 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
From Tom Pritchard . . .
Smokey's trip to the Chapparro was blown out last weekend when the Gypsy Blood got a case of bad gas the day before. So after 6 weeks of either being on the wrecks or blown out at the dock, I had a weekend home to catch up on a summer's backlog of chores. But Scuba Whore Gerhard had to dive so he entered the multiclub obstacle course competition at Willow. His dive buddy was some random diver floozy he picked up the site. Diver Floozy managed to get separated from GMan and then went lost, which is hard to do when you're teamed up with Gerhard who knows Willow better than Terry Martzall. (After all, Gerhard knows where the cave is and Terry Martzall doesn't. After I told Roger Heins and Dave Hoshauer how to get to the cave, they found it last night. They pulled the boulders away from the entrance so that Terry can find it next week. Hopefully they left a strobe and tied a buoy to it too.) Terry, with Roger's able assistance, finished third in the obstacle course. They would have placed higher, but they got stumped on one of the harder questions: How many PADI instructors does it take to change a light bulb?
Tangle Thursday - Viz was better this week than last - about 5 ft. at the platform increasing to 15 ft. in the burbs. GMan and I decided to run reels into the unknown. With GMan on compass I took the first turn on the reel. I ignored the line as it slithered through the latch on my left fin; after all, it might come off and wouldn't be a problem unless/until I turned around. After hitting the wall we looped west, tied off on the cement mixer, and then headed off again. We were interrupted by a school of more than one hundred 4 inch perch before hitting another school of 25 small fry; it was almost tropical. After we bumped into a large cylinder with vents along one side, GMan lagged to inspect it. I waited. I waited some more. Finally I accepted my fate: I turned and wound the %$#%& line around my left fin. After GMan ran his reel, we headed off into the east end looking for the cave. At about 70 minutes, Gerhard now sated on nitrogen, needed protein so we turned the dive. I didn't realize that I was within inches of a high tensile, spiral wire; when I turned, it wrapped up my regs. I immediately checked my PADI manual: it said to back out of entanglements. After putting my PADI manual away, I decided that wouldn't work since I twisted my way into the snarl. I could try to pirouette in the opposite direction to undo my mess, but that seemed ill-advised. A little wiggling and wobbling and in about 30 seconds I was out of it just as Gerhard turned to find out why I had misappeared. 80 minutes. 59 degrees.
Shadow Divers. If you haven't had a chance to read it, you're missing a real page turner. The book arrived this week and I tore through it in about 36 hrs. If you've done any east coast wreck diving you'll recognize the names, places, and even some of the stories contained in Shadow Divers. A combo of danger and adventure, it has an almost whodunit flavor that has attracted enough interest from the non-diving public to put it at number 4 on the NY Times Best Seller list and Amazon.com. Gerhard says the audio tape is great too. A must read!
From Darth Vern . . .
Myself and James Zimmerman headed to Indian River Inlet last Friday at 3:30am for a departure time of 7am on the Surface Interval. Well I drove [not that crazy] and we still had time for breakfast. Our destination this day was a 2 hour boat ride away named the Northern Pacific [NP]. The NP is a 500 ft. long passenger liner destroyed by fire February 8, 1922, the depth is 140fsw tables. I was told this was a great dive and we were not disappointed. Seas all but flat and sky was overcast and the surface temp was in the 70s. As I geared up and dropped in viz was at least 60 feet down, 75 degrees and clear blue. At about 60 feet down there was a MAJOR thermocline, viz dropped to the usual 20 feet and the temp dropped to about 45 degrees. As I reached the inverted hull at 125fsw and headed aft. Nothing really great so far except Ocean Pout everywhere. [see pics] I reached JameZ after a short swim and we pretty much cruised around the outside. On the 2nd dive we had a more definitive plan. Trish informed me of a large crack in the hull righ about where we were but up on top. JameZ ran his "girlie pink" wreck reel line and we headed for the hole. About a 10 minute swim and we found the hole. JameZ kept going on the hull and I ventured inside. My 10 watt Dive Rite HID lite lit the inside like daytime. As I penetrated for awhile I started noticing lobster [I am not a bug hunter] I tried for a few but realized why I am not - not very good at it. After almost getting stuck and getting a good scare I was out of there after about 15 minutes. I exited the hole I entered, I saw JameZ pink wreck line and I waited for him on his return trip to the anchor line. We ascended with our usual 2 minute stop 1/2 way up on deep dives. I ended up with some major deco time [45 mins] after a small gas/computer screwup. When I finally exited JameZ was packed and sleeping, which made me laugh.
An incredible dive day, not to hot, calm seas and a fantastic wreck on a great dive boat. The Friday dive [which is becoming semi-regular] was very relaxed and the 2 hour boat ride, gave us plenty of nap time!!!
This week we are headed to the Surface Interval again on Sunday to dive the Jacob Jones. Should be a fantastic dive to 120fsw, I can not wait, my camera is ready!!!
Drop me a line if you are interested in a Beginner Type EC Wreck Dive [maybe Sept. 18?] or have any u/w digital photography questions, I am always eager to help!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
Click To
Enlarge
Enlarge
|
|
||||
Home | Classes | Events | Equipment | Clothing | Instructors | Staff | Members
|
||||