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Click To Enlarge
From Tom Pritchard . . .
Late, Long, and Late (again). With the crowd diving from the lobster shack now, it was just JameZ and I at the cement dock to take another chunk out of our mapping project. Mapping is clearly a job for three, but the two of us managed pretty well. Of course at times we had to use the measuring tape as wreck reel and JZ's dive knife as pencil sharpener, but "That's diving." Several local critters pitched in, notably a foot long catfish and a beautiful crayfish. As soon as I grabbed the crayfish, JZ who is always looking for a meal, produced the tape measure to see if was a legal catch. I threw him back before JameZ could spear him. A great dive, even if it was a little long. With a bottom time of 113 minutes combined with a very late start, I got home at 12:30 in the morning - which didn't go unnoticed by the head of the household. But hey, that's diving too! 46 ft, 55 degrees, 10 ft viz in front; zero behind.
From John Gross . . .
This Saturday Pat & I went to Dutch Springs along with Diana Sholl, Mark Seymour, Vivian Galebach, Peter Bohling and our host Bob Hanna. Bob really went all out. He had his grill and made hamburgers for everyone during our surface inverval.
On our first dive Bob took us out to the platforms to adjust our buoyancy. We followed the platforms to the end and down to a cabin cruiser. Since almost everyone was diving wet and the first thermocline was around 30 to 40 feet we stayed above the thermocline. From the boat we headed south toward the island. We proceeded over a second boat to the airplane at the island. From there we went to the helicopter. Bob did an excellent job of navigating and we began to see the outline of the copter when we got within 70 feet. Oh’ did I mention the viz was 50-70 feet. The viz at Dutch was better then we had in Turkes & Caicos last year. We saw several large bass, rainbow trout and some palomino trout. Bob was leading with Mark and Diana & Vivian followed them with Pat & I bringing up the rear. During the entire dive I could not only see everyone but I had no trouble identifying who they were. Did I mention the viz was great? Even the temperature was a nice toasty 60 degrees about 40 feet. Vivian got low on air and after surfacing everyone was down to 1000 psi or less, except Pat & I. We still had 2000 psi so we decided to head back down to the cabin cruiser. After two tours through the cabin cruiser and seeing several big trout we headed up along the shoreline for our safety stop. Our dive stats were max depth 64 feet for 54 minutes.
On our second dive Bob took us to the Trolley. I did get a good laugh as Bob took Diana, Mark, and Vivian in the back of the trolley and Pat went in the front. Bob I guess you just weren’t going fast enough for my wife. Not only does she walk fast but also she swims fast. So I started to laugh as I realized Pat and Bob’s group would have collide head one inside the trolley. But then I realized with 50-foot visibility they’d see it coming. Pat saw the divers approaching and turned around and came back out the same place she entered. We then proceeded to the crane where I found a weight belt that may have come from the previous weeks rescue. It was two heavy to bring along back so we left it there and I was going to report it to the Dutch staff but I later saw some divers pick it up with a lift bag and take it back to shore. We then went to the cabin cruiser that Pat & I had been to earlier. So everyone got a chance to check out the inside of the cabin cruiser. Bob then proceeded along the shoreline back to our exit. The dive stats were max depth 70 feet for 47 minutes.
Bob was very accommodating. He provided Vivian with an air integrated computer and he loaned Vivian a 120 steel tank. He and even loaned a pair of sweat pants a woman who shall remain nameless.
We are thinking about going back to Dutch on 10/30 or 10/31. Is anyone interested in going along? If so, please email me asap.The attached photos are from Diana Sholl, Mark Seymour, and Vivian Galebach.
From Darth Vern . . .
Well I had a busy weekend. Saturday the Advanced Nitrox Class and Sunday I divemastered an Open Water Class for the Columbia No.1 Fire Department.
First in case you didn't run into me the last 2 weeks so I could brag, I want to add it here. I was the Photographer of the Week at scubadiving.com last week, see the article here.
Our Adv Nitrox Class is moving along well. Our instructor is Alex Meller a TDI Technical Instructor from outside Philadelphia. Our class is Bryan Plamer, Chris Mayo, James Zimmerman and myself. Our final dives are at Dutch Springs this Saturday,
Sunday I DM'ed for Kent "Dr Deco" Hirsh at BSC for Dave, Mick and John from the Fire Company and Audra from Kent's office [I know I suck at names] We had a great day in the lagoon and on the platforms and all the students did well.
Quote of the week - "10 ft viz in front; zero behind"
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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