Dive - Saturday Feb 27, 2010

On Saturday morning I once again made my way to the club house for the Adelaide University Scuba Club and waited for Dave to show up.  The club dive had been canceled due to a strong wind forecast, but we were heading off with two tanks for some hopefully less wind tossed water.

Our first stop, after two hours of driving through wine and olive country, was the Rapid Bay Jetty.  An abandoned granite factory sat high on the hill, having previously loaded cargo ships on the original jetty.  Now a fancy new jetty had been build along side with a set of stairs for divers to access the water and swim to the older jetty whose pilings were full of life after having been there for so many years.  We got in and followed the markers on the seabed straight to the pilings.  There fish teamed about and colorful invertebrates spread out before my eyes.  And so did the fog.  For about an hour, I flooded my mask every minute to get rid of the fog.  In between floodings, we swam out to sea between the pilings.  Dave had his camera and progress was sometimes quite slow.  As I waited, flooding my mask I poked around.  At one time as I cleared my mask this large face stared back at me.  A cuttlefish who was probably the close relative of Davy Jones stared at me.  I failed to clear my mask under the pressure of his gaze.  We continued on, getting to the T of the jetty where a few large schools of fish had gathered.  Dave chased around a puffer fish for a while, his spines clearly visible although it turns out that we weren't annoying enough to invoke any reaction.  We came to the surface at the end of the jetty for a while, so that Dave could be come less disorientated and I finally got to fix my mask.  We searched the pilings a while longer for leafy sea dragons, but only found a few crabs, another cuttlefish and all the reef fish we had previously seen. 

After getting out with less than 250 psi in my tank, we loaded up and drove a short ways to Second Valley.  The plan was to do a short dive here and then head farther back north to find the Star of Greece wreck.  We put in and swam around the point and into a cove.  Marine life was much scarcer than the jetty but the dive was more like a Jamestown dive of rocks and plant life.  Dave found a blue devil in a hole and took some pictures.  At about half our tanks down, we got out and headed to the Star of Greece.

The Star of Greece is supposed to be an iron, three masted ship that broke up of the beach south of what is now South Australia's first official unclad beach.  We put in off a beach farther south where the girl at the cafe by the same name tried to give us directions to the wreck.  They were quite vague and the water quite a hike from the car.  We debated long and hard whether we actually wanted to do this dive.  Eventually we got in the water and decided to snorkel around separately looking for the wreck.  In the end, we never found it and we did a short underwater swim that barely tripped my computer's depth indicator.  Getting out of the water we did see a fair sized ray of some sort but we made the trek back to the car and swore to never come back to Star of Greece.

Dive Stats:
Rapid Bay
Depth:  30ft
Dive Length: 104 minutes
Bottom Temperature: 69 deg

Second Valley
Depth:  27ft
Dive Length:  37 minutes
Bottom Temperature:  74 deg

Au-ddly Australian

The original Au-ddly Australian. Since its Thursday and all.  For a little while down here. For much longer up there.

Imagine Black Friday shopping. Now add haggling and store front employees throwing out prices like auctioneers with their number line backward. Put it all in one building with no meaningful differentiation between stores and that is the Central Market on Saturday afternoon. At the market are an absurd number of stores with mostly fresh produce and meats. Apparently the prices are good during the week, but on Saturday everything must go since the market is fully restocked while closed on Sunday. So mangos are 3 for 5 dollars. Some things are 99 cents a kilo, however much that is. I really need to build a MathCad sheet to tell me how much more or less all these things are than the US. There are some peculiar things at the market too. My favorite: fresh Atlantic salmon labeled as a Product of Australia. And the market has a special door straight into the back of the supermarket, so anything you couldn’t get there you can get at Cole’s. Which means Cole’s looks like everyone trying to shop before the Superbowl. And this is all every Saturday. It is all much too much to handle. I long for Beltsville Costco shoppers. In my initial overwhelmed few minutes I somehow bought a strawberries and cream roll up bread thing. As I walked by at first, it was “The last one, $5!” By the time I had thought enough to look at what this thing was it was “Last one, $3!! You sir, $3. It’s wonderful and will be perfect for you and your lady tonight. Perfect romantic evening.” And then I handed over my money and got a strawberry cream something or other and one of those confounded two dollar coins. So us 5 guys have a perfect dessert for a romantic evening.

Update - The cream cake thing was actually quite good. This week we may see if there are mint plants and limes at the market. But, we will see if I actually make it back there. There should be a dive on Saturday which will have Au-ddly Australian fish.

First Soccer

In an attempt to find a little more to do, Marc and I decided we would attend the practice with the Adelaide University Whites, one of the school soccer clubs.  The Whites are really just another team under the Adelaide University Sports Association, which in total are The Blacks.  SCUBA is run under the same umbrella organization.  I had originally been on the mailing list for The Blacks (the soccer team) but the Whites were closer, and that's what Marc had signed on for.  The Whites fancy themselves better than The Blacks.  I'm not really sure about the Reds and the Blues.

Practice started with more running and calisthenics than I ever made the Webbies do but practice turned out not so bad.  Competitive and fun, it was a good work out.  But games will probably conflict with diving.  I'll have to decide what to do about that.  The 45 minute walk to and from practice though is a killer.

More importantly we scored some free tickets to see the Adelaide United play in their first match of the Asian Cup.  I believe they played a Korean team.  The Steelers in any case.  Tickets were general admission and we had found some decent seats.  The kids and lady behind us provided much entertainment throughout the game, welcome or not.

The game was sloppy, the refs inconsistent, the Koreans were whiners and the fans were brutal.  Never have I heard an entire stadium boo a player for the full length of his injury.  Yes they were embellished, and were some pretty questionable calls at times.  But never had I heard a 10 year old tell a man in seeming agony, kicking his legs while holding whatever part of his body, that he was having seizures.  Or dying, or something about a happy ending.  Any man caught walking off the field after the stretcher was called out by the referee was given a wholehearted boo for the remainder of his time on the field with possession of the ball.  Any player from the United benefiting from a similar miracle cure by magic spray had obviously actually been hit. 

In the end, Adelaide was victorious having scored right before half on a very lucky goal that admittedly came after a commendable effort by the outside mid.  All in all, worth the 2 stamps on my bus ticket.

First Dive - Update

Check out the AUSC blog site for a write up on my first dive.

Late Night Defense Ruminations

Its quite late here down under and admittedly I have had a few beers.  But I feel a need to rant about the state of a few US defense projects.  Just because I have read a fair amount in the milblog community and don't feel adequately knowledgeable to comment on those sites.

First, Joint Strike Fighter.  JSF was supposed to be a savior for the next generation of air defense fighters.  Cheaper than the F-22, and sharing most of the airframe across the USAF, USN, and USMC, it was suppose to fix the fighter gap that will be apparent in the next few years.  Congress, unintelligently in my humble uninformed opinion, canceled F-22.  While the Raptor is expensive and only available for the USAF, at least it worked.  It was on track in production now after some delays and cost overruns.  But it was being manufactured and flown.  Keeping that program on track would have kept cost down.  I don't agree with exporting it to Japan, but then again, I don't like the exportation of our major combat systems in general.  Now we are stuck with JSF which is way behind in production and testing and seemingly being advertised to both the US and our allies as something it is not yet capable of.  Its not a 5th gen fighter, for any sort of range or payload, it needs external mountings, negating much of its stealth.  It is not an air superiority fighter.  In its USAF mission it is meant to fly with F-22s.  In its Navy mission, it is really meant as a strike fighter.  With the retirement of the F-14, the Navy has mostly abandoned the idea of its carrier based fighter aircraft that have a sole mission of protecting the fleet from opposing air assets.  JSF is one of the prime examples of a program gone wrong.

Another program that some point out as being a disaster is DDG 1000.  It is over budget, has been slashed in numbers down to 3 ships and is generally avoided like the plague, at least at Carderock.  No one wants to work with it.  I for one, if I had to work in surface ships, would want to work on Zumwalt.  Yes, it is a relative flop compared to what it was advertised as.  It is not and can not be what it was designed to be.  Maybe it has stability issues or is too expensive.  But, I feel the three ships of the Zumwalt class destroyer will teach the Navy quite a bit.  It is a technology demonstration ship, as was the Seawolf class of submarines.  Yes, it is expensive.  So was Seawolf.  But what the Navy and industry learns from DDG 1000 will be more valuable than then upgrading of DDG 57 hulls as Flight III or Flight IV ships.  Indeed, the Flight II and IV Arleigh Burkes will be based on what is learned from Zumwalt.  Jimmy Carter has been more valuable than many will ever know about.  Zumwalt and her sister ships will be the same way.  The Navy did well to give them all to Bath Iron Works.  They will be well constructed and be as reliable as the design can be.  All ships have operational profiles, Zumwalt will be no different.  It is worth it, and those who say otherwise are not looking ahead.  The Navy does need smaller less expensive ships to do its dirty work.  Lessons can be learned from Zumwalt and maybe even LCS, who knows.  Perhaps by the time LCS is on track, Zumwalt technologies will be incorporated.   

Finally, there is subs.  Subs are the only program in the US Navy that come in under budget and at an accelerated schedule.  Newport News and EB both have issues from time to time, but boats being late or over budget are not one of them.  We know how to build subs.  Sometimes there are operational issues as well, but since Thresher, we have not lost a boat which considering their operational profile is impressive.  There are some voices that cry out for diesel or air independent propulsion subs.  The US Sub fleet is about power projection.  We don't need boats in the Caribbean.  Diesel subs that need forward bases are not what we need or should put money in to.  Again, selling boats to Taiwan is something I don't agree with.  We can help the Aussies develop their own boat, but we don't need to build it for them.  Which is an interesting position since I will be learning AIP boats while down here.  Building them as a training subs for the nuke boats to track isn't really worth the time.  I kid that building non nuke subs to put the woman submariners on would solve two problems in one but in reality I don't feel it is worth it.  Nix both "problems" and you won't have to build extra unwanted subs, or extra unwanted quarters and heads.  We can track the Aussies of Germans if we want the practice.  Submariners would want EB and even NGSB involved in the design and construction of their boats.  And building SubSafe AIP boats will likely not be as inexpensive as those who want them are willing to pay for.  Yes Unions are dumb from time to time.  But they produce damn fine boats, ones that I am happy to send Carelli out on, because they will come back up.

So obviously, much of this rant has no supporting info.  But it makes me feel better getting it out.  JSF is a disaster, we should keep the F-22 line up and running.  I have no idea what the Navy should do to replace the F-18 but that's not my job.  DDG 1000 might look backwards to even a NavArch, but it will prove all of its technologies and will make the next DDG worth it.  Zumwalt will be a good thing, I believe that.  Maybe more worthwhile than LCS, which I didn't rant about.  And the US sub program is the model of acquisition.  We will see how Ohio replacement goes, but if it is handled like Virginia, it will be a breath of fresh air.  Diesel and AIP boats are not something we should be looking at.  They will not help sea control missions any.  They will be a logistical difficulty.  And they will distract from what the good yards are really good at, building nuclear boats, with unlimited range, uncomprehendable speed and operational depth, and a really good acquisitions program.

First Dive

While the less informed might think my main purpose in coming to Adelaide was school, those who know better know that really I just came to dive.  The school doesn't know what to do with me.  The SCUBA club, however, does.

So at 6 AM Saturday morning, I ventured to the suburbs for my first dive with the Adelaide University Scuba Club.  Located in a field with merely a steel barn to house their gear and two 8m RIBs, 10 members of the SCUBA club assembled.  Our dive was to be Glenelg Dredge.  Sank for an artificial reef in 20m of water, the Dredge is a complete hull of a dredging ship, complete with some on deck rooms, some holds below decks and a intact propeller.  Completely covered in various corals and plant life, the Dredge is also abundant with fish most of which I can't name.  There were some fairly large cuttlefish hanging out below the hull and some other interesting schools both outside and inside the hull.

I dove in the second group of more experienced divers.  The four of us descended the anchor line and were straight off the bow.  We circled at the bottom to the stern where some large schools of fish had taken a liking to the prop.  From there we ascended to deck level and sent one diver back to the anchor line for his ascent; he had sucked down most of his air already.  I made gauge measurements up on the spot, since mine were in psi and everyone else knew bar.  My dive buddy and I swam the deck and descended in to some below deck rooms and into the main hold.  A number of through holes made the rooms well lit and easy to exit should the sudden need arise.  We ascended and searched the deck some more before picking up the third and descending into the hull once again.  This room was quite dark, our single torch doing little to cut through the darkness.  We exited through another narrow and equally dark passage before exiting into the main hold once more.  On deck once again, we swam back to the anchor line, did a 3 minute safety stop at 15ft, and then continued up and onto the boat, Stargazer. 

Dive stats:
Depth:  65ft
Dive length: 42 minutes
Temperature at Depth: 72 deg

Au-ddly Australian

I had originally planned a different post for this semi regular topic.  There are some strange things here in Australia.  And with the nicest camera I have ever owned being on my new phone, I snapped this example.

The second largest art festival in the world or something like that is here in Adelaide.  And this is the mascot.  Yes those are two giant astronauts, one with a pink tutu.  Taken in Victoria Square.

The Village

The Village was my housing of convenience. It was University housing, could take me at the time and was generally just easiest to deal with. In this case you get what searched for not necessarily what you pay for.

The Village is a 400 person community made up of around 50 five bedroom town houses and the remainder apartments of various configurations. There is a main lobby to get into the complex with a desk with ping pong, pool table, a small computer lab with printer and scanner. Not quite the Pub. In our brief orientation we were introduced by Powerpoint to the equivalent of Eugene and Bill, Geoff Whitely, and the maintenance crew. The adult in charge that we have met looks like the lead singer of Rascal Flatts. He is in charge of various move in things and room inspections, but he is certainly no Sue.

Through the lobby and some sliding glass doors are the courtyards to the townhouses. Tightly packed with a maze of passageways, each townhouse is a 4 story, five bedroom residence. Ours has two bedrooms on main deck, two on first (one has a balcony turns out but not mine), the kitchen, dining, lounge and small balcony on second deck and a single bedroom and the large patio on third deck. As far as arrangements, it is very good. A group of Webbies in such an arrangement in the DC area would be more than happy. Accept that there is no package store anywhere close. But we could cope. The top balcony has a drain and a faucet, quite perfect for the accidental spilling of beverages, whether adult or adolescent.

The Village is expensive though. 6 payments of 2k each for a 12 month stay in my case. I’m not sure what the semester exchange students pay, but clearly this is place is not worth a $10,000/month rent. That’s Webb rates, and Pete fed me 3 meals a day that I didn’t have to shop for. And for as much as I complained, Erica Hansen gave me the internet. We have access to school internet but it does not allow high bandwidth applications, such as Skype, gaming and video services. A 10GB additional internet package is $40/month. 20GB is $50/month. That’s Comcast top speed rates but probably slower and capped.

And probably the worst part of the Village is the guest policy. Day time guests are alright, but overnight guests are quite forbidden. I suppose a friendly group of roommates could help to overcome this but the Eugene and Bill wander the courtyard at night. A family member can stay for $60/night (for a cot that I think they have to rent, couch surfing must be frowned on) for up to 7 days. I will investigate “family” in the future. Otherwise this situation is most unfriendly to young professionals/students attempting to visit and I will be most displeased with it and will have to plan my third semester accordingly.

Roomates

James is a masters of accounting and marketing student from Manila in the Philippines. He is in his second year here at the University so is fairly knowledgeable in what is around Adelaide and what to do. He speaks very good English and is fairly outgoing and social. He is quite possibly the youngest looking 30 year old I have ever seen. He worked for a number of years in Manila after getting his Bachelors and is now back to school. Being the oldest, I think James got preference for the third deck single room and non shared bathroom. He shares third deck with the large patio.

Sam is a bachelors of mechanical engineering student from Singapore. He is quiet and his English is sometimes difficult to understand. It seems that he has transferred to the University from a school in Singapore and will be here for a couple of years completing his degree. He did offer to cook us curry on Saturday night though. We had to sneak him into a bar because the bouncers had a real issue with his bathing suit. Sam lives on the same floor as me and we share the bathroom on first deck.  Also turns out Sam got a room with a balcony.  My room is much bigger but I think having the balcony would have been nicer.

Mark is a bachelors of marketing student from University of Illinois. He is from right outside of Chicago and is a junior taking a whole bunch of electives here. He is only an exchange student so will be leaving in July. He seems interested in maybe joining the SCUBA club. Mark came with 2 other students from U of I. Katie is the one he knows best and she came out with us our first night. Wanting more than anything to speak to an Australian, she took a 12 sided 50cent piece and began talking to a random man. Turned out he was the DJ for the bar and invited us back for drinks and fun on him. Mark lives on main deck.

Victor is our final roommate. By far the youngest of the 4, he came delivered by his mom from Malaysia. Right now I know very little about him. He is quieter than Sam and I’m not even sure how his English is. He lives on main deck and shares the bathroom with Mark.

The Internet Has Arrived.

I think Qantas lost it somewhere over the Pacific.  Maybe it was on the LOST island.  I have a bunch of things written that I will try to get up in the next few days.  I miss all of you terribly.