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From Darth Vern . . .
With the winter weather and snow here, things are not as hectic in the dive community. BUT we are definately still diving several times a week at different locations and always looking for brave new divers to join us. Here are some of the options available:
Krazy Klub: Usually dives every Thur morning and most holidays at either Wabank or BSC. Email Me, Cindy or Jim for more information.
Thursday Night Irregulars: As their implies they dive every Thur night at Willow Springs. They have fun, food and A BIG WOOD STOVE! Email Diver Dan for more information.
Weekends: Our Divers are always out on Sat and Sun and they are always looking for buddies!!! Contact Cindy at the shop for more info!!!
ALSO DONT' FORGET - Classes are a great way to stay involved, if it is just to cold for anyone to get out and dive. I just took Emergency First Response this weekend and it was a great class. There is also Dan 02, Marine Injuries, Equipment Specialist AND SeaSigns [which I hope to take this winter]. It is also a great time to get your equipment checked-out and repaired, Regs "annual-ed" and tanks "VIP-ed and Hydro-ed" [vip-yearly, hyro-every 5 years]!!!!!
We haven't had a report for 2 weeks, since I am pretty much lazy most of the time, so here is a bunch of very enjoyable reports, all at once.
From Diver Dan . . .
Nate Brommer (good dive planner), Scott Steinbacher (good dive planner), Chris Mayo (I'll just follow everyone and not pay attention to my gas dive planner), Jim Brown(made a different dive planner), Jims buddy Frank (whatever Jim says is fine with me dive planner), and I hit Wabank for a very cold Sat. morning [1/11]. There was a misunderstanding with dive planning; but polled individually; everyone diving admitted I was right; and Jim was in his own little scuba world.
Cold affects divers in different ways. The highlights were good viz. Good dive planning and gas management by Nate and Scott, and Jim's Hazelnut coffee. We did an hour run time in 40 degree water.
From Jim Brown . . .
The chill in the air presents it's unique challenges for winter diving so we get in the water to thaw out the equipment to dive. It works! Cindy Willman-Kinsey, Chris Mayo and I jumped in Thursday morning [1/16] for a cold swim. The air temp was around 18F with a killer wind. We could see the sub at 30' off the dock so we knew we were in for great vis. We passed by the sub to the swim-through at 65' then over the edge to the 100' level. A small correction to the SW brought us f2f with Miss Peaches, then on along the 100' ridge toward the Hound Dog. We ascended to 75' then 50' sooner than last Saturday's dive to locate the new swim through tube, 12'x22'. Sure enough, it was right at the south telephone pole at 35'. Its big and easy to cruise through. The water is 'amazingly' clear after having this large thing drop in and crash to the bottom. We turned the dive here and Cindy and Chris headed back along the shallow wall around 35' to the exit. I drifted off to the Hound Dog at 50', then back to Miss Peaches at 103', then up the ridge to the sub and hang bar. A nice dive with great vis, 103' for 52 minutes, 2 minutes deco. My Aeris computer registered 37F water temp. Cindy got 42F on her rig.
Today [1/19] Dan Myers, Don Bradley and I braved the chilly morning air to add more nitrogen under great quarry diving conditions. The wind was still as we geared up and entered so it felt warmer than the thermometer indicated at 21F. Darren opened the gate for us at 9:30 and Scott wasn't far behind. The three of us entered on what is becoming the 'normal route' past the sub, swim-through and over the ridge. We turned WNW at 100' though, steering clear of Miss Peaches. We followed the 100' ridge in the opposite direction and discovered the Peninsula. The 'working' photo of Wabank (formerly Miller's Quarry) on their website shows this feature pretty clearly. Just a few kick cycles across open water brought f2f with the west wall. An ascent to 70' allowed us to follow the line to the Spur of the Moment then back to the Loafer, WNW of our entry. The vis here was incredible! From 70' we could see the ripples on the surface and we could see Diver Dan at 105'!
This kind of vis makes even freezing cold-water diving awesome! We naved from the Loafer to the exit, although I missed it to the east. My compass is getting better in this new quarry. We logged 103' for 52 minutes, no deco. What a great dive!
Descending Again
From Huck . . .
The Wabank Flying Club
After a cold night Wild Bill and I planned to take our scooters for a run around Wabank. We arrived at 11am. Besides our ever gracious host, Frank Mc Sorley, we were the only people there. Bill and I had the lake to ourselves. Looking from the dock we could see down a good 30'. So we hurried to get into our gear in the comfort of the heated trailer and headed to the crisp waters. Frank said the water temps were "PFC"....pretty f #$%$&^ cold, but my gauge said it was only about 42 degrees.
The vis was incredible, the best I've ever seen at our backyard diving hole. It was a good 30' plus in most areas and opened up to beyond 50' in other areas.
Diving to me has always been like flying....until my wife got me a scooter for my birthday recently [From Smokey's]. Now it is flying!! Bill and I just buzzed around the walls staying in the 60' range. It was utterly fantastic. We came up under the fish pens which were easily visible from 40'. The bass and catfish were getting good sized. Then we were off flying around to the other end of lake until we came upon the tug. I stopped and was amazed at the fact that I could see the entire boat and surrounding landscape. I looked up and could see the surface clear as a bell. Now that's diving! After 30 minutes of gliding through the "PFC" waters it was time to go get warm. What a blast I had. Scooters rule!
From Jess Zellers . . .
AIR SPACE AWARENESS
Ususally the dive reports don't have titles, but this week's adventure deserves one. Recently I put a dryhood on my suit to keep my ears dry. A month ago this seemed to be a fairly simple straight forward concept... noticed how that's phrased in the past tense? The night started when Tom came into the lobster shack and I had a bag over my head and then.... and then a bunch of other stuff happened and we got in the water. Tom's bravely jumping back into cold PA quarries for the first time since his taste of warmer waters. Tom, if you don't want to dive, don't bring gear! ...or at least don't give in so easily. We ran out to the airplane, planned to swing over to the minnow instead I decided to wrestle. With the dryhood, that orginal fairly straight forward concept didn't include the task of grabing a latex seal on your face with 7mm mits when you can't really fell your face or fingers. That's how you vent gas, but I couldn't grab a high point on the seal. So when coming up I had to wrap my arm in the line and make that the high point. At one point of doing this the seal didn't go back to excaltly where it was and got some water leaking in giving me a wet chin and a small pond around the neck seal.
And I had Dennie's voice from last year ringing in my head : "Dry is a relative term" Yes it is!! chin- wet, ears -dry, ENT- happy!! We were honored this week with an appearance by Huck. Who thought Tom would look better as a disco ball, and made the nessecary modifations...don't ask.
Diving thursday at Myerstown. Food, diving, dinner. Huge wood stove, you'll be thawed by dessert!!
Now Tom Pritchard's Version . . .
Despite moderating temperatures during the day, Willow was cold, wet, and bleary on Thursday, which means it hasn't changed much since November. The mix of people has changed a bit though. Jess is back in the water, which is good and interesting. When I walked into the lobster shack Jess had her new rubber hood on and Terry was either trying to figure out where or whether to cut a face hole in it. Dave Hoshauser was there but he's not himself. During dinner Dave got up and walked over to the wood pile to fart; we were overcome by the odor and his consideration for us. Jess and I swam over to the airplane where there were a lot of small perch shivering, then over to the Minnow which was fishless and finally out of the water. Jess spent most of her time tangled in the ropes squeezing air out of her hood. I tried to help once and was sorely tempted to give her nuggies. Terry and his anonymous buddy (sorry) saw some humongous fish, but they didn't bring it up for everyone to see so we didn't believe them. Jay proved that O-rings don't work when they're not installed properly. 44 minutes and 45 degrees. It's gotten to the point where the few toes I have left can't muster a rousing rendition of "These Little Piggies Went to the Market." And a good time was had by all.
More From Jim Brown . . .
[1/20] Great day to dive! The air temp was in the teens and we had a very cool snow squall as we geared up and entered the water. Bean got a digital shot of us clowns on the bank of Wabank that I'll post as soon as I get it. Dan Myers shot some cool video too. Stay tuned...
Scott (The Rock, I'm Feeling Pretty Comfortable Today) Steinbaecher, Chris (I'm Ready To Order My Shell Suit) Mayo, Dan (What and Who Can I Gripe About Today) Myers, Vern (Patty, It's Just One Dive But I'm Taking the Month Off) Heagy and yours truly set sail for the depths of Wabank once again. Frank McSorley opened the gates at 8am making available some of the best local vis going. The heated trailer for changing and post-dive thawing is a serious bonus!
Darth, Chris and I put on a synchronized PADI descent for Dan's surface video moment. Geez, how many steps are there to a PADI descent, Dan? All I can say is I'm glad I finally got my finz on after all that thrashing about in the water (I'll do almost anything to irritate Dan!). Darth reported that Chris's and my freefall descent past the sub to the tube was a pretty cool site from above. I'll have to check it out next time. We cruised through the tube and off the ridge to our favorite 100' level. No site of Miss Peaches as we turned west to follow the ridge to the Peninsula. Memories of The Abyss flashed through our narced minds as we dipped as low as 108' over the edge to peer f2f at the jagged lip of the ridge - what a cool site! As we neared the Peninsula we spotted two vortex impressions in the bottom. Pretty neat. As we turned the dive about 100 degrees to go around the Peninsula Chris found another vortex that appeared to go through the ridge. We'll have a closer look next time. The west wall came into view after passing a sloping wash from 100' back towards the Hole.
We ascended the wall to 70' to spy the guideline between the Loafer and Spur and turned east to the Loafer. The fish cages at 12' were clearly visible from our 70' position - awesome vis! A quick check on air sent us past the Outhouse, taking a wee bit of a shorty cut (it's OK Chris, just follow us!) to the Wabank Tug at 57'. We had a choice of the 30' or 63' training platform from here and opted for the 30' to begin our safety return and exit. Darth emphasized the cold-weather turtle turtle with a prop on the line as he and Chris headed for the exit. I dropped down to 50' and followed the wall back to the tube and sub and ascended to find the guys finishing their SS. Since I had time to kill at 20' I cruised the wall heading south into the diamond reef buoyancy system to get a look at the new wheelhouse feature just offshore at 17'. It sits upright on the bottom and is open for tours. Frank and Stoney pushed this little gem over the bank last week and there she sits. It will end up over the edge and farther down in the near future.
Dan and Scott entered the water after us and toured Miss Peaches, the ridge and the Hound Dog. Scott did a great job on air had a good dive (Dan made sure he returned with 500-600psi!). Sometimes I think the heated trailer may be a bad thing as it extends the post-dive BSing. ...oh the $hit that flies! You just don't know what you're missing!
Descending Again
From Darth Vern AGAIN . . .
I know I never shut up. BUT I am constantly adding to this site. And always looking for imput and help. I am building the members section [a find a buddy type thing] and photo albums, look for Tom Pritchard's Australian Album and Paul Good's Bermuda Album. Me and Uptown Jim Brown are diving Key Largo in March so we will have one from there as well. I am looking for help with the "Lighter Side" and Diver Dan is helping with the Dive Sites section. The Dive Sites will be a Smokeys exclusive. Info on destinations and wrecks from Smokeys divers for Smokeys divers. More to come - SMOKEY'S RULEZ!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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