The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
Heather and I went on a motorcycle ride around the valley. We stopped briefly in the Soap Creek Valley for some photos and to wait for some rain to pass.
My antique Yamaha XS1100 was loving being woken up from its winter slumber.
Heather with the bike and her beloved “king and queen” seat with the tall banana back.
Me with my trusty old steed.
On Saturday we went diving at the 2nd and 3rd fingers on the south jetty in Newport. The visibility was at least 10 feet, the nudibranchs were out, and the swell wasn’t too bad.
My mom took this picture between our first and second dives. Note that I use Vaseline in my mustache to keep a good mask seal at depth. With a proper application of Vaseline, I get no leaks!
After being disappointed by the visibility at Florence, Heather and I decided to go to Clear Lake and Smith Reservoir for a couple of dives. When we arrived at Clear Lake, we found several inches of snow on the ground and more falling through the clouds.
We decided to enter just south of the resort area and dive in the north end of the southern portion of the lake.
Heather getting pumped up to dive in water that is just above freezing.
The SCUBA Whale!
Trying to stay warm pre-dive.
Getting our gear setup.
Yup, there really is snow on the ground. Not quite as much as when Brent and I did a dive here several years ago though.
Staying warm before we get wet.
Last pre-dive check of gear before we don our BCDs and start the walk to the water.
Post-dive at Clear Lake. Heather got rather cold on the dive. We brought some hot beverages to warm ourselves up with before our second dive.
At the Smith Reservoir boat ramp.
Looking toward the intake structure.
We did an abbreviated dive in Smith Reservoir. After reaching about 90 feet, Heather’s primary regulator started to have a small free-flow from ice buildup. We aborted the dive and ascended safely. We even were able to do an appropriate safety stop. I turned off Heather’s air on our short surface swim back to the boat ramp.
