Thermocline @ 16ft Rented Mares Dragon BCD's and Mares Metal Ltd Edition Regs w/ Proton Octo and breathability was noticeably better than Scuba pro from the certification and it did not freeflow. Very easy to descend with all the weight + Alu tank combo. ISSUES: 1) Christiane lost one integrated weight pocket. 2) Some difficulty with buoyancy at 20ft. 3) Overheated at the beach while in prep and too hot later. 4) Flag line constantly tangled in something or someone.

GOAL: Recover the lost weight pocket - Fail. Not found. TEST: Dive without hood or gloves because of previous excess heat - Fail (lasted 2 min in thermocline b4 aborting dive. WAY too cold + headache) ISSUES: Lost control of buoyancy and popped up despite attempts at emptying air and kicking downwards. Felt very tired and dizzy after dive. Flag cord tangled only when surfacing. Very dark at bottom (almost like night diving) and coming down the rockface into darkness reminded me of the Abyss. Dove with flag and spool - we were constantly tangled! Some difficulties with buoyancy at 20 ft. Christiane lost an integrated weight pocket and did not notice until after. Overheated at beach entrance (25°C Air temp + sun) Spit in mask and no fog.

Nice sunny day. Got prepped in the shade so no overheating. Long surface swim b4 descent (~200m). Headed near the east bank to begin descent (Heading east by south east). Saw a beautiful network of rock formations (~35ft). Got to 54' gradually along base. Buoyancy control is much better. ISSUES: 1) Dropped spool at the beginning of dive. It had slipped through the BCD strap 2) Passed to close to lake base and lifted up all the silt. Viz was screwed. TEST: 1) Weight - Descended easily with 24 lbs 2) Tested silt thickness - Stuck arm in until mid bicept and still did not hit base... wow! *note - temperatures by feel

Return to the beach. Christiane guided us back w/ the compass and she was right on. I had forgotten to reset my compass at the surface. Had 30ft max Olympus Stylus camera so we tied it to the flag rope @ 20ft. Photos very dark and low detail. Ascended due to air at 500 psi. ISSUES: 1) Rough Ascent - We began to ascend and since it was quite dark, we lost clear view of the bottom. Looked at our depth gauge and noticed we were ascending too quickly. Overcompensated by emptying BCD's too much and ended up at the bottom again w/ Christiane who was using me as a visual reference point. The 2nd ascent went much more smoothly since we held on to one another and relied on our gauges. 2) Minor buoyancy issues - knees in silt Surfaced 100m from the beach (SUCESS!) and did not get tangled in the flag line for the 1st time.

GEAR CHANGE: 1st dive w/ new REGS and BCD's - Rear wing very stable and comfortable. Dove the SW side of the lake. Headed parallel to the shore and dropped quickly to 50ft. Thermocline @ 27ft. Used buddy line for 3 people + flag since planes were on the lake. ISSUES: Christiane was in the center of the 3-man line and the rope got stuck in her REG a few times. While focussing on getting untangled, she ascended too quickly w/o noticing. Pascal and I followed w/o really noticing. TEST: Bought a 2$ Alu led flashlight at Maddison and stuck it in a Ziplock. Although everything flooded (electrical circuitry and batteries included), the light still worked.

Dove NE side of the lake (large side). Did a 15min surface swim to get there. Pascal was flying while I had trouble keeping up and overheated. We dropped to 40ft. Continued across the lake where we went to 50 ft and eventually lost the visual of the bottom. After resurfacing, noticed we had headed in the wrong direction and surface swam it. Got across the little island and Pascal started looking for a mask he had dropped a year back or so. HE ACTUALLY FOUND IT! :) ISSUES: 1) Screwed up the decent somehow and all 3 of us ended up back at the surface (miscommunication with the thumbs-up signal) 2) While Pascal was holding the flag and buddy line, he and I got tangled a few times with the rope (15 min to untangle one of the times on surface) 3) NAV was off so we swam across on the surface. 4) Tried for another dive but lesser air made it too difficult to descend once again. Christiane pulled me down to 15' and I then changed my mind since I was dizzy from water in 1 ear and spinning around underwater to untangle. 5) Surface swim back was a painful 45 min of nearly cramping and overheating. Pascal even overheated a little. 6) A plane started landing and then saw our flag and rerouted. I was glad to have the flag!

Dove SW of NE lake. Drove into the NE boat loading entrance of lake. Deep silt @ entrance. Pascal's octo had a slow leak so we decided to dive the SW ridge. Not too much to see at the center of the lake (50 ft deep)although the side was nice. Largest fish was ~ 4" long. Buoyancy control improved, having to navigate around rocks. ISSUES: 1) We kept too close to the bottom. Christiane was leading and Viz dropped to 5'. 2) It felt like we were going in circles but we headed generally in the right direction. 3) Difficulty w/ communication w/ 3 people. 4) Pascal's air leak was insignificant in the end. TEST: Tried Christiane's Proton Ice. Breaths nice but the hose flex is a problem (not a flex hose).

Decided to swim on the rocky face of the SW part of the smaller bay, heading S. Was nice for 5 min but we decided, due to miscommunication, to follow our pre-set bearing and not as interesting in the end. AVG Dive depth = 30ft Surfaced for Christiane's low are (450 psi) ISSUES: 1) As we began to ascend Pascal had a difficulty w/ his mask so we paused the ascent. It was too foggy. 2) At this time, not knowing why he stopped, I gave him the ear signal, asking is it your ears? Pascal understood: my ears are hurting (statement vs question)so waited after one another like idiots for no reason. We finally gave each other the thumbs up and did our safety stop. Surface swim back was short and sweet. Did not overheat for once.