Where did you solo dive today?

[Stoo]

I was able to get in yesterday for what will be my last boat dive of the season. Three of us dove the Tiller Wreck in lake Ontario. My two buddies dove together, then I jumped in once they got out. The wreck sits in about 105 - 110 feet. The air temp was about freezing, but the water was a balmy 42, top to bottom. Initially we had about 3 - 4 foot waves, but these settled as the day progressed.

On the wreck the visibility was fabulous. If my Pythagorean calculations are correct, we had visibility of about 140' as I could clearly see the silhouette of my boat above the opposite end of the wreck.

Sadly, we'll be getting snow soon that it going to plug up the launch ramps, so that's that...

I found this clip of the wreck on Vimeo which will give you an idea of what it's like... And why solo is so appealing!

Lake Ontario, Tiller wreck on Vimeo

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Just returned from diving for bottles in the Halifax Harbour. The outside air temp this morning when I was getting my boat ready was 16 deg. F the water is starting to get cold now and was around 50deg. F . Depth was 80 ft. ,dive time 35 min. with a stop at 40 ft / 1 min. and one at 15ft./ 2 min., Vis was around 8-10ft. Our sole diving in the harbour has a diver on the bottom with a float and line to the surface, this attached to the goodie bag and a tender in the boat.
Check the treasures forum, bottle diving thread to see this weeks finds.
ZDD

 

[ScubaSaipan]

Had one of my best ever solo dives today at Obyan Beach. Saw a 4 ft Napoleon Wrasse (largest I've seen in Saipan). Also, used my new BP/W system and really liked it. All in all a great dive.

 

[Seaduced]

Spending Christmas in Mexico, this year. I want to dive in Lalo Cove every month for a year, to watch the recovery from Hurricane Jimena's damage. The week after the hurricane there was no visible marine life in the cove, well, except the corals and plant life, and they were pretty torn up. There was topside debris everywhere.

I was really surprised by the excellent viz, 50 feet or so. Water temp 64 degrees, but the 5 mil suit and a polar tech hood, kept me toasty. Forgot to bring my Christmas present, some 3 mil gloves.

You see medium sized Cortez Damsels now, here and there, but not everywhere yet. Found one larger octopus, there should have been more, but there are snorkelers that come through and harvest everything they can get their hooks into. Looks like they have been through recently. Saw several rays and young grouper. Hardly any sea urchins and they are very small.

Still haven't seen any Morays, before the hurricane there were quite a few, but the hurricane washed a lot of beach sand into the rocky areas they like. The sand is still filling the areas around the rocks, so I guess it will be a while before they move back in. I didn't see a single scorpion fish this trip. Usually, I see several good sized stone and scorpion fish. My last dive there, I picked up a piece of fish net with a scorpion fish in it on my fin buckle. That adds a degree of urgency to clearing the entanglement.

I got pics of a nudibranch I have never seen. I have around 40 dives in Lalo, and I still see species I have never seen there. This one is orange with small white or yellow spots and come to think of it, it was about 4" long, the largest nudibranch I have seen. I'll post some pics when I get back to the US of A.

As the dive progressed and evening came on, the fish began to settle down. On my way back to the beach, the arrow crabs and flatworms started to appear.

I love solo diving, in this cove especially. It's amazing what you can see when you take the time to look.

 

[shoredivr]

Winds from the NW and N for the past few days means that the viz at Humber Bay, Lake Ontario, was a stunning 50 ft. It's usually 10 or 15 ft, or sometimes it's a braille dive.

I never have been able to see the entire "diver's playground" area like this before. A seagull dove into the lake beside me as I was in about 9 ft of water..never seen seagulls dive that deep before either.

The world above: air temp -3 Celsius, wind chill of -11C. The world below: water temp 35F, depth 34 ft, viz 50 ft, 27 min.

 

[drbill]

Although about 95% of my diving is solo, yesterday I dove with buddies... KathyDee, Riguerin and his son Brandon on the first dive and a non-SB member, Lorri, on my second dive. Buddies can be fun! Highly unusual for me... I didn't take my camcorder on either dive.

 

[Ana]

Haven't gone out today yet, but yesterday went out the Hillsboro Inlet in Broward county and was pleasingly surprised with very good seas, in spite of the forecast.
Completed a dive in the "Boca 3rd Reef" I had forgotten how nice that simple dive is. This place tends to be an easy drop that many charters use for their 2nd dive just north of the Boca inlet.

With cold air temperatures and crappy forecast, the plan was to just go and see if we can sneak any dives at all. My husband jumped in first and came back with a big smile in his face, no dinner in hand but he dispatched 4 lionfish.
Then it was my turn to go in, flag and spear in hand down I went. Am I freezing? hmmm not really, this feels good. Oh and I can see the bottom already... granted it was a pretty shallow dive but that's always such a great feeling. This wasn't anything special but my husband just told me after reading a bunch of threads here that we should've died, since we didn't have all kind of redundancy during our solo dives.
Well... I'm happy we didn't die because we are considering going out again today.

 

[Stoo]

I was in Tobermory Saturday, and decided to do a quick dive at the Lighthouse. The air temp was about -12C, snowing fairly heavily, but the water was a lovely 35C. Vis was upwards of 80'. Total time was 40 minutes. I ran into some guys I know that were diving in a foursome. They invited me along, but I went the other way.

It was tough climb out due to the ice on the rocks. I think that this is the first shore dive I've done up hear in about 8 years.... It's hard work!

 

[Charlie99]

This morning was my first dive this winter on Maui.

Just a simple swim around Ulua to check out my gear. 75 minutes, 41' max. Cut a bit short because my octo wanted to bubble a bit, but after breathing on it for a 1/2 hour or so whatever was causing the seat to leak cured itself.

A chilly 75/76F. One monster sized green sea turtle, a couple medium size ones, and a cute tiny little hawksbill turtle that was only about 24-40" long. Living up the the dive site name, a pair of uluas sped past intent on hunting something down.

 

[Bob DBF]

Gerstle Cove, Salt Point State Park, No. CA. Met two other divers for the dive, primary site was not dive-able so I decided on diving the Reserve. The other divers passed on the dive but I forged ahead.

On the first dive the viz went from 8' in the cove to 14' on the outside where it drops to 30-40'. Saw a three and a half foot ling cod who acted like he owned the place and various other fish. Tried to find the anchors that are out there but no luck. Had fun.

Second dive the seas increased and viz dropped to 6' and 10' respectively. Surge was 2 to 5' on the outside. Was looking in what I thought was the same area but there was a current that pushed me across the cove and onto the SW point. Figured out where I was by the turbulence and rock formations and headed back to the center of the cove. Along the way I picked up a small collapsible anchor and an Abalone gage to add to my gage collection. Had a good time and a workout, but I'm going to have to figure the current better, it's hard to tell when the surge is large as well. Definitely a more exciting dive.


Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

"the future is uncertain and the end is always near"
Jim Morrison