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Click To Enlarge
From Tom Pritchard . . .
9/1/05 - Willow had an almost overflow crowd last Thursday, including the always effervescent Huckster and Vern "Wanna see my TNI pin" Heagy. Vern wanted to photograph some of the fish at Willow, so we made a jaunt over to the Quest to take a "look see." No luck there or at the cement mixed; one of the bottom dwellers finally turned up at the crane. While we did our hang along the 15 ft cliff near the cement dock, we found scores of the small fish hiding in the crevasses - but Vern had the wrong lens so no pics were taken. That means that Vern will have to come back again, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. He's fun at the dive site, but when he comes I can't bust his stones for not showing up. Huck dove with Gerhard's group which included Little T-Bone (Terry Parsons), Eric Henry, Speedy, and the Kulpster. The good news is that there were no D,S & B dives this week. The best diving all year is in the Fall. Air temps are moderate, the water is still warm, and the viz is decent. Right now the viz at Willow is about 10 ft at the bottom; the top 15 ft are another story. The viz will improve through the Fall and Winter, so come to Willow, bring food, dive, and Bask in the Glow of the TNIs. Did I mention to bring food?
9/5/05 - Chris Mayo, Vermin Vern, Greg Kulp, Steve Mooney, GM, JZ, and yours truly had planned to dive the Texas Tower last weekend, but the weather gods would have none of it. With the seas supposedly more settled in-shore, we headed to the Oil Wreck (Ayuroaca) on the Old Salty II. The Oil Wreck lies in the Mudhole at 170+ fsw and, unlike the Arundo which sits on a shelf, is closer to the bottom of this prehistoric trench. We had 2-5 ft seas at the wreck, but 6-10 ft seas on the way out - and it showed. Patch or no patch, I was one of the half dozen or so divers who was under the spell of mal de mer. Mate Alex Meller was having some trouble tying into the wreck, so the boat kept feeding him line, and more line, and more line. By the time we were hooked, the boat had played out almost 500 feet of line. The swim down to the tie at 130 fsw took 11-13 minutes, most of it pulling against a mild current with viz that sometimes went below 5 ft. At 110 fsw the drop line rubbed against one of the three remaining masts of the Ayuroaca and then another mast at 115 fsw, so you had to grope your way around them - that was great!. By the time we got to the tie in, we were tired and had used almost a quarter of our air. A mild current at the deck kept things interesting; fortunately we had 15-20 ft viz. Gerhard and Vern rescued 3 lobsters from an abandoned lobster pot; another diver on the boat came up with a porthole. I hit the deepest part of my dive, compliments of a down current that took me from the main deck down to 160 fsw in a matter of seconds. When the surface current shifted in the afternoon, the tie in line got saggy, which made the deco line seem more like a chorus-line. One minute you and 5 other divers are doing your deco at 20 ft; the next at 8 ft. Divers were scampering down the line to stay at 20 fsw - then up to get to back to 20 fsw - then down again. All in all, a good dive on a good wreck with good friends. Get out and Wreck Dive.
From Uptown Jim Brown . . .
8/31/05 - It was a windy and threatening weather evening with the remnants of Katrina moving NE through and past our region but we forged on to Upper A for another Wednesday night dive. FYI - September 28 is the last Wednesday dive for the year. JoeD, Daniel, Mark Seymour, JZ, Vivian, Anthony and I had Upper A all to ourselves. Joe led the group past the Pennsy to the dozer where Mark and JZ split and headed down. I followed. Amid much confusion between the apparent dive plan and the heading of our leader Mark, I crossed paths with Mark and JZ as they turned south along the hole to return to the deep boat, contrary to my N heading to the deep deep boat. Since I was carrying my camera rig I carried on to the stairs and the deep deep boat. It was dark as expected but with no torch my eyes adjusted just fine. I like taking in the landscape in its natural form versus being blinded by the small spot of a dive light (I had a light strapped to my rig in the event I actually needed it for something). The camera did a good job of capturing the clarity of the water at depth as well as the cloud resting peacefully inside the deep deep boat. An old pipe flange lay quietly atop the pump house in the hole. About 20' of the RR tracks on the north wall are exposed and remain firmly attached to the RR ties that bore the weight of the old steam shovel. The flats at 95' to the NNE of the dozer remain very clear and peaceful with a kaleidoscope of swirls painting the bottom. The lawnmower reappeared after being hefted by a lift bag from the hole a couple of years ago. While I had plenty of air, my deco obligation initiated my ascent toward the Bowl for a swim past the Pennsy to the cruisers below the steep path. I swear I have never seen the caterpillar that is bound tightly to the top rail of the westerly cruiser. It is always a nice safety swim around the west wall of the Bowl through what I call the aquarium. The bluegills are everywhere along with curious catfish, bass and the occasional crappie. For those directionally challenged, an exit monument has been created by unknown divers off gassing at about 18' on the slope below the steep path entry from Upper A. This was a much needed mid-week load of nitrogen to 118ffw for 53 minutes on air. Come out and join us next week. Only four more Wednesday night dives are available in 2005. JoeD, JZ, Daniel, Mark and I stopped by McCleary's Irish Pub in Marietta to trade lies about the night's dive. Now this is off gasing!
PS: Jess, if you read this, zap another email to me. I appreciated the first one with commentary but lost it in my PC crash of Aug! Your pic from BSC is included here and I will email the large version to you.
From Darth Vern . . .
The Confession - I suppose being the first one to jump on the soapbox and preach to other divers about procedures and practices, I should admit when I screw things up.
We were diving Monday on the Oil Wreck, depth to 180fsw. As Tom said for some reason they had left out a ton of scope on the stern rope and it made our descent to the anchor almost demoralizing. It was at a minimum, a 10 minute swim down to the anchor set on the deck at 140fsw. As I got there I started looking around, viz was about 5 feet, so I did not stray to far. As I dropped to the lower deck at 160fsw, I noticed a lobster. The bug was actually in a abandoned pot along with 2 of his brethren. Well I started to pull the pot down out of the hole and it would not budge. I must have lost track of time along there. I eventually discovered Gerhard was above it pulling the same time I was, but in the opposite direction. So I pushed up real hard and it popped free. We then tag-teamed [I being the "wuss" held the bag] while GMan grabbed em, and I bagged em. After this I decided to check my air and discovered it was VERY LOW. I made a direct shot for the anchor and started up as fast as I thought possibly safe. As I ascended I figured I would have just enuff to make my deco stop at 20fsw [as I was carrying 100% o2 in my stage bottle]. Along the way I ran into Pritchard, who was starting his ascent at 140fsw. As we were all taught the same gear configurations in our TDI courses, I immediately knew where his pressure gauge was [well one of 2 spots] I checked his air, 1800psi [thank the lord]. I made the signal, showed him my gauge and he gladly donated his 7ft. primary hose for me to use. We did a 2 min deco stop at 90fsw [much to my dismay] and then another minute at 70fsw. I broke off at 50fsw and continued up to the 20ft. stop to do my own long deco hang.
The moral to the story is this: NEVER be afraid to ask for help. I actually contemplated cruising right past Tom and hoping for the best, because I did not want anyone to know I screwed up. I am so glad I stopped and thought it through, I made the right desicion. The way it happened was much safer and in hind-sight incredible practice in a real life scenario. I want to thank Tom publicly for helping me [notice he did not write about it] and encourage everyone to ask for help when it is needed!!!!!!
Keep on diving and LIVE THE ADVENTURE!!!
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