Smokeys Divers Den - Dive Reports

Well, I'm going to pull rank and put my dive report again. I was out diving twice in the past couple of weeks and it felt good. The Saturday before Christmas, the kids and I headed over to the Lancaster YMCA to act as "Scuba Santas." We had a ball swimming around in goofy hats and handing out oranges to the kids.

New Year's morning found me braving the rain to pick up the truck and head to Willow Springs. Mark Stitzer of Scuba Venture and I had planned to hang tarps between our two vans to create a dry area, but luckily the rain had stopped by the time I got there. It was lucky, because Mark's van broke down and was stranded at gate. I had told people I would be there by 9am - and for once I rolled in the driveway at 8:58. John Gross greeted me enthusiastically, as by arriving on time, I won a bet with Terry Grogan for him!!

It took a while to get all the food spread out, but about 10am, John, Bill Siwiec, James Zimmerman and myself headed in for our dive. Turn out was a little light due to the weather, but there was a nice sized core group there, and most of the Thursday night crowd. John and I headed Into the water and out to the panel van where I was able to show off my limited knowledge of Willow by short cutting from the van over to the main line before heading off to the Quest. We passed over "Bubba" and on around the quest - over to the fire engine, pick up truck, over the VW, past the Minnow, through the step van and back to the lobster dock. Max depth 38 ft, run time 45 minutes, temp 46 degrees.

Once back at the dock, we broke out "Billy Balls" which are Bill's meatballs with a champagne sauce, chili made by my beautiful wife (any woman who will get up on New Year's day, in the rain, and drag two kids and a pot of chili to a muddy quarry is beautiful) lunch meats, rolls, and bean sup, and hot dogs and kraut provided by Scuba Venture. And for all you weenies who say it was too cold to go in wet, Keith Zelinski did 35 minutes in a 7mm suit!!

Christmas Tree Dive
Sunday was a gorgeous day for diving with your friends: Mild, clear, and crisp, at least above the water. Gerhard, with help from Bill Hockley, Joe Dormer, Big Mark, and me, sunk Smokey's Christmas Tree on the 15 ft platform near the steep entry. Greg Kulp's contribution to the Christmas Tree Dive was, once again, the star of the show. Last year Greg had a set of electric trains running around the base of the underwater tree. The year before, Greg dressed the tree with lights. This year, he played Christmas carols through an underwater speaker suspended above the platform. The tunes were generated by tube-based equipment older than Santa Claus himself, powered by a gas generator Greg brought. It was quite an operation that ran smoothly, in large part because Greg did several preliminary dives over the last few weeks to work out the bugs. JZ, John Kat, and Roger Heins brought their rebreathers along – and were heard complaining about the noisy open circuit divers were making it hard to hear the music. Divers with good ears could hear the music as far away as the rim of The Hole. Within 5 minutes of my issuing the challenge for next year - a roaring fire on the platform- Kulp and JZ suggested three ways it could be done. Stay tuned. Begin the new year right at The Chili Dive at Willow. Leave your rubber duckies home and bask in the glow of the TNIs.

8. Patty has a contagious disease so the doctor has her sequestered in a Motel 6 for the next 2 weeks.

5. Patty considers herself a born-again blow-up doll and has accepted Vern as her savior.

2. Patty is hanging out with new friends who don't know about her past life as a blow-up doll.

After being chained to a cold water pipe in Doc Tom's basement for the last year, she is just too tired to dive!

I arrived at the quarry after dark to find the parking lot full, light on in the diver's shack and a nice fire going. Half of the TNI-OG division did not dive so it was just me and Joe HO. We planned a run to the Quest after leaving the platform. Along the way Joe and I stopped to circle a boat just looking at things taking it nice and slow, we started to move on to the VIP boat but another diver came out of the gloom and passed right over us, Joe picked the wrong diver to follow. I real soon found Joe missing from behind me so I did a quick 180 and followed the lines back to the platform. Sure enough, Joe was coming back down the wall looking for me after he figured out what happened. We regrouped and headed to the Quest giving Diver Dan's memorial plaque a nice dusting off we went to the fire truck and then to the pick up truck. With 2,000 PSI remaining in my cylinder we decided to hit the caboose and take a train ride. Back to the fire truck and along the wall to the Minnow. We passed a bunch of divers along the way, a lot of traffic tonight. The fish were out in full force and very slow moving. After a visit to the school bus to enjoy the A/C and play with the fan we headed to the platform and up the wall spending some off gassing time watching the fish play. Run time was 1 hour 6 mins. with a 42 degree reading on my computer. Viz was a bit above average depending where you went. We dumped our gear and hit the Christmas feast in the shack. Wow! What a spread plus a very special "Diver Down" TNI Christmas cake. Santa Martzall was giving out presents even if you have not been good this year. The TNI's had a great pre-Christmas dinner, they were out living the adventure. Where were you tonight? Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Mike and Terry Grogan didn’t make it to the New Year Day dive – they “chickened out” because of the heavy rain in the morning. However, this Saturday the weather was so nice, they couldn’t resist a “quick dip” at Bainbridge. The last time they dove Bainbridge in late November, the “dive gods” were against Mike – first the battery died on his computer, then the battery died on the spare computer, then he brought the wrong tank (no air). Thanks to John Gross, he borrowed a tank and regulator and continued to set up. He quickly donned his newly repaired dry suit only to find that the cuff rings weren’t installed. Thirty minutes and a few choice words later, Mike and Terry were finally ready to get in the water – everyone else having already gone in. Twenty minutes into the dive, Mike realized he was very cold – because he was soaking wet. So, out they came. Mike was soaked all over the front of his chest and his left arm. An interesting day, to say the least.

The first dive of 2007 proved to be much more enjoyable. Mike discovered his leak (a loose dry suit inflator mechanism on his chest) and sealed that up. While we didn’t run into anyone from Smokey’s at Bainbridge, there were quite a few “regulars” up at the quarry, given the 64°F weather. The water temperature was a cool 46°F and we didn’t hit a thermocline, even down at the deep platform. Visibility was pretty decent – 10-15ft all over. Our dive plan was to practice our underwater navigation skills, which we did. Besides the deep platform, we hit the tunnel, a left over Christmas tree, the boat at 40ft, and the forest, boat and pipe in the shallow end. We kept the dive short – only 40 minutes – but it was enjoyable, especially since both of us stayed dry – always a good thing.

Don’t know if there will be many more dive days before spring, but if the weather stays this balmy we’ll be out again, guaranteed!