July 2014.
Nothing earth-shattering here, just a – nearly invisible! – close encounter with a curious aquatic bird this summer. Must be viewed in HD (ideally fullscreen) to discern anything, but it is there. I was unaware of this until reviewing the footage months later, but for a split second, behind me and to the left, some form of diving waterfowl peeks at me. This inconclusive footage is slowed down 16X to be able to get a glimpse of this ephemeral moment. It doesn’t even stick its head all the way out of the water but I believe a bill may be discerned, a white spot on the head, and possibly a crest off the back of the head although that may simply be a reflection in the water. Anyway, getting decent underwater footage of a curious loon or merganser is something of a holy grail of mine – these birds are often seen diving in the area and I know they sometimes approach human divers. So although thrilled to know I came close to one – within 10 feet by the looks of it – I am also frustrated to have missed the shot.
No great discoveries here, just a perfect weekend morning exploring a field of submerged boulders, summer 2014. Water clarity was great. Water temp wasn’t too bad, but the wetsuit definitely kept me in longer. Shallow freediving in 8-15 feet of water, maybe a little deeper towards the end.
A swim in the French River, Summer 2014.
Footage from July or August. I tried to edit out the fart noise @ 1:00 but gave up. It is air escaping from the camera pole I swear.
Part one here.
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What strange, rock-skipping culture of leisure inhabits these Duluthian shorelines in the Lake Superior summers? This is a brief survey of structures and artifacts discovered in my anthropological investigations of 2013-2014.
August of this summer. This beach slopes off sharply just past the surf to like a 45 degree angle, so swimming out in a succession of dives quickly takes you deeper. Max in this video 15 feet? Not far from shore at all, undisclosed location. The dolphin-y noise @ 19 secs is air escaping from the camera pole. The mechanical drone in the background is an ore boat a couple/few miles away in the shipping lanes, which can also be heard in the first couple minutes of my recent vid Diving Among the Boulders and What I Found There.
A la 1970s Wonder Woman.
Duluth’s outer harbor, between the Vietnam Memorial and the red buoy, hides the submerged ruins of a hundred-plus-year-old wall (essentially stacked wooden cribbing filled with rocks) that predates the lift bridge and the canal. This is what they used to park ships behind for safe harbor — before its destruction in a gale. Been waiting to return here since last summer, finally got my window. Tried early in the day but the water was too cold. So I spent the day on Park Point beach, then hit it on my way back — water had warmed several degrees. Sun was going down so I had to act quickly. Similar imagery may be seen in my video of last year, “Freediving the Ruins of Duluth’s Outer Harbor.”
This current video represents going farther from shore (maybe halfway to the buoy?), and deeper than before (up to 15 feet or so as opposed to ~10). Next year maybe I will dive the buoy chain to the bottom (30 feet). It would have been nice to do this series of dives when I was fresher earlier in the day with more direct overhead sunlight (the water was clearer too), but it was simply too cold. By the time I got to it, I had walked several miles, was hungry, and had been given a beer and a couple slugs of wine (don’t ask). So I wasn’t as hardcore as I wanted to be — had to swim out far, then deep too, without benefit of a raft or anything, so I was pooped and not willing to risk any further depth. Next time!
A series of dives one afternoon exploring a field of boulders.
Corkscrewed down 20 feet underwater to do a barrel roll over a field of boulders I like to explore, then spiraled back topside. Not a long dive (around 30 secs at normal speed), just a fun one with a glimpse of one of Lake Superior’s Atlantean grottos. Pretty sure the bubble that pops out @ 43 secs came out of my right ear as I pinched my nose and equalized the pressure in my skull. Water clarity perfect on this Sunday morning dive in MY church.
