Most Favorite

I received a PM on a forum from someone asking me where my favorite place to dive in Utah was. I had to wait before I could respond, not because I was to busy, but because I had to think about it for a while. Just like no tropical destination is the same, the same goes for our local diving. Think about this, where else could you go and dive 95 degree water in the winter and drive 5 minutes away and explore under the ice if you were so inclined? So my answer to their question was, my favorite is the one I'm exploring next or the one I haven't explored. In the twenty something years I've been to a few of our lakes.

Two weeks ago Flaming Gorge was my favorite. Why? Because I have yet to have a bad dive there and I haven't seen all there is to see. The wall around Osprey Island is fascinating and if you slow down and really look you can find some amazing formations.

This weekend the Crater will be my favorite even though I have explored this site a gazillion times. Besides looking at the turtle, t-rex, gator, wagon wheel or the hot tub at the bottom, have you really looked at the sides? The formations look like petrified wood. Have you found the spout where the water exits? Did you know there are small tubes like a lava tube along the sides? Not everything to see is at the bottom.

Next weekend and the weekend after that it will be Sand Hollow. Why? because this is a site I have yet to explore, not dive but explore. That's what makes local diving so much fun, exploring. It's an adventure, to boldly go where no man, strike that, you have never been before.
Now Sand Hollow has some training platforms, a buoyancy course, a sunken Cessna airplane and a 'bus'. Trust me those will be fun...way fun. What I want to see are the formations of the red rock by the island. Trust me I'll explore.

So what's your favorite?

Road Trips

WOW over a month has passed without an entry. Shame on me.
Since returning from Coz there have been a couple of road trips. Fun trips.

On August 21st Chris Jaterka, Tony Siebert, Tyler Stanton and myself took a little road trip, ok I called it a mancation, to SoCal for a couple days of California kelp diving since Tony wasn't able to make it to Coz, he really needed to get out, have salt water in his eyes and cruise the kelp forests.Departing on Friday afternoon we drove from SLC through Las Vegas to Primm Nevada were we spent the night at Bu falo Bills before heading into Long Beach the next morning. Did I mention we went through Vegas when it was 113 degrees? Hotttttttt.
Back on the road early we pull into Long Beach a good hour before we are allowed to board the Cee Ray. With some time to kill we walked around looking at the different dive boats and grabbed a quick bite at the wharf before boarding. Nothing like a fresh fish breakfast.
Once on board and checked in, it was grab a bunk, set up gear and take a nap for the 2 hour boat ride to Catalina.
Looking at the roster I noticed there were only a few of us just diving to have fun and the rest were Advanced Open Water students from a couple Sport Chalet stores in SoCal. On board was Bob Taylor an Instructor/Regional Depertment Head Janine and I had met when the SLC store was opening. It was nice to catch up on things with Bob. So much for being incognito. Oh well. I was also able to meet another Instructor from the Vegas area that was DM'ing for the boat.

Our three dives on the first day were being conducted at sites around Arrow Point. Talking with Captian Bob it is very rare that you get to dive Arrow Point due to the way the currents and swells normally run. Nothing spectacular but it was fun crusing the kelp and seeing Tony and Tyler navigating through the kelp and seeing Tony's eyes get as big as the 6 foot bat ray we saw.

Due to some sinus issues Tyler and Chris decided to sit out the night dive. It was pretty calm and for some reason not much in the way of marine life.
Heading back it was find your bunk and nap. We arrived back into Long Beach around 11:00 pm.
Since we were heading back out with the Cee Ray the next day they were kind enough to allow us to sleep on board over night. After filling out tomorrows paper work it was bed time.

Day I awoke to the smell of bacon and gear bags being dragged across the deck above. Gaaaawd what time is it. 6:00 Am! Come on people. ;0) OK I'll get some food. It was obvious that Chris has some type of hearing problems because that guy didn't wake up until we were about a half hour away from Catalina. In fact I don't think Chris had a problem sleeping period.

Briefing time. WOW this site looks familiar. Yup, Captain Arnold, father of Captain Bob, thought it would be good to go back to the same area. Not a problem since we were going to be one cove west of yesterday. Dive one we ventured down to the wreck of a sailboat that had sunk a few years ago and was sitting at about 55 feet .Dives two and three were done one more cove away and were pretty similar to all the previous sites. Plenty of kelp, some what shallow and with a small reef.

Arriving back into Long Beach around 5:30 it was time to saddle up and hit the road for Las Vegas where we would crash for the night before heading home the next day. Was there gambling involved. Um yeah. Not sure about the winnings of everyone else but I took the casino for $6.15.

All and all it was a fun trip and I would do this one again.

Cozumel What A Blast

If you have been following you would have known that we had plans to invade Scuba Club Cozumel the week of July 11-18. Invade we did. Twenty eight of us from Utah, nine or so from San Diego and three from Long Beach took up residence.
May hats off to the entire group. They were fantastic.
For most everyone the first dive was off the shore at the resort. Many had never been in salt water so a buoyancy check was in order. Once sorted the dives began. In fact most did a night dive that night or two and every night afterwards.
The first day of boat diving we went a bit conservative to see how many would react to the fantastic drift diving. Not a problem. From there on out it only got better and better.
Columbia Deep, Santa Rosa, Palancar Caves, Punya Tunich, Paradise, and C53 to name a few. For some the ultimate was hitting, now brace yourself, a current less Punta Sur's Devils Throat on the last day or venturing off the island to dive the cenote Dos Ojos.
As for returning, oh yeah I'll be back and I would definately go back to SCC.

Scuba Club Cozumel Enhances Services

For those of you going on the Cozumel trip in July there is now free wireless internet access through out the resort as of today. You no longer will have to go down by the restaurant to check your emails. There is still time to go and room available. If you're not going on this trip, this would be another good reason to stay at SCC when you decide to go to Coz.

Oh What To Do This Summer

I have made the decision that I would dive a new place this year which is Lake Tahoe. While I also have a secret dive planned, I also have some not so secret dives planned. Of course by now you have heard we are heading to Coz in July. Wellllll that's just one week out of the summer. Oh what to do the rest of the summer. Lets play.

How about a mini vacation?
California Boat Dive
Catalina Island
August 22-23, 2009
$280 per person
Two one day boat trips aboard the Cee Ray.
Three dives on the 22nd including one night dive
Two dives on the 23rd.
Departs on the 22nd at 6:00 am, returning @ 11:00 pm
Departs on the 23ed at 6:00 am, returning @ 3:00 pm
$280 includes, boat ride, air, drinks and snacks. Equipment, tanks, weights, accommodations and
travel expenses to and from California not included.
No training...this is play time.

How about some local fun?

Flaming Gorge
June 27-28, 2009
Just come and play.
Want to extend this to everyone who is interested. We will be doing some what of a clean up that will be incorporated into the Search & Recovery Specialty or Advanced Open Water. We plan on diving the pinnacles and possibly the 'Green.'

Lake Tahoe Canceled (June 8, 2009)
August 7-9, 2009
Why not dive the clearest fresh water lake around?
We have a couple contacts with condos so it's possible accommodations could be free for a limited number of divers.
We are also trying to hook up with a local store to provide a guide, pontoon boat or both. Details should be finalized by end of May. Stay tuned as details develop.

Bear Lake
August 29-30, 2009
Our end of summer bash on the beach. Cisco Beach that is. We did this last year it was a blast.
Going to step it up a notch. Will try to hook up with another store and have some fun, games and possibly some prizes (no guarantees). As of right now we will have fill station with air or Nitrox. Talking with the great guys with Bear Lake Dive Team to see if they would like to join us.

Cozumel Mexico Baby!!

On Monday we had a seminar with Aqua Lung, where they showed us some of the latest products coming out and new features added to existing ones. What does that have to do with Mexico you ask?
Cozumel baby!!!!!!
It was announced that Sport Chalet has booked the entire Scuba Club Cozumel resort for the week of July 11-18, 2009.
I'm in!! Janine's in!! Are you in?
The real fun, besides the diving and fun with friends and family is that Aqua Lung and other manufactures will be there with new gear for any of us to demo.

Not sure you want the Aqua Lung Slingshot fins yet? Take them on a real test dive.
Want to compare the Suunto Cobra 2 to the Sherwood Wisdom 2? Hook them both up and take them on a dive and compare.
Which camera should I buy? Take one for a dive and load the pics on a PC and see.
All of this for how much? Right now it's about $997.00 per person plus airfare. More details and exact price to soon follow.
Cozumel here we come!!!!