Sailing The Aleutians
March 1, 2010
Ulanah in SE Alaska
Back in January Matt the owner and captain of the Ulanah a 45 foot Ketch sailboat posted an ad on craigslist looking for a crew to sail from Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) to Russia and then down to Japan. I really didn’t have the time to offer myself for the entire trip but I was able to get a few weeks which would be long enough to sail down to Adak. We got together last week and came up with a plan that looks like it will work out well for everyone. I’ll sail for two weeks with him and his crew and when time permits we will get some diving in. It will give me a chance to learn more about sailing and to see if I’d like to pursue my plan to buy a live aboard boat myself. If all goes according to plan it looks like a departure date in the first week of June. It should not take two weeks to get to Adak but by taking it slow it will give him and the crew time get sorted out and comfortable with everything – and it will be one heck of an adventure!
Helix Wind.. a Recovery
December 17, 2009
Helix Wind Turbine
Last Sunday – for the weekly ‘Church of Scuba’ It was decided that we would scour the bottom of the bay in search of a local residents Helix Wind Turbine what was lost in the 125+ mile an hour winds that hit our island a week earlier.for
Check out Ann Hillmans report on the storm at the KUCB website.
We met at the small boat launch in Unalaska, near the Alyeska Seafoods plant at noon. Six of us divers surface swam about 281 yards to our respective search areas. Jennifer, Brandon and Myself were team 2 and Shari, Simon and Aura were team 1 (I just made that up to explain the teams) Team 1 practically descended on the target – reporting having to swim about 40 feet to it. Team 2 descended on an old ship wreck (by coincidence, not plan) after a few minutes of checking it out, we swam our pattern and found the wreck AFTER team 1 had already marked it and continued on a recreation dive.
Helix Wind Turbine
PLEASE NOTE: The turbine did not come off it’s mounts until winds reached 125+mph. More than twice the speed that it was rated for. Helix Wind is sending a replacement for free and some extra gadgets to help gauge the speed in real time. Please read the KUCB article!
The helix is in about 45 feet of water. The owners are not interested in it’s return. We decided that we would use the recovery as an experience in local salvage diving. Practicing underwater knots, c-links, lift bag inflation, monitoring and surface dive salvage profile planning. It will give our newer divers a chance at getting involved in recovery efforts of various items we come across in the drink. The photos in this gallery were take by Sgt. Jennifer Shockley of the Unalaska Police Department and the author of the world famous Unalaska Police Blotter. Google it, and you will see what I’m talking about… The rest of the gallery is here. We will document the rest of the recovery in January of 2010. (right after I return from Vacation) Those images will be in the gallery as well.
Saturdays Dive
December 15, 2009
Aura's Perfect Descent
Earlier in the week Aura sent out a ‘ I’m Having Dive Withdrawals – Someone Go Diving With Me ‘ So a plan was made to check out the new but unfinished small boat harbor. The Dutra Group was here all summer dredging out a small cove near bunker hill, placing rock to form a break water, they installed a small cement launch pad and pile drove a floating pier (or whatever it’s called)
Some Kind of Jelly Thing
The dive plan / profile was simple and fun. We agreed to test our navigation skills by only allowing ourselves to note our heading from the end of the dock to the end of the breakwater before actually getting in the water. Once in the water we could only descend and then head the direction we noted on the dock.
The bottom was mostly all sand, but still pocked with indentations made by the dredge. It looks like a mine field. Visibility was good, water was about 40 degrees and Aura being our chief navigator took us right to our destination. (nice job Aura)
I also took this dive as a chance to test out the underwater housing for my camera. I added a few images to the assorted dive photos gallery
Lets Dive…
December 3, 2009
Canon Housing for the G10
Last week I ordered a housing for my Canon Powershot G10 so that I could take pictures while diving. It arrived yesterday and I could not be happier with it. Rated to 140 feet or so I’m sure it’s going to last a lot longer in the drink that I will with water temperatures below 40. I’m hoping to dive all weekend on
Canon Housing for the G10
various projects and fun dives. I’ll be posting images soon. So check out the Diving Gallery under hobbies in the nav bar up top.On a side note, I’m still uploading images from the last few years of diving so please check the galleries often – chances are good that there will be recently added photos.
Thanksgiving Dive 2009
November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving Dive 2009
We have a tradition of doing a ‘night’ dive on the morning of Thanksgiving. Todays dive was on the ‘Reef’ behind Bunker Hill (or Little South America as we like to call it). We had about 12 divers and 2 shore support folks show up (3 including Vitus). The dive was pretty good (even though we didn’t get photos of it) it was still a night dive (meaning is was still pitch black out and we navigated with dive lights and glow sticks)
Afterward we got the fire going, and had our traditional post dive beverage. Grand Marnier soaked peaches and Champagne (Thanks Don & Chris). We also had coffee and cider and assorted doughnuts.
The fire roared for about an hour, the conversation was good, the company was great and it was a good way to kick off the day.
I have added a gallery of the get together here.
Alaska (Pacific) Octopus
November 23, 2009
Alaska (Pacific) Octopus
Todays dive was great. I’ve been spending a lot of time since my hike across the island (and rescue via the USCG) kicking back and relaxing. Todays dive was at one of our favorite local dive sites. Reid and I dove The Reef at Little South America to check octopus dens for eggs and occupation.
Jennifer and Simon were a head of us while Brandon and Mike were behind us. It was windy with winds of 35 mph coming from the south. Water temp was 39 but visibility was fantastic and at a max depth of 83 feet ~ I was happy to be back in the water.
We checked several dens – with Reid checking and marking down the results on the slates.
We saw several occupied dens and only one of them had eggs hanging. We had one den, near the end of the ‘reef’ that was occupied and had a huge ‘grave yard’ (also known by the marine biologist folk as a midden) out in front of it. It was littered with King Crab and Giant Clam shells.
Also worth mentioning is that just as Reid and I rounded the corner of the reef, I saw Simon backing off a large den enterance and an ocotpus backing back in to the den.
Simon told us top side that as he approached the den the octopus came out after him. whoa, better him than me!!
All in all a great dive with some great people.
Bonaire Diving Adventure
October 30, 2009
As most of you know it is taking me just shy of forever to get the photo galleries and albums back on line. I just finished adding the Bonaire pictures 
back to the gallery You can find them here and you can also find them under the adventures gallery int he menu bar at the top of the page. In August of 2008 a gorup of us local divers followed Reid and Sarah Brewer to Bonaire to celebrate their wedding and honey moon. It was a great time with great people and great diving.
HydroOptix Mega 4.5 DD
August 18, 2009
HydroOptix Mega 4.5 DD Technical Mask
Yeah that’s right, DD (Double Dome) What does that all mean. It means my new dive mask is here! FINALLY. Another eBay special. I hope it’s not another eBay special that I end not being able to use… but I suspect that will be another post, another time.
So about three years ago while I was testing the diving realm, I first saw this mask on a local diver. It looked great, she liked it but Reid Brewer my instructor didn’t say much about it.
One of the things you learn in the PADI Diving Programs is to NEVER wear your mask above your eyes on your head. Why? if it falls of, its going to sink, Without a mask you cant really dive down to find it if your in deep water…. and to know more, take the class.
Why did I tell you that… well the same person I had seen the mask on, did just that. At the surface in about 15 feet of winter Bering Sea water had lifted the mask up above the eyes. It fell off and promptly sank to the bottom. – The mask retails for $215.00 – gone.
HydroOptix Mega 4.5 DD Tech Black
A year and some change later someone in our local dive group found the mask – it was beat up pretty good and is now unusable. BUT I still found it to be very interesting. So… I looked on eBay to buy one. I was out bid three or four times until I finally one one last month. Yes it arrived today. In the next few days I plan trying it out – for now I’m happy looking at it across the office.
As Brandon Hunter pointed out. Because of it’s design I may need to temporarily make myself near sighted in order to use the mask. This is advertised on the HydroOptix website and is usually done with corrective disposable contact lenses. Not that I really want to do it, BUT I have the mask and I’ve been known to do weirder things just to see if it would work.
I’ll post back with either how great the mask is, or that I’m listing it on eBay for a steal of a deal!
It’s Friday
July 31, 2009
I’ve waited and waited and waited and I’m still waiting. The container ship Horizon Tacoma pulled in a few hours ago and the containers are being off loaded now. In one of those containers is an engine. A engine that goes on the back of my boat.
The boat has been washed, both tanks filled with fuel, electronics installed, battery charged, fuel lines installed. I just need the engine now.
THe ship was late and the UniSea containers are in the back, or is it the bottom, or is it both? I’m not sure. Rumor on the street is that were not getting out containers until later tonight. -eeeeeergh. Oh well, whats a few hours or another day at this point. I’ve been restoring this boat since Septamber of last year. I think I can handle it.
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Random Photo
