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From Tom Pritchard . . .
Dan Myers, Gerhard Maree, and I pulled off the dive we've been trying to do for the last 3 weeks at Willow. But the star of the dive last night was the outstanding visibility in the quarry. Second banana status went ot Dan's Underwater Dive light repair service, known forever more as "DUD light repair service." First the viz. Outrageous! It was like a whole new quarry. I've become used to seeing the cement mixer as a mosaic of 3 foot visibility grids; last night you could see the whole enchilada. And fish! Usually you have to step on a fish to see it; last night you could see scores of fish laying on the bottom, doing deco hangs, and safety stops. The 18" trout and 2 ft pickerel were the best of the bunch. Of course, viz is zero without a dive light. With my Sartek light off being repaired, I took my UK (Underwater Krap) POS (Piece of Shit) HID (Hell! It's Defective) light and my $3.98 el cheapo light. The UK/POS/HID light lasted 5 minutes. When I showed Dan the light had gone out, he motioned to give it to him. Dan smacked it against his head three times and gave it back - presto, it came back on! Five minutes later it went out again so I snuck up on Dan and smacked him in the head with my light a few times. No luck, so I finished the dive with my el cheapo light. Gerhard's new Sartek HID light worked great and with the 25' viz, all I really needed to do was hang around Dan and Gerhard. And a good time was had by all.
As an aside, Dan honestly believes that people can understand him under water when he yells into his second stage. In truth, Dan sounds like Scooby Doo barfing into a pail in a small janitor's closet. My advice is to give Dan the "OK" sign; shrugging just encourages him. Reports are that viz was great at Bainbridge last weekend so diving this weekend is mandatory.
From Diver Dan . . .
I'm hoping to dive this Wed. evening at Wabank Aquaculture, Thurs. at Willow Springs and one day this weekend. Email Me if you want to dive!!
Thursday at Willow Springs - The usual group of diving meatballs came out to enjoy George Heck's consumable meatballs and do some diving. Water temps have warmed up to 49 deg. The meatballs were good; but the viz was better. Tom Pritchard, Gerhard Maree and I had one of the best dives at Willow Springs since last fall. For more details read Tom Pritchard's report.
Contrary to what Tom will tell you; Gerhard and I have no problem with our Sartek lights. 10 watts of HID light in a small battery pack !!! Yeah Baby!! SARTEK!
Sat. at BSC. A nice group of Nate Brommer, Dennie Leese, Liz Zyla, Chris Cramer, Bryan Palmer and his buddy, this German guy who talks allot Thilo, John Zuber and I. Again the good viz was the star attraction. John Zuber and I hit the 90 ft boat; which is again at 90 ft, the steps down into the aquatic depression and across to the barn. On the way back we went by the water tank and step van. We did 45 min. in 38 degree water. A great dive !!! Ran into Bud Bracken who had soup; but wasn't very enthusiastic about sharing any of it. Oh well !!
Seeker News - The Seeker is in dry-dock getting ready for the season. I spent most of Sunday laying on my back sanding the 65 ft blue hull. I looked like an overweight cantankerous blue smurf when I was finished.
Capt.. Dan Crowell's USS Murphy project is in a holding pattern for the next few weeks with most of the crews time devoted to preparing the boat for the season. I have a copy of the Murphy presentation made at Beneath The Sea. I'm the guy swimming over the wreck with the lights. If you want to check the piece out email me.
Capt. John Chatterton will be working with the History Channel over the next few weeks on special projects involving maritime disasters.
2003 dive schedule is posted on the website Deep Explorers.
Look for a combined effort with Deep Explorers Inc. and Smokey's Divers Den/ SR - Pro Inc. www.sr-pro.com for a documentary type piece on the wreck of the Stolt Dagli. The project is in the brainstorming and discussion stages. Stay Tuned !!!
And More from Tom Pritchard . . .
On Sunday Gerhard Maree and I decided to take advantage of the excellent viz at Willow. Before I arrived Gerhard and Dave Bally did the Quest, fire truck, and Minnow circuit. Later, Gerhard and I headed toward the pump house, but gave up too soon and took a compass heading across the quarry toward the Quest. After passing through the "Graveyard of the Christmas Trees" we ran into the rope that runs from the Quest toward the boat/cement mixer. After "roping "it back to the Quest, we came home via the fire truck and Minnow. The previous Thursday I thought the viz was 25'+; I was afraid to say 40' for fear that no one would believe me. Now, in daylight, I'd be willing to claim 40'. This is the first time I have seen viz like this at Willow and I can tell you, it's like a whole new dive site. I found out Sunday that the Quest wasn't just dumped in the quarry; it is supported by girders. Wow! We were not able to see the full length of the Quest deck, but it was close. Even after we stirred up the silt in the school bus, we were able to look in the back door, see the full length the bus, and out the windshield. All that viz must have been too much for the fish; not one the whole dive. Daylight diving is great though, and the best part about it, you don't give a hoot if your dive light goes out. The water isn't just clear; it's warm (50 degree). Dan is going to bring his video camera this Thursday, so if you want good viz, better get there before we do. Underwater cameras have been shown to trigger algae blooms; if you don't believe me, you can look it up.
From Jess Zellers . . .
I want my quarries back!!! 20-25 ft lateral viz, sunlight streaming to 80-90ft though crystal blue water, watching bubbles go all the way to the rippling surface from 40-50ft, a landscape laid out below you .... all this is just WRONG!!! Thursday night, I got a rare dive in with Don Bradley, although Scups stayed in the truck. Don, if you bring Scups you need to bring his gear!! This Sunday I was again at Bainbridge with Greg Kulp. We did the usual stuff and a wall, one deep dive and one deep-ish long dive. A second weekend of absolutely awesome diving. So that makes 4 dives over two weekends and a total of 183mins bottom time and cumulative depth of 397ft. Whew! I'm tired. .... ok, let's go again. Our nitrogen deficits have been temporally satisfied. The real shock of the day was having Mark Myers DIVING!!! We weren't expecting him so when I expressed my shock, Mark said he was glad to see me too.
From Mark Myers . . .
Well, I can expand a bit on Jess’ report, but I don’t have the creative talents of Tom, so bear with me. My trip into the water this weekend started as dumb, dumb, and dumber…… but it ended up well. Keep in mind we share these stories so others can learn from our stupid mistakes (and because Vern and Jim threatened to write it up themselves if I didn’t… and their version would be much harsher)
Anyway, Vern and I met at BSC at 9am on Sunday for a quick, quiet dive free of loud and obnoxious – well, besides us – divers. There were few people there and despite the chill, it was quite nice. We geared up and headed in with my usual tour of cement mixer, bulldozer, deep boat, and just to make it challenging taking pictures and going to step van, in mind. Dumb. I’ve only been in the water two or three times over the winter (Vern has been in much more) and we planned a dive to 90+ ft pushing the limits of our air consumption and deco. We headed in, and I had great difficulty getting down. Figured it was just the layoff and ignored it even though I was getting squeeze in the suit, and couldn’t take a deep breath. Dumb, Dumb. The water was clear, and cold, and visibility was quite good. We hit our objectives and headed back. Finally I had to pick up a #$!@ rock to keep from bouncing to the surface – which from 70 – 80 ft would be bad. Vern just kept looking at me like I had lost my mind. We did our safety stop swimming slowly around to the tunnel which is now back underwater where it should be and got out.
Here for the record is the statement --- Vern, who takes more than his share of abuse about being an air hog, came out of the water with more air, and had better buoyancy control than I did. There – I said it, and in public too! After abusing Jess Zellers and Greg Kulp for about an hour – and eagerly awaiting the arrival of “Downtown” Jim Brown, we started gearing up. Empty Tank. &%@$!!! Didn’t check it myself. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. Had to run to the office and get a quick fill. Then I noticed that my BCD was a bit floppy. The weight pockets were there – but there wasn’t anything in them !!! No wonder my buoyancy skills sucked. Dumb, Dumb, Dumber….
FINALLY, we got in the water and headed for the Barn. Vis was pretty good, with us easily able to see Jim Brown descending through the 50 ft mark. Vern and I swam around the barn, posed for Jim who was shooting video for BSC, then headed south west to the wall. We headed in the wall, past the blast shack, and around by the tunnel. I kept trying to get Vern to pose for me to shoot pictures, but he just gave me the finger and kept swimming. After we did our three and got out he explained that his bladder was about to explode and he wasn’t hanging around while I played with the camera. It was still an excellent dive. Get out and take a look before the water warms up and the algae blooms next month. For those of you who have never seen it, the road is under water again - as is the tunnel.
From Darth Vern . . .
I suppose by the time you get down here to me, you know one thing, VIS IS GOOD. So I do not have to repeat it. I must admit our diving yesterday was awesome. I never swam thru the barn before, since I could never actually see the whole way thru it. But yesterday I did. Funny how small things excite some people. But I did enjoy it. AND just to clarify Marks statement on my air consumption: we left with the same psi in our tanks BUT he had a 120 as opposed to my 100 and I still came back with the psi of air that he did. SO I suppose the razzing of me in this regard is over!!! YEAH HA!!!! Anywho, I am trying to get out either Wed or Thur mosning if anyone is interested! The viz is well worth the aggravation of getting out on a weekday!!! My new redesign on my website is almost complete, check it out at Qube Factory. Also I will be working on Quarry Shark again once I get my new digital housing!!!
We are starting to finish this site, FINALLY. I will be working on the equipment and clothing sections this month. I have 2 peoples pics ready for the photo album's section: Tom Pritchard and John Good's. I will also be soliciting info for the members section real soon!!!! Keep an eye out for these!
Keep On Diving and Live The Adventure!!!
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