Where did you solo dive today?

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shoredivr

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I like reading about where people are diving in the Basic Diving Forum, and thought it would be great to read about where people are solo diving, too.

Saturday was sunny and beautiful and I went for a dive in Colpoy's Bay, off Georgian Bay. Took the newest member of my tank family (ALu40) for a dive. Water temp 1C/34F, one degree warmer than last week.

Air temp 3C/37F, viz 15 meters/50 ft, depth 11 meters/37 ft, 24 min dive.

Still a wee bit of snow left from that storm on Monday, but there's no sign of ice on the water.

Underwater the quality of light was like being in a cathedral, sunlight streaming down on the limestone rock. That's my favourite kind of solo dive, like meditiation.

Little itty bitty fish were awake, too. Algae growth still not started since the water's too cold.

When I came home there were about 15 wild turkeys on my lawn. I was too slow for dinner.
 

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Sounds like a fun, but, errrrr, chilly dive!

Sadly, the weather and work schedule have conspired to keep me "dry" for several weeks :depressed:

Hopefully that will change this weekend, but probably will require a 2-hour drive over to the Kona-side to get some decent water conditions. It will be quite a contrast in dive conditions from your dive, Shoredivr! :D

Best wishes.
 
I got in five dives over the weekend, two of them solo :) The first solo dive was at a pier where I was practicing with some new gear. Been trying out different types of doubles to see what I like so this week was twin 12s with different type of wing to what I am used to. Didn't like the wing so much but the tanks were ok. I was worried they'd be too heavy but I did not have trouble with the weight. I had a few friends around too, but they were off taking photos and also looking for relics as there was strong surge - when this happens you can find old bottles and the like. One friend found a Torpedo bottle worth a few hundred but he will keep it :) Didn't see much on the dive as the viz wasn't good and the surge strong.

Second solo dive was at another pier. Again wasn't the best dive as there was a strong current. This meant I had to shelter behind the pier wall so it didn't become a drift dive and overall what I could look at was limited. The wall is covered with colourful sponges/ascidians and I was searching for the elusive tassled anglerfish that lives there - one of the few things left on my local to find list. No luck again! Had my regular buddy and another friend along on this dive but they went ahead of me. When he has someone else to dive with I will usually go off myself but otherwise I keep him company so he doesn't have to solo dive. I brought the camera this dive and have attached a few photos but didn't get any great shots (don't be too harsh :p - my u/w camera set up cost 52USD :rofl3:) Was supposed to do a third dive that day, my first solo night dive but it got pretty late and I was expected at home, so that will have to wait!

Pics include a picture of a baby puffer the size of my finger tip, a jellyfish, the colourful sponge wall on my second dive, Blairgowrie Pier at dusk (2nd dive location).
 

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Hey, those are nice pics! Thanks for posting them.

Color me jealous for both the dives and the photography!

Best wishes.
 
Did my first "real" dive of the season today at Hathaway's Pond. (Did a quick one a month or so ago to clear props.)

Deepest depth was around 36 feet, and I stayed around 28 for a bit. Water temps were hovering around 46 F at the bottom, and air temp was in the low 50's. Vis was GREAT at around 25 feet.

Spent 50 minutes just swimming around, getting used to my new harness and just relaxing.
 
I've been doing a lot of solo diving lately ... trying to get a handle on this camera/strobe setup I bought a couple months back. Most of my solo dives are at a dive site about five minutes drive from my home (very convenient for solo diving ... I can go pretty much on a whim).

The majority of my solo dives are down to a bottle field where I've been looking for Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers (PSL's) ... a tiny, odd-looking fish that isn't all that common to Puget Sound and is prized by local photographers ... and I've been pretty successful at finding them. The typical dive profile is to kick downslope to the bottle field ... which is at between 80 and 95 fsw, depending on tides ... spend about 20 to 30 minutes at that depth ... then spend another 30 to 40 minutes slowly making my way back upslope. Along the way I'll stop by to visit "Pepper" ... an 8-foot long giant Pacific octopus who lives under an old scuttled fishing boat at around 50 fsw (+/- a few feet depending on tides). I'll usually spend the last 5 to 10 minutes of the dive looking around some pilings that support an aquarium from about 20 fsw all the way to where I can stand up and take off my fins.

I've done about 40 dives there so far this year ... about a third of them solo ... and almost always come back with some nice pictures.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Monday morning, I looked out at the water, and old man Spontaniety jabbed me in the side. I gathered my gear and headed down to take a look (about 15 minutes from my house). I decided to dive at a little-known spot called Mermaids, on the Kona coast. I had dove this site many times with a buddy, but never solo.
The water was flat, the air 83F, water 73F. I know, I know, it's a tough gig but someone has to do it?! After entering off the rocks, the bottom gently slopes away, beginning with rocky rubble, coral,and boulders. That stuff finally gives way to more sand at about 30', and I'm there. As you can imagine, lots of fishes, and a lone Horned Helmet shell (about 14"), sleeping away the morning. Sorry I don't have the pics to prove it; you'll just have to take my word for it...
About a 60 min. dive, and I was done. Oh, for those of you who may be wondering...NO, I didn't see any mermaids this trip. :)
 
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Well, no lumpsuckers here in freshwater heaven, but I did see my first ever Walleye, snoozing at 17 ft at Colpoy's Bay. It just looked at me.... a kind of "what species of *** bubbling noisy git are you?" look in its eyes....47 ft, 32 min.

The algae is starting to grow already, even though the water temp is just up a few degrees...I saw some centimetre long fishlets run off and hide in a ball of algae about 50 cm across. Water temp 36 F.

Drove up to Tobermory afterwards, about an hour's drive. Water dropped to 34 degrees at 69 ft, 27 min...strong E wind bringing the colder water in...no algae here, but lots of fishlets and the invasive zebra mussels are awake and feeding.....



Saspotato, I drove down to Blairgowrie, Vic, Australia in 2007, hoping for a dive off that pier, but the wind drove up some bad swells and my dive was cancelled... maybe in 2010 I'll be back in Oz.....

My folks were born in Scotland, and my clan is from the twin town of Blairgowrie/Rattray in Scotland...it was kind of funky to find a Blairgowrie in Oz. Plus the nearest town to me here in Canada is Fergus, Ontario...twinned with - you guessed it - Blairgowrie/Rattray in Scotland....guess I'll have to do my Hallowe'en dive in a kilt....:wink:
 
All my local dive sites is still iced up (for another week or so atleast) so I havent been able to do any solo dives at all for the past 6 months :eek:

Then again Egypt "random-buddy" diving is always nice for an easter vacation :p
 
Saspotato, I drove down to Blairgowrie, Vic, Australia in 2007, hoping for a dive off that pier, but the wind drove up some bad swells and my dive was cancelled... maybe in 2010 I'll be back in Oz.....

Wow you got unlucky! :depressed: Blairgowrie is the site we go to when all other sites are crap so must have been an exceptionally bad day. It's only real problem is current normally but that is managable. Hopefully you can try again in 2010, one of the best piers to dive. :) Especially at night. Did you get to dive anywhere else around Victoria?

My folks were born in Scotland, and my clan is from the twin town of Blairgowrie/Rattray in Scotland...it was kind of funky to find a Blairgowrie in Oz. Plus the nearest town to me here in Canada is Fergus, Ontario...twinned with - you guessed it - Blairgowrie/Rattray in Scotland....guess I'll have to do my Hallowe'en dive in a kilt....:wink:

Hehehe, that sounds like a good idea. I have a friend who dives with a reindeer hat in Christmas to be seasonal :)

Hm I got in one short solo dive this weekend only. I jumped in under the pier after the boat pulled up from my morning dive (local wreck). My two buddies from the boat dive went off to a reef but I wanted to stick under the pier. Only did 21mins, making it one of my shortest dives ever. :shocked2: But figured I had air so may as well use it up and it was relaxing to be alone as I was buddied up with a friend who is new at diving in the morning (and again at night when we did another boat dive) and whilst he is pretty good given his dive tally, it is hard to fully relax when you know someone is quite dependent on you for leading the dive (me and my other buddies now do more "same ocean" kind of dives) and just general watching out for. Was fun to see how excited he was at the night dive though :)
 

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