Diving - 2016 10 - Channel Islands

Well, doing multiple adventures in one holiday sure makes things harder. Way too much gear. Hiking gear, backpacker gear and now diving gear! Luckily the IHSP hostel let me store my hiking bag there for the duration of the dive charter, which made managing it a little easier.

Lugging all the hire dive gear from the shop to the jetty, while only 3/4 of a mile, felt like ages. Didn't help that I had to carry it all, tank and weights included... I miss my wheeled dive bag :o Took a break mid way to rest my arms. I think I'll take an Uber to return it, will be twice as heavy when wet. Got to the boat a little early and enjoyed just sitting and looking over the beach.



The boat returned from it's trip and after the crew had a chance to clean and reload we all took our gear on, claimed spots and headed off to dinner. At dinner a few people were getting ready for the long drive out with oyster/vodka shots... they seemed to really enjoy them but it looked like a snot shot. I got a pretty lucky draw with the allocated beds, near the back on the lower bead, perfect. Boat sleeps ~35 pax and we had 32 divers on board. Dive deck was a little crowed at times but there was usually plenty of space. Nice sun deck too.

Time to gear up for the first dive. As it was a lobster hunt the vast majority of divers were keen to be first in the water and first to the bugs. This meant that a lot of guys were geared up with tanks and all before the anchor was even dropped. No faffing about on this boat. Hunting is apparently a more solo sport as well so I geared up to jump in alone. After getting over the instant shock of cold water I descended to the floor to start getting use to my hire gear. Sorted buoyancy and got too it. Then started to hit the sand, huh, pretty unusual. So I pumped my BCD with some more air and was good, then hit the sand again... Third time I just sat still and could hear small bubbles between breaths. Found a diver and signalled 'Problem, Bubbles' and pointed behind me to which he responded that I should surface.

Got to the top pretty easily using the anchor chain to do my safety stop without sinking and when on board noticed a decent slit in the BCD. Good way to start a 3 day dive trip... I love hire gear. Luckily Dee had some repair glue so we patched it up. I had to sit out the next 2 dives anyway to let it dry but the boat does 7 day dives and a night (all short) as most people fin and blow through their air looking for lobsters. My dives were short as I was getting cold :o



After the repair goop set I was able to jump in for an actual dive. Swimming through the Kelp forests was great. Weaving amongst 30m tall strains made me feel like I was flying through a forest. Everyone was off looking for the biggest lobster they could find but off I went looking for the small stuff as usual. A few Nudi and Slugs on the rocks but not too much in the way of macro life. Fish life was pretty abundant, including some larger ones like the Black Sea Bass. With all the divers poking their heads under boulders and into any crevasse they could find the bottom did get kicked up a bit, so if I was close to one there was a lot of sediment being kicked up into the water, made it harder for some pictures.

The crew were pretty helpful on deck and food was great with plenty of lollies, snacks and good main meals. No-one donated a lobster for dinner though :o Despite bailing on the first dive and missing the next 2 I was able to fit in 3 actual dives and a night dive on the first day. On the night dive the usual critters were out, including the lobsters everyone else was hunting. Some massive sea hares were crawling along as well. Bio-luminescence is a pretty strong blue here, so after I got far enough away from the boat and other divers it was good to sit there in the dark and have a personal light show.



Sadly with all the repetitive and fast diving Ryan (who organised the group for the trip) developed some minor DCS symptoms. Overnight the skipper drove to Saint Catalina island (which had a chamber) to drop him off. It wasn't until after the first dive that I found out but it certainly made me think a little harder bout my bottom time for the next dive. As I was getting cold pretty easily none of my dives were really long. I think my longest was 45 min. I was often back on the boat with well over 1500 PSI (100 Bar) and a few times at the shallower sites still had 3/4 of my air left.



I managed to jump in for most of the dives on the second day, skipping 3rd and 6th to warm up and then returning to the cold for the night dive. The afternoon dive had some seals swimming around us, but unfortunately I my housing fogged up and all the shots were just white washed. Did manage to snap a few when they were on the surface though. For the night dive the bio-luminescence was out in force again so I spent 65% of the time with my torch off swimming around. It was strong enough that even with other divers with their torches on I could see the specks of light created by their fins. Found a little Octopus doing its thing as well.



After the night dive there was a big Margarita mix made and beer flowing. Some card games played, with varying international rules used and a few dice games to boot. Felt a lot like a URGQ trip. Not everyone new everyone else but the group (excld me) had a common connection with at least a few other people. Everyone was really friendly and happy to share diving stories from the area and other places they've visited across the globe. I was of course happy to do the same and share trail tails from the PCT. Mixed skill levels too, some with many dives under their belt and a few who were only certified recently.



Slept in and missed the first dive on day 3, enjoyed a nice relaxed bacon and egg breakfast before gearing up for the second. The moment I hit the water I felt cold. Was a really scenic site with the kelp looking quite healthy  so I stayed down for 45min and was shivering by the end of the dive. I checked the temperature and my computer was on 12.9°c, after near on 800 dives this is the coldest water I have ever been in. Coupled with the not so great fit on a 7mm and I definitely shouldn't have been down as long as I was. Still shivering after surfacing I borrowed a big warm fishing coat from another diver, grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and sat in the sun. Warmed up a bit, but decided to sit out the next dive anyway.



Had to jump in for the final dive and went in with one of the newer divers, actually got my hands on a pretty decent lobster this dive, or so I thought. Gauge said it was too small so back it went into the crevasse of an overhang. Was able to find and point a few more nudis to my buddy including a really small one no more than a centimetre long. Sadly camera had fogged up again so I wasn't able to get any shots taken. After that it was a fairly calm cruise back to Santa Barbara to unload and head off. Got a final group shot with most of the haul before everyone headed off their separate ways. Paul was kind enough to give me a lift to the Backpackers saving me a long walk/Uber trip.

Travel - 2016 USA - San Fran/Santa Barbara

Arrived the next day and got to the hostel. Luckily my bed was already free so I could drop my stuff and try get some sleep. Even though I was tired that wasn't happening so I went out for a walk.

Up past Coit Tower for a great view of the city and various piers before heading to pier 39 for some food and to look at the seals lazing about. Back to the Green Tortoise hostel for free dinner (was taste too!) before crashing.

Got to have a nice sleep in, as far as shared rooms go, before heading out to brunch with some good friends from home. Andrew and Anthony were over for their own holiday so it was nice to catch up. After brunch we went to the palace of fine arts for a walk before they had to head off to catch their flight.



On the walk home I went over a few more hills (San Fran is like going over mountain passes, so many hills!) and was able to also head down Lombard st which loozed pretty nice. They had a traffic control guy here full time and in the short span I was there he had to yell at 3 people to not just stop in the middle of the street and quite a few pedestrians to not stand on the road... bloody tourists...



For dinner I was able to catch up with another trail friend, Heman, and his partner. Sadly Zook had started a new job and wasn't able to make it into the city for Tuesday night drinks. 



Hired a car for the day to see some of the ot as close views of the city. Started the day by driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and hitting up the view areas. For the amount they charge for the toll (7.50 USD) you would think they could afford to build a few more carparks. There were heaps of cars backed up and people taking spots. Also didn't help that there was a wedding party for a photography session with lots of people. Eventually got a park and took the iconic picture before moving on.



After the bridge I continues onto Muor woods. Needed a little bit of nature... and less crows.  Well plenty of beautiful nature bur another parking lot at the start. Luckily most people were only on the short creek walk near the visitor center and as soon as I turned off onto the 11 mile loop I was almost alone. Only seeing a handful of people. 

Surrounded by giant trees and fresh air felt amazing. The redwoods here were truly massive trees. I think I might need to get new shoes though, these had a lot of miles on the PCT and have done quite a few since as well. I'm starting to feel that the soles have lost a lot of their support.



After getting rejuvenated it was time to head back to the city. Luckily I've been against the main flow of traffic and seeing how slow it 'flowed' the oposite direction made me very glad I was. Hostel was having a pub crawl that looked good but I was out early the next morning so opted for bed instead.

Awake before most people in the hostel except 24hr desk staff and 2 people getting breakfast ready to catch my connector bus. Luckily it was a short bus before getting onto a train. Takes a lot longer than a car, or flight, but leaps and bounds above the bus in terms of comfort. Train took most of the day but eventually I pulled into the Beautiful Santa Barbara. Just in time to see the sun set over the marina.

The next day I took the time to explore Santa Barbara a little more. Felt like a mini Gold Coast. Same kind of shop fronts with surf gear and jewellery stuff. Quite a lot of tourists meandering about too. 



I also stopped in to the dive shop Iwas renting gear from to get fitted. Took 3 wetsuits to find a decent one, trying on 7mm wetsuits in this heat isn't fun... Shop helper went to pack the regs in the bag and I pulled him up and asked if I could test them first. Regarding started to free flow after 1 breath... This is why you test gear before a trip... especially hire gear.
Gauge is in PSI but I think I'll manage 50% and 25% on the fly. I brought my computer so I can dive in meters and not feet. Diving in a jacket BCD is going to be interesting. So too will be the cold water...

A cruise ship came in and the area suddenly got a whole lot busier. Lots of tandem bikes and little cart things. Quite a few people also out on SUP boards and kyaks around Stearns wharf too. Looks warm and feels warm in the sun... I think underwater is going to be another matter... 

Boat departs at 1am in the morning (yeah... 1am) so I've checked out of the hostel, leaving most of my hiking gear in their lockup. I'll go pick up the hire gear soon and then begin a long wait until I can hop on the boat and hopefully sleep on the trip out to the Channel Islands. Let's go diving!!

Travel - 2016 USA - PNW (pt 2)

Despite being awoken at 430am when a room mate at the hostel decided to pack to leave I had a pretty good sleep in a warm bed. Most considerate travellers, when they know that they need to leave early, have everything ready so all they need to do is grab their bag and go. 

This guy though had everything spread out and even at one point turned the room light on! One of his last acts in the room was to drop his water bottle onto the hard floor... twice.  

After recovering from the abrupt awaking I made my way over to the Museum of the Rockies.  It was definitely cool to see the enormous size of creatures that once roamed the earth. The massive Triceratops skulls were probably my favourite exibit, even when pitted against the mighty T-Rex.



After wondering around for a bit it was time to get back on the road. Yellowstone wasn't too far away and soon I was going under the magnificent North Entrance archway. Not 100 meters  into the park I saw my first Elk ever. The first of many today. 

I kept going onto the Mammoth hot springs area that was littered with geysers. Lots of steam rising up from the ground and cool terraced pools brimming with boiling water. The smell was pretty potent as well...



The bigger and more picturesque ones with richer colours are further south.  As it stands due to snow last night the roads are currently only open to vehicles with appropriate snow tyres... which I don't have... 

Luckily there is plenty to keep myself busy with in the northern section of the park and the prediction is for some warmer weather the next few days which should allow me free movement.



Travelled along the northern road in the morning and saw heaps of Bison doing their thing... which is exactly the same as a cow. Eating grass. Exciting stuff. This amazing feat seemed to have many other tourists enthralled, enough to make them hit the brakes for an abrupt stop in the middle of a 45 mph single lane road with traffic behind them... 

Note to future Yellowstone tourists; Unless a Bison is being EATEN by a Grizzly bear there's no need to stop on the road for one. There will be a pull out in less than 500m where you can safely stop instead. 

There was also lots more thermal pools and gysers but the highlight today was a steamy river canyon and big falls.





After a full day of playing tourist it was time to fund a camp. Most areas are already shut down for the season, despite he still heavy traffic. When I made it to the Maddison camp I was right behind the person that got the last tent spot. Luckily the camp host was really nice and allowed me to park my car and 'hike' into the hiker/bike only area. A whole 50m away from the car. 

Now it was time to visit the main touristy sections of the park. Yellowstone seems to be very much a feature park. Drive from A to B do a 10 min boardwalk loop, drive to C, repeat. Lots of people but also lots of beautiful things to see. With the colder air the steam did make photography more difficult but it really was worth waiting for a parking spots.







After a lot of short walks and one semi decent one off to some distant falls (mainly to escape the crowds) it was time to visit Old Faithful.  When  I arrived it was about a 45min wait so I was able to grab some lunch and hit the souvineer store. At the viewing area there was at least a thousand people, probably more. 



Another quick boardwalk in the area before heading off to find camp. Near the south entrance by a lake. I was here a little early so still plenty of spaces and self registering too so I grabbed a spot. A short stroll on the lake side before returning to camp to get warm.

Saying goodbye to Yellowstone I headed south to the Grand Teton NP. It's a smaller park but has some pretty mountains! There wasn't many medium walk options, just little jaunts from parking lots or long overnight ones up into the mountains.  I still managed to join a few together to get a decent day in. Though the best views were from the road side viewing areas. 





Camped just inside the southern boarder of the park. I haven't figured out the pricing shedual of National Parks. Some are cheap others, like tonight, are almost double some others. Though that might have something to do with the fact that some grounds are privately run, even though they're inside a NP.   

The grounds had nice autumn leaved trees though and a pretty decent view of the Teton range so I was able to see the sun set behind it. 

Frost coated tent in the morning but packed up anyway as it was going to be a decent day of driving. To get to Portland is about the same as driving Brisbane to Canberra. Despite easily being able to do a drive like that in one day I took my time and stayed off the Interstate (with its 130kph speed limit) and dropped into various brown tourist signs.

The USA has a lot of small museums. Some with pretty cool buildings even if the subject matter is boring... like a museum for fabric....

Found a nice free camp spot just outside the town of Boise. Was up a rather bumpy dirt road but what's a Grattan road trip without some corrugations? Given its proximity to town and great view of the town lights I'm glad I'm not here on the weekend... I think this spot would be rather busy, if only for early on in the night, on Fri/Sat/Sun.



Drive into Portland was pretty uninspiring as I mostly stayed on the Interstate.  130kph does tent to get you there fast though... and most cars were overtaking me!  

Portland is very similar to Melbourne, very similar feel to me at least. Lots of people that look like it took them over an hour to paint on/squeeze into their jeans. With the beard I almost fitted right in. 
City itself was like many others. Lots of bridges crossing the river, including a double decker one! I wonder if it cost more than a tunnel... 

One of the things I liked most was he food trucks. You didn't have to walk 2 blocks before coming across another patch of them, and from what I tried all deliciously filling.



In town there was also a protests so I got to see the police in full riot gear. It wasn't too big when I hot there, just a few people preventing public transport from getting by. That's a great way to get all those commuters to care about you/your cause. .. 

I also was able to catch up with some Portland hikers for dinner. Was jive to see them again and find out how post trail life was going.



Time to get the car back to Seattle. Not a great day to be driving heavy rain and lots of ponding, even on the highway. Apparently expecting the highest winds they've had in 50 years... So the drive took a little longer than expected... but made it safely.

Back in Seattle and got to meet up with some friends again before having a day off. Relaxed at the Hostel and had some good chats with other travellers. 



Train to San Francisco was already booked out and plane was a lot more expensive and troublesome (getting to the airport, 2 bags, etc etc) so I decided to get my first ever long distance bus ride.

Do. Not. Do. It.

I don't know how but the seats are even more uncomfortable than a planes. At least there is power though... So I could watch movies on my lapop for the very long journey. Loved my noise cancelling headphones to drown out the person across from me reading their book, out loud. 

Still it is cheap and it definitely reflects that. I'll be on here overnight and reach the beautiful city of San Fran early tomorrow, after a change over. A day or 2 for the city and then time to try get back to the woods.

Travel - 2016 USA - PNW (pt 1)

First stop on the road trip was Olympic National Park. I choose to rake the road route (as apposed to ferry) as that would avoid city driving my first time in the wron side of the road. On the hwy I definitely felt that I was a little too close to the right had side of the land a few times. No driving fouls and no one honking at me so I must have done ok.

The road to the park was just a boring hwy at first but then began to curve along the coast a little and get to a more rural hwy state. I made it to the park late arvo too late for walking so I set up camp for the first time in a week and had a good night's sleep.

The next morning I went up to Hurricane Ridge. It retain lt lived up to its name with the wind howling past me making it hard to walk against. I made it to a lookout hill up a short trail but with the clouds I could see some mountain rains but not to the coast.. 



I then headed off in search of the Rainforest on the other side of the park. It's a big park with no through roads so to go around took 2 hours. On the way a came across some hunters (just outside park boindaries) loading a huge elk into their ute. First elk I've seen and it was taking 4 men to barely drag/lift it into a ute tray. 

Beyond them I reentered the park to check out some Temperate rainforest. Similar kind of tall trees but a noticeable lack of hi-jack/hitchhiker plants. No stag horns, no stranger vines. Just big trees and lots of moss. Was pretty cool as there were also some trees scattered in some Meadows shedding golden brown leaves. 



The distance/time signs are a little off for me in the more touristy sections of National Parks. The 2 walks I did at the Hoh rainforest had a combined length of 2.5 hours. I was back at the car in under 30 min... So with the extra time I figured I might as well get a drop on the next days driving.

Heading east I got to a built up area about when it was time to stop. Not wanting the fuss of finding a camp I opted for a cheap hotel so I could get moving the next day. When looking at rates I forgot about State tax,  city tax, etc etc so the room was a bit more than 'advertised' So glad we don't have to deal with that in Aus... 

Next morning I made full use of the breakfast... including enough for lunch... and got moving. After driving a while saw a tourist sign to a petrified forest just off the hwy. Stopped in for a gander and I'm glad I did. Ancient trees petrified to stone. They had cages up around all.of them, I guess a few people took parts as souvenirs



Hwy driving in the states is about as exciting as it is back home. I do find I'm missing a few things too. Like my fridge. I'm eating food like I'm hiking again. I also miss a long range fuel tank and TripleJ. There seems to be too many country radio stations here... but it's definitely the religious sermons that have the strongest signal...

For my next break I stopped off in a botanic garden to stretch my legs. They had roses, huge playgrounds, a few fish ponds and a Japanese garden all together. Lots of people out enjoying it too.



I only went just over an hour past the gardens to a free camp near a lake. A few fishermen returning with their boat just after dusk but otherwise I had the place to myself. Will try to hit up a few more on the way to make up for all those extra taxes...

More of the same driving the next day. Another difference over here is the speed. Often it's posted as 75 miles (120km) and if you sit on the limit a lot of people will sail past. The only people I had to overtake were either trucks or large RVS. I've also noticed that a lot of ranch/farm land us even more cleared than Australia. Most farmers at least leave the creek line green and a few scattered trees for shade, here there is barely anything left standing.  

Eventually I made it into Glacier National Park. They have all but shut down as winter is coming. Most campgrounds are either closed or 'primitive' (they lock toilets and shut off water) and they also stopped the park shuttle (which limits the day hikes I had planned.) It's still really beautiful though... and cold. I can see why people.would shut down for the cold... and it's not even winter yet!



Stayed in my warm bag for a while in the morning before setting off onto the 'Going to the Sun road.' It's a really beautiful road that cuts a cross section through the park. There are heaps of places to pull over and stop to admire the beautiful views. 



I stopped off at a trail head to do a hike up to Swiftcurrent lookout atop a hill. The lookout itself was hugged by clouds but the views on the way up more than sufficed. It was good to get a decent length hike in too. I considered doing a little more on the hidden ridge trail but as I made my way down from the lookout to the junction it began to snow lightly so I headed for the car instead. 

Another good thing about walking up to a lookout is the return journey is all downhill and fast! Given that it's past season I also didn't see one other person in the 4 hours of hiking so I set the phone with a time to snap this one.



Back to the road and it seems most people had risen from their hibernation. I wouldn't say the road was busy but certainly more than there was this morning. Plenty of vantage points to stop along the road for photo ops, it really is a beautiful park. All either on the road or a very short distance for those that don't want to stroll too far from the comfort of their RV.



I stopped off to do another shorter hike to some falls. There was many signs warning about recent Grizzly bear activity (eating as much as hey can before the winter.) Unfortunately I didn't see any, though luckily I guess none saw me... One campground was closed due to the increased activity, but it was a fair way away. 



Swung around to the eastern side of the park to one of the main camping sites that had been placed into primitive mode. More warning signs and as I was setting up a ranger came by to ensure I was doing the correct thing with food storage. She also informed me that one of the walks (up to a man made tunnel through a mountain) had been closed. There was 3 hikes I wanted to do with probably only time for 2 so it made my decision easy.

Snowed on me last night, only about an inch but enough to make it cold in the morning. Surprisingly though last night I was pretty warm, I wonder if all the snow made an iglo type situation before it melted off in the morning. 

It took a while to pack up and eat breakfast but soon I was off on another hike. Grinell glacier is one of 35 glaciers that existed in the park. All today are far smallet than they were... some are all but gone. Perhaps all those renewable energies are melting them? Just like solar and wind power apparently melted those high tension power line towers in South Australia recently...



Hike didn't seem very strenuous but as I breezed past a few other hikers it was clear those 152 ish days of training were still paying off... Views going up of the mountains covered in fresh snow was almost as good as the glacier.





On the way back down I ran into a 60 strong group of grade 6 students on a field trip. They stopped off at one of the lower lakes and luckily I only caught up to them less than 5 min from the car park. The teachers playing tail end Charlie knew about the PCT and were happy for trail tails and very excited that I rated Glacier NP, their local, as amongst the best things I have seen so far in the States.

After another short hike I started off on the next adventure. Some of the I5 interstate has 80 mph speed limit... so I was getting here at a fairly decent pace... I stopped for the night in a town called Bozeman. Plan to check out a dinosaur museum in the morning before continuing onto Yellowstone NP.

Travel - 2016 North America - Vancouver/Seattle

After finishing the trail and resting up at Manning Park for the night it was time to get back too it. Rusty and Lisa were able to get me part of the way to Vancouver and then I had to get public transport for the rest.

When you've basically spend 152 days being g able to go to the bathroom pretty much anywhere anytime 2.5 hours on a bus/train seems like a very... very long time..

On the bus I could see a few people give sideways glances. Hiker or Hobo game in a city had most people putting me squarely on the hobo list I think... if only they knew what I finished just 1 day prior...

When I finally arrived in Vancouver a very kind friend, Justin, met me and gave me keys to his house and put me on the right bus to get straight there. A bed, ensuit, space... All to myself!

I was expecting to rest up for a day or 2 but Justin had another idea. One of his friends was going out for some downhill mountain biking for his birthday. Quite a mixed group was going so despite having zero experience I was offered an invite. Jo was pregnant and couldn't use her bike/gear so it worked nicely.

It was a really awesome time. After a quick warm up on some green runs we headed off for the black ones... Canadian black runs... The first one through seemed ok and I was able to ride most of is. Some narley 2 m roll overs and some small drops but it was fun.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] No Chicken run for this guy.[/caption]



The second black run proved to be a bit more difficult causing me to walk the bike down a good chunk (40%) of it. Lots of steep tight turns and drops. I also managed to get a pinch flat on the very last drop... and when Justin put a new tube on the rim something none of them (the very experience included) had ever seen before happened...



The next 2 days were spent exploring the city a bit more. Yup, looked like a city. I also had probably the most expensive clothes shop in my entire life... not that it was a hard to beat record. .. I headed into their big chain camping store (like I need more gear...) and ended up getting some seam sealer and a duffle bag for all the new clothes :p

Then it was onto Seattle. Had to get to the train station for customs at 520 am so Justin gave me a lift down before he headed to gym. Thanks again for your amazing hospitality! Really made a difference at the end of the trail!

Despite a long line they seemed to move fairly fast and they didn't seem to care much as soon as they saw my Australian passport. Didn't even ask to see my flight out or ask any questions about my stay...

Train rides aren't as smooth as a plane so the 5 hours took a while. Lots more leg room though! I watched a movie but was getting a little motion sick (which has never happened on a plane) so switched to the view out the window. The train cruised down the coast line so there was actually some pretty good views of the ocean.

In Seattle I dropped bags at the hostel and headed into the city. Yup, more tall buildings. I expected the Pike street market to be a little bigger... but I'm not sure why. Did see a few fish being thrown around and looked at a few nick-nacks... all far to heavy to carry :p

For dinner I met a friend from trail. The pub we picked was close to the hostel and a sports stadium... which happened to have a Soccer match that night... so it was a little crowded... Bfast the next morning with another friend and then wandered back through the city past the old gasworks and stopping off at a park known for its views of the city skyline.
Visited the EMP museum which was pretty cool and considered going up the needle but there was a crowd and it was getting late. I also think the underground tour might be good to do... maybe when I'm back in town.

I had enough of the concrete jungle though... time to get back to a real one. I hired a car to see more of Washington with the first destination to be Olympic Park!