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From Tom Pritchard . . .
The First Annual TNI Christmas Dinner
Diving took a back seat to eating last Thursday at Willow. Although carnivores and omnivores had plenty to eat, the paucity of Barr bodies in the crowd made it tough for vagitarians to find anything to nibble on. We had turkey with stuffing, garlic potatoes, sweet potato, dried corn, cranberry sauce, fresh veggies and dip, bread, a pumpkin pie, and last but not least, one of ZMan's outrageously outrageous cheesecakes. Wild Bill brought red and white wine, in a box - the way nature intended wine to be stored. Even though it was like carbo loading for a marathon, we dined like kings! Wild Willy and JZ were joined by a cast of thousands, including Terry & Luscious Linda, Perry, Third Stage Dave, Roger, Kulpy, GM, Gorgeous George, Tinker Bell and yours truly. Water temp is down to 45 degrees, so dry suits are de rigeur now. GMan, Terry Parsons and I meandered through the cul de sac and bowl w/o lines and finally worked our way home along the wall after passing the Minnow. Viz was variable, but probably pushed 20 ft in most places. The Chilli Dive is January 1st. Come and see the Thursday Night Irregulars in their au natural habitat!
From Uptown Jim Brown . . .
Sunday, 12/26/04
What better way to send Santa off into the cold of the North for another year, than a nice dip in the cold South (central PA, that is). Sharon, John Gross, Chris Mayo, Vern, JameZ, Greg Kulp and yours truly set up at Upper A for a post-Christmas dunking. Surface weather was decent and the water conditions were highly pleasing once again. Sharon, John and I set out scootering for the Barn while Vern and Chris buddied up leaving JZ and Kulp to explore with their doubles of air.
This was my first dive with the SeaDoo scooter and it rocked. All the reports you've heard and read are true. We crossed paths with Vern and Chris briefly at the deep boat but cruised right on by with a loose grip on the scooter handles at low speed. The white cloud layer rests at 95' and below so the bottom half of the step van was shrouded with the top half standing proud and vibrant in the crystal clear water. This vis is awesome! Rounding the tanker set our heading for the Barn. I can't say enough, the vis was awesome. Notice the clarity of Sharon and JG's pic at 90' at the Barn. We paid our respects to Mike and Kent's plaques, made one loop around the Barn, then headed west to one of the toolboxes. It was a ton of fun cruising through the cloud layer.
A SW heading brought us to the south wall where we zoomed to and fro toward the Bowl. The (south) 60' platform and the pumphouse were in clear view. The Bowl remains very clear and the bottom was clean as a whistle after our inverted tree refused to give up any decorations. We checked in with each other and despite paid air remaining in our tanks, we agreed to hit the exit. It was a great dive to 99' for 50 minutes.
I'll be doing a Discover Local Scuba at BSC on Saturday, January 8th, 9am, if anyone is interested to join me. Descending again
From Darth Vern . . .
I got this story from a news group I am on - it is absolutely incredible:
American diver underwater during catastrophe
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 Posted: 10:49 PM EST [LINK]
(CNN) -- An American woman who was scuba diving with her husband in Thailand as one of Sunday's tsunamis roared overhead said she was oblivious to the disaster until after they surfaced, her mother told CNN on Tuesday.
Faye Wachs, 34, was diving with her husband, Eugene Kim, Sunday morning off Ko Phi Phi Island in Thailand when they noticed the water visibility worsened and felt as though they were being sucked downward, Helen Wachs said.
Their dive master signaled to them to surface, "but we still didn't know what happened," Faye wrote in an e-mail to her mother Tuesday. The enormity of what was happening while they were scuba diving was not immediately apparent after they surfaced, Helen Wachs said her daughter told her. "She said she saw a lot of trash in the water. The dive master said it was really rude for people to throw trash. Then they saw large bits of debris and thought there might have been a boat crash," Helen Wachs said. She said her daughter didn't know what had happened until the dive master got a text message from his wife telling him about the catastrophe.
Soon they saw bodies floating past them, Wachs' mother said in an interview from Oakland, California, where she lives. Once they returned to shore, the couple did what they could to help, Helen Wachs said. "I can't describe carrying a moaning person who just saw his girlfriend killed down a hill in the middle of the night," the e-mail said. "I saw more bodies than I care to report. The hotel where we were staying is mostly gone. We lost everything, but our lives." Faye Wachs said she was impressed by the efforts of the Thai government and the International Committee for the Red Cross, but "she was appalled at the treatment they got" from the U.S. government, her mother said.
At the airport in Bangkok, other governments had set up booths to greet nationals who had been affected and to help repatriate them, she said. That was not the case with the U.S. government, Wachs told her mother. It took the couple three hours, she said, to find the officials from the American consulate, who were in the VIP lounge. Because they had lost all their possessions, including their documentation, they had to have new passports issued. But the U.S. officials demanded payment to take the passport pictures, Helen Wachs said.
The couple had managed to hold on to their ATM card, so they paid for the photos and helped other Americans who did not have any money get their pictures taken and buy food, Helen Wachs said. "She was really very surprised" that the government did so little to ease their ordeal, she said. Helen Wachs said her daughter told her they would need "some serious counseling" upon their return to Los Angeles.
Once aboard the plane, Wachs told her mother, the biggest thing they noticed was the absence of the stench of raw sewage that had permeated the air. "She said the clean smell was amazing." Wachs, who described herself as "shell-shocked but happy to be coming home," is scheduled to arrive Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, her mother said. She returns acutely aware that many thousands of others don't have that option. "The tourists are able to get out, but those there are left with utter destruction," Helen Wachs said.
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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