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From Dennie Leese . . .
Congrats to Mark Muenzen who completed his Drysuit Specialty on Saturday, March 1st at Willow Springs. Dennie and Beautiful Bud were on hand to do the Specialty with Mark and John Ruble, but John forgot his BC and had to wait until Sunday to do it at Wabank. Brian Palmer joined us to test out a new underwater light battery housing he's been working on. (The light worked, but the old housing succumbed to the flood!) Mark did a good job on both dives and is now looking good in his new Henderson neoprene drysuit. He introduced me to a new entry that even outdid Dave Moyer's "Giant Slide". Mark's was called "OOPS". This is where you're walking backwards on the dock because you have fins on and fail to realize you're at the end of the dock and just keep right on walking backwards right off the edge. Very cool, I must say. It tends to make your weightbelt pop off and BOTH your second stages freeflow however. We determined this is probably NOT the best entry to do when the water is cold. In between our two dives we cooked up some dogs and hot conversation in the Lobster Shack. Turned out to be pretty good conditions in the water. Water temp was 44 and the viz was fair, compared to what you're used to at Willow. Bud and myself BOTH managed to have leaks in our drysuits around the crotch area. What's the deal with that? Stay tuned for Sunday's report when a bunch of our new Ice Divers venture to Wabank for a fun day in, on and under the ice. Plus, I get to run John Ruble through his Drysuit class and Scott Steinbaecher through the Ice Class. You know somebody from this group coming for fun is bound to screw something up, or do something majorly stupid. So check the Sunday report too while you're here.
I have a Rescue Class lined up for Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4. If you're in need, get in the shop and get signed up. We have Bryan Palmer and Chris Mayo on it so far. Get this class so you can save my butt if I need it sometime!
From Mark Myers . . .
We were back in the water for ice diving on Mach 2nd – but this time at Wabank Quarry in Lancaster. The day started overcast and drizzling, but peaks of sun started a warm up by noon. Conditions at Wabank were excellent as usual with visibility in the 25 ft range, and water temps in the high 30’s to low 40’s depending whose computer you were using. The surface hole was a little crowded with another shop there running an ice diving course – but since most of our divers were already certified, we could pretty much do our own thing. I’ll probably miss someone – but Scot “the rock” Steinbaecher, Brian Palmer (who took most of the pictures), Diver Dan, Vern “Darth” Heagy, Rick Huck, Kent “Dr Deco” Hirsch, Cindy, Dennie Leese, Nate Brommer, John Ruble, ME!, and Nick Caloyianis from Baltimore. Smokey even put in an appearance for surface support. The really amazing thing was that Diver Dan brought the food!! That’s something you’ll only see about once a year.
Most everyone reported a good dive. Diver Dan was putting his rebreather through it’s paces in cold water. Dennie & Co were finishing up some ice courses and just diving for pleasure. I had wanted to play with our digital camera and try to get some good pictures with good visibility, but a minor accident on the dock left me without a flash. I made it about 38 minutes, with a max of around 60 feet. Since I have not been in Wabank nearly enough times to be as familiar as I am with Willow and Bainbridge, Nick and I kept our dive within 100 ft of the dock cursing the wall. Nick was there to test some new Mares Abyss regulators that he plans to take on an Arctic expedition. I had dinner riding that he could not over-breath them and force them to freeze up even though we deliberately tried. He, as usual, embarrassed me by consuming a fraction of the air I needed. No matter what your skill level is, there is always someone better!! We were headed back in for the second dive when he caught his dry-suit on the ladder and put a small tear in it causing us to abort the second one. Brian Palmer took a ton of pictures – some of which are here, and we had a great time.
From Diver Dan . . .
For the divers and customers who sent e-mails about the Murphy project:
Deep Explorers Inc.'s USS Murphy project update. WABC Channel 7 in New York City covered our updated USS Murphy project on the 6:00PM newscast. I haven't seen it yet; but Capt. Dan Crowell said the coverage included interview footage with Mr. Guy Rogers who we interviewed in Long Island NY a few weeks ago. Mr. Rogers served on the USS Murphy and was onboard the night of the collision with the oil tanker. Also shown was a clip of "yours truly" lugging dive gear on our last dive to the Murphy . Dan Crowell said I had that " lost look" on my face. Dan Crowell also got some air time discussing the project.
Deep Explorers Inc. owners Capt. Dan Crowell and Jenn Samulski were happy to have WABC cover our project during a prime time newscast. This is great exposure!! There are a few irons in the fire!!!
We will be going to Pittsburg sometime this spring to interview more people who served on the USS Murphy. This spring and summer we will be going back to the Murphy for video documentation only!!! I've got the UW lighting job for Dan Crowell and will be shooting some footage of my own.
Capt. Dan and Kevin McMurry (author of Deep Descent) will be collaborating on a book about the USS Murphy.
For more info on the USS Murphy project www.deepexplorers.com. To read a dive report from the last dives we did on the Murphy - click here for 9-23-02 and here for 8-19-02!
I also have a copy of the only video footage in existance of this wreck. If you want to view it e-mail me.
Keep On Diving and Live The Adventure!!!
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