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From John Gross . . .
Advanced Open Water – July 9 & 10 – Bainbridge
Congratulations to our four newest Advanced Open Water divers, Dale Whitebloom, Kenny Whitebloom, Eric Whitebloom, and Natasha (Scooter) Harmuth. All four did a wonderful job and I look forward to diving with them again real soon. In fact Mr. Whitebloom and his two sons are trying to schedule a dive at Dutch with me in early September.
This weekend was the nicest weekend in a long time. The air temperature on both Sat and Sun were very comfortable. The water temp above 20 feet was so warm I did all three dives in a wetsuit without gloves or hood. Very refreshing! Pete and I arrived at Bainbridge Sat morning at 8:30 PM. We setup our gear relaxed and around 10 AM we went into the water to move some weights with our lift bags. We decided to move a really large cement wheel and it took both my 200 lb & 100 lb lift bags to get it off the bottom. We moved it to the North wall at the beach area of access A. Then we moved a cement bucket to a location 100 feet east of the cement wheel. We ran a line between the two for our navigation swim. By the time we were done with this Dale Whitebloom and his two sons had arrived. We discovered that Dale and his sons had done their Open Water training in the Caribbean and had never dived in a quarry before. After diving with them on the navigation dive we realized that they had excellent diving skills and would do fine the rest of the weekend. Natasha had already done the Navigation dive earlier in the year along with a Peak Performance dive. So Natasha only needed to do the Search & Recovery dive, Night dive, and the Deep Dive. The navigation dive went well with everyone doing his or her kick cycle count and timed fixed length dive. During the timed fixed length dive one of the divers dropped my watch. Pete and did a search for it but couldn’t find it. After about 10 minutes of looking for it we decided to move on. I asked Pete to take the divers on a tour of the area and I would retrieve the 100-foot rope. As I dropped down on the rope I noticed something shinny I the grass and you guessed it, it was my watch!
After the surface interval we were back in the water doing our Search & Recovery dive. White one buddy team looked for a cement bucket/block another team looked for a bolt that came from TMI. We needed to get it back to them by 5 PM. Both buddy teams found their objects and the objects were hidden again and everyone reversed rolls. The TMI bolt was found just minutes before our deadline and everyone is now safe thanks to the excellent skills of our Search and Recovery divers! When you see Natasha or the Whitebloom’s remember to thank them for saving us all! During the S & R dive while Natasha was tying the lift bag onto the cement bucket/block someone accidentally stepped on her fin and it came off her foot. So we had to run a side S & R for her fin. After a few minutes Jeff Raykos earned his DM strips by finding the BLACK fin in a total black out. Good job Jeff!
On the night dive we did a compass navigation (out and back) and a three-minute stay on the platform in total darkness. Even with a fraction of the moon visible for moonlight we could see everyone after our eyes adjusted to the darkness. In fact each student acknowledged my ok sign while all the lights were covered. We then went on a tour and saw bass, sunfish, catfish, and crawfish. I was even able to hold a small fish in my hands and pass him off to two of my students. When then continued our dive out the road and back.
Sunday morning found us getting ready for the deep dive. I could tell everyone was a little nervous as no one talked on the surface swim out to the deep platform. Jeff Raykos (divemaster candidate) and I took Dale and Kenny down to the deep platform. AI’s Pete and Bob brought Eric & Natasha down. We did our math problem and checked our depth gauges against our buddy’s depth gauge. I asked everyone if they wanted to go down to the deep boat but they all gave me the cold sign and wanted to go up. So we ascended and did our safety stop and swam back to shore. This dive lasted 20 minutes and all of the students and some of the AI’s were happy to do the safety stop in warm water. Since Natasha was finisher after the deep dive she and Scuba Bob headed home. I understand they both had other commitments Sunday afternoon. Exactly what is more important then diving?
Our last dive was a wreck dive. We decided to use the cement mixer as our wreck. The barrel on the cement mixed is still submerged and it took us a few minutes to find the wreck. We descended down the line and one-buddy team practices swimming around the wreck while the other buddy team swam around the other direction. Since other divers had been on the cement mixer just minutes before us the viz was a total blackout. I am happy to report no one panicked and both buddy teams accomplished their goals for this dive. We all left and went to Marcos for fun, drinks, and paperwork. This coming weekend, July 16 & 17, I have a Deep and Wreck Specialty class at Dutch Springs. Let me know if you are interested.
From Bob Hanna . . .
Natasha Harmuth (Scooter Q) made her first ever trip to Bainbridge in order to finish her Advanced Class with John Gross before departing for the N Car trip on Saturday July 16. Her first 2 dives were completed at Dutch Springs with the Grogans (and others). Search and Recovery, Night Dive and Deep Dive were on tap for Saturday and Sunday. I am certain that John Gross will present an overview discussing the roles of AI's Pete Bohling, and Bob Hanna, and Dive Master Jeff Rakos and the rest of the class. This report focuses on Scooter's experience.
The weather on Saturday was picture perfect. Above the surface it stayed in the low 80s, there was no crowd, very relaxing. Below the surface the VIZ was well "early July". John and Bob renewed their running debate as to whether the VIZ is better at Willow Springs or Bainbridge. We dove both dives in 3 mil wetsuits, hoods and gloves were optional.
The idea was to do only 2 searches. One group would look for a small object, a shiny bolt attached to a slate. The other would look for either a cement block or a bucket of cement to be raised with a lift bag. No problem. The training worked, piece of cake. The 3rd search was unscheduled. Scooter lost a fin. But she lost it in an area where her team had just tied off the lift bag to a cinder block. The third search conducted largely by John and Jeff with minimal help from Bob and Pete was conducted in zero VIZ. To complicate matters the color of her fin was, you guessed it, black. Miracles do happen, Jeff recovered the fin. Between dives the search began for a method or way to secure her fins on her for the night dive.
Between dives we ate. John, for the first time anybody could remember decided not to sleep over, and not to bring his grill. So Scubabob e-mailed the group that he was bringing his Grill. While most of the group brought Subway Sandwiches, Scooter Q and Scubabob ate sword fish. Burgers, Dogs, Potato Salad and Coleslaw were also available. The solution for Scooter's fins was to take Bob's laces from his sneakers! They were then tied through the D ring on the fins and the zipper on her boot and around her ankle making her entry into and exit from the water interesting.
The night dive requires descending to a platform, sitting there in the mostly dark, then navigating away from the platform and back. Despite the July VIZ it went pretty well. We went in 2 groups for a "tour" which means a dive on the sunken road. A night dive on the sunken road can be quite spectacular. But it is only so so with the July VIZ. There are lots of little cat fish, some crayfish, sunfish (always), bass, and other freshwater creatures whose name(s) I know not. We did our navigation, packed up and departed returning at 8:30 Sunday for the deep dive.
We made it to the 68' platform, but the VIZ as described by Pete was the worst he had ever seen it. Nobody went below the platform to boat. Three of our 4 students were in wet suits and diving in a Quarry for the first time. They had never been in 41-42 degree water before. I can imagine the shock to their system. Scooter was wearing a dry suit with an Argon Bottle. She was quite comfortable except for her hands. Her wet suit gloves were not warm enough. This 20 minute dive met the deep dive requirement so everybody was happy. Bob now must find and purchase new shoe laces as his can not be rethreaded and attached to his sneakers.
From Darth Vern . . .
Does anyone remember the difficulties with sinking the Spiegel Grove as an artifical Wreck off Key Largo FL. First it turned turtle and finally it rested on its side. We [Jim B, Me and Patty] dove the wreck a year later and I thought it was cool, but woould have been WAY BETTER if it was upright. Well, after hurricane Dennis passed by, the Spiegel Grove sits upright on the bottom!!!
It would appear the new orienation is not unversally well received, however. Dennis was not a big storm in the upper keys (40 knots winds and 20 ft waves) and it was not expected to affect the wreck the way it did. The people who approve artificial wrecks will now have reasonable concerns about what a major storm might do, as an example, break the wreck apart and scatter it all over the natural reef.
Check out this link for more information. But it seems to be a wonder that Stephen Frink has not gotten the "signature image" of the new orientation yet!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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