DIW ... and more camera woes

[Grateful Diver]

Did Day Island Wall last evening with Scott Lundy and Nils Brummond. Tidal exchanges were just about perfect, with only about a one-foot ebb in the afternoon. But, as usual, we decided to bring our scooters along for "insurance". With the conditions being what they were, the place was relatively crowded with divers ... and Mr. Angry was out taking pictures of all the divers gearing up ... he must have quite a nice collection of diver pics by now ... :angry:

Anyway, got in the water, turned on my strobes ... and neither one would power up. Hmmm ... I'm beginning to suspect I have a batch of batteries in need of replacement ... I just sent one of my strobes in for repair because I couldn't get it to fire, and am currently using Cheng's YS-27 as a temporary replacement. Anyway, I got out of the water and walked my camera back to the car ... no camera for Bob today.

When I returned, Nils and Scott were patiently waiting in the water. As I'm putting on my fins, Scott suddenly asked me to look at his camera ... "Do you see water in there?" Sadly ... I did ... his camer had flooded rather spectacularly. So off he trudges to drain the water out of the housing and put his camera back in his car. We're doing this dive camera-less. So, of course, that almost guarantees lots of nice photo ops.

And it did ... tons of octos and wolfies, including one of each laying right out in the open where we'd have been able to get some spectacular shots. Overall we had a nice dive. Since we'd planned to get in the water a bit early to avoid the hordes, the delay due to camera woes didn't hurt us much ... slack occurred right on schedule, which isn't always the case at DIW. With the scoots and no cameras, we were able to cover a great deal of the wall and see an awful lot of life. Vis was so-so until you got down below about 70 feet ... and then it opened up nicely.

Overall, a 65 minute dive, with a max depth of about 88 fsw.

Oh ... and when we got out, one young lady from Tacoma Scuba told us she had lost her camera during the dive.

Bad week for local underwater photographers ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[John Rawlings]

Good report, Bob.....but it makes me feel the sudden urge to go look inside my big ol' camera case to make certain that no one snuck in in the middle of the night and STOLE IT!

What a string of bad luck for photographers this week! Sheesh!

- John

[Blaiz]

Ok, who is Mr Angry and why does he take pictures of divers?

Thanks for the report Bob.

[LCF]

There is very limited parking at Day Island Wall, and some of the people who live near the access are not amused by having all of it full of divers tramping on the edges of their lawns. Day Island is one of the places where it's very important to be respectful, quiet, and make sure you pick up all of your trash.

[WylerBear]

There is very limited parking at Day Island Wall, and some of the people who live near the access are not amused by having all of it full of divers tramping on the edges of their lawns. Day Island is one of the places where it's very important to be respectful, quiet, and make sure you pick up all of your trash.

And don't pee in the bushes.

[lizard0924]

There is very limited parking at Day Island Wall, and some of the people who live near the access are not amused by having all of it full of divers tramping on the edges of their lawns. Day Island is one of the places where it's very important to be respectful, quiet, and make sure you pick up all of your trash.

And don't pee in the bushes.

And despite all of us learning these most basic tenets of common courtesy in kindergarten, the one time I was at DIW (not diving, just hanging out in my vehicle waiting for my friends to finish their dive) I couldn't believe how unintentionally loud divers can be...yes, I'm including my dive buddies in this group. The same thing happened with the NEXT group of divers who showed up while my friends were in the water.....idling cars in the middle of the road, shouting to each other thru car windows about where to park, whether to dive, etc. Then they all parked, got out and spent a good 1/2 hour standing outside Mr. Angry's house, talking really loudly about deets of the dive plan, etc.

I think if I lived in Mr. Angry's house, I might get pissed off, too, at the incessant parade of divers suiting up in the road and talking really loudly to each other before and after the dive. We should all really strive to minimize our impact above water at that site, given the close proximity to private residences. It's just common courtesy.

[cardiver]

There is very limited parking at Day Island Wall, and some of the people who live near the access are not amused by having all of it full of divers tramping on the edges of their lawns. Day Island is one of the places where it's very important to be respectful, quiet, and make sure you pick up all of your trash.

And don't pee in the bushes.

And despite all of us learning these most basic tenets of common courtesy in kindergarten, the one time I was at DIW (not diving, just hanging out in my vehicle waiting for my friends to finish their dive) I couldn't believe how unintentionally loud divers can be...yes, I'm including my dive buddies in this group. The same thing happened with the NEXT group of divers who showed up while my friends were in the water.....idling cars in the middle of the road, shouting to each other thru car windows about where to park, whether to dive, etc. Then they all parked, got out and spent a good 1/2 hour standing outside Mr. Angry's house, talking really loudly about deets of the dive plan, etc.

I think if I lived in Mr. Angry's house, I might get pissed off, too, at the incessant parade of divers suiting up in the road and talking really loudly to each other before and after the dive. We should all really strive to minimize our impact above water at that site, given the close proximity to private residences. It's just common courtesy.

A few months ago, when the tides were good early in the morning, you would have be astonished by how loud people were talking. It's 0500 and some idiot divers are yelling back and forth across the road and down on the beach. A little bit of noise mid afternoon seems okay. Early in the morning or late in the evening I don't think that anyone should even talk until they get in the water.....

[fmerkel]

I dive DIW a fair amount and have worked with my club (Marker Buoys) and a local diver to try to minimize diver impact on the place. Mr. Angry has been a fixture for some time-he's the guy on the N. side of the path and occasionally brings out his camera and his attitude. It seems recently that someone 'may' have pissed of the guy to the S. side of the path as he apparently stopped being friendly to my local friend. This would not be good. Mr. Angry has tried to get neighborhood petitions to close the access in the past and has failed. Some of the neighbors just won't go along with it. It's probably not legal anyway but who knows what a determined bunch of neighbors can do.

DIW HAS SUCCESSFULLY BEEN CLOSED IN THE PAST. Yes, it was.

I'm not particular to the legal maneuvering that got it closed and re-opened again but if folks make a consistent nuisance of themselves is is within reach that it could happen again or at least access after dark might be enforceable (see the sign at 3-Tree for validation). I have been there when the cops were called on divers and there was absolutely no behavior going on that I could discern warranted that. Whether this makes the cops annoyed at the residents or the divers is a moot point, it makes the whole area a source of irritation for police that have better stuff to do than deal with that kind of bickering.

It is really up to the dive community to police themselves, minimize their impact (carpool) on the site, and respect this neighborhood. Think about how much you would like it if your neighbors had a party every time there was a nice low exchange, parked out your street, and then carried out most of the party on the sidewalk in front of your house and maybe finished by peeing in your bushes. It would get annoying.

Edit-what is frustrating is this discussion is most likely being held among a group of divers that don't need the coaching to behave properly.

[BadGirl]

AMEN to that, FM! AMEN to everyone's comments on the parking situation
It's the same discussion, only months/years apart. I have seen and heard the predive, post-dive celebrations. I have seen the parking mess. I have witnessed Mr. & Mrs. Angry's total disdain for us. I know a picture of my green Jeep is up on his wall somewhere, probably full of darts. And by the treatment I received (or didn't) from the neighbor to the south, some diver(s) has been offensive.
Clubs, really REALLY stress carpooling. Suit up quick, dive, get out of there quick. I think that Mr. Angry is compiling evidence that he'll use to get more and more neighbors to join in the fight to close off that island somehow. I've been informed by the locals that most people on the island don't like Mr. A and that opposing him adds to their entertainment. But if we keep pissing off the friendlies, who knows what will happen.
Whoever made the kindergarten comment is right on. This is everyday common courtesy behavior we learnd back then. We need to carry through on it, including me. Just because I live so close doesn't mean I can't carpool.
Spread the news. I know FM is really good with keeping his club's footprint to a minimum. Usually when I dive the site, I show up with 1-4 other individuals, which means 1-4 vehicles. Time to spread the word and re-hop on the bandwagon to keep our presence down to a minimum, people!

[Grateful Diver]

Pissing off the guy on the south side of the path would be really bad ... I've always called him Mr. Friendly. In fact, I've offered to buy him a beer a couple of times because he was so outgoing with divers.

But really ... seriously ... the word has to get spread out to dive clubs and dive shops to emphasize how we need to minimize the noise and disturbance impact.

Because of the excellent tides yesterday ... and the time that the site was diveable ... there were a LOT of people there. Besides our group of three, there were folks from at least three different shops, plus a bunch I couldn't identify. And many were there for the first time, and knew nothing about the place ... I know this because I volunteered to give them a dive briefing when I found out they'd never been there before. The briefing, BTW, did include some pointers on "etiquette". But the other thing I had to do was twice ask people to move their cars because they parked crosswise to the gate at the house across the street. The area was quite full when they arrived, and they didn't want to park down the street and make that long walk to the path ... but when I asked them to consider how they'd feel if it was their house they quickly complied.

Mostly, I think it's just that folks don't take the time to think about it for a moment ... perhaps they're just caught up in the excitement of the dive, or too busy yapping with their friends to think about it. Just a bit of polite diligence goes a long way.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[BASSMAN]

All good points here!
But Mr. Angry :angry: is in a league of his own!
His wife will smile and even wave to divers if she is going or coming from her car.
Mr. Angry Just comes out and glares at divers. Even if you give him a nice polite "Good morning"
I always find it amusing, but the reality of it is, if we continue top piss of the other neighbors, it could be very bad.
We need to bend over backwards to make sure we stay considerate and polite, at this dive site.
We should find out what Mr. Angry likes and buy him gifts once in a while. Beer? Whiskey? Ear Plugs?

[Tom Nic]

I guess it's a good thing we headed for Pt. Townsend today instead of DIW!

[sandman98007]

Oh Scott .... how I feel your pain ....

With luck on the camera rescue on saturday ... we will find the beast ....

With my luck ... we will find it flooded ....

Fell for ya man ...

[pogiguy05]

All good points here!
But Mr. Angry :angry: is in a league of his own!
His wife will smile and even wave to divers if she is going or coming from her car.
Mr. Angry Just comes out and glares at divers. Even if you give him a nice polite "Good morning"
I always find it amusing, but the reality of it is, if we continue top piss of the other neighbors, it could be very bad.
We need to bend over backwards to make sure we stay considerate and polite, at this dive site.
We should find out what Mr. Angry likes and buy him gifts once in a while. Beer? Whiskey? Ear Plugs?

I think your on the wrong path their Keith. He probably likes Guns,Baseball bats, and long handled axes.

[Blaiz]

All good points here!
But Mr. Angry :angry: is in a league of his own!
His wife will smile and even wave to divers if she is going or coming from her car.
Mr. Angry Just comes out and glares at divers. Even if you give him a nice polite "Good morning"
I always find it amusing, but the reality of it is, if we continue top piss of the other neighbors, it could be very bad.
We need to bend over backwards to make sure we stay considerate and polite, at this dive site.
We should find out what Mr. Angry likes and buy him gifts once in a while. Beer? Whiskey? Ear Plugs?

I think your on the wrong path their Keith. He probably likes Guns,Baseball bats, and long handled axes.

well, I have a fancy new gun I could offer him....

[rjarnold]

Bad week for local underwater photographers ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It is a bad week in general. I have a back-up mask, back-up computer, and tools... and I broke a fin strap and had my prescription glasses stolen from the beach. The nearest dive shop is... well, I don't know where the nearest dive shop is, but it isn't anywhere close.

[cardiver]

There were more people at DIW last night than I've ever seen there before. There were a few people being overly loud but nothing too bad. The one thing that bugged me was people bringing their dogs there. It's not a frickin' park, people! It's a nice neighborhood and the people that live there most likely don't want your dog barking and pissing in their yards.....

[Tom Nic]

don't want your dog barking and pissing in their yards.....

Yeah, we'll leave that up to the divers!

[Scubak]

Taking their dogs...
Great, Now we'll really piss off the neighborhood.
Kirsten

[Blaiz]

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