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From Cindy Lu Who . . .
Ladies Day....
Well, the experienced and the novice lady divers that were available on Sunday showed up with smiles on their faces and a bounce in their kick! As usual, we enjoyed the diving (even with the poor viz), the cuisine, and the surface interval. I am sad to say that the men that joined us on the site arrived WITHOUT skirts, aprons or shaved bellies as promised. However, they joined in the fun and oh yes... the food. Among the many, Kathy Stevens-Jackson, Beth Hess (both working ladies that day- no, not that kind of working ladies- an open water class), Fran Rebert, Pat Gross, Donna Mitschele, Savannah Myers, ( that's right, Mark's daughter did a bubble maker in the lagoon- way to start 'em young Mark- Diver Dan would be PROUD!) Diana Sholl, Vivian Galebach, Tiffany, Susie Friedman; Janine High, Sandy Ruble, and Keri Buckwalter and Cindi Sites joined during the surface interval while they were completing their Rescue certification- Congratulations girls! Oh yes, and Jess Zellers joined us in spirit AND in the water, just in a warmer location, the Blue Grotto! The day was a success. I have had some requests to have one more often then annually so, keep tuned in.
Don't forget to start planning for the Underwater Christmas Tree decorating contest at BSC on 12/12/04. Call me for ornament specifications.... the tackier the better- but appropriate to the audience of voters please!
Thanks Ladies for a great day!!
From Tom Pritchard . . .
Willow Thursday. Liz, Shelly, Roger, Speedy, Jay, Kulp, and a cast of thousands were at Willow last Thursday. GMan and I, with Terry Parsons in tow, decided to kick off our DM mapping project by measuring the stretch between the first platform and the pipe. That done, we left the tape next to the tracks and headed for the caboose. I got us into the lagoon, but in the murky soup we missed the caboose. We backed out to Dave Balley's truck, which is now tied into the caboose and the fire truck, and followed the rope back to the caboose. Viz in the lagoon was 2-3 ft. I began the dive with 1200 psi in my doubles; GMan didn't have much more. We had to get back to the dock without getting lost so we roped it to the fire truck and Quest. Our return trip was delayed a bit when we found our measuring tape wound around the pipe a half dozen times. Scoundrels!! Of all the suspects at Willow that night, Kulp gave the least convincing "who me?" 63 minutes, 57 degrees, 8 ft viz in most places. An impromptu post dive telephone call from Jess was a special treat. She had good news - I forget if it was her plans to dive that weekend or something about the rabbit dying. Join us at Willow next week. You won't be the first people to screw up the DITs, but you can be the next.
ECWD Friday, Saturday. The Free Willy Dive. With Hurricane Jeanne coming up the coast, GMan and I got blown out of our planned NC dive for megalodon teeth. At Roger Heins' invitation, we joined him and Dave Hoshauer on the Fiasco, a 6 pack owned by Chuck Dalious and docked in Belmar, NJ. Friday night GMan and I had a glorious dive on the Dykes, a garbage barge sunk in 1983 as part of the NJ reef program. The few lobsters we saw, including the one I grabbed, were just wandering along the bottom in plain sight. That's the good news. The bad news: Chuck and Roger both succumbed to sea sickness, while Dave bagged his dive at the top of the anchor line when he felt sick. With no one to pull the anchor, we left it. GMan was dressed to the nines that night. Having left his drysuit underwear at home, he was faced with two ugly choices: dive in Dockers and his work shirt or free ball it; fortunately for everyone on board, he chose the former. You had to see GMan climbing out his drysuit wearing Dockers; it was almost a James Bond moment. GMan bought some undies from Martha Stewart on Saturday before we boarded the boat for two more dives. Unfortunately, Jeanne was getting closer and the seas were picking up. This time there was considerable surge and an annoying current on the Dykes. The 40 ft viz from the night before was closer to 20 ft now. Roger pulled the hook after the first dive and we headed home before the seas got really ugly. With Sunday now free I had a tough decision to make: Should I stay home and do chores or go to BSC for Cindy's "Girls Gone Wild" Dive. Tough decision.
From Jess Zellers . . .
Well I finally figured out diving during hurricane season. First, forget offshore wrecks!! Second, don't plan ahead. Third, when a hurricane does come through -- DIVE in the few days immedialy before, cause you know there ain't gonna be a hurricane then. So with Jean coming here Sunday and Monday, I made a mad dash for the springs on Saturday.
I had plans to meet a bunch of people at Blue Grotto, but in keeping with my string of luck of finding a good dive shop down here got stood up. Not having much luck finding a good shop here in the city, I guess it's just that after a few years of Smokey's my standards are pretty high.
Since I was already there, decided to make some new friends. But first I needed my tank topped off to 3000. I had been refused the night before at the shop here in the city, so at Blue Grotto I asked if he'd have a problem filling my tank to its moral capitcy (700-900psi over rated capitcy). I think there was yes somewhere in his response, "Damn cave divers, all you people ever want is your tanks overfilled" ... sounds about right. I got similiar reaction from people when I pulled out the 120 on a steel backplate, then the dry suit came out.
The spring head itself is fairly big, that extends to a larger room just under a ledge down to about 50ft and is still pretty well lit. At the back of that is a whole mess of huge rocks and on the other side of those is a trough that goes to 100ft and loops back to the other side of the 50ft room. With a year round water temp of 72F at 100ft!!! And viz was 13 silt particles below gin clear, I could see em I counted. From the bottom you can look up see all the fish, the turtles, top of the water and the trees 150ft away. There's this big soft shell turtle that lives there and thinks it's a dog, very friendly with divers comes right up to you check you out, noses loose regs, and wants to be petted. When you're on the back side of the drop the cave ceiling catches your bubbles just so that it looks like a reverse waterfall. But all of that pails in comparison to the view from the bottom. If you're on that deep loop looking back at the entrance, ahhh. The cave walls are totally black, just an outline with a big blue-green hole in the middle and big rocks between you and that in shades of gray. Ahhhh!!
Awhile back I had brought Smokey's first DiveRite reg, but due to ear problem did not have it any lower than 40ft. It's now been to 100ft with glowing reviews.
But all that was yesterday and today it's the hurricane of the week. Rain, cold, power's out, wind, yet another news story about hurricane supplies being sold out (you'd think after 6 of em, everybody would have what they need). Four major storms, plus two others in six weeks. Florida has never had a season like this. We here in Jacksonville are the luckiest people in the entire state as we're the only ones not to get hit yet. And two months of hurricane dodgeball to go yet.
From Greg Kulp . . .
On Sunday Sept. 26th an attempt was made to relocate the tool boxes mentioned in last week's dive report. While navigating to the Gas Station it was noticed that the hydrogen sulfide layer is up on the 100' plateau and distributed in a random manner. Upon arrival at the Junk Pile near the Gas Station the noxious substance obscured visibility from the pile to the Step Van. After a little swimming with no sight of the Step Van or the Tanker Body it was assumed that they had been bypassed to the North, which was of course incorrect. To therefore prove the old saying about assumptions, a due South course was taken to find the strings which run from the Tanker Body to the Barn. Just at the point where it was obvious a mistake had been made, the first tool box was sighted. The present location was then deduced from previous reports of the location of this tool box. A due East course was now taken to get closer to the Barn without backtracking. When it was thought that sufficient distance was covered the course was changed to due North to locate the strings and/or the Barn. This course led directly to the second tool box. The North heading was continued until the strings were found. The strings were followed to the debris just West of the Barn. From here a due West course was taken, which led directly again to the second tool box. A turn to North was made to relocate the strings. The strings were followed back towards the Gas Station. It was noted the second tool box is to the South of the strings between the weight and the Barn. On the way back a brief visit was paid to the hole. Visibility there was terrible, almost a Braille dive.
From John Gross . . .
This weekend I had six people, Gregg Minnick, Dave Barnhart, Cindi Sites, Patrick Lever, Kerri & Doug Buckwalter in a Rescue class. All six have very good diving skills. We covered topics like tired diver tows, panic diver, surfacing an unconscious diver, etc. We also refreshed our skills on alternate air source use and buddy breathing. For many it was the first time to try a buoyant ascent. A buoyant ascent can be used to bring an unconscious diver to the surface. Jim Brown was my divemaster. On Sat during one of our rescue session Jim descended onto the platform in the beach area. His job was to simulate a diving problem and each rescue student had to solve Jim's problem and bring him to the surface. Jim did this three times with three different students. Jim's problems included a weight pouch that had fallen out onto the platform and Jim was holding onto the up line from the platform, a disconnected inflator hose, and his foot caught on a cable. Jim's problems with handled by Dave, Patrick and Gregg.
After Jim was finished I had the opportunity to simulate three problems for a student to solve. My first problem was a free flowing regulator which Cindi was able to solve by giving me her regulator. She handled this problem despite my efforts to put the free flowing regulator directly in her face to make it harder for her to see. When Kerri came down to the platform she found me looking for my mask. She solved this problem by finding my mask and giving to me to put on. She then assisted me to the surface. My third problem was handled by Doug when he found me in a passive panic state, just staring straight ahead. I was really impressed with everyone's response to the problems that Jim and I simulated. Everyone did a great job!
On Sunday we were joined at Bainbridge by Smokey's annual Lady's day dive. It's always great to see the ladies out diving. It appeared that they all had a good. My wife was among the ladies diving that day. She didn't bring her gloves as I had told her she probably would be diving shallow. Cindy decided to go to the cement mixed and Pat followed. She later told me her hand were a little cold down at the cement mixer but she just put her hands in her armpits to keep them warm. Sounds like a dive problem was handled successfully!
On Sunday, while conducting the response from shore for unconscious victim (using mask, snorkel and fins), Patrick lost one of this fins. Mark Myers had just finished taking Savanna on a shallow dive and agreed to do look for the fin. While he was looking Jim and I decided to join Mark in looking for Patrick's fin. Our plan was for Jim to get lost and I would surface without him and see if my rescue students would notice and organize a search. I try and make the final rescue sessions as realistic as possible and this worked well. When I surfaced without Jim one of my students immediately asked me, "Where is Jim?" Of course I responded that we got separated looking for Patrick's fin. One rule of rescue is never let the diver, that surfaced without his buddy, back in the water to help search. My students knew I would try and get back in the water so they took and hid my fins. This should keep me out of the water, or so they thought. I didn't have the heart to tell them I had another set of fins in my gear box. So I remained on the surface and watch the rescue unfold. Seldom do you find a group people that work so well together after only two days. While Dave was setting up the O2 kit the divers found and surfaced Jim. Jim was pretending to be unconscious. Kerri started giving rescue breaths, Patrick, Doug, and Gregg started removing gear and towing Jim in using the fin push for maximum speed. Cindi was gathering all the gear and bringing it to shore. There team work was truly amazing. If a real rescue is ever needed and these six people are on the scene I can guarantee you the rescue will run smoothly. Congratulations to Gregg, Dave, Kerri, Doug, Patrick and Cindi. I was really impressed with all of you. Thanks for making this a great weekend.
Don't forget this Sat night at Bainbridge they are having the Annual Haunted Quarry Dive. Many of Smokey's divers will be there so come on out and we will have a dive buddy for everyone!
From Bryan Palmer . . .
Alright, Alright….
Well lets start with the students first, the kids in Kathy Jackson’s class from Etown college are doing quite well for having Huck and myself as dive masters and DIT Mark Muenzon. As much as I don’t always like to admit it I think the girls in this class might end up being better divers then the guys, which could be great as it might increase the attendance at ladies day next year.
Saturday
I found my self on a packed full Gypsy blood crewing for Aqua-tech dive shop. We were heading to the Great Isaac a quick 20 minute boat ride out to the wreck. "The Great Isaac Sunk April 16th 1947, she is a steel hulled, 1000+ ton tug, largest built during her time period. She collided with the SS Bandeirante, a freighter which struck her in the engine room. The wreck still remains largely intact, lying on her port side and deeply buried in the bottom. It is an excellent dive for the beginner to advanced, with a max depth of around 90+feet.” (www.njscuba.com)
Well as luck would have it we had perfect conditions 70-80º, flat as glass, and sunny. Only thing we could have asked for is a little better viz we had 40-50 for the first 50’ and then about 15” of viz down to the bottom things are still a little stirred from the hurricanes passing through. Some lobsters were found but all were to small for the taking, more for next years dinner plate!!! I ended up with a 50 minute dive with max of 93’ and a temp of 53º, second dive was 90’ for 20 minutes.
Sunday
I headed out to BSC for Lady’s day. I was taking Josh diving so Cindy could go dive with the ladies for a day. Josh did well for a 14 year old boy; I think I was able to keep his attention for a little while, or at least for the 40 minutes under water. We covered the bowl and the south side wall below the road, as well as the weeds in the lagoon where a majority of the fish seem to be hiding out.
Second dive had me barrowing Mark Myers tanks so Vern would have someone to go diving with since he showed up on Vern time (i.e. late) and Mark forgot his Drysuit underwear. How ever his 2 kids kept him busy in the lagoon snorkeling and diving. Vern and I headed to the barn and to look for the “infamous” tool boxes. Well we were able to find the barn no problem and as well as find one of the tool boxes which Vern got all super man and stood it up right and lifted off the lid, the whole time I am thinking it isn’t Christmas yet, what’s the big deal? Well we ended up with a 60 minute run time, a max 93’ and 43º. Both dives I was able to see some of the fresh water jellies and made for 2 nice dives
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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