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From Tom Pritchard . . .
Terry Martzell, Linda Sackison, Roger Heins, Bryan Palmer, Gerhard Maree, Bill Siwiec, Nate Brommer, Jess Zellers, Jay Bell, George Heck, Paul, and the elusive but always effervescent Rick Huck were on hand to maintain the Thursday night tradition. I know I'm forgetting someone, including one of the survivors from last week whose name I never caught. If Dan wasn't at Willow last night, it was hard to tell. No matter where the conversation wandered, there always seemed to a "Dan" angle. Although I had been in the water since Dan's death, it was sobering to return to Willow where every nook and cranny seemed to be part of the story. Bill, Nate, and I puttered around on the ropes between the bus and airplane working on our dry suit skills. It just didn't seem like the night to go out and get lost, have our dive lights go out, and run low on air. Maybe we'll find our routine next week. Congratulations to Bill for finally finishing the tank of air that he used for all of his dives for the 2000, 2001, and 2002 dive seasons. We all toasted Dan with wine that Terry and Linda brought. Terry said it was that "wine in a box" stuff, but it came in a plastic bladder that looked a lot like Dan's counter lung. Fortunately, the wine tasted better than the contents of Dan's counter lung, known affectionately as "Dan Soup." A glass of wine was poured in the quarry in memory of Dan. There were a lot of stiff upper lips and people talking about moving on, but it looked like a lot of good acting and some not so good acting.
From John Gross . . .
On Saturday at 4 PM I met Michelle Mayo and Ken Miller at Bainbridge to do Open Water Training dive one. The weather was great and we entered the water and checked the cement mixer, 2 boats, and the lawn mover. We couldn't get it started - I guess the engine was flooded! Ok, I couldn't help myself. In any case both Ken & Michelle found the 45 degree water to be a bit cold for their wetsuits. We ended the dive after 25 minutes. But according to Diver Dan's standards it was a good dive. Michelle went home to a hot shower, Ken is in a band and had to join his band for a late night job. Everyone was back at Bainbridge Sunday morning by the time I arrived at 8:30AM. I expected to be the first one their instead I found out I was the last one to arrive. I knew it would be a long day as we had to do three dives. John Ruble decided to get more practice with his drysuit and accompanied Michelle and Ken on their first & second dive.
Dive 1 found us on the platform for skills and since we needed more proactive with buoyancy our tour consisted of around the platform. After about 22 minutes some of the divers were getting low on air so we returned to shore for our surface interval. Around noon James Zimmerman and Christopher Thompson showed up for a fun dive. Pete Bohling offered to take them both on a dive. James has a new drysuit on order and since it hadn't arrived he was using of the our rental suits. Because the neck seal was too tight he decided to pass on the second dive. Chris and Pete proceeded to do a second dive. But when Chris got to the cement mixer and the colder water below the second thermocline be decided it was time to head back into warmer waters. After we logged out dives and ate lunch we headed back in for dive 2.
After successfully completing the skills on the platform we headed to the boat that is west of the cement mixer. Michelle signaled she had a problem and I found her fin was almost off her foot. I after reattaching the fin I found John Ruble didn't like the temperature, as we were below the second thermocline. After a brief visit on the boat we proceeded up the line and did our safety stop. Then back to shore for remove and replace weight belts and BCD's. The cold water was taking its toll on my Open Water divers so I gave them a 2 hour surface interval. Around 3PM we entered the water for out last dive of the day. We decided to do the skills on the platform it in the bowl. Since it was really kicked up from Dennie's rescue class it would be a true test of the navigating skills. Both Michelle and Ken did a fine job using their compass and both successfully returned to the platform. We then headed out the road for better viz and warmer waters. This dive lasted 40 minutes and everyone enjoyed the viz, warmer water, and big fish.
We now have two more divers among our ranks. Congratulations to Michelle Mayo (Chris Mayo's wife) and Ken Miller! I understand Michelle and Chris will be diving at Bainbridge next weekend. If you see them congratulate Michelle on becoming a Certified Open Water diver.
James Zimmerman and Christopher Thompson are doing an Advanced class with me on June 14 and June 29. There is still room for more in that class. If your interested in obtaining you Advanced Cert give Cindy a call at Smokey's and join the fun!
This coming weekend I will be at Bainbridge Sat and Sun doing a Rescue class. Come on out and dive and don't forget to stop by and say hello. The water levels are back to normal and the road is a great dive, shallow, warmer, and plenty of fish.
From Bryan Palmer . . .
Well lets see thursday night SawMost of the thursday night Irregulars gather for a dive up at Willow springs, Huck and I did a 45 minute dive out to the quest and then to the fire truck and back in. Most of the night saw people strickly diving single pair buddies except for the threesome of Pritchard, Wild bill, and Nate Brommer. We concluded the Dive with a Toast to our Lost friend, and headed to Palio's for pizza together.
Sunday saw the Trio of Scott the Rock, Chris the Man Mayo, and Myself out doing out first day of dives in our rescue Class, All in all it was a good start, we were assisted by Divemaster Bud "I can't wait till rescue breathing starts" and DM in training Liz Zyla "does anyone know how cold it is out here". We went through with out to many crazy dumb things nad even had DM Kelly how made a pizza run for us!!! thanks Kelly!!! We will continue the second have the dive report in 3 weeks when we finish as our Fearless leader Deenie head to the Caymens for Warm water!!!
From Darth Vern . . .
Website - I will be working on Diver Dan's Memorial pages this week. If anyone would like to add anything to them, please email me. I will be posting a form at the end of this week for anyone wanting to join our members list. It will be a very simple form that will add your name to a list of people looking for dive buddies!!!!
Diving - We are also heading to Dutch Springs this Saturday to finish our solo class with Capt. Dan Crowell, all are welcome to meet there and dive for fun as well. The Krazy Klub is also trying to get out this Wed or Thur Morning at Wabank if anyone is interested, email Cindy for details!
From Mark Myers . . .
I decided this week to put the diving first, as it should be, but now a quick word from me about Saturday’s memorial service for Dan “Diver Dan” Myers. In a word, floored. On behalf of the family, we were utterly and completely amazed at the incredible outpouring of support. We had told the church staff to expect perhaps 250, maybe 300 people if everyone we could think of came. They started putting up folding chairs when the count passed 500 people. Both my wife and I, and my parents were disappointed that we only got to speak to a fraction of those who came out to show their support for us, and their love for Dan. The ceremony was at times light and informal, and at times moving and full of tears, and everyone who wanted got just one free lunch on Dan for a change. In the end, it was truly a celebration of his life. Everyone enjoyed the picture boards we set up – with the divers able to see other parts of Dan’s life – and the others about to see the diving that had become so important to him in recent years. Two of my staff members – Jim Hollenbaugh, and Shawn O’Neal put together a short video with clips of Dan from our own archives, as well as those of the Seeker, and “Beautiful” Bud Fletcher. There were some moving tributes – the text of most of them can be found in the memorial section of our web site. I think Tom Pritchard was flying by the seat of his pants, making a real bid to be the new shop character – so we don’t have the text of his remarks. Take it from me, they were irreverent, goofy, respectful, and amazingly moving all at the same time. Thanks Tom. There was a huge turn out from Smokey’s, from Dan’s co-workers at U.G.I., family, and of course almost the entire crew of the Seeker. We have already heard of many, many contributions to our two charities made in Dan’s name.
I know that many of our diving community are grieving along with us and we appreciate and thank you for your support. If you can remember one thing from this experience – remember the number of lives that just one Diver Dan touched. Each one of us is special and each one of us makes a difference in someone’s life every day. Dan has a mission for all of us – finish that degree, contribute to that charity, help that friend, get that certification, just get out and dive …
And should you falter in making your contribution to make the planet a better place – we’ll holler at you, sell you a bunch of gear you may not really need, and run you over with a little black truck.
We’ll miss you Dan, more than you’ll ever know.
Get Out And Dive - LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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