Recreational Diving 2010 – Enjoy Freediving

Bogota Columbia – Underwater Rugby

soren — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 03:54:55 +0000

We have arrived in Bogota!

Three of us from Ontario have made the trip to Bogota to compete at the Columbian National Underwater Rugby Competition. The tournament is being held at Simon Bolivar Swimming Pool Complex. We have joined a North American composite team made up of 5 Canadians and 7 US players.

This is a short video I found explaining Underwater Rugby
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fen7bv4Sys]

If you are interested in additional information:

Bogota Underwater Rugby Club Home Page:
www.castoresrugbysub.com

Local News Report on Underwater Rugby:
www.colombianews.tv/news/101210-bogota-underwater-rugby

Vancouver Freedive Fest 2010

soren — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:54:57 +0000

We have arrived in Bogota!

This is a short video I found explaining Underwater Rugby
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?=5fen7bv4Sys]

If you are interested in additional information:

Bogota Club Home Page:
http://www.castoresrugbysub.com/

Local News:
http://www.colombianews.tv/news/101210-bogota-underwater-rugby

Vancouver Freedive Fest 2010

sergei — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:32:24 +0000

…Well, I know it’s been almost 2 months by now, but then again – it is about time to refresh our memories amidst rainy days here in Toronto or Montreal. Hey, Vancouver, is it raining there too? Anyhow, sorry for the delay, but here it is – short Video essay of our GREAT TIME in Vancouver in August of 2010!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEn7jTVbKnY]

Tobermory 2010 Part II

soren — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:30:21 +0000

Tobermory part II. The second offical Tobermory trip of the year and the last Tobermory trip for 2010 for the FreediveToronto Group. The weather just didn’t want to co-operate causing serveral people to decide it wasn’t going to be for them. Three of us decided that we didn’t want to waste an oportunity to get out of the city and have a little fun. The waves were too big for a long trek along the coast but it certainly made for some interesting video.

I hope that the weather is better for next year.

If you like the music it is from a band called “Prince Perry and the Gladtones” (PrincePerry.com). Perry is a long time friend of the Freedive Comunity and he agreeded to let me use the music in this video.

Enjoy!

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ZhZ7KtnUo]

Ansel Point, BC

soren — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:41:16 +0000

Sunday was another beautiful day here in Vancouver. The group was scheduled to dive at Ansel Point. The tide was low enough to allow us to have plenty of room to lay out our gear and lay down an recharge in the suns rays. The surface temperature was about 24 deg C so it was a good place to cool off.

12 divers showed up to enjoy the day. Visibility was great. Lots to be seen even from the surface. 20 m from shore there was a wall to dive on that had lots of fish, sponges, starfish and jellyfish. All this was new to me so every time I arrived back at the surface I had lots of questions. It was all topped off when two seals (mom and her pup) followed Okanna back to shore. After spending hours in the water everyone had build up an good appetite to enjoy all the goodies everyone brought to share. Fresh sandwiches and all kinds of fresh fruits.

I hope this weather holds out!

Night of Apnea BC

soren — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:45:42 +0000

What a blast!

Meteor showers aside I loved the bioluminescence. Too bad I didn’t get any pictures of it. Every movement lite up the water. It was like some kind of magical energy. Or as you swam through the water it was like you became a meteor on reentry sparks flying off every surface.

At about 11:30 pm everyone was out of the water and we caught up with the Montreal divers who were also watching the sky in Morison Quarry, Quebec.

I can see why this annual weekend night dive has attracted so many people.

Toronto Wreck Diving

soren — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:46:21 +0000

Three of us went for a very nice dive on a wreck just outside Toronto Harbour. Information about the wreck can be found here: http://www.scubatoronto.com/divesites.asp?siteID=9
The top of The Southern Trail is in 6 meters of water and the bottom is at 10 meters, so this is a great dive for everyone. The wreck is sitting just like the dive site pictures and it is possible to swim under the overhang shown on the drawing and penetrate the ship.

We had a great night with no waves, no wind and fairly warm water for Lake Ontario.

Freediving at Tobermory, June 25-27, 2010

sergei — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:58:16 +0000

Saturday started with dark grey sky and heavy rain, which stopped only at around 9 am. First 2 dives were from the shore. Temp varied from “almost balmy” 18C on the surface to not so hot 12-14C at depth. My 5 mil Elios did very well and it was more the enough to stay in water for a long time. Feet would need some extra protection though. We checked Little Tub in the morning and Lighthouse point mid day where fog was setting pretty heavy at times, so we were not sure if boat trip was indeed happening, but at ~3pm Francois got a call from boat operator and we headed out off shore to check on 2 wrecks at 4 pm. First one was JAMES C. KING at Depth: 7 to 30 m and second – HILO SCOVILLE Depth: 7 to 30 m. Both are listed as “recommended for advanced divers only”. Visibility was pretty good, at least 10-12 m, and when sun showed up it became even better. Skies cleared up completely by the end of our boat excursion with picture perfect sunset to enjoy.
I was not diving on Sunday, but pretty sure everybody had a great time at Grotto. Looking forward to do this again (and again, and again!)

Freedive visitors from Montreal

soren — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:56:51 +0000

It was 4pm when I left the office for the first boat dive of the season, with the added bonus of Francois and Marie-Odile joining me from from Montreal. I wasn’t sure what to expect, with G20 and all the police and safety zones, but it turned out that most people had left the city, so I had the fastest drive ever.

Doug had picked up our guests at the Island airport and dropped them off at the ferry to the island marina, where we met amongst all the police officers.

The short ferry ride to the island is a nice reminder for the body to shed the busy city/work life and get ready to dive.

The boat is in the water and there is very little prep to get ready to go out. We emptied some water from the covers, loaded the bags and started the engines and were ready to go. Sorry about the thumb in the video below, which is caused by me being a new iPhone owner.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rp_r61z1Kc]

I am trying an application from my new iPhone called Motion GPS, so I can show you where we dove. It will also show the top speed of 37.7 mph for now top tuned dive boat.

Google Maps Link

At the dive location we had 58.7 meters and 22 degrees at the surface, which is nice and warm if you are wearing a wet-suit. The reason I say this is because I for the first (and last) time had forgotten the top part of my suit at home. I decided to try diving anyway and thought about Eric Fattah who had told me that they had tested diving in the winter without a suit to get the dive reflex to kick in faster. I was ok in the surface, but when I started pulling down and hit the thermocline at 7 meters I really had to try to calm down and tell myself that it was “just” cold. A few more pulls and my bald head started pounding and I felt out of breath. I had to turn and raced for the surface at 14m, which would be my deepest dive of the day. My hats of to Eric and the vancouvers boys, who must have bigger ….. than me. I think I will try a no suit dive again some day, because it always frustrats me when I can’t override my emotions and tell my brain that I will be ok.

Francois and Marie-Odile had several dives, but had never dove in waves before, so they joined me in the boat after about 30 minutes, so they wouldn’t get seasick. One of the ways to avoid motion issues when there are waves is to bring a snorkel and just lie in the surface breathing and just slowly go up and down with the waves.

We had a very nice boat ride back, because the wind had died down and the waves were almost gone.

We had a beer at the bar which always make any dive better and I am convinced it improves my breath holds.

The last image was taken on the ferry back to Toronto which sums up, why these dive trips are so nice.

I want to thank Francois and Marie-Odile for flying down from Montreal to join us here in Toronto and for going straight from the plane to the boat, you made a great night even better.

Start of the Freedive Season

soren — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:50:41 +0000

The first 2010 open water freedive trip was scheduled for May 8-9th to Tobermory Ontario. The air temperature reached a high of 3 Deg. C. The water temperature was closer to 2 Deg. C. That would not normally be enough to put us off diving but the wind were gusting to 100 Km/hour and it was snowing. So we decided that it was time to move on and focus on the next scheduled trip.

So as a reminder for June:

June 5th – Big Bay Point, Lake Simco (BBQ on the point after the dive)
June 26-27th – Tobermory (Camping and Freediving)

To wet your appetite for Tobermory with the help of Chris Kanavos we put together a quick video of a previous Tobermory trip. Enjoy!

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb0MONlaJZg]