1/10/2009 Mt Chamberlin - South Wall aboard Escapade by Robert Lee

[rhlee]

1/10/2009 Mt Chamberlin - South Wall aboard Escapade by Robert Lee -- [View in Reports Page]

Bottom Team:	Robert Lee, Allison Lee, Kevin Dow
Visibility:	30' - 60'	Time:	2:00 AM
Temp:		Surge:
Scooter:	X-scooter	Burn Time:
Max Depth:	160FSW	Avg Depth:	140FSW
Bottom Time:	0:35	Total Time:	1:10
Bottom Gases:	21/35	Deco Gases:	EAN50
Backgas Config:	Double LP104	Deco Tanks:	AL80
Deco Profile:	5,3,2,2,3,10,5 up
The afternoon crew was lucky enough to have super-calm conditions allowing us to make it back down to Yankee Pt. for our dive. After a little discussion, we settled on the South Wall of Mt. Chamberlin for a site. Allison, Kevin and I splashed first and headed off on the scooters toward the big drop-off. We slowly worked our way W along the wall eventually choosing a canyon to head N along. John, Matt and Joakim caught up to us after awhile, and we slowly worked the reef until until the remainder of our BT expired. Visibility was decent, but not exceptional; somewhere in the 40-60' range, but it was a very pleasant dive nonetheless. Deco was boring and uneventful. For dive 2, we headed back toward the bay, and after some discussion decided on Strawberry Peak. I don't think anybody on-board had ever dived here before. The site was interesting and had a fair amount of structure. Visibility was great; perhaps even better than we had on Mt. Chamberlin... but the surge in the top 20' along the peak was absolutely incredible. At one point, it picked up our entire team and moved us about 15' in either direction in a matter of seconds. Unable to escape from the washing machine, I got caught in the backwash and was somersaulted and slammed into the reef and managed to put a decent-sized gouge into my dome-port shade :-( (while the camera was clipped off to me like a stage and with my arms around it trying to protect it) Thankfully, other than a few bruises and some cosmetic scratches to the shade, no lasting damage. Some pictures here: http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/v/local/090110/