The Group, makes it fun.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Deep Diver Specialty

Last weekend my wife Christina and I got our Deep Diver Specialty while aboard the Naknek out of Friday Harbor. The course, taught by Instructor Charlynn Sutton, was spectacular. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous before the first dive and the thought of going below 100 hundred feet seemed like a long way down. Charlynn put us at ease and the first dive went perfect. I ended the dive with around 500 psi as planned and we dove to 115 feet. I felt the effects of Narcosis for the first time. I wouldn't say I felt drunk but everything did seem to take more time and thought to accomplish. I found myself really having to concentrate even to just to check my computer.

At our safety stop on the first dive we parked right next to a Puget Sound King Crab. I was quite surprised that we found one. These guys are huge. We even say a baby King Crab on our next dive.

The real benefit of taking the Deep Specialty is not that we are now certified to dive to 130 feet (which we did on the second day of diving) but that we learned how to plan our dives for such depths. This course was really a confidence booster and I can't wait to get in the water again.

Before the class I purchased a pony bottle which I highly recommend owning when going deep. On our second dive I switched to the pony for practice and it was reassuring to know that I had another 10 minutes of air in case I had an emergency. I think this is a must have for all divers. A pony bottle isn't that expensive and easily mounts to your main tank using the same strap on your BC. If you decide to upgrade your primary regulator, keep your old one and use it on your pony or pick up a used one at a discount from Gone Diving's rental stock.

One other thing to note is that all rentals are 50% off from Gone Diving if you are enrolled in a course from them.

See you in the sound!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Dive Buddies Weekly

Hey! I have to tell you, this last weekend was AWESOME! And by that, I mean IT WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME!! The charter we took out of Friday Harbor was superb... the dives were amazing! Plus it was fun to kick it in Friday Harbor all weekend with some cool divers and non-divers.

The Deep Specialty class did great, and now we've got some fresh new Deep divers! Also, I think we will soon have some new Dry Suit cert divers on Feb. 5th... those hardy folks (brave?) diving in wet suits were shivering envious of the rest of us in our dry suits during the surface intervals. If you (or a friend) want to get into diving now, you can add the dry suit cert to your open water and end up saving $125... That pays for the dry suit cert by itself, plus some.

Haven't heard yet how Langley went for folks on Sunday... hopefully that was fun as well.

Let's see what this next weekend has in store....

Who wants to go diving?!? YEAH!!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Dive Buddies Weekly

Some folks are going on a sweet weekend (24th-25th) charter out of Friday Harbor... as of now, I think there's still a spot left, if you're interested. There will be deep diving / wall dives. Great opportunity to get your Deep Specialty. Must be part of the Deep class or already have Deep certification.

Also heard some people might be going up to the Vancouver Aquarium for a dive expo... no diving involved, but a great way to meet some potential dive buddies.

Who else wants to go diving?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

January bench dive

Hey divers,
Next weekend the 24th we will meet at the dive shop 9AM to car pool up to the divers weekend at the Vancouver Aquarium check out their web site to see the cost and if it interests you. This would also be a great chance to show your non diving friends or family what our sport is all about.  On Sunday I have heard rumors of some diving going on but do not have anything concrete yet keep an eye out here or on facebook fans of gonediving.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Cozumel in December

Everyone has been asking me how the trip was and to be honest with you, it was FABULOUS! I am so sure leaving again next year for the holidays. If you are interested in joining us let me know. Now is the time to put your destination request in.

Cozumel, if you have never been, go. It is very easy and fun diving. Scuba Club Cozumel was a wonderful place to stay at. The diving was great. Lots of turtles swimming and eating around. My favorite was all the really cool swim thrus that we went through. It was amazing. All you had to do is drop into the water and go with the flow. Scott and my last dive was an expressway that put us way ahead of the rest of our group. Which was planned, I didn't ditch anyone. It was funny to pass by some people like they where swimming still. You can choose an easy current or a much faster one if you drop off down the wall a bit. Good times.

We will be doing a bench dive at Rob and Laurie Hoyts house. Jake brought me his hard drive full of photos to get ready for the slide show. I am putting that together so we can share some photos and stories. Look for that to come.

On another note, let me just say that our divers that we have trained absolutely rock! Scott and myself got to stay an extra day longer than the rest of our group. (We really liked the Seattle airport so much and decided to extend our stay there.) We got to dive with another group of people that were not our divers. Antonio was still our divemaster so he was used to both Scott and I. They other divers needed some help. I noticed how easy Antonio had with our group compared to this other group. You guys have got some skill!

I really could go on and on but I will save the stories for later. If you would like to hear them sooner come on by and visit me. I would be glad to share.

Sounds like some people would like to go to Hawaii around the end of June. Is anyone interested in that or maybe somewhere else? Let me know. I am ready to go again.

Eric Ellingson travels


Charlynn

Just a quick note to say thanks for the scuba training. Had my first two warm water dives between Christmas & New Years in Mauii. Once I had enough weight I did an 80' dive then a 45' at a ship wreck. Very cool being up close to Manta Ray's and turtles and hundreds of tropical fish. Lots of time snorkeling with the family too. Great reefs with tons to see. Hope go on a trip with ya soon here in this frigid water.


Eric Ellingson

CJ Morgan & Brady Korthuis travels

This was an email sent to me by CJ Morgan about his travels to the Bahamas last month. If you have any stories or notes on your travels, please send them to me.

Hey Gone Diving Team!!!

This is CJ (Carl) from class this past summer. Just wanted to let you know that I have been keeping up on my diving. Brady and I and his family went to Nassau, Bahamas last month and had a blast. We spent 3 days diving with Stuart Cove's and his crew. It was great. We saw James Bond Shipwrecks, BBC World News Tugboat Wreck, and a few more famous sites. On the third day we took part in the Shark Adventures that they are world famous for. That was amazing. Imagine swimming along and having a 5-9 foot Carribean Reef shark come up behind, in front, next to, above or under you! It was amazing. Also we saw their wall which goes from about 35 feet down to about 6800 feet! Yes I said 6800 feet. If any of you are interested we have a 20 minute video that shows us swimming with and around the sharks as well as the shark feeding which brought in about 50 or so sharks from the area. Here they fed them bait and we all sat in a circle watching and taking in the once in a lifetime experience. It was truly amazing. The visibility was outrageous compared to the great northwest and so much warmer too. Oh man. I don't know if I like it here as much. Just kidding. Can't wait to see you all. Ill try and stop by next time I am in town.

Talk to you all soon.

CJ Morgan

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dive Buddies Weekly

Well, I guess the visibility wasn't too bad this last weekend. Sounds like it cleared up pretty nicely once you dropped below 20'.

Who's up for diving this weekend (or anytime this week) ?

And on a side note, who do you know that wants to get certified to go diving? Do you have a friend, or family member interested?

They may look at you like you're nuts, but now's a great time to get certified.

Seriously, visibility is the best in winter. Dry suit certification can be added to your Open Water and they can go diving with you! Check at Gone Diving for the actual dollar amount and the full deal, but basically you can save a crap ton of money if you do the dry suit cert in addition to Open Water... something like $125 I think.

So now, who wants to go diving?

Monday, January 5, 2009

Dive Buddies Weekly

I missed last Saturday's dives at Whytecliff in B.C. which was a bummer. I would've loved to get into some of that snow. Apparently there was 8" accumulation while folks were there! SWEET!!

I did hit the Skyline dive in Anacortes on Sunday though; it was my first time there and it was radical. Gotta say it's pretty sweet when you can hit the exchange and get pushed out, then pulled back in. That's another one I'll have to do again. I think we got an 82' max depth on that one.

So where would you like to go this week or weekend?

As usual, post your "I WANT" here and find a fellow like-minded buddy!

Who has the urge to submerge?