Pohang!!! Finally some boat diving. The first of the year!

Well We had some great diving this past weekend at Aquabelle in Pohang. We went there the 26th and 27th of May. The weather was great, it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky both days. It was around 26C (79F) both days and the water was great. Well we got there around 11:30 on Saturday and didn't waste any time. We got our gear out of the van and we started to set up the equipment. We got all of the gear ready and the suits on in a timely fashion, but found out that there was a group in front of us that were going to go out on the boat that was at the dock... The good thing is that there are 2 boats that run divers out and back in, the bad part was that there were 3 guys with rebreather systems in the boat before us... As discussed before I was to guide the fun divers with JoLeen and Jen both watching the 2 groups that made up the fun divers. I gave a briefing and told the divers that we would try to stay in big group and the visibility would dictate how close we would group together. I also told them that we would be swimming in a straight line for about 20mins in one direction and back the same way for another 20mins. I also told them to tell me when they were low on air or cold and we would surface and get them into the boat. The briefing went well for my first one, well at least I thought that it went well.

Well about an hour later the other boat came back and we made a mad dash to it. We were all baking hot, because of the wetsuits. JoLeen, Francois, and I decided to jump of the dock before the boats got there to stay cool. Anyways, we got into the boat and we were off. The first dive that we did was at the new reef. It was a reef of seaweed and soft coral. Basically it is just a rocky ridge in the middle of sand. It is about 12m to 18m (39.3ft to 59ft) deep. You can see a lot of fish and other wildlife there. Well we got over the site that we were diving and we all rolled off the boat. We grouped up and talked for a few seconds to make sure everyone knew what we were about to do. They all gave the ok and we descended. The water was great at the top. It was 21C (69.8F), and the visibility was around 6m (19.68ft). Well when we got to the bottom the water went from 21 C to around 14C (57.2F). It was a big shock, but I really don't mind the cold water. Well we got grouped up at the bottom and started off heading east.

As we were headed down there were a lot of jellyfish in the water. We made it through them without an incident everything was going great, we were going at a nice slow pace, but Jen's group was falling behind, because there was a photographer in her group and he was taking pictures of everything. We slowed down and tried to let them catch up. I was trying to look back at them every 5 - 6 kick cycles to see how they were all doing. Well around 5 mins into the dive we lost Jen's group. I wasn't worried because Jen is a wonderful diver and the guys she was with are all very experienced divers. They knew where we were headed and I wasn't too worried about them, the only thing that worried me was that I lost a group... Well JoLeen and I continued on until we got into a valley. I told them to wait, and that I was going to go looking for the other group. Well I went over the ridge that we went over and I looked both ways, well I didn't find them. I turned around and headed back over the ridge and JoLeen and the other group had disappeared... I was thinking "OH FUCK".... Well I started to search for them in all different directions. I looked for bubbles, but I couldn't find any. After about 10mins, I started my expanding square to try and find them. That didn't pan out. I checked my air and I was at 70 bar (~1000psi), I had to ascend because I had to make a safety stop. Well I made my safety stop and set off my SMB (surface marker buoy). When I got to the surface I saw that the groups were getting on the boat and that I was the last one to surface. When we got on the boat, JoLeen, Jen, and I all asked each other where we all went too. We came to the conclusion that it was all just misunderstanding. Well I am glad that we didn't lose anyone permanently and that we all got back on the boat safely.

Once we were back on shore we talked it over with Drew and he told us that it was a good learning situation and that no one was hurt or wanted their money back so it was a win. I still don't completely see it his way, but I can see where he is coming from. Anyways, We got refitted for our second dive and began the process of waiting again. This time we only had to wait 2 hours to get back on a boat. On this dive we did things a little bit differently. We broke the fun divers up into 2 groups. I was with Dave and Sumin and Jen was with Paer and Rob. JoLeen this time was going to help Drew out with the AOW divers. I gathered my group and gave them a quick briefing on what we were going to be doing. Also we decided to take an egg down with us, because this dive was going to be around 30m (98.4ft) and we wanted to see what the egg was going to do. Well we got onto the boat and we headed out.

The dive site that we were doing on this dive is called "Cube Reef". It is a man made reef, and is made out of big metal frames that are in the shape of cubes. They have been there for about 20yrs and they are home to a lot of fish and some neat looking coral. We all got out of the boat and I handed the egg to Dave before I rolled in. We went down to the bottom and we all kneeled down. Sumin got out her camera and filmed me breaking the egg open. Sure enough the pressure from the water kept the egg in shape. It was really cool to see it. We played with the egg for a few mins and then we started to swim around. We saw a schools of fish, jellyfish, sea hares, and other such sea creatures. This dive was nice and relaxing compared to the first one. We really didn't do much except just swim over the reef and around it. After about 30mins we started our ascent with 3mins to spare before we would have had to made a decompression stop (going from 3min safety stop to an 8min decompression stop. Not that big of a problem, but we didn't have any drop tanks with us in case we ran out of air.). Well we got to the surface and we all got into the boat and headed back.

Once we got back we got all the gear cleaned off and hung up to dry. We showered and got ready for the night activities. The group that I went with all brought different food. We had a nice dinner, with Korean pork, homemade potato salad, steaks, homemade vegetarian curry, and hotdogs. We had beer and soju to wash it all down. This all started around 5:30pm and most of us stayed up till around 11pm drinking and having a good time. Well by the time I had finished drinking most of the people were a sleep in our Min Bok (a traditional Korean sleeping place). I found a spot on the floor and started to sleep, well that is what I wanted to do at least. One of the guys that came with us is a big snorer. Well he was cutting a freakin forest down by the time I laid down. I could stand it, so I went into another room, well Nick "The Greek" followed me and we went to sleep. The girls also followed, but they went to sleep in the changing room of the women's shower room. Nick and I went to sleep in the men's changing room. Well about 45 mins after we got to sleep, the Korean guy who owns the place decided he was going to have a party in the room that we were sleeping. He scared me and I shot up really quickly, however Nick was not so fast on getting up. Finally after about 10 mins of trying to get him up we got him up and out. We went back into "the forest" where the lumberjack was still very much at work. Finally out of sheer exhaustion, I pasted out. The next morning we woke up 5hrs later and decided it was time to get up. The girls started to make breakfast for all of us. We had a lovely breakfast of breakfast burritos and fresh fruit. We had the morning cups of coffee and we were ready to go.

We started off the day with a nice dive site called The Virgin Mary. You can guess the reason for the name of this site... That's right there is a statue of the Virgin Mary praying. The dive is about 18m (59ft) deep. There is also a giant crack that we can swim through named "The Virgin's Crack", because the Virgin Mary is at the entrance of the crack. Well we got into our groups which were a little different than yesterdays. Kostyantan was with us this time and he had to do his briefings and leading for his Divemaster course like I had to do for mine. So this time I was with Kostyantan, Paer, and Rob. We did our briefing and got into the boat.

Once we got to the site we got into the water and we talked for a few seconds and then descended. We went down the 18m (59ft) and started to swim around. We got to the crack, but we didn't see the statue. Well we swam through the crack and then just floated around. We were all following Kostyntan this time which was nice, because I didn't really have to worry about loosing anyone. We were down there for about 30 some odd minutes. While we were down there we saw a lot of fish and coral, basically the same as before, but different dive sites. We started to surface and we did our safety stop and got back into the boat. The water temp at the surface was about the same as yesterday's, but the bottom had dropped to 11C (51.8F), getting back into the warm sun was nice. Once we got back to the docks we got our gear refitted, and waited for the next boat to take us out. While we were refitting, I asked the other groups if they saw the statue, and they all said yes.... This is the second year in a row that I have not seen it... Well come to find out that someone had knocked it over into the rocks and then cut off the head... No wonder why I didn't see it...

Well for this dive Kostyantan gave us a briefing for our next dive site which is an underwater Buddha statue. Yep that is right we are going to hit multi-religions on these dives. Well we sat there listening to his brief and then got our gear on. We all got into the boat and the boat captain told us that the site was "under construction", so we would have to choose another dive site. We decided to go and look for the "Cock and Balls" statue of fertility. The captains didn't know exactly where the statue was, but they knew that it was in a certain region, so the dropped us off and told us to head SW to possible see it. Well we all dropped into the ocean and descended. Well I thought that we were going to be around 12m ~ 18m (39.37ft ~ 59ft), but we ended up going down to around 25m (82ft). The water temp for that dept at 12:25m was a balmy 10C (50F). Anyways, we started to head SW and we swam around for 30mins and didn't find anything, but we did get to see a lot of neat fish and a thermal-cline (Where the temp changes rapidly and you get to see the wavy ripples in the water because of the temp change. It looks sort of like looking at a grill from the side when it is on in the summer and everything behind it is wavy.) Anyways, we ascended normally and did our safety stop. We got into the boat and headed back to the dock.

We got back and washed the gear again. We also ordered some chinese food. Well while we waited for that to arrive we hung the gear up and let it dry. We also did our logbooks and exchanged signatures. After the food came we had a late lunch then headed back to Busan. We all had a great weekend at Pohang and I hope that there is many more to come before I head off to Roatan in September.

Lazy Sunday Dives...

On Sunday May 20th we went out with an AOW course. It was Drew, Niko, JoLeen, and I. We went out there for Niko's AOW course. It was a beautiful day at Taejongdae. It was around 24C (75F) outside and sunny. We got there and the diving conditions were really good. There were no waves and the visibility in the water was around 3m (~10ft) and the water temp was around 18C (64.4F).

Well on the first dive JoLeen and I followed Drew and Niko around for the first half. JoLeen and I were just floating around 11m (36ft). We got to see a lot of fish out that day, well we found a baby cuttlefish and decided to play around with it. (watch it) Anyways, we ended up losing Drew and Niko, which was no big deal since we both had been to that dive site many times. So we just swam around and tried to see all the stuff that we could see in the nice visibility. We saw a lot of fish and other sea creatures. Well half way through the dive we found Drew and Niko, so we paired up with them. Well about 10 mins later JoLeen told me that she was running low on air, so I signaled to Drew that we were going to go back in, and then JoLeen and I started to swim back to the shore. We got out and took our gear up to the dive centre at the beach and we just warmed up and relaxed for a few hours. 

On the second dive we told Drew that we were going to go on the left side of the bay. That part was a litte more dangerous, because of the boat traffic. We wanted to go over there and explore and since I had been over there a few times, but JoLeen hadn't I would be guiding us over there. Well we got into the water and we swam on the surface over to the buoys near the pier. We went down 8.4m (27.5ft) and swam around. There were significantly a lot more fish on this side of the bay. They reason for this is that the Korean speargun divers don't go on this side, because of the boat traffic. Well while we were under the water we saw a fish trapped on a fishing hook. I swam over and I looked it over. The fish was caught in the mouth by a hook. I grabbed the fish and I took the hook out and set it free. We swam around and found 3 more fish caught on hooks. This time they weren't that lucky. They were all tangled up in the line and the starfish had started to eat them. There was nothing that JoLeen or I could do for them. Well we continued on and started to go to the left more. Well we found a lot of fish in the rocks and the seaweed was beautiful over there. Well while we were swimming. We heard the ferry start up and the noise was bone chilling underwater. We swam low against the rocks, but by that time the boat had turned on the their props and there was a huge surge because of the rocks. I turned around and motioned to JoLeen to get down and hold on. The current the boat made was fast and strong, I started to laugh, but I don't think that JoLeen was too amused by what I had gotten us into. Well the boat when over us and I told her to move, but she was frozen in place. By the time that she started to move there was another boat above us, and the current continued. We finally got moving and we made our way back to safer water. After about 35 minutes JoLeen told me that she was cold so we headed back to the centre. We got out of that water and we ordered food and waited to go on the last dive of the day. 

On the last dive of the night we all got into the water and we all went down together. We went down about 11m (36ft) Well we swam around and tried to see a lot of night life. I really do like night diving in Korea, because you can see a lot of different things come out at night that usually you can't see during the day. Well we saw cuttlefish, eels, octopus, and a lot of different types of fish, We went around the bottom for about 36 mins. The water was surprisingly not that cold and the visibility held up from during the day. Well we finished that dive with no problem and we all got out. We cleaned the saltwater off the gear and took warm showers. We packed up the van and we all headed back to the dive shop. 

Overall it was a very good weekend of diving with good friends and I hope that there are many more to come. This weekend we are heading to Pohang for boat diving. I can't wait to go. 

Trip to Seoul!

On May 17th through May 18th we went to Seoul to teach some children from the BCC Academy how to dive. We left early morning from Busan and got up into Seoul around the early afternoon. We went to visit our friends from Go Pro at their shop and see how they were doing. Well when we got there they invited us to go out with them to a Red Bull sponsored party in the nice area of Seoul. Well we told them that we would think about it, and that we would get back to them about it.

Well we got to the motel where were staying for that night and we dropped our things off and we went to get some food. We met up with Mr. Lim's friends and we were also with one of the teachers that is in charge of the kids that we are taking diving. We had a nice dinner and some drinks, well Mr. Lim and his friends went off and the teacher had to run, so that left Drew and I wondering what to do. So we called S.H. Lee, and asked him where the party would be at. He messaged us back and let us know. Well we went back to the motel and took showers and got ready. We got to the club where the party was at and they wouldn't let me in, because I was wearing cargo shorts... ugh... Anyways, We all got into a cab and when to S.H.'s house. Drew and S.H.'s fiancee waited in the cab, and S.H. and I went to his house to get some pants. Luckily there were some pants that fit me, and we were back in the cab to go back to the party. Well when we got there they let us into the club. I had to check my bag, and that cost me $5 at the automatic coat check. (lockers)

Well after we all got settled in, we went to the bar and got drinks. Well in the beginning when we said that we would go with them, he told us that the entrance fee would be free and there would also be free drinks. (That wasn't the case with the drink part....) Anyways we got to the bar and Drew got the first round. Well $40 later we had 4 Red Bull and vodkas... They were good drinks, but it was a lot for just a small drink, but that is what you get when you go tot he clubs in a rich part of the city... Well S.H. got the next 3 rounds. Drew and I both hoped he was using the company card, because that would be a lot of money. Well we walked around the club and watched the DJ's that were there competing in a spin competing. They were ok, but none of them had original material. Anyways, we were there for a few hours, but Drew and I had to leave, because we had to be at the school at 8am to teach the kids.  So we said our goodbyes and we went back to the motel. Well we got back around 1:30am and Mr. Lim was still out drinking, around 4am he stumbled into the room and crashed.

We got to the school at 8am and started to teach these kids the knowledge part of diving. None of the kids were excited about being there. In fact they were just blah about being there. We asked them why they were taking this class, and they all replied that their mothers had made them take it. Some of the kids even told us that they were afraid of the water. Drew and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. This was going to be a long day in the class room. Well we got through the class room work in about 3 painful hours of misery and complaining from the kids. By that time it was lunch time and they invited us to eat lunch with the teachers. We got down there and they had made a Western style picnic. There were cheeseburgers, hotdogs, caesar salads, and cookies. It was really nice to have this meal especially after the class. After lunch we got into the vans and went to the Olympic Dive Center. We got the gear out and changed into the dive gear. That was the first time I had ever been in an Olympic Dive Center. The pool was pretty big and it was 5m (16ft) deep. Also I was unaware that I would have to wear a dive cap into the pool... That is such a stupid rule.. Anyways, I got one on, but it wouldn't stay on, so I just took it off when I was in the water.

Well we got the kids geared up on the side of the pool, because they were to small to stand up by themselves with all the gear on. Well when we finally got them in the pool we started to do some of the skills. The kids loved doing this part and they were having fun except one boy. He was the youngest of the group, but he also didn't pay attention at all in the class. Drew told me to watch this kid, but he just didn't want to do anything right. Drew compared this kid to Ralph Wiggam from the Simpsons. Well after wasting 40 mins on this kid alone, we just finally decided that he was too much of a risk to continue and we told the teacher to remove him from the pool. Well continuing with the other students we got them deeper down into the bottom of the pool where we finished their skills and let them swim around. By that time there wasn't much air left into their tanks, but they had a blast doing it.

Well after we got the kids to swim around for a bit it was time for us to go. We got them out of the pool and got all the gear stored away. We packed up the van and headed back to Busan. On the way back we heard from Mr. Cha that there was a Dong-Eui University Festival. So we decided to go there and have drink with him and his students. It was a great time there, free drinks and free food. It was a great way to cap off the trip to Seoul.

Changwon Yacht & Boat Expo 2012

I know that it has been a bit since I last posted, but I have been really busy. To start it off, we went to Changwon South Korea, for a Yacht and Boat Expo. May 10th to May 13th. It was a lot of fun, because I got to really meet the owners of the dive centre that I dive out of. The expo invited us to do a discover scuba display. They were really nice to us and they even built a pool for us, but we had to share it with the tiny sailboats and it was only waist deep, so it wasn't that great. I did however meet new people and made some new friends a long the way.

Well we started the expo off on a Thursday. It was an ok day, we really didn't do much except sit around and shoot the breeze. We did have one person do the discover scuba, but he was part of the expo. S.H. Lee, is an Assistant Manger with Go Pro Korea. He had a lot of fun in the pool we mounted one of his Go Pro cameras onto our DPV (basically it is a big fan that moves you through the water). He also brought another Go Pro camera in the pool with him. We swam around for a bit and we had him going through a little course that we set up for the divers. After that was done, we got out and we sat around again till 6pm. After the expo was over we went out and had a great time on the town. We met up with the Go Pro Guys and they took us out for drinks and dinner.

Friday & Saturday were about the same, there wasn't anything going on at our booths. We just walked around and looked at the other displays and saw what they had to offer. There were Korean models on the boats posing for pictures and there was also a giant block "O" pool outside, so people could use canoes, pirogues, and kayaks. Saturday night we went out with some volunteer university students of Mr. Cha's. They were a lot of fun to go out with and they were really interested in talking with foreign people.

Sunday was sort of the same as the rest, however we got to actually swim around with people. We had six people sign up and we took them around the pool. They had a lot of fun, but the kids were a little small for the equipment that we had. They still had a lot of fun though. An hour before the expo was to end they came around and told us to start packing up our stuff and that is when the excitement started. We were frantically packing up our displays while around us our stands were being torn down with lighting fast efficiency. Koreans don't really mess around when things need to be built or taken down. Well we got all the stuff packed up and in the vans and we headed back to Busan.

Overall that expo was really interesting. I got to see a lot of cool things, and meet some nice people.

A Sunny Wavy Day

We had another good weekend of diving. It started off with finishing pool sessions with the Open Water students and ending with them finishing their course in the ocean. They all did very well and I was proud to be apart of their beginning journey into the world of diving.

On Saturday May 5th, we all met at the dive centre and the students got watching the last of their videos quickly. As they were watching the videos Jen, JoLeen, and I got their gear setup. Jen had to leave early, so JoLeen and I got to work with the students on their buoyancy. They all did really well. After the pool session the students went home and prepared for their last ocean dive of the course. After that class, Jen came back and we all got our gear together and prepared for the Night Course and an Advanced Open Water Night Dive. We were taking Francois out for his first night dive. We loaded the van and went to Taejongdae. We got there around 7:30ish and started to set up the gear that we needed for the dive. We met Francois and his wife at the dive site and we talked about his trip to Guam. It was very interesting, but it was sort of eating up our time, so we politely hurried the conversation on. We talked about what we were going to be doing in the water, and then headed to the beach. We got in the water and there were a couple of times that Francois flashed his LED torch in our eyes, but that is a given when someone is new to night diving. We went down 10m (~33ft) and we were down there for about 47mins. The water was 15C (59F), but it didn't feel that cold for some reason. Well when we got to the bottom, Francois and Drew went off to do his compass exercise, so Jen, JoLeen, and I just waited for a bit. When they go back we all took off and started to swim. The girls were paired together, and I was paired with Francois. We when you are paired you should try to stick close to your "buddy" especially when the visibility is 1-2m (3.2-6.5ft). Since it was Francois's first time to go night diving and since he really doesn't know the site that well I stuck really close to him. Everything started off really well, but there were times that he started to stray off from the pack, so I had to guide him back. Well about half way in the dive he started to act very strangely. He started to loss all spacial awareness and he started to roll around while he was swimming. Well in doing so he didn't stay in the line formation that we talked about in the briefing. He was all over the place, and I had to do a lot of chasing after him. At one point he punched me in the face as he was messing around doing I don't know what. I was also not the only one affected with his antics. The girls were also subjected to his antics. There were numerous times that he kicked Jen and JoLeen both in the face with his fins. JoLeen was trying to get her night navigation done, so we were to be following her. Well as she was doing that, Francois was out infront of her just swimming. It was if he didn't have a care in the world and nothing else existed except him. He also forgot all the signals that Drew talked about with us. At one point we were going to hold the lights to our chest and see if we could see the bioluminescence. Well he did the opposite he started to check his gauges, so they weren't as strong as they should have been. Well we all started to head back after that attempt and on the way back he again was all over the place. Once we got to the line, Jen and Drew stayed down to do one last exercise, so JoLeen, Francois, and I started to ascend. By this time both JoLeen and I were frustrated with him so we started up the line. Well he had no clue what was going on, and he came up last. At the surface we tried to get his attention. He turned around and flashed his light in our eyes, in-fact he did that a lot of times while in the water as well... Well we got out and I waited on the beach for Jen and Drew. The waves were kicking up, and Jen doesn't fare so well against them. When Drew and Jen surfaced I went back into the water and helped her get out. After she and Drew were out we got packed up and headed home.

Sunday marked a bright new day!!! It was the Open Water student's last dives of the course. We all met at the centre around 9am and were in the van by 9:45am. We got to the centre at the beach and got the gear all unloaded. We started to brief the students on what they would be doing for the first dive, and the girls and I got the gear setup. Actually Jen, JoLeen, and Mike got their earlier than we did, so they set out the gear and started to dry the suits out from last night. It was really nice of them to do. The students also worked on their basic navigations skills in the parking lot, because they had to work on that in the water. Well after that we got all our gear on and headed into the water. Since there were four of us helping (Jen, JoLeen, Kostyantyn, and I) the girls would work with the students first, and the guys would work with them on the second dive. Well Kostyantyn, was going to be late as usual, so I went into the water to help pull the students out of the surf zone. The waves were medium in size, but it was a problem for the students. Anyways, we got all of them in the water, and they headed out. I went back to the centre and waited. Well when I got back to the centre he was there setting up his kit. He got all of his stuff together and we talked about what we would be doing. He was in charge of leading, and I was in charge of counting the kick cycles. Well we got into the water, and we went down about 8m (26.2ft). When we got to the bottom, the visibility was 2m (6.5ft) and it was 17C (62.6F). Well we headed off on a 300 degree line. Well we made 5 passes and recorded the kick cycles and depth. Well we were down about 27mins and then we surfaced, because it was our time to work with the students. Well we got onto the beach and by that time the students were at the surface. We walked over to where they were and we helped them out of the water. We asked them how it went and they were all in a foul mood. Well  unknown to Kostyantyn and I, they were all doing their surface exercises and they all got a mild case of seasickness. They motion of the waves were a little too much for them. They all made it to the centre and they sat down. We let them rest a bit, and get their stomaches settled. Once they were back to normal we got them back into the water for their last dive. This time I was working with the guys and Kostyantyn worked with the girls. We  got out to the buoy, and the guys went down first. Kostyantyn, went down with them, and I waited with the girls. They started to get restless at the top, so we went down. Once at the bottom Drew had them do some skills and after that we swam around. This time we went down 9m (29.5ft). The visibility and temp were the same as before. We swam around for about 24mins. It went really well. I was really proud to see the progression of the students. It was really good to see them progress so far in such a little time. At the end of the dive we were suppose to practice a safety stop, but the students just wanted to get out of the water, because they all had enough for that day.  We all got out and headed up to the centre to change and get dry. The students worked on their logbooks, and after they were done we went out for a celebration late lunch.

It was a good weekend, and I am glad it went really well. Congradulations Nick, Mike, Sarah, and Vickie!!