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From Dennie Leese . . .
It's that time of year again. Yeah, that's right, I'm beginning to put together the annual Labor Day weekend trip to Prescott. The dates for this year are Friday August 29th to Monday, September 1st. Price is tentatively $225/pp/double occupancy for divers which includes 3 nights hotel, 2 days of 2 tank boat dives on 4 different wrecks, breakfast on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, lunch on the boat Saturday and Sunday and a pizza party Sunday evening. Non-divers price will be $125 and includes everything mentioned above but the diving. Non-divers are welcome to travel on the boat with us and explore the St. Lawrence Seaway at no extra charge. We will be staying at Dewar's Inn on the River again and diving with Kevin Benish and the Sea 'N Sky Scuba gang. There's a good possibility of another optional drift dive this year as well as unlimited shore diving on the Conestoga, Weehawk and Rothesay and a night dive for those who didn't get enough over the weekend already. I already have some people signed on for this. I'm blocking 10 rooms and space on the boat for up to 20 divers. First come, first serve. I will have reservation forms in the shop very soon, but in the meantime if you're interested, email me and let me know in advance so I can keep a space open for you until I receive your deposit. It's been fun every year so far. I don't expect this year to be any different. Hopefully I will actually get to DIVE it this year instead of watching it like last year with a bum shoulder just after surgery. Hope you can make it.
From Bryan Palmer . . .
This is my version of the weekend. Well as for not being in the water for a while I decided to get wet starting with a Nice and warm Thursday night die with the irregulars up at willow springs, Terry Martzell, his buddy Roger and myself did a dive together we entered the water somewhere around 6pm and I had a bottom time of 51 minutes in the nice warm 38-39 degree water, we were graced with the presence of the fresh water eel and several good size perch and bass. There were several other people up including Jess (I'm crazy enough to be the only girl to dive with the irregulars) Zellers, Gerhard (I like to Sing "CAR-KEE") Maree and several others. Terry blessed use with his wonderful "ability" to make soup and roger with his Brownie's.
Friday night was spent in the classroom with Dennie going over the outline for Saturday and Sunday with a great Cheese platter provided by Jim Brown (great reason to take a class with him, just for the food he provides), and random out burst from Diver Dan!
Saturday was a dreary day with every type of precipitation at BSC. We made our entry hole in the ice, which had to be one of the highlights of the day!! Just see some of the pictures. And then suited up for our dives. Remember always the first group was pretty uneventful but when Liz and I headed in that would all change. On our dive we took the words of Dennie to heart, "make a shallow dive and get use to the ice below 10 ft it is just another dive" so we entered looked around at the Ice and proved to ourselves by hitting the ice with our hands we would not break thought it then proceed to get the bright idea to try and stand UPSIDE DOWN on the ice. We proceed to do this when everything was going ok and I looked over at liz and not everything was ok! I thought that is was just she had air stuck in her BC and couldn't get up righted so I tried to help and got her almost ¾ of the way up righted and then PLOP back down she went, it was like watching a human SEE SAW. So we decide it best to end the dive and she made the 1st feet first exit!
Lesson 1- Wear ankle weights or ankle keepers when trying to walk upside down in a dry suit!! The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
Lesson 2- Never throw the ice you cut to far from the hole in case you "told to recover the hole"
Sunday was pretty uneventful, normal goofing off and what not, till the end of the day that is. I don't know if it was the weather getting nice or the fact we were crazy enough to be diving in the ice and that was getting to us, but it brought out a whole new side to Beautiful Bud Fletcher, Diving Dan (I missed my calling as a Ballerina) Myers, and Liz (I have a better moon walk then Michael Jackson) Zyla. All I can say is to see 2 full grown men in dry suits doing pariwets and things is just hysterical. You'll have to ask for a demonstration but some home I don't think they will be willing to do it again!! But there was video so make mark or someone can do a highlight on the outtakes.
From Mark Myers . . .
Jim Dicely is in the mid west, Omaha, I believe, doing training for the post office. This is what he sent me!
Lake Thunderbird nicknamed Lake Dirty bird" If no boats are running and a bunch of people are not in stiring up the clay vis aint too bad. 10 to 12 feet and its only 38 to 40 feet with a shovel. This time of year the local state Park Rangers arent realy partial to Scuba Divers...I'll leave it at that. Temps in the water were 41 on the bottom and in the mid 20's on the topside. No great revalations, lots of panfish nothing else. So if anyone is planning a dream vaction to the Mid-west for diving...ahhh just a helping hint....DONT!
From The Wabank Staff . . .
Well, a frigid Hello to all,
By now we hope that all have recovered from the holidays and if the freeze keeps up mabye we can do some ice diving this year. Wabank has never frozen in the 5 years we have worked with it. A few days ago Jim Brown and I found a 6 inch ice flow beginning along the shore. We just couldn't squeeze under it enough to get the full effect. Now there is ice cover from the south rim to near the middle of the lake. Cindy W-K has organized and been hosting a motley assortment of divers for a once a week morning dive at Wabank. Jim Brown has perfected his dive plan to coming up in the same quarry each dive, we salute you Jim. If you'd like to join give Cindy a call and when you come don't be Tardy.
This week vis has been in the 30 to 40 ft range with water temps between 37 to 40 F. The newest training center rolled in this past week (literally). After 10, count em, 10 divers went to search for it, yours truly found it. Finally an item fell into place where it should>>>Great Planning Darin (He must be Irish). Now at 34 feet, 10 ft from the telephone pole and 30 kicks past the Hound Dog, lies a 12 ft Dia. 20 Ft. long closed enviroment training facility. It has one vent and two holes cut at either end. we intend to add flaps so that instructors and the brave of heart, under supervision, can hone the skill of frog kicking so as to not stir up silt, or a silted no vis enviroment can be created to teach orientation methods.
Future Plans; there is a rumor out their that we are closing....WRONG!!!... while the basis of this may be do to the struggling nature of my other business, Wabanks future looks great due to all of you.
The first week of Feb. WE NEED A VOLUNTEER to oversee the placing of a 12 by 16 ft platform in the deep hole. Ok Teckies its your turn. This platform will go at the bottom of the down line at the 150 ft mark. After we place the platform in position we need someone to take over and install downlines with deco stations. If interested please contact any of the Wabank staff ASAP. The next step for the deep hole is four boats to be placed.
Two more boats have been secured to complete the circle. Jimmy will be coming up in two weeks to bring them in. They will go between the iron cave, the hound dog and the Spur of the Moment.
Many thanks To John Walker and Especially Dave Shenk. Dave came out in 20 degree weather to finish welding the Habitat. Only three screws and a valve prevent it from being placed. Roland if you read this bring your bags up.. The habitat will be placed between the peaches and the HoundDog at 50 ft allowing a diver to take a break and talk with your buddy..We will let you know the installation date soon.
Thanks to Scott and Ted's impatience, the sinking of the POP POP piliot house has placed it at 17 ft bottom 10 top. It's just above the Bouyancy Control training area. The pilot house will hope to be our first shallow fish habitat along with trees and veg growth. Our dream is to populate the lake with various species for your diving enjoyment. Speaking of Fish, there have been many reports of sightings of fingerlings and Dan M "the rebreather King" came across a school of crapies at the 60 ft mark near the sub. This leads us to believe that we are on the right track with fish propogation. The next release comes in March. The penned fish are doing great. They reached their 1 lb mark in Oct. Rumors of a fish fry in April are unsubstantiated and down right cruel. My poor babies, How could any of you eat them???
So if your tired of starin at the four walls and the family, give us a call and come on out to the Amish Artic Carribean to enjoy the vis and hone up on those skills to get ready for the next season of diving adventures.
Call us for your appointment at (717)464-5765 or (717) 669-0887.
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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