On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 Ed <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>First, I missed meeting up with Wayne by an hour,
>damn, next time fer sure.

What a shame :-(

>Did a total of 3 dives.

>Dive 1, July 21:
>HMCS Saskatchewan off of Snake Island, Nanaimo,
>Vancouver Island. Max. depth 99fsw, 30 minutes, 45F.
>Sunny day 72F, but breezy. <snip of dive buddy info>
>
>Dive 2:
>6 of us decided to do the Snake Wall instead of the
>wreck, cuz' it was a lot calmer behind the island & it
>had gotten even rougher. My buddy (different one)
>wrote this about the wall:
>
>"Snake island wall is a wall that starts around 60
>feet and drops off to over 700 feet with dramatic
>undercuts and slashes made of pure rock and covered
>with all forms of marine life that included metridium
>anemones and enormous cloud sponges."

An interesting mini dive report Ed. While I know I would love the above
ground scenery in Canuck land the UW temperatures have definitely killed
any thoughts of me getting in a few dives if Im ever over that way UNLESS I
got drysuit certified first.

>I didn't see much of the wall cuz' I got to try out an
>Apollo scooter. Once I got use to it, damn it was fun.
>Max. depth 72fsw, 27 minutes.

It's fun aye! I tried one of those scooters out on a night dive along a
steep reef wall while diving on the Rowley Shoals off Broome, Western OZ.
The sea was absolutely calm, the moon full so I did not need a dive light
to see where I was heading. The bioluminescence flowing around me while
zooming around made me feel like I was out in space amongst millions of
little stars. What a buzz that was! What more could a gal ask for ..
freedom of movement, warm waters, no one else around to share the scooter
with ;-)) Nah! They were too busy drinking... I wasnt hogging the scooter
honest :-)

>Dive 3, 22 July, Sunny & almost no breeze. Max. depth
>102fsw, 35 minutes bottom time. Did the Saskatchewan
>again. We did a penetration of 'Burma Road' did the
>whole length of it mortar bay to bow. What a cool dive
>site. Speaking of cool, water temps were in the low
>40Fs.
>
>I didn't do the 4th dive, was feeling a little 'off'
>after lunch & didn't want to push it. So I watch the
>morons trying to load their boats on a very low tide,
>what a scream.
>
>Side note - Nanaimo had their Annual Bathtube race on
>Sunday. We saw part of the race from the boat after
>our first dive. The Australian Team fielded 3 bathtubs
>& won 1st & 5th or so I was told, by an Aussie who had
>clearly been celebrating the victory.

A bathtube race certainly sounds novel & the aussie blokes are always game
to take part in the unusual followed down by lots of liquid amber :-)

Sounds as much fun as some of the annual boat races we have up north of OZ
except these are held in places where there is no water in the riverbeds
during the season the regattas are held. Or, here in Perth we have the
annual cardboard milk container race. Sponsored by Brownes, our local milk
producer, you get all sorts of strange looking vessels that have to be made
entirely from these cardboard containers. They somehow have to make it from
one end of the harbour to the other. We kill ourselves with laughter
watching them slowly sink .. some before they even leave the start line &
luckily it is in a shallow part of the harbour.  Naturally most of the kids
boats make atleast half way due to them being able to float further as they
dont weigh as much as the adults. The scuba divers on rescue duty have a
hard time keeping their regs in their mouths with all the laughter and many
casual onlookers on scuba get the opportunity to shoot some very funny UW
shots.
Viv