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Diving in Eastport Maine with Jonathan Bird

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 4:07 pm
by luis
Diving in Eastport Maine with Jonathan Bird
Two weekends ago Christine and I had the pleasure to go diving on Eastport, Maine again. We did some diving with Jonathan Bird (http://www.blueworldtv.com/ ) and had a great time.

Eastport has, by far, some of the best diving in Maine, but with over 10 foot tides it also has some of the strongest currents on the eastern US. You can only dive at high or low slack tide. Local knowledge to determine best slack time is particularly important.

This is a beautiful area and it is a neat little town.

Here is a picture that Jonathan took right before Christine and I were going into the water.

Image

Jonathan got to try one of my prototype DSV mouthpieces with one of my test Argonaut Kraken.

Here a video taken by Jonathan. I am using the other prototype DSV mouthpiece with one of my Argonaut Kraken. I am feeding Gene, one of Jonathan neighbors’ up in Eastport. Gene is a bit shy. I think he really appreciates that I am not blowing bubbles near his face. I actually got him to get fairly close to my face.


[video]https://vimeo.com/138426901[/video]
https://vimeo.com/138426901


Here a special that Jonathan did on Wolf-fish.
http://www.blueworldtv.com/webisodes/watch/wolffish

This past year I have been traveling to the pacific north west and have been able to dive several times in Puget Sound and the san Juan Islands. The Wolf-fish over at there are bigger than over here, but I think ours are more handsome.


Note: I am getting to really like that bright yellow drysuit.

Re: Diving in Eastport Maine with Jonathan Bird

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:35 am
by Birdman
Fun stuff!!

On my way home I stopped in at Luis and Christine's house and saw his amazing collection of vintage dive gear and also got a tour of his regulator "laboratory" where does his work. It's a pretty sophisticated set-up. Luis really knows what he is doing and the new Argonaut Kraken is the culmination of all that knowledge into a perfect modern doublehose. I am looking forward to the DSV upgrade for the ease of turning it off at the surface to prevent freeflow while floating waiting for the boat or kicking out to the site. Also, the vintage-style mouthpiece, while comfortable enough, doesn't seem to last very long for me before I bite off the nubs. (I have always wondered....what do you call the part of a mouthpiece that you bite?)

Anyway, using a regular mouthpiece will be harder to destroy and having a shut off valve will be cool. Not sure I like having to put weights on the hoses, but Luis says it's necessary to counteract the effect of the hose buoyancy acting through the increased length of the mouthpiece.

Jonathan