Crystal's Bubbles

A Refresher Dive For Me

2007-12-22T05:24:00.000-08:00

Well, Mom recently went out for a refresher dive before coming out to see me, and in turn I too went out for a refresher dive. Granted my last dive was only 10 weeks ago and I am sure Mom's was much longer but... well... yeah.

I miss getting wet, but I still confess I like being a seasonal diver if only because in the winter its the only time I get to do stuff above the water! It was such a nice day out today it was almost a shame to spend it under water.

We went out with Justin and a friend of his to Onna for two tanks and had a pretty good time over all. The water is now about 74 degrees and so Jason and I had to sport the shorty 2.0mm, though Justin was in his long half dry 5.0mm. The vis was decent, but not the 100 feet you can sometimes get on Okinawa.

The dives we short due to Justin's friend having not dive in a while so each was about 30 minutes. Onna is a nice place though only accessible with 4 wheel drive so Jason and I can only go when some one else is going to drive. It can also get a bit hairy sometimes, so its a dive site to be careful at.

Today was yet another example of how things can go a little wrong sort of fast. I don't think we have ever had an 'uneventful dive' at Onna yet. Today our last dive started at low tide and so we started to come in with the in coming tide. This leads to a bit of a current and lots of wave action.

So on the way in we even found a very expensive fin, fin strap, sneaker and snorkel (we almost wondered where the diver was). This shows how bad it can get out there, if your willing to leave $100+ of gear at 30ish feet your having a rough time. This is also where several friends of ours have lost gear.

So with the current and wave action we were getting rolled around quite a bit. I surfaced, and after cursing out my mask for leaking underwater and swearing I was getting a new one finally (Thanks Mom and Dad, its done its job, but I hate that thing!) a wave ripped it off my face.

Super pissed I decided now was the time to breath through my nose... just as I got swamped with another wave. I am glad I did not panic, kept the reg in my mouth and sputtered out all the water and, well, stopped breathing through my nose. Fuming I wondered how I was gonna make the last 200 feet with out a mask in this water... but Jason found it. After much staggering I got it back on, and not filled with water and then came the long haul to get in.

It was quite a swim in and it didn't help that I was swimming hard because I was worked up and pissed about my mask, holding it on with one hand and fighting the current with out thinking. Needless to say I blew almost 500 PSI on a 200 foot swim, though I always have plenty of air to spare so no worries.

But other than the eventful exit on the second dive, it was a nice day today. Even the exit wasn't all that eventful, just enough to make me pissed. I already purchased my new mask, or well Jason did, as a Christmas Present. Hopefully this one works out a bit better for me personally than the last. Like I said, it did its job for a long time and me and it go way back. But as of late I just curse the thing, it was time for it to go. It will be the new 'back up back up mask'.

Okay, now to call my mom and get off to bed for Geocaching tomorrow.

A Day of Trying to Dive

2007-10-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Jason and I set out fairly early for the sea wall to get in a morning dive as the water looked great out there and the tide was mostly still high. With the recent huge swings in tides, think like 6 feet type deal), planning your dives with the tides is becoming more and more important.

So gear is all set up and hoisted on and we are just about to head to the water when, Boof! Screaming hiss and me going "Turn it off! Turn it off!". That was the sound of my O ring on my tank exploding and all of my air leaking out. Now for any one who has experienced this, it scares the crap out of you. We all know its just air in the tank but things are hissing and exploding behind your head, primordial fears kick in I tell you.

So Jason shut off the tank, we ungeared, got out our save a dive kit and fixed the O ring. We assumed it was messed up from the fill station or some such. We have has O rings leak before and replaced them for that so its not all that uncommon. The exploding is, the finding a bad one is not.

So geared up again we make it down to the water, in the water, fins on. Boof! Screaming hiss and this time me just reaching back and turning my own air off. Still a bit shaken with the repeated near head explosions but now I am mostly just pissed. Many curses that might shrivel your ears were uttered and back out of the water, back to the car and back to the save a dive kit.

Regear and back again to the water, though this time I let Jason put the O ring in and he put my reg on to remove any sort of Crystals a Morron from the equation. At this point we assumes, one O ring was the fill station and one O ring was me putting something on funny. Enough said, this time all of that has been removed from the equation we head out to start the dive.

Things are going well, no leaking and we are under the water. We start to descend to 35 feet and tool around and what do I head. Bubbles. Lots of small bubbles. Not normal leaking tank bubbles, but lots and lots of tiny bubbles. I stick my hand above my head and feel lots of bubbles. I get Jason's attention and he makes the surprised face and starts pulling off his spare reg and shutting off my air.

That might I add is a bit nerve wracking. You have no idea how bad things really are, after all its all happening behind your head. And if things are bad enough to turn off my air, things were probably not good. But since you don't want to run a tank dry its for the better to shut it off before this happens.

In any case we practice an emergency ascent on his octos and abort the dive. LOTS of curses are now happening. I take care of my gear, its all new gear and damn it, now I am not diving. Clearly something is wrong with my gear and so its off to the Marina to ask them, why is my crap broken.

First off, it is never good to head "I have never seen that happen before". Its just not comforting. You want to hear, "Oh, this is an everyday problem. Simple fix." But the Marina determines its not my tank it must be my reg and since my reg is from Torii (Tank Marina) I need to go there to get it looked at.

Off we go to Torii to get it looked at. I get to Torri and they wander off with my reg and after a while come back and say "Its your Tank". Insert more curses here.

After a little discussion about, Kadena cleared my tank and you cleared my reg... some one is wrong we came up with a novel idea. Its the O rings. All the O rings were from the same save a dive kit. Torri said they got in a bad batch and assumed that the Marina probably did too.

So $2.00 expensive fancy last you for ever O rings are purchased for our tanks and two spare O rings in case some how some one messes up the good ones. But by now, the tide is super low. No way to dive most of the sea wall now. Or most places for that matter, its just that low.

So its to Obligato for lunch and then home for a nap to wait for the water to come back.

Round about 4:00 we start to pack up the gear and head on out. Get a call from Justin and now our dive party becomes 3. A Dusk and a night dive are planned. We group up and head on out to Maeda.

To kill the suspense the O rings all hold for these dives.

The dusk dive goes well, though we should have brought our lights down with us as we hit the stairs pretty much in the dark on the way back. But Maeda has a lot of stairs... ::whines:: and with all your gear its a long way to the top... and heavy... and and and... no one wanted to. So that was that.

The dusk dive was nothing that special really. A nice and pleasant dive, though dark at the end. But the night dive that followed was pretty good with a huge cuttle fish being spotted, lobsters, a sponge crab, also HUGE, an anemone hermit crab, an eel, a baby cuttlefish, an octopus and I am sure a few other odds and ends. A pretty nice dive with a lot of critters that came out.

So despite the day starting off poorly for diving it ended well. I wont mention that we could have done two tanks at the sea wall and two tanks at Maeda had things not gone so wrong... but any hoo...

And then there was diving

2007-09-29T16:18:00.001-07:00

There was a blown O ring

There was a second blown O ring

There was a third blown O ring after 6 minutes of diving

There was an buddy breathing ascent

There was a trip to the Marina

There was a trip to Torii

A super low tide swooped in

There was lunch at Obligatoo

There was napping

Then, finally...

There was diving

Two tanks at Maeda, one dusk and one night

More on that later. Now, its sleepy time

Weekend Dive and Boating Forecast

2007-09-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ed Dunn with the Kadena Marina Scuba Locker

Dive Forecast: Throughout the weekend we will have partly cloudy then changing to mostly cloudy skies with a chance of rain showers starting Saturday afternoon and throughout Sunday. The winds will be out of the northeast at 5 to 11 mph in the morning then east at 11 to 17 mph in the afternoon. For those that are thinking Maeda remember the wind direction and the large tide changes we will have this weekend. Sunday the winds will be northeast at 11 to 17 mph then shift to the east at the same wind speeds.

Most dive sights along the west should be dive able and some points down south may be, but you will need to plan your dives and take into account the areas that have rip currents which will be strong, as I mentioned due to the large tide changes. Areas up north such as Hedo I would stay away from this weekend. Water temperature is between 85 and 86.

Okuma: Numbers for the boathouses at Okuma are: Main Office:631-1845 North
Boathouse: 631-1841 South Boathouse: 631-1840

Tides:
29 Sept. Lows: 0218 @ 0.75 ft & 1436 @ 2.09 ft Highs: 0848 @ 7.64
ft & 2042 @ 7.47 ft

30 Sept. Lows: 0300 @ 0.77 ft & 1512 @ 2.70 ft Highs: 0936 @ 7.19
ft & 2112 @ 7.23 ft

Boating Forecast: Water conditions for open sea's will be about the same both Saturday and Sunday. Expect a moderate chop and white capping breezy conditions. Saturday winds will be from the east-northeast at 12 to 16 knots with seas east at 3 feet and a 4 second interval. Later in the day the winds will be east-northeast at 11 to 15 knots and seas southeast at 4 feet and a 10 second interval. Sunday the same conditions continue with seas east-southeast at 5 feet and a 9 second interval.

Safety Tip: Stay Relaxed. Control and relaxation are the keys to safe, comfortable and enjoyable diving. And the most important aspect of control is mental. In most cases, if you can think it, you can do it-whether it's equalizing, maintaining buoyancy and orientation, or breathing in a relaxed manner. In diving, your mind and body must work together.

When you are diving you must be able to recognize stress before entering the water and during the dive. Physical and mental stress can diminish our control and relaxation. Unless contained, increasing stress can and often does lead to panic-that sudden, overwhelming loss of control. The key is an approach to skills development that teaches divers to remain relaxed and in control, to be aware of the situation yet able to focus on details at the same time, and keep those skills sharp. A diver who can focus seldom shows up in accident statistics.

Weekend Dive Report

2007-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

29-30 Sept

Sponsored by the Torii Beach Scuba Locker

Conditions should be acceptable for diving at most locations on Okinawa’s west side this weekend, although not so on the eastern side and at southern sites. The seawalls, as well as Onna Point, Horseshoe, and Toilet Bowl should be diveable. There may be a small amount of surface chop at Maeda Point, depending on the strength of the easterly winds.

High tides will occur in the morning. Low tides will occur in mid-afternoon. Possibility of strong currents.

This week’s dive tip is a reminder that with large tidal variances there's always the possibility of rip currents and strong outflow. Snorkelers as well as divers should check their local tide listings for the times and heights prior to deciding on where and when to go. If you do happen to get caught in an outgoing current, remember to swim perpendicular to the flow. If it is too strong for you to navigate out of, establish positive buoyancy, signal for help and relax while waiting for assistance.

Top Identified Fish

2007-09-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Zanclus comutus (5)

Forcipinger flavissimus (4)

Pomacanthus semicirculatus (3)

Nemateleotris magnifica (3)

Aulostomus chinensis (3)

This list does however exclude Anemone fish, as we generally don't ID those, even though we see them all the time. Its often to hard to distinguish exactly who they are and so they don't really get any credit. I only count the fish we can get an exact ID on.

The Water Gods are Angry

2007-09-08T14:41:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday diving was a complete bust! We decided to sleep in a bit since Jason has been flying early for the past new days. So once we scooted out the door it was about 10:30. Then we decided to stop and get hair cuts, which took longer than expected.

However my hair is all gone now and I feel much better. Well, its about as gone as it was in Nebraska any way. It should be much easier to maintain with all the diving we do in any case. Less breakage post dive trying to get the knots out.

Then we went on out to Maeda because it was low tide. But they informed us at the gate, there was no diving today. So we scoped out the water and were a little more befuddled. It looked choppy and a bit unpleasant but not bad really. Not bad at all.

So we assumed there must be some strange currents in the works and canceled diving for the day, even though we were only in W-C. There is a typhoon off the mainland that was supposed to stir up our waters but things were still supposed to be diveable darn it!

So with our 4 tank Saturday a bust, there is no way to hit 48 hours bottom time this month. Jason flies on Monday and so there can be no diving today because we can't get an early one in because I have to be to work for 8:30am. I am not happy about working 8:30am on a Sunday. I have very little free time, just weekends and Thursday evenings. I do not like spending said little bit of free time working.

We did however get new cell phones. This time we have free Softbank to Softbank calls and a few other perks. Hopefully this will work out better than our pay as you go phones which didn't really work for us. Jason used next to no minutes (and the minutes expire after X amount of time) and some how I used almost all of mine (calling him). Either way a $30.00 cell phone bill is much less than what we are used to paying in the states.

But as for me, I need to begrudgingly get ready for work.

Maeda Points Changing Again

2007-09-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

The taking of fish, shells, marine plants and coral is against the Regulations of the Okinawa Fishery Coordination/Association.. If found guilty you can be fined up to 100,000 Yen or up to a maximum 6 month jail sentence or both.

The use of spear guns, Hawaiian Slings or Gig Poles is illegal in accordance with the Foreigners Fishery Laws.
If caught you can be fined up to 400,000 Yen or up to a maximum 3 year jail sentence or both.
Cliff jumping is illegal.
No glass containers.
Refrain from the use of foul and inappropriate language since this is a family type area.
It is the responsibility of scuba instructors, dive masters and individual divers to ensure the surface is cleared before surfacing due to the heavy boat traffic at Maeda Point. It is the responsibility of boat captains to ensure the area they plan to anchor is clear of divers.

The laws and regulations will be enforced by the following:
Ishikawa Police Station
11th Regional Japanese Cost Guard
Okinawa Agriculture and Forestry Division.
Parking outside of the designated parking area is at the owners risk. If you receive a ticket or are towed the cost will be about $400.00. Parking at the east end is reserved for buses, mini buses unless the parking attendants give permission. If not you will be told to move or charged 300 Yen per hour. Vehicles with trailers will be charged 300 Yen per hour.

Signs in English will be placed in the very near future so all will know the new guidelines governing Maeda Point.
I have made a request, which will be sent to the local fishing association, to have the closest buoy to the right of the entry/exit point moved about 12 to 15 meters to the east. This is due to the large number of divers that travel that area to and near the cavern in the sandy area. This is the area where the car chassis and transmission are located.

Onna Village has a plan to place automatic gates at all entry point in November, same as the airport, for payment when leaving Maeda Point. It will be YEN ONLY.

Discussions have taken place and a decision has not been made yet to have a Prepaid Parking fee established at a discount rate for instructors. The rate has NOT been established yet, but the amount was between 2000 to 3000 Yen for 6 months.

Edo Sanchez of the Okinawa Ocean Culture & Environment Action Network is presently working on financial support for Coral Conservation. He will be contacting various agencies, such as PADI's Project Aware. This will cover such things as coral conservation and beach clean ups at Maeda.

The Maeda Point manager, Akira san, has stated that the locker rooms are the only place to shower and that classes use the grass area to stage gear.
This will reduce the congestion in the parking area. In addition, instructors and divers not stage gear in an empty parking spot so others can park. Akira san wants everyone to enjoy the changes at Maeda and to fully cooperate with the regulations and laws set forth by the Onna Village Government Office and various Japanese agencies.

Dive Forcast

2007-09-07T17:17:00.001-07:00

Dive Forecast: Throughout the weekend you can expect mostly cloudy skies with a chance of isolated rain showers and Sunday afternoon a chance for some thunder storms. The winds for Saturday will be from the northeast at about 10 mph throughout the day. Sunday the winds will be from the northeast at about 17 mph throughout the day. The majority of the dive sites should be dive able, but Sunday Maeda Point may be a bit on the rough side with the wind directions forecasted. For those divers that are new to Okinawa, Maeda Point faces into the northeast. Water temperature is 86.

Tides:
8 Spt
Lows: 1118 @ 1.86 ft & 2336 @ 3.80 ft
Highs: 0424 @ 6.24 ft & 1818 @ 6.40 ft
9 Spt
Low: 1200 @ 1.61 ft
Highs: 0524 @ 6.68 ft & 1842 @ 6.72 ft

Goal: 48 Hours by Sept 30th

2007-09-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am finally all caught up on posting the holiday weekends dives... just in time to log perhaps a dive today and definitely dives this weekend! I want to have 48 hours of bottom time by the end of the month, which means I need 15 hours of diving. So I better get cracking.

DIVE #44 A

2007-09-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of dividing the fish Identifications for these two dives into two dives, I just combined them all. So the Fish ID's from DIVE #43 extend into DIVE #44. The dives were in close succession and on DIVE 43 I was so busy leading the dive I did not ID as many fish.

DIVE #44 B

2007-09-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

DIVE #44 C

2007-09-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

DIVE #43 A

2007-09-02T08:04:00.001-07:00

DIVE #43 B

2007-09-02T08:03:00.001-07:00

DIVE #42 A

2007-09-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Our second dive that day out at Bolo Point. This dive had to be shallower due to our surface interval being short (I have to escape the Okinawan sun!). But for me and Jason it was still a pretty deep dive, considering we are kings of the 75+ minute 30-60 foot dives normally.

Remembered the camera this time and so we took oodles of pictures of fish. We need some sort of a lens though to cut down on the 'blue' at depth. Due to the hours spent ID'ing fish post dive from the pictures we are getting pretty good now at remembering names etc.

DIVE #42 B

2007-09-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

DIVE #42 C

2007-09-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

DIVE #41 A

2007-09-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

This was our first time diving Bolo Point. You know the way out to the water is difficult when they call then entrance ankle breaker path. The dive site, when the weather is good for it, is pretty nice. Its easy to head down to 100 feet and not know your down to 100 feet. The water is just that clear.

The path out is not all that bad really, difficulty wise, as long as your not one with weak ankles. Your hoping and skipping along what can best be described as sharp crater filled rocks. Think if the moon was very hard and very sharp. If you ask me, its easier than trucking up and down all the steps at Maeda with all that gear on.

DIVE #41 B

2007-09-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Dive Plans

2007-09-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday: Two tank deep dives at Bolo Point

Sundays Plan: Two tank 30-60 foot dives at Maeda, go home and nap and then come back for a night dive

Catch me on Monday!

DIVE #40 A

2007-08-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Photo's for DIVE #40

DIVE #40 B

2007-08-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Photo's for DIVE #40

DIVE #39 A

2007-08-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Photo's for DIVE # 39

DIVE #39 B

2007-08-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

Photo's for DIVE # 39

DIVE #39 C

2007-08-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Additional Fish Identified:
Surf Parrotfish (+) Scarus rivulatus
Titan Triggerfish (2) Balistoides viridescens
Brown Surgeonfish (2) Acanthus nigrofuscus
Blackbar Filefish (3) Pervagor janthinosoma
Freckled Hawkfish (1) Paracirrhites forsteri
Humphead Bannerfish (++) Heniochus monoceros
Coral Rabbitfish (++) Siganus corallinus
Yellowtail Damsel (Juvenile) (1) Neoglyphidodon nigroris
Lined Butterflyfish (++) Chaetodon lineolatus
Trumpetfish (++) Aulostomus chinensis
Longnose Butterflyfish (++) Forcipinger flavissimus
Reef Needlefish (+++) Strongylura incisa
Unknown Crab (1)

DIVE #38 A

2007-08-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

DIVE #38 B

2007-08-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

DIVE #37 A

2007-08-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

DIVE #37 B

2007-08-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

DIVE #36 A

2007-07-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

DIVE #36 B

2007-07-31T11:31:00.000-07:00