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From Mark . . .
Well, once again I can actually write a dive report myself. Since I’m not as creative as Dan or Tom – this ones pretty straight forward.
Turnout at this year’s New Year’s Day dive at Willow Springs was pretty good! We had divers attending from as away as Alex from near Norristown, from Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Lebanon, Lancaster and Dauphin counties. I don’t want to list participants because I am sure to miss someone – but the Venturer’s crew was out – diving wet again! Other wetsuit divers included Bernie Smolick, Chris and Nora Pressler, and Scott Canady among others. Every Smokey’s instructor was out with the exception of Kathy and Ray (nudge nudge…) Even Jess Zellers, who has been out of the water for several months with medical problems put in an appearance and was in the water.
Speaking of the water, well, most of it was falling out of the sky. Rain and Mud were the operative words of the day, and I don’t think we’ve ever crammed that many people in the “lobster shack” before. The morning started off fairly warm, but a cold breeze kicked up by noon. Water temps were between 44 and 48 depending on whose computer you wanted to listen to. Visibility was a murky 10 – 12 ft since the overcast day kept things on the dark side. Myself, Diver Dan, Nate Brommer and Alex headed out to the airplane, then around the east wall, and then came back around the north wall for a total run time of about 50 minutes. Remind me not to go with the re-breather guys again…. Plenty of the small fish were out, but we didn’t see any larger ones, or any of the infamous eels.
On to the really important stuff. Food. Chris and Nora contributed the three alarm chili. I managed about half a bowl before I had to thin it out with some of the more moderate chili. Dennie Leese and Cindy contributed the chili for those without iron stomachs. Paul Good brought a pot of mushroom soup, and Bill Siwiec brought his infamous Champaign meatballs and baklava. If you’ve never eaten these “Bill Specialties” it is defiantly your loss. Speaking of Bill, congratulations to Bill’s student Bill Hockley who finished up his Nitrox course – and did another dive with Bernie Smolick afterwards.
From Diver Dan . . .
Join us this Thursday Night at Willow Springs and Sat. at Wabank!! e-mail Me for info.
Sat at Wabank. Rebreather diver Mark Nix [see last pic at right] and I hit Wabank with rebreathers. No bubbles rule!!!! We did a one hour runtime and managed to stay warm in 42 degree water. Viz was 20 to 30 ft but turned dark at 100 ft. We recovered Franks lost snow shovel at the 30 ft bank below the platform. Mark Nix is one of the quiter wreck divers in the northeast. Mark has several Andrea Doria trips, as well as other deep dives off the east coast. He was on the team who located the St. Augustine off Ocean City Md. He has dived the Ostfriesland of Va. at 380 ft!!! Mark's Pic courtesy of Trish of the Surface Interval!
Sun at Willow Springs. Nate Brommer and I did 45 minutes runtime in 10 to 15 ft viz. Nate is looking better in the water each time out. We decided to get lost by heading southeast and turning around out in the middle of Willow Springs. Also dove. with Nate on New Years Day. He loves dry gloves !!!! Yeeeaaahhh Baby!!!
Sat. at Wabank. Scott "The Rock" Steinbacher was a nice video model. I shot video of Scott at the Miss Peaches at 100 ft. Viz down to 70 ft was 15 to 20 ft. This was Scott 1st time diving to 100ft. He did very well. Unfortunately the videographer didn't do very well. This Sat we'll get better shots.
I'm having allot of fun diving with new divers who dive as well as Scott and Nate. Look for these guys on the dive site. Both in Henderson neoprene drysuits.
Sat. Night at Seeker Manor. After holiday crew bash!!!! Capt. Dan Crowell and Admiral Jenn Samulski threw a nice party. It was good to see friends and enemies I haven't seen since early fall. The women looked good, the gin was smooth and cold, the conversations educational and enlightening, and a whole table of food.
Sun. at Seeker Manor Reviewed video footage of the USS Murphy Capt. Dan and I shot this past fall. Also reviewed interview footage shot of the USS Murphy crew. Capt. Dan is doing a great job with this project. The USS Murphy Destroyer had a proud and illustrious career. Click HERE for the story! Capt. Dan Crowell got the still shots from the video we shot in Sept. I did the UW lighting for these shots.
I'll be helping interview a few USS Murphy crew members in the area. This is a neat project and I'm happy to be a part of it.
Don't forget this Thursday night at Willow Springs and Sat. at Wabank Aquaculture.
From Uptown Jim Brown
[from Monday Dec 23rd]
Rick Huck, 'Mr. my minivan is really an SUV, watch me go, NOT!', who celebrated his 'really old' birthday with several of us under water. Beaner Heagy, The Rock Scott Steinbaecher, The Handsome One Chris Mayo, new Divemaster Ralph Spayd and The Most Wonderful One (and Smokey's dive shop manager) Cindy Willman-Kinsey suited up with the sun peeking over the south wall. Frank has a changing trailer on site now with portable propane heat, a nice addition. The buzzards watched over us from the north as they soared and perched in the chilly morning air.
Ralph, Cindy and Scott went their own way and we crossed paths at the Loafer sailboat later in the dive. Chris and Rick left the dock first, their route and destination unknown. It makes me wonder why Rick chose The Handsome One for a dive buddy today, a special birthday present perhaps? Beaner got his new dry gloves situated and off we went, west along the south wall to the turn to Miss Peaches at 103'. The vis is truly incredible here. The water is crystal clear with great vis to 15-20', diver to diver. Beyond that the vis is still good but gets fuzzy. From 72' we could see the sun as a spot above the water. On our return we cold see the outline of the dock from 35'. This clear water is very dark though, just about anywhere you go in the pool, but did not require use of any D-cells.
We left Miss Peaches after a depth, air, and temp check heading along the guide rope to the Loafer sailboat, directly beneath the fish cages. It seemed like a marathon swim but the vis made the trek very enjoyable. The clarity here will make for good pics of divers and gear configs, and video too. Passing the threesome at the Loafer we headed NW toward a new destination for us, the Spur of the Moment boat. This too was a long swim but took us along a ridge and plateau with plenty to look at. Just off the stern of the Loafer was pretty neat 'runoff' of the black stuff we usually see on the bottom at BSC. It seemed to 'pool' behind the boat then run off in a 'stream' to the edge and down over. It wasn't actually flowing but looked pretty interesting; we'll have to ask Frank about this on our next visit.
We made a couple of turns around the Spur and opted for an open-water nav back to the exit. We held our depth about 75' and off we went. Open-water nav: a great way to practice buoyancy and breathing control. We passed the Miss Peaches upline and the guideline from Miss Peaches to the Loafer, right on track. The ridge below where Miss Peaches sits at 103' could be seen from our position at 75' despite the darkness in the water. We came f2f with the relocated tube swim through at 75', perched directly on the ridge. Despite our deco obligation at this point, our air was good so we had to go through and play. A short turn to our right and we ascended the south wall slowly to the sub directly below the dock and exit. We cleared deco and played back and forth along the wall at 15' to satisfy our SS.
Breaking the surface at the dock, everyone else was out of the water and almost packed up. What a great way to spend a morning, 103' for 45 minutes with two minutes of deco. Wabank is worth the trip. Remember to bring your own air as there are no fills on site.
From Jess Zellers
An encore of wednesday's New Years dive this thursday was cold, wet, raining and full of familiar faces making obscene comments. Bottom was still kicked up from yesterday.... or was that from everyone who got in before us?? George, Jay and me hit the water last went out did the Quest. There's something about showing up when it's pitch black, assembling gear by feel alone(in the rain) and having viz that's only as good as your light that's just so right. Myerstown, awesome place at night. For those who stayed to the bitter end of the night there was some ah... we'll call it 'entertainment'. All that needs to be said about that is if I find pictures anywhere I'm moving to Southport and not talking to anybody ever again.
Thursday's Myerstown - we're there every week freezing, diving and eating by the world's largest-warmest wood stove.
From Darth Vern
Well its finally here - Me and Uptown Brown dove ACCESS B last Thursday the 26th. It was a nice cold dive as always at BSC in December. The ramp down to the floating dock is a very nice "slide" and then a giant stride into the water. We did 45 minutes in 40 degree water around 45 feet deep. Nice long slow dive. AND yes - the rumor is correct - I turned the dive because I was cold! BUT nothing beats dry gloves! I have been using 5mm gloves this year and have now found near valhala with the OS gloves designed for my suit! In truth, they are a pain-in-the-ass to put on - BUT worth it all when I am in the water and have nice toasty hands! I highly recommend these 3 winter comforts - 1] dry gloves 2] Smart Wool socks [ask Cindy-I have her hooked on them] and 3] Halcyon GAITORS - no more ankle weights!!!
Also special props to Chris Kramer and Liz Zyla for accepting the challenge and plunging into the frigid new years day water in their shorts!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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