From John Gross. . .
Open Water Class on Oct 22 & 23, 2005
I had an easy class this month. Lynne Cover started her diving experience by doing a Discover Scuba on October 2, 2005 at the Ephrata Rec. She did a great job with the skills and she had a wonderful experience. She was hooked on diving from that moment. On October 9th she showed up at the Ephrata Rec and did all five confined water skills, swim and float. She also did three knowledge reviews and three quizzes. She met at my office the following Friday and finished the remaining knowledge reviews, quizzes, and final exam.

On Sat, Oct 22, we arrived at Bainbridge access A. Terry & Mike Grogan, Jeff Raykos, Laura Lee, Joe Dormer, Vern Heagy joined us, and Jim Brown was there with two students. The weather could have been better as it was cold and raining. Jeff told me his lovely wife Kristi told him to give me a kiss on the cheek for her. Of course he said that wasn’t going to happen. I was worried there for a second. Kristi they next time I see you; you owe me two kisses on the cheek. We did our first dive past the boat in the shallow beach area of access A and then out the road to another boat. From there we went over the wall and continued back the road. We saw many fish and the viz was about 10-15 feet.

For our second dive on Sat we went to a platform for skills. Since Lynne was so well prepared and so good with her skill we were done fairly soon. Our dive tour consisted of see the tower with the dolphins and the plaque honoring Lorraine. We descended the tower and went to the cement mixed and then back to the boat west of the cement mixer. We slowly made our way back to the exit point. Lynne was thrilled see the cement mixer and boat.

On Sunday we went to Dutch Springs and Terry & Mike Grogan, Bob Hanna, Diana Sholl, and Mark Seymour joined us. Terry & Mike arrived really early to save us a table on the Peninsula. Thanks a lot Terry & Mike. Bob Hanna was Lynne’s buddy for the first dive. We proceeded to the platform for skills and then took our tour to the island to see the crane and the small plane. From there we returned to our exit point.

On our second dive Diana was Lynne’s buddy as Bob, Mark S, and the Grogan’s went off looking for the dynamite shack. After hearing a loud explosion we were sure they found it. No, I’m just kidding! There wasn’t any explosion but they did find the shack. I guess all the Specialty Training is paying off for Terry & Mike. Anyway after the skills it was off to the helicopter. Lynne really enjoyed the copter. We ascended at the copter and did a 3 minute 15 foot safety stop and then surfaced swam back to shore as Lynne was getting low on air. By the time we got back everyone else was back and starting to load their cars. After loading the cars and some of us hitting the showers to warm up it was off to Appleby’s for food, drink, and paperwork. We finished Lynne’s logbook and she is now an official Open Water diver. If you see Lynne Cover on the dive site this coming weekend be sure to congratulate her on getting her Open Water Certification. I know Lynne is hooked on diving for two reasons: 1) She is planning on diving again this weekend with the Grogan’s and 2) she sent me an email asking me to let her know when I will be doing an Advanced class.

The weather may have been bad but the diving was GREAT! Thanks to everyone for coming out and showing Lynne what great divers we have at Smokey’s.


From Jim Brown . . .
Diving wet is good for the soul. Getting wet while diving is good for the psyche. Getting wet between dives really stinks. Saturday's weather was no match for Steve Verkouw, one of our newest Open Water Divers this weekend, as he completed OW certification dives 1-3. Josh Boyle joined us for his two EANx Specialty dives and is now a certified Enriched Air Diver. I was of course selling ConEd in the form of the Dry Suit Specialty as I stayed dry and warm(er) in my comfy shell. These guys were champs braving the cold, wind and rain on Saturday, especially Steve completing three dives. Sunday rounded out our training weekend with just one OW certification dive, #4. Since all of Saturday's dives were of the expedient nature, Steve and I basked from 10' to 40' for 1:05 on Sunday's dive tour; he got acquainted with the Bowl, the north wall over the Hole, the Road, the Lagoon, the Grass Patch and the Deco Castle. The fish life was incredible this weekend and Steve reported it exceeded his expectations as well as third party reports. He got a chance to see the indigenous jellyfish as well as the annual UW pumpkin carving celebration.

Steve and his wife Kathy are headed to St. John in November for an anniversary getaway. He is such a natural in the water that the warm, clear Caribbean will be a huge boost to his diving confidence, building upon his already excellent buoyancy control! We'll look forward to great stories and great pics Steve. Thanks to Josh and Steve for devoting a portion of their weekend to dive training with me. I look forward to more diving with Josh in NC in November and I hope to get Steve back in the water for perhaps EANx and AOW, and quite possibly for a NC trip in the Spring.


From Bob Hanna . . .
Sunday October 23, 2005 - Dutch Springs
You could say the day was all about Lynne R. Cover who completed Open Water Dives 3 and 4 under the supervision of Instructor John Gross. But there was a lot more to this day. Dive 3 began as a descent with reference, we have all been there and done that. Lynne descended to the platforms on the West side of the Peninsula where she was photographed by Terry Grogan whose pics are just remarkable.

The VIZ was obviously outstanding. The water temperature was in the low 60s. After completing the required exercises we went down the rope to the upper part of the crane recording a depth of 56'. The VIZ was so good that we could see the entire crane at once as we approached it. We then traveled up the West side of the Island heading N to the airplane. We approached the plane from the tail or west side where with a little imagination it reminds one of a wale. Then back to the underwater dock area and to the surface where Lynne did the weight belt removal exercise. Her 26 minute dive will be remembered by her for a long time. On her second dive Lynne descended to the platforms on the East side of the Peninsula. This time Diana Sholl replaced myself as her dive partner. Eventually she visited the helicopter. What a terrific first day.

In the meantime under the leadership of former First Sgt Terry Grogan the rest of us laced up our boots and went back down the line to the Crane but kept going to the South end of the Island. There is a "D" rock there or so the story goes. Terry set a compas course of 170 (compliments of Jeff Rakos) crossed the sunken road where Mike Grogan and I dutifully posed for pictures at the Dianamite Shack.(Pics 8 & 9) She led us West along the S edge of the drop off to the road, then we turned N at the bend in the road, proceeding first to a sunken car (89'), and then up the wall to the Trolley(Pic 7). From there a heading of N takes one directly back to the platforms and dock area. Then it was off to Applebees for lunch.


From Darth Vern . . .
I did some good diving with some good divers this past week. One VERY FUNNY tidbit of humor I had this week was letting my wife read one of Toms emails. She surmised by looking it over that TNIs meant Thursday Night Idiots, 'nuff said:

Thursday Nite found at me new usual spot Willow Springs. I have often heard divers make fun of Willow [only 40ft - bad viz - a plethora of rants] BUT i must admit, it does grow on you. I find myself looking forward to Thur Nite and the goofballs [that was being polite] of the TNIs. To put it mildly we have us some fun. I was gearing up when Joe and Laura showed up. I wish I could write what the first sentence was that Laura heard upon exiting the truck and saying hi, but alas, the FEDS would crack down on this site and prob close us down. Lets just say it was even worse than the typical dinner conversation for the TNIs [way to go Dave Ho] I made a great 70 min dive with JameZ out thru the caboose and back - A site I think I will never get tired of, now if I could only figure out how to get there myself? On the way back we practiced "main light failure" we returned to the dock with only our little back-up lights, good practice in the pitch black nite!!!!

Saturday I found my self at the ever familiar BSC. I went up to my visit my good buddy Jim Brown and his students. Since Jimbo became an instructor we don't get to dive together like we used too. As luck would have it, a diver lost their mask out by the deep boat. So I ventured off to find it. I entered the water with John Gross's class and then ran laps back and forth to find the mask. As luck still had it, I found it on the slope by the bulldozer, not to far from the class. I swam back to find Johns class, but could not. So I promptly exited, like a good little diver.



Keep On Diving and Live The Adventure!!!