Liquid Archaeology

This is part 1 of a multi part video series for a dive vacation to Marea del Protillo, in Granma Provice of Cuba. The trip was in April 2009, excellent weather, diving and an all around good time. No dive footage in this first video but shows the resort, a few types on rooms, entertaintment, etc.

Subsequent videos will be posted for each dive I did there.
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New boat has arrived. Looks heavy.

After trying to get John’s old boat fixed and finding it difficult to source parts, etc. John and Chris decided to pull the trigger on a brand new boat. The new boat is made by the “Rubber Duck Inflatables” company and is both longer and wider than the old boat.

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NAS Sr. Tutor Chris Phinney giving some survey tips

 With the loss of our primary boat at the beginning of the season, things have been pretty slow on the project front. We have been mostly diving just for fun and doing research.

 It has been a busy season none the less, with several Liquid members becomming Nautical Archaeology Society instructors for Save Ontario Shipwrecks. Project Co ordinator, Chris Phinney has become the Sr. Tutor (tutor is an instructor) and Bryan Thomas is also a tutor. Putting our hard won experience to good use teaching others how to survey wrecks is very rewarding. Chris has spent the last few months adapting the UK course content to local diving conditions and laws.

 The first SOS NAS course was a roaring success and the new course content was launched in July. Feedback from the students was awesome. There is a write up on the SOScentral.ca site.

 For more information on NAS training in Ontario visit the Save Ontario Shipwrecks web site. For more on the NAS (UK), visit their web site.

The carnage of John's boat.

Unfortunatly durring a training operation last weekend, the boat that the team primarily dives from, belonging to John Millar, was damaged beyond repair.

Running out to deep water for a Trimix training dive, paralell to the seas, a rogue wave came out of no where and swamped the boat (or so we thought). It turned out that the wave hit with such force that the wood floor cracked and punctured the hypalon floor which rammed water into the tear and blew out the floor to pontoon seam.

So there we sat with the floor falling out from under us. Luckily for us, the pontoons were intact allowing us to be towed back to shore where we offloaded the gear and recovered the boat.

This will set us back this season as we need a boat to get out to complete our scheduled projects. In the mean time we will be very busy with training and research.

Chris

In a previous post I showed you some land photos of housing mods and a wide angle lens that I got for my HD video camera. For a refresher I am using a Sony HDR SR11 Camera with Raynox High Deffinition (.5) conversion lens in a Clear Cam housing.

Here are two frame grabs from two dives I did recently. One without the WAL and one with it.

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Sony HDR SR11

Last year I started getting into video above and below the water. Getting the hang of editing and realizing that my PS camera in video mode wasn’t going to cut it, I hoped Santa would be kind.

For Christmas 2008 I was lucky enough to recieve a Sony HDR SR11 HD video camera. Since a housing was beyond my means, Chris Moore loaned me his universal Clear Cam housing.

The Clear Cam housings are a very simple design out of the UK. With no external controls you  press record, close the housing, go diving and edit later.  

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Split fins (newer technology) or paddle (traditional) fins. There are raging Internet debates over which is better. Divers from both camps cite data gathered with various methods. Each side has their merits, so I thought I would throw my analysis into the ring.

For the record, what I am comparing are traditional one piece stiff fins versus the newer highly flexable split fins. Traditional fins are pretty low tech and closely resemble the shape of a canoe paddle. Some are more flexible than others, some have vents, some don’t, but they are very similar in design. Split fins however are fairly new on the scene and have some radical design elements that make then very much like natures preferred propulsion method.

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As a diver and someone who loves the natural landscape, I find it gut wrenching to see the footprint we leave behind on the planet. With all the time I spend on and in the water, it especially hits home when diving. Wanton disregard for the environment has got to stop, lest we leave no future for future generations.

When it comes to diving here in Canada, I am amazed by the beauty and preservation of our wrecks and appalled by the senseless pollution of our lakes and rivers at the same time. Lakes and oceans are not bottomless and rivers not endless, what is put in there will come back to bite us in the ass.

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