Greetings Divers

From "Uptown" Jim Brown . . .
Thursday, July 17, Wabank Aquaculture
We had a good crowd again at Wabank. My bestest dive buddy Vern was awaiting when I arrived. Several divers were already in the water: The Rock, Nate and others. Bill Rote and Dandy Don were on site as was Instructor John Gross. Beautiful Frank blessed us with his presence along with his lovely wife! Rick Huck sported a small picnic with his lovely wife Sue (thanks for NOT sharing your grub Huck!). Cindy and Josh were gearing up and getting wet too. Mark Myers arrived with Jack and Savannah, snorkeling extraordinaire(s), while we were below. Becky and Frank Herring showed too and took a dip in the clear waters of Wabank.

Huckster gave us a free surface tow out to the south end to start the dive. Vern held Rick's finz and I held Vern's finz and a scootering we went. We tried to sink a new boat near the west telephone pole but did not have enough beef to get the job done. Vern and I dropped down to the Spur to start our dive at 70'. Vis was excellent. A Wabank snake now appears on the plateau just south of the Loafer, forming a perfect arch for Kodak moments - bring a light or strobe. On past the outhouse to the next boat then east to the 60' platform. The bottom temp reached 41F but I was holding up ok in my 7mm farmer john (read, dry suit repairs not yet completed). We mosied over to the tube at 60' then up to the sub. We met Wabank Jim here cruising for pics around the 20' platform. He is such a beauty! Our last hurrah before surfacing was a homemade movie of Darth and yours truly in front of the video camera. Too fun! 73' for 46 minutes - nice dive.

Join us this Thursday, and every Thursday, at Wabank for an evening of submersion and socializing. It doesn't get much better than this in your own back yard! Many thanks to Cindy for keeping the Thursday night dives alive!

Saturday, July 19, Bainbridge
After a late start helping one of my buddies with a little bicycle maintenance, the patient one Henderson Beaner and I met at BSC, upper A, to cruise the bottom and take some pics. I arrived at upper A to find a set of doubles strapped to a backplate, a wadded up dry suit doubling as a pillow and backrest, and one beautiful man on a picnic table just dozing off into pre-dive euphoria and wonderment. He said he hasn't experienced that kind of peace and quiet for some time. Thank you very much, that'll be $60 for that hour that I was late. Hey, it's cheaper than therapy! Vern exercised a little Smokey's good will ambassadorship and passed around a couple of business cards to three divers from Baltimore. They were the only other divers at upper A. The lower access had two classes going on, shop unknown.

We geared up and dropped in at the steep path into the Bowl. The dozer was our first stop where I experienced digital photog with and w/o a color filter over the lens. See the difference in the pics, pretty neat. The pump house was our next stop as Vern has been there only once. Vis was really good at the dozer and over to the ph. We could see the south 60' platform from the ph. We moved on to the south ridge of the Pond to the log crossing then turned due south to the blast shack, bingo, right on target. The BSC turtle remains at rest on the shack and is now covered with a healthy layer of BSC schmutz, yuck! Now, since I was giving nav lessons to Vern, we moved just east of the shack to the big boulder and turned precisely NE, on our way to the step van and tanker. The vis on the bottom is pretty bad now. A debris pile and toolbox came into sight with the step van just east. We could see the entire van and the water clarity was actually pretty good here. The tanker was not in sight from the van. We kicked over to it just to have a look and snap a couple of pics. I was feeling the 39F bottom temp through my 7mm farmer john and needed to head to higher ground. Vern's feet and hands were cold too, in his "rental" dry suit. We planned to finish the dive along the road to take more pics so off we went. Our ascent was slow and controlled as our deco time mounted; I had 12 minutes and Vern ended up with about 7, confirming that diving just a few feet above your buddy through the dive can and does make a difference in bottom time.

We were a long way out on the road and had a nice photo swim back. The vis along the road was not too good but we made the most of it. Using a digital cam with an LCD in bright sunlight UW is a challenge. We need to rig up a hood to block sunlight from the LCD so we can actually see what we're shooting at. The fish life was crazy along the road and should be a must on everyone's dive plan, at some point, at BSC. We had another great buddy dive, 99' for 67 minutes!

Surface duty, Monday, July 21
Since I live in York, Mark Myers asked me to represent Smokey's at Faith United Church on Pacific Ave at their opening night of Vacation Bible School - Under the Water Scuba theme. Sheesh, the things we do for the love of the sport! I was asked to simply "open" the session with showing 25-30 kids, preschool-Grade 5, how its possible to breath under water. Well, I geared up, sans wet suit, and made a grand entrance following an introduction by The Pirate and Sponge Bob Square Pants. It was a lot of fun and the kids must have been narced and panicked because their eyes were as big as apples. They thought it was pretty cool. I gave a brief introduction to scuba, introduced the Seal Team possibilities and field numerous questions. Hey, I'll take one for the team any time!


From Kent "Dr Deco" Hirsh . . .
This was the fourth week in a row that the good Dr headed out to sea for wreck diving. The usual suspects had full rosters, so I called around and booked a spot on the Dina Dee II, out of Pt Pleasant, NJ. Leaving Lancaster at 3:45AM, I arrived at the boat a little past 6 for a 7:00AM sailing. After signing waivers and stowing my gear, I was joined by 12 other divers, most of whom were less technically oriented than myself- wetsuits, aluminum 80's and pony bottles dominated the benches on board. Its good to see that the ocean is accessible with only minimal gear adjustments.

Our first destination was the Lana Carol, a scallop boat which sunk in 1974 in 80 ft of water. It is intact, upright in the sand. Viz was down to about 15 ft, so I secured a line and headed out onto the sand looking for scallops. Slim pickings in the scallop department with only 6 in the bag. I spotted an abandoned tire while exploring and found Mr. lobster hiding inside. Another bug was bagged on the wreck. 45 minutes on the bottom and 10 on the line.

The boat then moved about 4 miles to the Mohawk. This Steamer was rammed in 1935 and sunk with loss of 49 passengers. It has been "cable dragged" leaving a broad debris field at 80 ft. Lots of nooks and crannies for lobsters. No scallops around, but lots of mussels. I spotted a few lobsters, but they were out of reach. Saw some very large 9-10 lb fluke. This is a fun wreck, again a good destination for beginning wreck divers. Its close to shore, not deep and lots to see. We were back at the dock by 12:30 and I jumped in the water at Wabank by 3:30 to give my gear a fresh water rinse.

The ocean was calm with 1-2 ft rollers, the thermocline starts at 30 ft and the bottom is in the upper 50's-low 60's. Viz is enhanced by the sandy bottom, so lights are optional. Come on out and join the fun. Contact the shop if you'd like to join me for weekend ocean diving.


From Darth Vern . . .
I am almost finished "learning" all about streaming media and we will soon have some very good movie clips on OUR SITE that we will all be able to enjoy! Plus that means we will start to shoot more video as well! Every Thursday nite at Wabank, come one come all, even if your name happens to be Jim!!!!



Get Out and Dive and Live The Adventure!!!