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From Tom Pritchard . . .
According to one of this week's dive reports, I have been downgraded from wine whore to media whore just b/c I went to Wabank last Thursday so that an Intelligencer Journal reporter could interview the whole gang from Smokey's that dove in Vancouver a few weeks ago. The photographer did arrive in time to catch my giant stride but when it was time for the group picture, I missed it b/c I was diving, which is a pretty good excuse. I buddied up with Will Bill Siwiec who was wilder than normal. While I was about 10 feet down right off the dock dealing with a leaky mask, somebody dropped their lead weights on me. Couldn't be Wild Bill, I mused, b/c Wild Bill prides himself on being so well-groomed under water. Guess again. After old "Lead Ass Bill" crawled down the embankment, he picked up a couple of weights while I stirred up the bottom. We dropped to the bottom (92') and found no more. We headed off to the fish pens which I had never seen before, circled back and had a very nice dive. Here's a suggestion: If you dive with Bill and he asks if the dive was long enough, say "yes." Even though we hit 92' and had a run time of 64 minutes, I said it wasn't long enough. When your dive buddy starts chanting in a whiny voice "deeper, longer, deeper, longer," I can tell you, there's no place to hide
From Jess Zellers . . .
Thursday- It's me, you know where
Last week was small and this week was smaller yet! ( gee I'm getting tired of always saying it's a small week) Gerhert, Speedy, diver #3 then Kulp and me. Tom Prichard was noticably absent, although we weren't surprised. Earlier this week he said he didn't love us anymore and was going to Wabank this week because he's a media whore. Kulp and I set out for a long dive heading to the Quest, firetruck, west wall, Bubba, mystery boat and points farther south. Right now viz is still pretty much typical Myerstown summer alge green, but not too bad if you're near the bottom and away from walls. So after an hour and half dive we were well adjusted to the gloom. But after we ran into three other divers and followed them along the tracks, the viz got really really bad. Must be a localized phenomenon. Followed by the usuall dinner at Palao's.
Sunday- Bainbridge
What do you call a bunch of Smokey's divers on top at A when the men vastly outnumber the ladies? You'd call it your average weekend at Bainbridge, but since we had food we'll call it the Ladies Day Dive. What happened ladies!!?! Christa & Kelly Steward came in from near Philly. Christa, Kelly, Cindy and me headed out down the slope a bit, ran south, then out along the wall for awhile. Viz wasn't that great (and I'm use to myerstown!), but we managed to all stay together. For a second dive I thought we'd try the road for better viz and a warmer dive for 'the wetsuit among us'. John Gross was up with a class being help out by dive master Pete and D.I.T. Chris Mayo. Ray Becker has been sighted!! Huck was giving him a hand with his class. Nate Brommer and his wife were up to snorkle, we ended up chaining him to the grill screaming COOK cook cook!! Nate, that's what happens when you sit right next to the grill.
Labor Day weekend coming up, which means..... you have an even better excuse to go diving!! Not only do you want to, you should, and it's the right thing to do - now it's a holiday too! Start early on thursday, two quarries to choose from. Go all weekend, three quarries to choose from (four if you want to drive to Allentown!). Finish up on monday (hey you have the day off, do something wet), uhhh a monday mornging... Myerstown or Dutch. One weekend you could dive all the major quarries in PA, think of the possibilites!! And no excuses of "but I don't have anyone to dive with", "the compressor's down", "I smell funny". Put the word out you're looking for someone to dive with (we can't read minds) or just show up! The compressor is alive once again!!, and there was much rejoicing. Take a bath, or just dive wet. See no more excuses!! Dive.
From Bob Hanna . . .
Hanna, Hockley, Spayd and Rosing teamed up for two dives. There were other Smokey Divers diving at Dutch. They were easy to identify as they were often overheard saying things like, "John Gross would have done it this way."
The plan called for The Map to lead the underwater navigation to the helicopter, then NE to the unmarked boat, then E to see where the ridge went, and then go from there. The viz in places was more like Willow Spring in August. We ran (swam) into the side of the helicopter, but only Hanna and Spayd knew what it was because of the Viz. On the E side of the ridge is the little boat (on the official map) that has the rope leading S to the Tanker which we followed. We came back around the N end of the Island and followed the ropes to the really big boat, then the wall to the E side of the Peninsula. This was a very nice 50 minute dive.
Our Second Dive took us on a 50 minute venture into the deepest part of the Quarry where we bottomed out at 93 feet.(There are deeper areas.)
Note: We do roughly 10 minute safety stops by swimming in the 10-15' range along the wall on all long dives.
From Darth Vern . . .
Saturday found me, Uptown Brown, new Smokeys diver Ian Swisher and Barry and Sue Breaven [they aren't married yet, but after meeting them, its close enuff for me]. We picked Dutch Springs for Barry and Sue's 5th and 6th dives, thinking it would be "clear, warm water" [that is "quarryspeak" for 30 ft of viz and 60 degrees] but to our dismay, we had 5-10 ft of viz and relatively warm water. Temps were 70 on the surface, but mid 50s at 50 ft. But never-the-less Barry in a 3mm suit held in there like a champ and did both dives totalling 1 1/2 hrs. I was very impressed! This week I will miss Wabank, but I know the usual crew will be there! This is Labor Weekend coming up and we will be everywhere. Stay tuned [to your email that is] for more specifics!
So get out and dive, there really isn't any excuses!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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