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From Tom Pritchard . . .
Most equipment problems reveal themselves in the first minute of a dive. Some "overeager" problems don't wait that long. Gerhard Maree and I, dressed to the nines, almost fixed the freeflowing reg. on the dock. The torn drysuit left wrist seal showed up at entry, but a quick trip the truck for some duct tape almost fixed that. The duct tape kept me from getting any wetter for 20 minutes, which would have been great if we were doing a 20 minute dive. Back in the water, the right glove flooded, but James Zimmerman who was "with child" fixed that - and I didn't even have to get out of the water (again). With my weight belt now around my knees and my snot-infested sinuses screaming, I made it the platform where everything was put in fine fettle. After clearing my ears and blowing my nose, the local viz dropped from 5 ft to about 2ft. If we're going to have Caribbean-like viz in April like we did last year, the quarry (and my sinuses) better start clearing soon. Given my inauspicious start, we changed to a more conservative dive plan. Past the Quest to the mixer and then the pipe, back along the tracks to the Quest and home via the fire truck and Minnow. We spotted a couple of perch, who like James, were "with child," but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful dive. Despite all the problems, I logged my best SAC rate in a while (0.48), while Gerhard was in the zone with a sparkling 0.38 SAC. 65 minutes in 48 degree water. It's getting downright balmy at Willow! Get out and dive!
From Uptown Jim Brown . . .
Ahhhhhhhh, another day diving in luxurious surroundings in south-central PA. The best part is the company, and making new dive friends at our local watering hole. JZ, Darth, Sharon and I connected with Richard from Carlisle and Frank from West Chester. It seems they were dive buddies at Dutch? during drysuit training, or something like that. The good Doctor would say I was talking to much and didn't pay attention... Rich/Frank, when you read this report, please email me at so I can add you to our dive scoop email list. Your business card fell victim to the gusty surface conditions at upper A.
Here's the short version from me...surprised? This dive day brought to the forefront the heart of what we all know, yet rarely practice at BSC, especially in our comfy little dive gang, plan your dive and dive your plan. With a season of planned east coast diving and a trip here and there, now is a good time to refresh and practice our communication, dive planning and planned diving. Needless to say, despite reviewing the dive plan thrice, it went awry as soon as everyone's head disappeared below the surface. Vern, Sharon and Frank explored while JZ, Rich and I did something else. Kudos to Rich for following the cardinal rule when separated from your buddy, wait a minute then ascend to check the surface. JZ and I accompanied him. I returned to the depths north of the dozer to grab a bottom sample for Steve. The other party returned a short while later, after Sharon and Frank's first visit to the Barn.
Its always a great day on the dive site no matter how short Darth makes your dive. Uh, er, bad Vern, bad Vern! Next time you be the caboose, I'll be the the little engine that could!
We're off to Beneath the Sea this weekend. I'm arriving Friday for additional EFR training, reg training on Saturday morning and will stay through Sunday. I'll be at the Holiday Inn and can be reached at 717-968-0145 (cell). The exhibits are in order for Saturday and Sunday to gather up equipment info and travel stuff. Another Darth & Uptown scuba adventure is in the works!
From Diana Sholl . . .
Hey there diver's!! Saturday was a beautiful day for diving! Vivian, Mark and I were out for our first dive since January 3 this past Saturday. Yes, the 2 Tough ol' B*****'s are back with our wetsuits - and lovin' every minute of our dives.
I was testing my underwater Sea/Sea camera in preparation for my trip to Cozumel next month. My son, Mark, is always a ham for the camera - I hope to share some photos soon. The water was a balmy 42. The skies clear blue and sunny. Ahhh, does it get any better than that? We stayed in the lagoon and scouted around for a while. We originally were going to go through the tunnel for our first time - but I chickened out because it was too dark and we had no light. Maybe next time. Our dive lasted 19 minutes until my fingers were frozen. It was so good to be back in the water - yes, even in wetsuits!
We will be back out this Saturday if any of you wetsuiters (or drysuiters if you can handle us) would like to join us - if you dare! Come on out and dive, dive and dive!!
From Darth Vern . .
Well I won't comment on Uptown Brown's report, since he is pretty much right! So any way, the grapevine has it that Charles McClung Jr and Sr were out on Saturday at BSC. Charles Jr LOVED his new Apex 200 and is looking forward to using it more often! Cindy said we have more in stock, but they are going fast!!! Get out and dive the weather is turning and its warming up!!!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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