After a number of GUE Tech 1 interns over the years and three in 2009 I will be teaching my first Tech 1 course in early May. Gideon Liew will be the IE - Instructor Evaluator for the course and will be evaluating my ability to teach the GUE Tech 1 course. Upon successful completion of this evaluation I will gain the Tech 1 instructor rating.
Looking for candidates for this class. My intent is to extensively work with the candidates prior to the course to insure they are ready for the Tech 1 course. It is also likely that the Tech 1 will be offered over 2 weekends with the Tech 2 course sandwiched between.
If interested please contact me to discuss.

Gideon Liew will be teaching a GUE Tech 1 course in San Diego in early May. We have two Tech 1 divers coming from Germany to take the course. One, frequently travels to San Diego and would be available for some pre-course practice dives. One scheduled trip is for 10 days in early April. If you are potentially interested, please get in touch and we can discuss the requirements and what might be done to help prepare you.

Completed the final dive for the Fundy’s course which began in October. Conditions on the first weekend kept us from completing one of the scheduled dives and the makeup dive. Dive holidays, my month off and Christmas holidays resulted in the final dive being made yesterday.
Congratulations to Jamie Astorino and Jennifer Hirsch on completing GUE Fundamentals.
Thanks to Jana Schroth for joining us on most of the dives and functioning as a third team member.

This years GUE conference will be held in the Gainesville/High Springs area. The conference agenda has been posted on the web site and a number of GUE courses have been scheduled before and after the conference.
I will be flying in a few days early for some local cave diving and to attend the GUE DPV Instructor Course. Afterwards I will be attending the Recreational 1 Instructor Course.
Should be fun

The San Diego Fundy class was succesfully completed.
Actual startup dates for the Vancouver class need to be establish. There are 2 confirmed participants so this will run at some point.
Next San Diego course will be scheduled soon, so if you would like to take the course and have input on the schedule, now is the time to get in touch with me. I am open to running classes in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles area.

I will be teaching a GUE Fundamentals course in Vancouver, BC thru the month of August.
Lectures, pool work and dives will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the month of August beginning August 5.
Lectures to be held at Ocean Quest in Burnaby.

Will be running a GUE Fundamentals Course in San Diego over two weekends in August.
Course lectures/video reviews will be held at SDUA (www.sduadivers.com)
Course dates are August 8 (evening only), 9,10, 23, 24.
Evening presentation on August 8 is open to all

This past summer I lost the ability to update the website and have just been able to reestablish the links and publish the files that exist on my laptop. So hopefully we shall see more frequent updates to website in the near future.
Currently I am still spending aproximately 90% of my time in Vancouver, BC and 10% in San Diego. Engineering project in Vancouver is scheduled to complete October 31, 2008 so the end is in sight but still a ways away. However I am planning to increase the time spent in San Diego which should allow me to begin to teach classes again in San Diego and to enjoy the benefits of the SDUA Tech gas club (all you can breathe 21/35, 18/45, 15/55, 10/70 and deco gases for $75/month).

On Saturday Roger Bly and I explored the area between Murray Head and Stewart's Point which looked from the bathymetric data to be an interesting dive site.
The area looks like it could be a nice site for dives in the 180+ range.
While dealing with some minor gear issues we headed out to the North Wall and scootered the 170 to 180 foot contour. Some nice vertical drops but not much life although we did come across one area with some nice gorgogians.

Canada Day weekend we headed over to Nanaimo for 2 days of diving with Diver's Choice charters.

On Saturday, Todd, Ashley and myself did a Tech 1 dive on the Cape Breton using our scooters nad doing some mild penetration. The afternoon dive was a recreational dive with scooters on the Saskatchwan.

Saturday night we all head down to Guy's house outside of Duncan for a great barbecue in the late afternoon. Great food and much fun.

On Sunday, Todd, Ashley and myself did a Tech 1 dive on the Snake Island wall. A nice wall with lots of sponges and some nice cutaways. in the afternoon Todd shot video for Mark and Ashley and I did a scooter dive on the Saskatchwan. For the most part we stayed on the outside of the wreck with lots of rolls and tuns.

After the dive we headed to Starbucks and then Alan, Eric and I headed for the ferry. Since it was Canada Day and Monday was a holiday the ferry were quite lite but we missed the departure of the 5:15 ferry by a few minutes and had to wait for the 7:30 PM ferry. Did enjoy the Starbucks coffee and we had plenty of time to enjoy it.

THe weekend of 5/19-21 is a three day weekend in Canada with Monday being Queen Victoria day. A number of BCUE divers headed over to Bamfield on the Barkley Sound the invite of Curt Smeckler.
Barkley Sound is on the west side of Vancouver Island and Bamfield is located on the southern western edge of the sound and is therefore is quite close to the Pacific ocean. Unlike the BC dive sites I have dived up until now the dives sites are at the receiving end of the Pacific Ocean swells. Barkley Sound has a number of islands and a number of wrecks.

From Vancouver, Bamfield is reached via a 2 hour ferry running between Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. From Nanaimo, Port Albernai is about a 1 hour drive north and then
Bamfield is about a 45 mile drive west along a maintained logging road which was basically a dirt and gravel road. I carpooled up with Dirk and we met at Turner Way at 10:00 and headed up to ferry. We were
hoping to make the 12:30 PM ferry but actually ended up being one of last cars on the 10:30 AM.

After we arrived in Nanaimo we headed a few miles north to dive site named Madronna. We did a quick beach dive, swa 5 wolf eels, a GPO in its den and a variety of other marine life.

Following the dive we head up to Port Alberni arriving around 4:30 PM and then headed out to Bamfield ariving close to 6:00 PM. We left messages on Curt's and Chris Fenton voicemail but as it turned out both
were still on the way to Bamfield. Curt was bringing the dive boat Whimsy down from Port Alberni (Barkley Sound almost cuts Vancouver Island into 2) and Chris was driving down. The road ends in East Bamfield and Curt and Chris homes are in West Bamfield which requires a short trip across the harbor. Once Chris showed up we loaded gear into a smaller boat, parked the cars and motored over to West Bamfield. Whimsy was there and we loaded the tanks onto the boat and then headed up to Curts. On the property at Curts house is the dive shed with plenty of room to store dive gear and a full head with shower as well as the 9cfm dive compressor. We stored our gear in the shed and then headed up to house for a bit of dinner and night of the sleep.

In the morning we has additional divers joining us with the scheduled departure time of 10:00 AM.

We headed out in morning to dive a high spot that Curt had identified as possible new dive site. I ended up with some gear issues so sat the dive out. The ocean swells coming onto the high spot created some interesting conditions for getting on and off the boat but we got everyone safely in and out of the water. Some divers reported some interested bottom and others reported pretty much diving on sand.

For the surface interval/lunch we headed for a protected area between 3 islands. A few of Kirtk's had a house and dock here and ran an oyster aquaculture setup.

After lunch we headed to a wall on Nanit Islet which was not exposed to the swell I dived with Chris and Kim and did a Tech 1 dive along the slope and wall. Initially we dove on sand but as we approached the point it turned into a quite nice dive.

Saturday night was spent at Curt's. .

In the morning we headed out to the Broken Island group and the wreck of the Van Leer. The Van Leer was freighter carrying a bunch of Dodge Colts from Japan in the 70's. It pretty left without any functional navigation gear and probably thought Barkley Sound was Puget Sound. In fog in ran up on the rocks and apparently was high and dry for a couple of years before sliding into the ocean. Curt, Dirk and I dived the outside of the portion of the wreck that sat to the west of the rocks.

The afternoon dive was a search for the wreck of Thiepval which was a Coast Guard vessel that sank in 1932. We had its approximate location and Chris and Kim made a scooter dive without being able to locate it. Curt and I then did a similar search and after no luck chose to search an area to a bit north of the original site. We had no luck but when we returned to our anchored boat, we discovered Chris and Kim and ultimately found it. On our remaining gas we were able to spend 10 mins on the wreck.

Sunday night was again spent at Curts where we feasted on a spaghetti prepared by Curt.

On Monday morning we had an enjoyable dive on Turner Island and then it was off to pack up gear and dash off to catch the Nanaimo ferry.

Returned earlier this week from Mexico, after spending a few days diving with the crew at Zero Gravity. Had an awesome time and I am looking forward to another trip down in July.

Great dive last night at Whytecliff. Eric and I formed one team with Todd and Ashley as team 2. First non-scooter dive in awhile. We swam out to the island on the left to a max depth of 80 feet. Viz left a bit to be desired particularly in the shallows but at depth it was around 15 feet Water temp varied around 42-44 degrees. A large harbor seal spend much the dive diving down on us.

Marine life highlights included a Giant White Dorid and Golden Dirona nudibranchs, and all the other marine life that is relatively new to

Picked up a copy of the great book, Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds And Selected Fishes (Hardcover) ,so now I am trying to pay a bit more attention to differentiate the marine life I am seeing.

My first DIR-F course of the year will be in Vancouver starting on Feb 22, 2007.

Schedule for the course is as follows
Tuesday Feb 27 - Evening Lecture Session
Thursday Mar 1 - Evening Pool Session
Saturday Mar 3 - Dives 1 & 2, Video Review
Sunday Mar 4 - Dives 3 & 4, Video Review
Thursday Mar 15, Lecture
Saturday Mar 17, Dives 5 & 6, Video Review
Sunday Mar 18, Dives 7 & 8 (if needed), Video Review.

Weekend of March 10-11, I will be in San DIego but provides time for students to practice the skills with their team members.

Contact me if interested.

Took the 8:30 ferry from Horseshoe Bay over to Nanaimo to the dive the Cape Breton, a 400 foot WWII Victory class ship and the Saskatchewan, a 366 foot ex-Canadian destroyer escort (sister ship to the Yukon).

Five of us met in North Vancouver at Eric's place and loaded up Blair's pickup with gear and then all piled in for the short trip to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal

The first good news of the day was that that the ferry trip over was half price for some promotion that BC Ferries were running. After a short wait we boarded the ferry and headed up a deck and to the galley where everyone grabbed lunch. Oatmeal, yogurt and toast seemed to be popular.

On the approx. 90 min trip over we came into patches of fog but as we approach Nanaimo we saw that the dive site near Snake Island was clear and the seas flat.

Once off the ferry it was a short trip to marina where we unloaded gear onto a barge like small outboard boat that was tied up to the adjacent to the gangway. All of
gear easily loaded and then we motored across the marina to the dive boat. There we transferred the gear onto the dive boat. As the barge boat was quite stable
and its deck height was even with the rear swim step/deck of the dive boat this was one of easiest gear loadings I have come upon.

Once loaded we headed out of the harbor (breaking thru some thin ice on the surface) out to the Cape Breton. Another boat was moored to the stern which we had planned to dive so we moored onto a bouy that was attached to the forward end of the ship.

Eric, Blair and I made up one team while Ashley, Todd and Mark made up the second team. The wreck was large and had limited life, but lots of internal space to explore.

After lunch onboard we motored over to the Saskatchewan. Teams were the same as on the first dive. The Saskatchewan has quite a bit more life on it and the most common growth on the exterior is Metridium anemones. (similar to the Yukon). Fun dive.

Returning back to dive boat it was clear we were going to miss our schedule ferry, so we relaxed and made dinner plans.

A great day.

Pictures

Vancouver

For the past few months my engineering work has me in Vancouver, BC on close to a full-time basis. I currently fly home for long weekends in San Diego about every third weekend. Fortunately in Nov of 2004 I interned a Tech 1 course based in North Van so I knew some of the DIR community. I have been doing some diving but it has been quite a winter up here, so diving the past couple of months has been limited.

Since the first of the year, I have been bringing additional gear north. The last trip north I carried an AL80 stage and 2 AL40 deco bottles along with a few smaller items.

Next weekend a quick trip over to the Nanaimo on Vancouver Island for a day of diving is planned with the first dive of the day being on scooters.

San Diego's newest dive shop, SDUA has since it opened offered free Nitrox fills to its members with a monthly fee of $55. They have recently added a trimix level. $75 per month membership (1 year membership contract and then it goes month to month). The membership provides you with free standard trimix fills as well as
deco bottle and argon gas fills.

The standard mixes are familiar to GUE divers (21/35, 18/45, 15/55 and 10/70). I will be joining despite the fact that I am in Vancouver most of the month.

The website has been neglected for the past year, but updates will begin to be seen.

Added the first edition of the San Diego Dive Conditions page to Enjoy the Dive.
The first edition is quite simple but the intent is for the page to be a mash up of a number of available resources related to our local dive conditions.

Page is accessed from the "Conditions" forms button on the sidebar.

Stay tuned !!

5thD-X has released a new DVD which is a combination of DIR skill videos and course presentations.

A description of the DVD and previews of a few of the DIR skill videos are available here:
http://www.5thd-x.com/xducation/dvds/essentialsdvd.html

GUE has done a overhaul of their website.
The registration process has undergone a major update. Instructors now must enter their classes on the GUE schedule and students select the specific course they are signing up for.

I will be running a GUE DIR Fundamentals Course in January.

The lectures for the course will be on the evenings of Jan 24 and Jan 25.
Lectures will be held at San Diego Divers Supply.

The dives will be done on consecutive Saturdays Jan 28 and Feb 4 at La Jolla Shores

If interested please call or email me.

Mike Reedy and I headed over to Catalina yesterday. Leaving the harbor the swell was fairly impressive and we had more wind and wind chop then expected so the trip was over was a bit rougher been expected. We were looking to dive somewhere over by the West End but with the swell we headed towards the Isthmus and finally ended up anchoring near the Submarine Tower. Mike was going to trying out a new undergarment and I had a Dive-Xtras video mount to try out.

Plans for a dive on the Tower ended when a tooth on Mike dry's suit broke and the zipper pulled apart. We were able to get it back together but we decided
to limit the dive to recreational depths so if Mike suffer a major leak we could surface quickly. So with Video housing mounted we headed off to scooter
the area to the east from the Submarine Tower. We saw the results of major squid run and there were even a few squid still in the process of mating. Also
saw a large Pacfic Angel Shark on the bottom and lots of cabezon along the dropoff and the kelp.

The video mount work great. My short body X-Scooter was very stable with the Gates TRV-900 housing mounted. Very easy to use.

Reports from La Jolla Shores indicate that we have 1-2 surf and viz in the 15 feet range a La Jolla Shores

Major Revision/Update of Website is ongoing - Some presentation and links appear to be broken. Will be working on them - please bear with me.

All the paperwork is signed and Lonnie Sharp presented me this afternoon with the certifcate from NAUI. So I am now officially a NAUI Trimix Instructor.
Thanks Lonnie - enjoy your trip down to South Padre Island.

One of these days the weather will clear up and we will be diving again. For the past couple of weeks we have been hammered with periods of large waves and some rain. Local visibility reports are ranging in the 3-5 foot range