u/diverareyouokay

I’ve been abroad for the last 3 months, and before I left, I disconnected the negative terminal on my 2018 Tacoma TRD Sport. Since I got back, I’ve been getting this error message, along with one that says that it can’t read the map SD card.

I updated to the latest firmware last year, and went to the Toyota website just now to confirm that there isn’t a newer version available. Just in case, I put the latest firmware for my VIN number on a flash card and tried to update, but the option is greyed out.

It’s not a huge deal since I use a Hamilton Motors CarPlay module, but it’s still annoying - especially since it didn’t happen before I left and now pops up when I turn the truck on. The timing makes me wonder if it’s related to my vehicle being stored for three months, but considering the truck was disconnected the entire time and never turned on, I don’t see how that could be possible.

Does anyone happen to know what might be causing the issue, and how I could fix it?

I did reach out to Hamilton motors and they said:

>*This error message on the original Toyota system can appear either when the vehicle battery voltage is low on a start up, the unit can get stuck in this state until the battery is disconnected for at least ten minutes. The other possible reason is that Toyota has ended support for updates on this radio hardware and the system cannot run the new software, Toyota would need to advise on how to clear the error in that case.*

However, when I checked voltage using the OBD-II wireless adapter, it appears to be fine. Likewise, disconnecting the negative battery terminal for 10+ minutes again didn’t seem to have any positive impact.

Well, I ended up with almost 25 more pounds of broken pottery after a recent trip to Verde Island. Sunscreen stick for scale. Some of you may remember last year’s post, where I got 25+ lbs of the stuff from a local fisherman:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChinesePorcelain/comments/1jwlprj/went_back_to_verde_island_today_and_came_home/

Or

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChinesePorcelain/comments/1jqdhye/believed_early_1600s_ming_dynasty_porcelain_mixed/

I dropped by the same fisherman’s hut this year and he had another bag collected from the beach. Last year he asked 1k pesos (around $16) but I guess this year he knew I wanted it, so he jacked the price up… to 2k pesos. Still a bargain, even if I have no idea what I’m going to do with what by now is probably 70 lbs of the stuff. Yet again I’m going to need a second piece of luggage to bring all of this back home.

Last year (and in years past) I reached out to the Philippines National Museum in Manila, but they indicated they had no interest in it. Presumably because they excavated the shipwreck a few decades ago and have plenty (including whole pieces, the ship’s keel, etc). I think I’m going to contact some of the museums around my home town and see if they have any interest instead. Lord knows I have enough to make a few displays.

Bert briefly backstory on the wreck (that I’ve pieced together). On August 9, 1621 the Spanish Galleon Nuestra Señora de la Vida (“Our Lady of Life”) captained by Captain General Fernando Centeno Maldonaldo was shipwrecked off the coast of Verde Island, only a few days out of Manila. Not due to bad weather, but because of pilot error. Apparently it was a calm day and he just hit a coral reef. The passengers lost all of their belongings and hung the pilot by the neck until dead on the beach. The ship was carrying gold and silk with several dozens of tons of consumer-grade porcelain as ballast. It’s washed up on the shore ever since, even to this day. Although whole pieces are very rare - usually they only wash up after large storms (and even then, not often).

Just hit my first one and struck out hard. It’s a lot more chaotic than I envisioned, but I have a full list of places to check out over the next 24 hours.

I’m on the very tail end of my yearly 3-month scuba diving trip in the Philippines (flying out tomorrow night) and figured I’d give something new a shot. I have plenty at home but a few knives to restore with a story seemed worth doing.

Some of you may have seen my periodic photo dumps from the Philippines each year (I’m actually about 3/4 through this year’s trip right now and about to post new pics). [edit - pics here](https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/4lEZJDuKhp). While my primary focus is usually on the critters, I’ve developed a side hobby of testing out "budget" dive lights. For a long time, I just used them and moved on, but I figured it was time to actually document the results so the community can benefit from my trial and error.

My inaugural review a few weeks ago covered the Sofirn SD05. In the comments, u/Ok_Way_2911 [referenced](https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/vAB3MTexXL) a very unusual-looking Wurkkos light - [the DL05, which had released that same day](https://wurkkos.com/products/dl05-dual-head-dive-light-spot-flood?VariantsId=12426).

Some of you might be familiar with my periodic photo dumps from the Philippines over the years (I’m actually about halfway through this year’s trip right now), but I’ve also developed a bit of a side hobby of trying out relatively inexpensive "budget" dive lights. Until recently, I never actually did anything with the testing and just used them until I found something better, but I’ve decided to start writing actual reviews and posting them here so others might get something out of my trial and error.

My inaugural review a few weeks ago was for the Sofirn SD05, and in the comments, u/Ok_Way_2911 [drew my attention](https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/vAB3MTexXL) to an unusual-looking [Wurkkos light called the DL05 that had released that same day](https://wurkkos.com/products/dl05-dual-head-dive-light-spot-flood?VariantsId=12426). I had never even considered the idea of a dive light with two separate heads, but I figured I’d give it a shot, especially since it claims 6,000 lumens on turbo mode and the price point was reasonable enough at ~$58US (there was a popup when I went to the product page with “New10” promo code that brought the price down an extra 10%).

I picked one up immediately after he mentioned it, although I was a little apprehensive about shipping since I’m in an area where house numbers and street names aren’t a thing… but their shipping game is pretty on point. It arrived at the dive shop here in Puerto Galera about a week and a half later (surprisingly fast), which is noteworthy in and of itself. Regarding the light though, it uses a dual reflector system where one head is a ~3,000-lumen 81° floodlight and the other is a ~3,000-lumen 13° spotlight.

The build quality feels really robust, and the battery is an absolute monster. It’s a 7,500mAh cell that is so chonky it wouldn't even fit in my oversized 21700 cell charger. Although they added a built-in USB-C port to the battery, which things a lot easier - I can plug it into the camera rook power and let it sit until it’s full. From what I can tell, it takes about three hours to charge from empty to full using a standard USB port on a power strip, though I suspect a dedicated 20W charger might be a bit snappier if you're in a hurry between dives. I’ve been getting a few days (2-3 dives a day) per charge, but that’s intermittent usage, not “on the whole dive”.

When it comes to actually using it underwater, I mainly use my torch to hunt for nudibranchs and other small macro subjects to photograph. Until now, I’ve just used spots - so trying a dedicated flood was a very pleasant surprise. The flood head seems perfect for this kind of work, though the lowest power setting is almost too low-key unless you are literally inches away from the side of a shipwreck or a reef wall. When I’m a bit further back, the medium or high settings are my bread and butter for illuminating a solid section of the wall to see what's crawling around. If I need to peer into deep nooks, crannies, or crevices to find a hidden shrimp or a pipefish, the 13° spot is my go-to and has performed well. For those times when I just want to blast out as much light as possible for whatever reason, the turbo mode activates both heads at once by double-tapping the button.

I have no way of testing the 6,000 lumen claim, but it’s ridiculously bright - it seems like you’re at 5 meters on a sunny day even when you’re actually down at 40. I will note that there is a noticeable hotspot in the center on turbo where the spot beam overlaps the flood, but overall it seems perfect for doing a quick scan of a distant(ish) area for things like frogfish, or checking overhead environments, or just lighting up the dive area like it’s the middle of the day.

I’m also starting to get more into videography now that I (very belatedly) learned my Olympus TG-6 can handle super macro video recording. I honestly don't know how I overlooked that function until last week, but I’m already thinking of ways to incorporate this light into that workflow. The torch has a female threaded slot on the side of the housing, so it’s clearly designed to be mounted onto an arm, and I think that 81° flood is going to work really well for macro video work where you need soft and even lighting (which the flood head provides).

Overall, I’m definitely hanging onto the DL05 for the foreseeable future. I have a habit of giving away the lights that don’t quite make the cut to people I meet at the shop who don't have their own gear, but this one is staying in my box. It feels intuitive to switch between the heads once you get the hang of the flick switch (it’s not a rotating magnetic band like some of their other torches), and having that extra power on demand has come in pretty clutch over the last few weeks of diving with it. If it’s anything like the Wurkkos DL10R (which has been my primary rec workhorse for a few years and hundreds of dives now), it should hold its own for a long time.

TL/DR: It looks funny with the double head, but it’s surprisingly useful (and bright) for the price. Two thumbs (and heads) up.

Edit: Also, the tail cap unscrews and you can plug a USB-C charger directly into the torch body to recharge the battery.

Edit 2: not sure what’s up with links showing the URL.. did Reddit change how hyperlinks work or something?

The top piece has brown paint instead of the normal blue like actually everything else in the ~24 lbs of pottery. Does anyone happen to know if it might be from a different period? Or is it just a different style or area?

Also, any ideas on the significance of the characters on the center shards?

Some of you might remember my posts from last year, where I shared a ridiculous amount of broken Ming Dynasty porcelain that I found on Verde Island here in the Philippines. Yesterday I went back and came home with around 10kg of broken porcelain. I haven’t had a chance to sort through them yet, but I did notice this piece, which appears to be from the Chenghua period (late 1400s). Either that or it was an apocryphal mark from the late Ming dynasty, which is possible since the shipwreck it came from (a Spanish galleon named Nuestra Señora de la Vida - “Our Lady of Life”) occurred on August 9, 1621.

If anybody can give me more information on this shard, I’d love to hear it. If you couldn’t tell from my earlier posts, finding these suckers on the beach has turned from a hobby into a pseudo-addiction. I don’t think that they are valuable in a monetary sense, but historically speaking, they fascinate me.

I’ll share some pictures of anything else interesting or noteworthy later, once I have a chance to look at each piece more closely. Although at least one is really interesting to me, because it still has the shiny glaze. It’s only a fragment (as are most of what I find) but it really looks like it could have been taken out of the kiln yesterday. The cobalt blue is very bright and the glaze very shiny… so I guess there must be a few boxes at the wreck site that are still getting cracked open (or at least, distributed… since the wood has presumably rotted away long ago).

Old posts from last year:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChinesePorcelain/comments/1jwlprj/went_back_to_verde_island_today_and_came_home/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChinesePorcelain/comments/1jqdhye/believed_early_1600s_ming_dynasty_porcelain_mixed/

I’ve been spending three months a year in the Philippines scuba diving for the last decade, and recently bought a kettle style grill (it’s very cheap, stamped aluminum, so I’ve been doing a two zone setup).

My neighbor wanted to make some steaks and I found a place that has Brazilian beef tenderloin, so I picked up a 1.2kg/2.6lb loin. Except it’s an odd shape. It has a thick head and a skinny tail…. I guess I could still cut it into 1.5” or 2” segments and grill those?

Anyway, any advice on how to cook? This would be appreciated. I believe we are using coconut charcoal that I usually light with my chimney starter..

I’ve got 4-5 pairs of fins in my closet, mostly stuff similar to Cressi Frogs, but for the last ~decade, I’ve basically lived in a pair of Apollo Bio-Fin Pros. Yeah, they’re splits, but they were comfortable and I’d eventually dialed them in enough to get the precision I needed for super macro work. I could even manage a “good enough” backkick in them if I tried.

A buddy mentioned the local shop owner had a pair of RK3s in the wrong size that he was looking to move for cheap. I missed out by a day (he sold them to one of the guides), but he pointed me toward the Tecline Lightjets (a Polish brand) at the local supply store instead. Since I get a 30% pro discount there, I figured it was worth a look.

They’re actually phasing them out, so they only had Small and XL left in white and light blue (which I actually like). I’m a size 13 US tennis shoe and 12 bootie, and since (according to Reddit discussions) the Tecline foot pockets run a bit smaller than the Apeks, I figured the XL was worth a shot. They were on clearance for half off (right around $120 USD) so I bit. I figure even if I didn’t like them, I could probably sell them when I got back to the States and recoup my money. Although from what I can tell, it doesn’t look like they have much presence in the US.

I didn't have my high-tops with me, and the fit was a little sloppy in 3mm shorties. The spring strap catch was riding a little high, so I grabbed a pair of 5mm Mares Classic NGs (another $52 USD). With those on, the fit was much better.

I took them out for three dives yesterday and the difference is night and day. It took a minute to adjust my technique, but once I did, it was intuitive. The best analogy I can give is that it feels like the training wheels finally came off my bike. They are significantly more responsive and nimble - my frog kick (which is my primary) is providing way more displacement per stroke than before.

I’ve also noticed I’m ending dives with more gas than usual. It could be a placebo effect, or just the fact that the water is warming up and the current has been mild, but the numbers are consistent. I did an hour today with the first 20ish minutes at 30m. Usually, I’d surface from that sort of dive profile with maybe 80 bar, but instead I had 100. It feels like the increased propulsion efficiency may be lowering my CO2 production and SAC rate (usually 0.8, though yesterday it was 0.6 for a short time, which is also unusual for me unless I’m just totally still), especially when I'm just kicking and gliding or holding position against a light current for a shot.

Overall, I'm really happy with the switch. I think I just got a little too comfortable with the old gear and didn't realize how much effort I was wasting. So, it looks like I’m keeping these and making them my new primaries.

TL/DR: I like jet fins and should have switched sooner

Edit: it looks like these are exact clones of the deep6 Eddys, which is.. interesting.

For the last decade I’ve been spending 3 months a year in SE Asia scuba diving, usually in the Philippines. I have a local apartment here, and absolutely love the diving, people, and prices. However, the food leaves a lot to be desired.

Maybe seven or eight years ago, somebody opened a Cajun/Filipino fusion restaurant in my tiny little town, which had me really excited, but it ended up not being popular and closed a few months later. Sad. Since then, I’ve started bringing a half dozen of both jambalaya and gumbo kits (and sometimes other stuff, like étouffée, red beans and rice, etc), along with other essentials like “slap ya mama”, community coffee (which is a huge hit with my French friends), etc.

Andouille sausage is virtually nonexistent here (and if you can find it, it’s incredibly overpriced). So, I make do with cervelat sausage and rotisserie chicken, plus veggies (bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic).