GLSPS Documentation, Photo, and Video Practice Project

[PJK]

GLSPS - Documentation, Photo, and Video Practice Project (Fun Dive).
Saturday – Sunday July 21 -22, 2012

The GLSPS is sponsoring another great project this weekend.  This project was initially planned for the S.P. Ely in Agate Bay in Two Harbors.  In light of the flooding in Duluth and along the North Shore of Lake Superior the underwater visibility has dropped down to a reported 3 feet in this area and in some other areas along the North Shore.  The above project would have been cancelled but GLSPS Directors decided to have the project anyway and make it more of a fun Dive instead.    We will be diving the Hesper and Madeira as a substitute for the S. P. Ely.

To learn more about the project, please click on this link to the GLSPS website events calendar.  or .


The Madeira and Hesper have suffered a bit of visibility loss as well.  However, it was reported a week ago that the visibility was only compromised from the surface to 25 feet.  Then it clears up to 30 feet of visibility after that. The Hesper has been reported to be ok at 25 to 30 feet of visibility.  The true visibility of the area is yet to be determined.  We won’t know for sure until we get there.

Steve Philbrook from Aqua Venture Scuba and Photo Center has allowed us to use a "Go-Pro" video Camera to use and demo.  Thank you Steve!  We may want one for future projects??

If any of the GLSPS members would like to join us we will be slipped at Silver Bay Marina.  We can take a maximum of 8 divers for a day trip.  We will return to the Marina after the dives.  You will need to supply your own lodging and food.  However, a snack and water / lemonade will be provided on-board during the day.

If you are not a member we would like to cultivate any interest you may have in joining the GLSPS by inviting you aboard the boat for a day ride.  Unfortunately we are not able to allow you to dive because of our by- laws but we would sure encourage you to purchase a membership for a low fee of $25.00.  which will give you a start at the level of the “Crew” Membership.  

If you are interested, please contact Bob Nelson Project Leader at 651-916-8183 or Phil Kerber at 612-720-2825 or email at pkerber@glsps.org.  The boat leaves Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM.  

Phil Kerber

[DetectorGuy]

Viz report confirmed...
Nate and I dove the Madeira and the Ely 6 days ago and you are pretty close on the viz report. The Madeira was 25' to 30' and the Ely was 6' to 8'. We took extensive video on both using a GoPro Hero2 camera and posted links to those videos in another MNSCUBA thread a few days ago: . I don't have a great lense on my GoPro but I know Steve at Aquaventure has been working on an aluminum housing for the GoPro cameras that sounds very impressive, especially for you divers that go deeper than us mere mortals. The regular GoPro has a housing that is rated to 197' and I think (don't quote me) that Steves aluminum housing is good for well over 300' :o. I see that GoPro now finally makes a factory "diver housing" for their cameras and they are trying to catch up to all the aftermarket lens manufacturer that saw the need early on. Looking forward to seeing the video of your dives.

[PJK]

Holy cow Detector Guy, I haven't been on the forum for a while.  I see I am a bit behind on reporting what is going on with the GLSPS.  I've been a bit busy and we are having an issue with the GLSPS personnel having the same problems with time.  I know you can't borrow, buy or steel time.  You can only manage the time life gives you and prioritize.

We were hoping to do some recruiting for the GLSPS this fall and into the winter to get more active members.  Do you know of anyone that would like to be more active in the Society?  Or anyone out there?

We do have some video of the Madeira and Hesper Monitoring Project.  We will be posting it on the GLSPS website as soon as the winter arrives and I will have the time to edit it.  We were able to pull it off as far as visibility goes to shoot some decent video footage and produce a few clear still camera shots.  The visibility stayed around 20 to 25 ft. from the middle of July on, which was surprising since the flooding took place one month before that. 

We had the Wilson Project scheduled for September 15 - 16.  The visibility was 3 ft or less!!  Finally, last Sunday,  we talked to the locals in Duluth and they claim the visibility has greatly improved and we now can dive the Wilson to complete the project for this year.  It is scheduled for Oct 13 -14.  Wish us luck that the visibility will remain in our favor or, possibly get better!

Thanks again for the visibility report.  Sorry I haven't been keeping you fine folks on MN Scuba informed on what the GLSPS is up to.

Phil K

[DetectorGuy]

Hi Phil,
I would like to have the opportunity to get in on some of the great things the GLSPS does, but with just coming off the County Dive Team this spring, I am enjoying the 'less structured diving' quite a bit. I started to get weary from the politics associated with the different entities controling the way we did business. On the same note, I don't want to shut any doors to future opportunities. Keep up the good work, and as always, I am looking foreward to see the updates to and from your organization.
John

[PJK]

John,

Thank you very much for the nice comments and the clarification.  You have always presented great discussions and viewpoints in your posts on the MNScuba.com site.  At least the ones I've read! 

The GLSPS does have a lot of fun during our projects.  We try to not allow politics to enter into the mix and get in our way.  The GLSPS projects are suppose to be fun and educational.  We all have a common goal of preserving maritime history and certainly don't have the time among the volunteers to get into the politics, even though it has come up from time to time.  When politics and egos start presenting their ugly heads, they typically get shut down pretty quick.  We just get-er-done! 

The GLSPS is probably not going to be in the same political realm as what you came out of last spring.  We are all pretty mild mannered folks.  We are like you, we are just out to have a great time with great friends and associates while preserving maritime history.  Then we present it on our website, Newsletters and our Annual Show.

The Wilson Monitoring Project is coming up the weekend of October 13 -14.  Which is the last project of the year.  Now that's a really great project, we have a lot of fun and are certainly learning a lot from it.  The detailed spread sheets are on the GLSPS website.  I will try to post more details on it next week before the project and the week after the project.

Phil Kerber