The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
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One of the two guard dogs and family pets at Nautilus Watersports gnawing on a coconut near the boat docks.
The weather was hot and rainy. Underwater it was just fine though.
The central market in Port Vila.
Downtown Port Vila.
An awesome old WWII jeep for sale.
Tags: Nautilus Watersports, Port Vila, SCUBA, Vanuatu
The yacht club in Port Vila with some power boats tied to the wharf.
Bungalows at a private resort on a small island on the other side of the harbor from Nautilus Watersports.
A landing craft loading up for a trip to somewhere.
This is the biggest, tallest building in all of Vanuatu.
Looking back into the harbor.
Tags: Nautilus Watersports, Port Vila, SCUBA, Vanuatu
On the morning boat ride out to the dive sites, we passed a sailing ship that had arrived in the harbor the night before. There were several people crawling around up in the rigging getting ready for the boat to sail onward.
Looking from the harbor out toward the sea.
Some locals fishing on the reef.
The back of the dive boat.
The dive shop also runs a fishing charter business.
These are some photos in the bunkhouse where I stayed. I could have paid much more money to stay in a resort down the way but I didn’t feel like going completely broke.
I had the lower bunk.
Tags: Nautilus Watersports, Port Vila, SCUBA, Vanuatu
Another beautiful morning at the Nautilus Watersports dock.
Looking back at the Nautilus buildings.
Port Vila’s tugboat.
Interesting rock formation.
Looking toward the wheelhouse of the boat.
An Air Vanuatu seaplane taxiing for a takeoff from the harbor.
In the afternoon I went with three men from New Zealand who had just returned from a five day charter fishing trip to the resort of Hideaway Island.
The entire island is the resort.
Kids playing in the water.
The kids had loads of fun jumping off the boat as it pulled away.
Arriving at Hideaway Island.
Tags: Hideaway Island, Nautilus Watersports, Port Vila, SCUBA, Vanuatu
Upon arriving at Port Vila, I went to Nautilus Watersports and checked into their bunkhouse. For the duration of my stay in Port Vila, I had decided to go SCUBA diving with the crew at Nautilus and stay with them as well.
Almost immediately I was in my swim trunks, geared up with SCUBA equipment, and on a boat headed for a night dive on a shipwreck.
The sun sets fast in Vanuatu.
Tags: Efate, Nautilus Watersports, Port Vila, SCUBA, Vanuatu
The OSU SCUBA program went to Smith Reservoir for the fall 2009 PADI Altitude Class. We Had a great time checking out the underwater topography of the lake. It was a tad bit chilly however. Even those of us in dry suits were feeling the cold by the end of the day.
Gearing up for the dive.
Shore entry.
Some people doing a safety stop.
On the bottom.
Okay?
“Hang ten!” or “Awesome!” One of the two. Either way he was having a great time.
On the surface after a great dive.
Someone doing a safety stop in the shallows.
Party on the bottom!
Eating salmon after the dive.
Alex doesn’t like his picture to be taken.
Nikki with a road flair.
People starting to pass out on the van ride home.
Tags: Alex, Nikki, Photography, SCUBA, Smith Reservoir
Last weekend Jesi and I drove from Los Angeles to Monterey, Ca for some SCUBA diving. Jesi only had a few dives to finish to complete her divemaster training. I agreed to get her through her last dives to certification.
We drove six hours to make it to Trista’s apartment in Monterey a little before 1am. A few hours of sleep later, we were up and on our way to rent some gear and hit the water. Diving waits for no man!
Jesi at Monastery Beach. The entrance and surge proved to be a bit challenging at this site. Nothing we couldn't handle though.
Jesi says Hello underwater. This was at Monastery Beach on the south side of the dive site.
Self-portrait on SCUBA
Cool anemone
Looking at kelp from below the waves. It's just like any other forest canopy.
Jesi's SCUBA hair.
Jesi found a nice abalone shell. There wasn't anyone living in it anymore though.
On Saturday night Trista joined us for an awesome night dive. I didn’t think to bring my camera which was rather unfortunate. We saw at least six baby octopi walking along the bottom hunting for food. Some of them didn’t seem to mind us looking at them. One or two were a little mad. It was so neat seeing the babies walk along the bottom foraging for food!
Sunday saw us complete several more dives before we turned our car south and headed home along the coastal highway. South of Big Sur we just made it through a police roadblock before a lifeflight helicopter landed and shut down the highway. Without traffic behind us it turned into a very pleasant drive back to LA.
Tags: Diving, Jesi, Monastery Beach, Monterey, Night dive, Octopus, SCUBA, Summer 2009, Trista
Jesi, Sondy, and I went out to Malibu to do some diving this weekend. We only got one dive in before the weather got a bit rough for our tastes. We just don’t like getting sand everywhere in our gear! Anyway, here are a few interesting underwater photos.
Jesi getting ready to go diving.
The start of our hike down to the water. We assembled our gear on the side of the Pacific Coast Highway.
Sondy giving me the OK symbol.
Jesi with her old school rented computer.
Sea urchins all over the place in one area!
I think this might be coral?
Another strange plant/animal.
We stayed in Malibu at Sondy’s grandpa’s house. The neighborhood has its own private police force! Tom Hanks had a house across the street. Jim Carry was down a couple houses from Tom. Pamela Anderson was down the road a ways. We did not get kicked out of Malibu by any facists.
Tags: Jesi, Malibu, SCUBA, Sondy, Summer 2009
The first two weeks in SoCal have been pretty good. Work is interesting although I can’t really talk about what I do anymore. I can say that I work on badass stuff though.
This weekend a couple friends (Jesi and Sondy) and I went out to Malibu where Sondy’s grandfather lives (he was the Snoopy animator, a B-50 test pilot, and many other crazy things. his neighbors are Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Pamela Anderson. He’s 95 and likes to have two martinis per day.) to do some SCUBA diving. We managed to get all of one dive in before the surf got too high for our liking. We COULD have done some dives but in reality it was just too much surf for us to have fun. Who wants to get their gear full of sand?
We checked the conditions all the way from the Ventura county line to Longbeach. Nothing that we wanted to dive for fun. All of the lakes and reservoirs within a two hour drive are either private, restricted access, or so polluted and nasty that we’d probably die if we touched the water. For the next dive trip we’re looking at either taking a dive charter around Catalina, going to San Diego, going to Monterey, or out to Lake Mead. If the weather is rough there just aren’t any alternative dive sites in this part of California.
Currently I’m sitting in my dorm room trying to stay cool. It’s about 95 degrees outside. At least my SCUBA gear is drying fast!
Next weekend I have four days off. I need something to do. Death Valley is probably going to be too hot even for me. Anyone have any ideas of awesome things to do for four days in the California/Nevada/Arizona area?
Pictures of the last week or two of activities (including our one dive) later!
I sold my two steel 100 CuFt high pressure tanks to a nice guy who works on campus. He seemed very happy to get them and I am happy that the tanks went to someone who will enjoy them. Hopefully in the fall I’ll get a chance to dive with him.
Tags: SCUBA, steel tanks
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