no flow through the engine room and there is silt EVERYWHERE. We could still see, however, and toured around the room for a bit. We exited on the port side, swam around the bow, and then entered the wheelhouse and poked around in there for a while. Once we had had our fun inside the wreck, we spent our time on the outside, and we tried to find the GPO that lives at the bottom, on the port side. We found his den, surrounded by many crab shells, but he must have been out hunting for lunch, because he was nowhere to be found. Then I started to become way too cold for comfort, due to a leaky dry suit, so we ascended. This wreck is like a ginat jungle gym for divers. It is so fun to just poke about. In, out, around, over, in, over, out, around, up, down, down, around. It's small so you can see the entire wreck in one dive, and can make circuits of it, and it's just fun.
Day 2: 07/13/06
Dive 1 - HMCS Saskatchewan
Max Depth: 84ft, Bottom Time: 31 mins, Mix: 32%
This time we added a diver to our group and we were diving in a trio. The three of us descended down the command tower to No. 1 deck and began to penetrate the starboard side. First person tied off the line and started to head in, second person followed, and I was last in line. Just as the second person's fins were in the wreck and I was about to follow, my regulator did something quite extraordinary. It released bubbles into my mouth, and then I went to inhale and got a giant mouthful of water. Not your ordinary splash of water that occasionally comes through. This was an entire breath of water, not one ounce of air to speak of. I promptly spat the water out of my mouth because really, it tastes nasty. I then removed my regulator, and made a grab for my octopus, praying that it wasn't some sort of first stage failure. To my relief, I got air and no water, I entered the wreck to get my buddies' attentions, but to my disbelief my primary light failed on me. So much for a 4 hour burn time. I unclipped one of my backup lights (you have NO idea how happy I am that I am the official owner of backup lights), turned it on, and swam the few feet to diver number 2 and tugged on one of his fins and i signalled to turn around. He passed signal on to diver number 1 and the three of us were on our way out of the wreck again. Went to the ascent line and headed back to the surface.
Dive 4 - Snake Island
Max Depth: 100ft on the nose, Bottom Time: 30 mins, Mix: 31%
After a nice surface interval, and after fixing my regulator, we headed out to Snake Island. Once we reached the island, I discovered that it was covered in harbour seals (or, as the boat captain called them, "rock saussages"), which made me happy, because I love seals. Anyway, we descended down the line and navigated our way to the wall, which used to be island thousands of years ago. We reached it no problems and began descending to our planned depth. The wall was breathtaking. It was covered in giant plumose anemones. And my favourite part was the overhangs we encountered. At one overhang in particular, we came across a lionmane jelly (i love those things. although they can sting you, they are absolutely gorgeous when they are undulating in the water). I proceeded to look down, and to my joy, there was nothing but black abyss that just went on forever. I love walls like that. Anyway, if you ever get a chance to dive this wall, do it, because it is absolutely gorgeous. It does require some navigation, and it is a really good idea to ascend along the line you come down, because currents can be strong-ish, and ascents with no reference there are just not fun.
Anyway, that about covers my last 2 days of diving. I had a wonderful time, I learned a lot, and I thouroughly enjoyed the 80ft visability. It was a treat!
Day 1: 07/12/06
Dive 1 - HMCS Saskatchewan
Max depth: 98ft, Bottom Time: 36 mins, Mix: 32%
This was my first penetration dive (and last dive of my wreck diver specialty) and all I can say is WOW. It is truly amazing inside a wreck. My buddy (S. starfish) and I entered the wreck on the No. 2 deck, and headed into the Ward room. It's hard to say exactly where we went, because the map is different from the actual ship, what with walls knocked out all over the place, but we made our way deeper into the wreck, and only turned around because we hit a dead end (neither of us has hit 2000psi yet and we still had plenty of bottom time left - oh lovely nitrox!). I did discover that it is indeed difficult to turn around inside a small room of a wreck without silting the place up. I did turn around, but I did leave a silt cloud (only silt cloud i left on this penetration, however!). I followed the line back out. We then went to search for the GPO that supposedly lives near the ani aircraft guns, but he was not home, or we couldn't find his home, because there was no sign of him anywhere. Back to the ascent line, a nice safety stop, and then to the surface we headed.
Dive 2 - Rivtow Lion
Max Depth: 85ft, Bottom Time: 38 mins, Mix: good old 21% air.
We descended onto the wheelhouse and made our way to the engine room, entering on the starboard side. This is where I discovered that wrecks can be really silty even before you enter them. There is virtually no flow through the engine room and there is silt EVERYWHERE. We could still see, however, and toured around the room for a bit. We exited on the port side, swam around the bow, and then entered the wheelhouse and poked around in there for a while. Once we had had our fun inside the wreck, we spent our time on the outside, and we tried to find the GPO that lives at the bottom, on the port side. We found his den, surrounded by many crab shells, but he must have been out hunting for lunch, because he was nowhere to be found. Then I started to become way too cold for comfort, due to a leaky dry suit, so we ascended. This wreck is like a ginat jungle gym for divers. It is so fun to just poke about. In, out, around, over, in, over, out, around, up, down, down, around. It's small so you can see the entire wreck in one dive, and can make circuits of it, and it's just fun.
Day 2: 07/13/06
Dive 1 - HMCS Saskatchewan
Max Depth: 84ft, Bottom Time: 31 mins, Mix: 32%
This time we added a diver to our group and we were diving in a trio. The three of us descended down the command tower to No. 1 deck and began to penetrate the starboard side. First person tied off the line and started to head in, second person followed, and I was last in line. Just as the second person's fins were in the wreck and I was about to follow, my regulator did something quite extraordinary. It released bubbles into my mouth, and then I went to inhale and got a giant mouthful of water. Not your ordinary splash of water that occasionally comes through. This was an entire breath of water, not one ounce of air to speak of. I promptly spat the water out of my mouth because really, it tastes nasty. I then removed my regulator, and made a grab for my octopus, praying that it wasn't some sort of first stage failure. To my relief, I got air and no water, I entered the wreck to get my buddies' attentions, but to my disbelief my primary light failed on me. So much for a 4 hour burn time. I unclipped one of my backup lights (you have NO idea how happy I am that I am the official owner of backup lights), turned it on, and swam the few feet to diver number 2 and tugged on one of his fins and i signalled to turn around. He passed signal on to diver number 1 and the three of us were on our way out of the wreck again. Went to the ascent line and headed back to the surface.
Dive 4 - Snake Island
Max Depth: 100ft on the nose, Bottom Time: 30 mins, Mix: 31%
After a nice surface interval, and after fixing my regulator, we headed out to Snake Island. Once we reached the island, I discovered that it was covered in harbour seals (or, as the boat captain called them, "rock saussages"), which made me happy, because I love seals. Anyway, we descended down the line and navigated our way to the wall, which used to be island thousands of years ago. We reached it no problems and began descending to our planned depth. The wall was breathtaking. It was covered in giant plumose anemones. And my favourite part was the overhangs we encountered. At one overhang in particular, we came across a lionmane jelly (i love those things. although they can sting you, they are absolutely gorgeous when they are undulating in the water). I proceeded to look down, and to my joy, there was nothing but black abyss that just went on forever. I love walls like that. Anyway, if you ever get a chance to dive this wall, do it, because it is absolutely gorgeous. It does require some navigation, and it is a really good idea to ascend along the line you come down, because currents can be strong-ish, and ascents with no reference there are just not fun.
Anyway, that about covers my last 2 days of diving. I had a wonderful time, I learned a lot, and I thouroughly enjoyed the 80ft visability. It was a treat!
