Thanks!
Maytag, it was in Vancouver, we dove at Porteau Cove and Ansell point.
The rest was at SFU. 100% concurred, Kirk and Mandy live up to their slogan
I wish I had some pictures of the dive to 30 on my own camera, but I just have surface pics as Gabe had the camera and was diving a short distance away as to give us some room on the line. I know Kirk and Mandy have some footage of it though. To my recollection, Ansell that day had enough vis that you could see around about 10ft or so. I initially pulled straight down to 20m, although I was supposed to pull down to 10m. I pulled down to 10m after that. I was enjoying having the best of the best safety divers though, and knew that this would be the opportune time to try some depth. After pulling down to 10m, I tried a 6 hard kick, 6 soft kick, drift and equalize to see where I would end up at after two equalizations. I think it may have been on the fast side, and I recall seeing the rocks at the bottom, and thinking we should go out a bit further. The dive felt really comfortable, the pressure was fine, the equalization was fine, and I didn't feel any acidation. I wanted to try 35m at that point as it all seemed rather easy, but I was getting cold at the same time and after trying it again, turned at just short of 30m again even though the plate was at 35.
I did keep my eyes open the whole time, to watch marks on the line, to make sure my head had the proper position, etc.. counting cycles and seeing if they were at the right depth. I don't have much opportunity with a calibrated line, so I had to soak it all up. Plus, having both Kirk and Mandy down there, filming, and visually cueing me to drop my arms at the last bit and exhale (which I had previously forgot to do).
We practiced the safety stuff after that, and it's true, I rescued Kirk at about 10m, and came right up under the pole. I had better luck with Mandy the second time
For future PBs, I would likely continue to dive a calibrated line, in an area I knew I wouldn't fear of hitting anything when letting the sink phase take over. I'll likely want to take more time and work on relaxation and technique rather than depth, because knowing that I can do the depth helps that way, as the equalization seemed to go very well.
I have some pics up on facebook, but I should upload them to my deeperblue gallery here as well.
It was a great time, as Nathan would likely agree with me! And it's always a pleasure to come out to the coast Pete, I look forward to coming again, and joining in on the last stretch of Telegraph Cove 2! but don't count on me to dive for halibut! rofl
**edited to add, I created a gallery and u/l'd some pics there