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From Bryan Palmer . . .
Well I know this is a little late but that is better then nothing!!!
I have been busy down here getting moved in and settled and trying to get to know the area. Anyone that doesn’t know I work at Brownie’s Southport Divers/ Brownie’s West Palm beach which is just opening you can check out the website. I know it doesn’t compare to Vern’s Website, which has made me appreciate how much more Smokey’s is for the diver’s!!!
Anyways I dove Christmas day and the day after and had 3 excellent dives. I was able to get a shovelnose lobster on Christmas day and 2 spinney lobsters the day after. The conditions have been good but the last week has been very windy with 20 + knot winds from the east so no dive boats have been going out and the beaches have been closed to swimmers due the rip tide. Anyways I have enclosed a few pictures of the lobsters and some of the boats that I have worked with hope everyone enjoys. Talk to you soon Bryan
From Tom Pritchard . . .
12-30-04
This Could Have Been Prevented If I Had Roberts Rules of Order.
The dinner discussion on any random Thursday is weird, but last night set records. Maybe it was Kulp's Kielbasa and sauerkraut that sent our nonexistent standards for suitable discussion into a virtual free fall. I missed 3rd Stage Dave's view of the world, which I understand was a classic. I did get back in time to hear Terry Martzall say, "I never did a blow up doll, but I did a duck once." The explanation arrived just as my mental image of Terry and this poor duck was getting interesting. The comment was in reference to John Chatterton's story about shooting a blow up doll to the surface to signal the captain that the hook was set. I suppose the blow up doll was busy in the saloon, so Terry used a duck instead. Terry's charitable side was shown by his story about walking into an adult bookstore/sex shop arm-in-arm with a blind guy. A true humanitarian! And I what could I possible add to Terry's punch line of the night: "I paid for my d*#* and left." Things are getting out of hand, so the TNIs are going to have to make rules. The first should be Heck's Rule, simply stated: No word with more than seven letters should be used unless at least half of the TNI's know what it means. Our dive was just as whacky. GMan and I set off on a loose compass heading to the Quest when the viz suddenly dropped from 15 ft to 5 ft. It seems that 3 divers spent 45 minutes lost in The Bowl and roto-tilled the area into oblivion. You wouldn't think that 3 divers could wreak that much havoc! Or that 3 divers could spend that much time lost in The Bowl! As we neared the Quest, the viz cleared and we spotted 2 dive lights above us. Thinking they were on the Quest, we turned left (missing the boat), swam under the line they were on, and wandered around a bit until we spotted one of the boats. We made it to the Quest and, since we're expecting company this weekend, cleaned Dan's plaque. Then to the mixer, the pipe, and back along the tracks, cancelling our plans to wander into the dead zone between the swim area and Dave's truck. On the way past the port side of the Quest, we decided to use dead reckoning to find the Minnow. Bad move. We entered a science fiction-like worm hole that dumped us back on the tracks by the pipe. My $2.98 el cheapo light rescued GMan after his dive light pooped out. (It appears that his back up light was back up in his truck). We got out in time to get some food add to the bedlam of the TNI dinner. Life is good. Saturday isn't New Year's Day; It's TNI Boxer Day. 45 degrees; viz 5-15 ft.; 68 minutes last night.
1-1-05
The Chilli Dive
Every diver in the free world converged on Willow on New Year's day to eat food, see old friends, and bring in the new year with a splash. Boxer Day was a success, with Huck's "Kiss My Bass" shorts the clear winner. Honorable mention went to Cindy Wilman-Kinsey and Sharon Slieker-Jones, who wore mesh thongs over their dry suits - and who knows what underneath. (It must be the hyphens that makes these women wild.) Now for The Caper! During our far flung discussion about adult book stores and sex shops the previous Thursday, we hatched a plan to shoot a bag to the surface within sight of the Polar Bear Plunge scheduled for noon. The plan wasn't to shoot any old lift bag, but rather an X-rated blow-up doll. None of us would part with our private stash, so Gerhard obtained new contraband on Friday from the local sex emporium. GMan was generous enough to test its buoyancy characteristics in his hot tub. What-a-guy! We christened her PADI Patty. Patty didn't live up to the picture on the box. She had a almond-shaped face that made her look like one of the aliens from Roswell, but with the requite holes she could have been a suitable date for three blind men. On our first dive we did reconnaissance so that we would end up near but not in the swim area on the second dive when the dirty deed would be done. From what I could tell, most of the divers Saturday used their bathtub buoyancy skills in the quarry, in other words, they wallowed on the bottom. It was one big siltout along the ropes! GMan, PADI Patty and I grabbed some vittles during our 30 minute surface interval and then headed out again. We were late leaving, so we compassed across the bowl to the fire truck and then over to Dave Bally's truck. Although a bit further from the swimming area than planned, we decided to use the hood as a staging area so that we wouldn't shoot a diver to the surface by mistake. Once partially inflated, Patty became an animal. We wrestled her to the hood of the truck and tied her to the steering wheel. (As most guys know, blow-up dolls like being tied up). At the appointed time, we inflated her about half way and sent her up. The Polar Bears liked it - and most importantly, the EMS didn't try to rescue Patty. After a few minutes we went up, pulled Patty under, plundered her air on the hood of the truck, and headed back. We did her again at the fire truck, this time getting enough air out to put her back in the goody bag, and returned - mission accomplished. Patty enjoyed the post dive atmosphere and posed with all of her new dive friends, including Cindy, who contributed her mesh underwear to Patty's new wardrobe. Now that PADI Patty has done the Polar Bear Plunge, she wants to get her OW certification, so don't be surprised if she shows up in one of John Gross's Open Water classes this Spring.
From Darth Vern . . .
Last Wed the 29th, a few of us got to cash in some favors and were given permission to dive Wabank in the am. A fantastic day to dive, not cold enuff to freeze while donning a drysuit outside. We had no bubblewatcher so we had to dive in shifts. Mayo dove with JameZ and Kulp, while me and Huck stood and tossed rocks into the water at the divers. The plans were an hour per dive. And for the most part we all stuck to it. HUck and I decided to venture deep and see what the conditions were. Vis on the way down was pretty good. 15ft to about 50 feet then it opened up to as far as our lights shined. As Ms. Peaches at 100 it was black, we saw about 8-10 feet in the dark. After some goofing around we headed over the ledge and down into the hole to 135 ft. Down there is was darker if that is possible? I swear we could only see 3 to 4 feet. It seemed clear just had the characteristics of a black hole. We did a track along the wall for about 10 minutes before we lost each other. I drifted back up to the 100 ft. ledge and along to the Hound Dog. Back the rope system to try and not trash the bouyancy system. Did pretty good, only caught on one, not bad for doubles and a sling bottle.Back out of the water at 57 minutes. In water temp was 41 the whole way down - or FREAKIN COLD!!!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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