 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Click To Enlarge
From Tom Pritchard . . .
Wed 23 June
Caving at Willow. Even though we only get to see Willow 10 feet at a time, with 100+ dives there, Gerhard Maree and I can claim with only mild hyperbole to have seen most of the quarry at least once. Of course, we've seen less of the eastern part of the quarry since we only dive from the cement dock about 3 months each year. Last night while plowing along the wall that heads to Dave Balley's truck, we found an underwater cave. The opening is too small for a diver to get through with gear on, but the inside is large enough to hold several divers. Technically, I guess this would be defined as a cavern. Long time Willow rat Terry Martzall doubts us, and after our tales about the mystery building in the cul de sac, who can blame him. But, unlike the mystery building that Dan, Gerhard, and I saw, not once but TWICE, we can find the cave again. Terry, who has untold hundreds of dives at Willow, has promised to lower his standards and dive with us next week to see Willow's newest attraction. Last night the only good viz in the quarry was in the cave. The viz in the east end of the quarry was 10 feet at best, but fell to about 3 feet near the truck and between the bridge and the road it was only a foot. Even though this was just normal quarry silt and algae, not leftover elephant load, it was a challenge at times to know where you were going. Willow, which always has had everything, now has cave diving.
After four unsuccessful attempts this season, Gerhard Maree and I finally got to dive one of the east coast wrecks, the Gulftrade, courtesy of the dive boat Gypsy Blood. Beautiful day with 2 ft seas. The Gulftrade was a Gulf Oil tanker that U-boat 588 sunk in March of 1942. The stern section, which bears only a passing resemblance to a ship, lies in 90 fsw about 19 miles off the NJ coast. With viz approaching 40 ft it was a great day to pick through the wreckage looking for lobster. We pulled two bugs out, but threw the small one back. If the other one hadn't eaten a hearty breakfast that morning, he probably would have been too mall as well. He was a lot more formidable underwater than in the boat's cooler where he looked like a prawn among the larger bugs picked up by the other divers. One of our two stone crabs was hiding under a small piece of hull plate which we flipped over. Everything went smoothly on the Gypsy Blood, which was crewed that day by Seeker ex-patriot Shawn Sweeny and Jim, one of the regular Seeker divers. Dive 1: 87 fsw; 68 minutes. Dive 2: 89 fsw; 95 minutes. Bottom temps in the mid-high 40's. If our dive next Saturday July 3rd on the Algol goes off as planned, we'll be above the Mendoza line for the first time this season.
From Bryan Palmer . . .
All right ya’ll, we partook in the annual camp out for the summer. First of a few more to come this summer I hope. I had a wonderful weekend of diving and it was made even better by the gorgeous weather and wonderful people that showed up on the dive site. First dive of the day was as normal with meeting up at 8:30 and didn’t hit the water till almost 9:30-10. Rock and Mayo went ahead and I went in with Sharon “The Brit”, Frank and Doug from York. About 5 minutes in Doug and Sharon went there own way and Frank and I headed of down into the BSC abyss. We had a nice trip across the BSC Great plains at 90’ passing the pump house and a few other objects. We even managed making it to the barn. Frank and I had talked about what we were going to be breathing which is always important so when we ascended and Frank switched to his deco of 100% I was not worried. However we ended up losing each other on our way back to the exit point only about 4 minute swim, but nonetheless separated. You have to be aware of your environment and whom you are diving with. I still had 11 minutes deco and Frank had switched to his 100% air so he couldn’t drop below his given depth and I couldn’t come up. This is always good practice for when you’re in the ocean. And with ocean dives coming I am all for the practicing. All and all I saw 40 minutes at 90 feet after you take out the deco and everything else. A little side note I heard no complaints from Doug so Sharon’s slow practice in navigation must be getting better, cause they did find there way out.
Next I did 2 dives with Dennie Leese’s Open water class with Beautiful Bud and I being the DM’s what a scare that must have been to the students. Congratulations to Anthony, Crissy, and Abby. Chris Thomson was practicing taking pictures while we were doing our first dive so I guess we will here how they came out at a later point. Other divers gracing us with there presence included, John gross, and Pete Bohling along with John’s 2 students the Presslers, and Neil banner and Lisa Mays. Sharon and I headed in for a shallow dive along the road, a Pre-night dive. There are lots of fish and tons of catfish to see along the road, not to mention all the baby catfish so be careful where you step. James Zimmerman headed in the water with Ron Lobb after some coaxing from me, I can’t believe he was waiting for his wife to call and left the phone with me.
Some late comers included Cindy Lu, son Josh, Patrick Beck, Mark Myers and company (wife Karen, daughter Savannah, and son Jack) the Mayo Kids “Whitney and um his son” James Z, his wife & his son Corbin. I really hope that covers everyone if not I am pleading the 5th. Well the Rock’s chili was great as usual and Sharon was introduced to the American tradition of smore’s, the verdict is still out on that one. And yes all the night dives went of with out problems, nice and enjoyable they are a pleasure and something different to do.
Sunday came rather early!! I don’t think the train at 3 am had anything to do with it but I am not sure about that one yet. Sharon and I did another dive with Scott the rock and mayo after hitting the deep boat at 90’ Sharon and I went our own way and may and rock theirs. All I know is when we exited the water both rock and mayo were gone. I ended up with 69 minutes and a max depth of 114’ and no deco either. Now that is what I call a good dive. When you add everything up I had 6 dive for the weekend and some where around 5 hours blowing bubbles.
I’ll be rather scarce the next few week around the dive sight as I am headed to the Algol with Gypsyblood on Saturday and to Delaware on Monday with the surface interval a shop sponsored trip, and then Friday leaving for an over night trip to the Resor with a few other East coast divers even a few from the shop.
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
|
|
||||
Home | Classes | Events | Equipment | Clothing | Instructors | Staff | Members
|
||||