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It’s a NEW YEAR!!! New Year’s Day dawned EARLY – earlier for some than for others. My wife and I had shipped the kids off to the grandparents for the evening, so we enjoyed the fireworks in downtown Lancaster – courtesy in part to Jim Brown who assisted with the set up. Cindy had set a start time of 8am – which I told her was entirely too early. Some actually showed up at that hour, but I moseyed in around 9:15. Besides Smokey’s – Lancaster Scuba, Scuba Venture from Reading, the Brass Anchor from Frederick MD, and North East Scuba from Norristown were all well represented. Divers began hitting the water around 9am, and entered and exited continuously through noon. I don’t have any specific reports from other divers, but in general visibility at Willow was much better than usual, and held up despite the large number of divers in the water. Many people headed immediately for the “Quest” to see the recently installed plaque honoring our own Diver Dan Myers. There are two events to report that almost lead to an icing over of the quarry and some other very hot places. First, after nearly a year off working as a postal employee – Jim Deisley showed up and actually went in the water. Jess Zellers graciously accepted the challenge of orienting him to his gear again – and hung out while he messed with his camera. The second event of the day was that after 2 years of harrassement about her never actually seeing me in the water, I finally proved to Jess that I’m a *#$^ good diver too – she accompanied myself and Nick Caloyianias in for the second dive. Nick was – as usual – testing some new photography equipment with some less then desirable results. Our first dive lasted all of 2 minutes as his newly re-furbished camera housing started to leak. Luckily the camera was not in it. Our second dive took us out to the Quest then around the “western circuit’ past the minnow, bus and back to the platform. Water temps were in the mid 40’s and air temps similar. Most of the drysuit divers spent about 45 – an hour of bottom time, the wet suit divers – YES, there were SEVERAL, made it about 30 minutes each – long enough to circle the Quest and head back. Of course the highlight of the day, as usual, was the food with Chili, Chili and more chili and of course Bill Siwiec’s famous “Billy Balls” – meatballs in a champagne sauce. At noon we watched the polar bears do their dip – and people think we’re nuts… All in all a great day with good friends, great food and great visibility! John Stokes says they estimated they would raise several thousand dollars for charity from the gate donations. Bob Hannah’s take on the day …It had been one year since my First Jan 1 Dive. Last year I arrived a little late. Ralph Spayd was sitting outside in his new Dry Suit waiting. It was raining. That was probably the best the weather was that day. Today Ralph called at seven AM to report a head cold. He will have to wait another year.
Today the water was about 45 degrees, and the air was between 45 and 50. It was Sunny and Clear. The food tables were set up outside, and there were probably 100 Dry Suit Divers present. Some Divers were doing their annual dive at Willow. Others like myself hold season passes and use them.
Bill Hockley and I did a 50 minute dive then zoomed in on the chili and assorted foods. It was wonderful to just talk to so many enthusiastic divers, and listen to their plans for dives in 2004 and early 2005. Those plans, all of them, will materialize in various places on the Smokey's Web Site as the year develops. Bob Hanna has been working on a June wreck diving trip to N Car. Bill is organizing an early 2005 trip to Truk. There is something for everybody going on at Smokey's.
I left just before
the Polar Bears did their thing. Every parking lot at the quarry was
filled to overflowing and then some. There was a line (yes, a real
line) waiting to enter the quarry as I headed home to watch
football. This could prove to be one of the largest crowds ever at the
Quarry.
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