Climate Change

The mild temperatures lately have been just heavenly!   Wonderful for sitting outside at night having dinner and a glass of wine, awesome for sleeping, heck even my cat has been in a pleasant mood!  But my allergies?  Wow, talk about horrible!  Monday I was thinking “crap, I’m getting a cold!”  But by the end of the day, I was breathing, and overnight, I felt fine. Tuesday, same deal!  When I woke up this morning, I felt great, but as the day wore on,  my breathing got weird again, but I thought it was passable to attempt a dive.  When Rob got to the quarry, he told me that he felt the same way, so it seemed like we’d be playing this one by ear!  (and ummm…maybe nose?)

Since everyone is out of town, it was only Rob and me from our crew, and some of the other usual Wednesday night groups.  Tables were everywhere!   So setting up wasn’t as bad as the last Sunday we were here!

We waddled to the water, and thought aloud “ok, so how far do we make it with these heads”  I thought, the first boat before turning it! (but after all of the prep, I hoped to at LEAST make it to the Pennsy and back before needing to call it)  So we “thumbs downed” it and went to the tree.  Only 20ft. and it took a few good blow’s to clear the ears so far. We kept on through the haze, looking for the pipe, alternating with clearing my ears, and clearing my mask since I let a little water in each time. We found one pipe, but that wasn’t it, so we pressed on. Finally there was the pipe we were looking for, pointing to the CAT. (visibility in that area was pretty bad)  We followed down and headed to the CAT. My ears stopped responding about this time, and I was ready to give Rob the “nope” signal when they miraculously just cleared.  As I did, he turned to me and gave me the “not so good sign” but pointed down…he was at least willing to see how far he could take it. So I returned with an “OK”.  It took us about four minutes to get to depth according to my computer profile, and another minute to find the Deep Boat, the visibility was that bad.  We approached it from below and the right side instead of the left as we usually do.  At the boat Rob turned to me and pointed up the hill after pointing to his ear.  I agreed, mine weren’t THAT bad, but I was into the rhythm of things now, and not feeling too bad. It took us another few minutes to get back to the CAT, I had a feeling it was going to be a slow go…well better stretch it out and at least try to make it to about 20 minutes. I figure if I can dive at least twice as long as it takes to get kitted up, it’s worth the effort!  At the CAT we kept going and I saw Rob point to the line that goes to the Aqua Adventures truck. We followed that and were soon looking into the back of the truck.  He then pointed back into the bowl, so I followed, figuring that we’d just tool around up here for a little bit.  I was diving my 119’s tonight thinking I’d save the 130’s for Dutch on Friday (well if we go, no use suffering again if the heads don’t cooperate…it’s a longer drive to Bethlehem than it is to Bainbridge!)  Anyway, with the 119’s I felt a little off kilter since they are situated a little differently than the 130’s, so I thought I’d try to work on my trim with those cylinders. I think I did ok, but I like how the 130’s feel. They don’t seem to require as much effort to get things right. We wove in and out of the trees, and around the bowl.  We passed by the Pennsy, and came back along the wall towards our exit point. Did our five minute safety stop, I played with a crayfish, and soon enough we were ready to get out. I tried to follow Rob to the exit, but lost him in the viz, and ended up a little bit over towards where Steve has the boat parked when I surfaced.  So I did a little surface swim to where Rob was standing, and was done!

Deepest Depth: 90ft.

Duration: 40 minutes

Coldest temp: 37º

Given the circumstances, not a BAD dive, but it wasn’t in the top 10 of all time!  Seeing that I’m still stuffy today (and that I just got a text from Rob as I was typing this that Dutch on Friday is up in the air)  I’m glad we made it back ok.  It was a little tough clearing here and there, but I don’t think it was a dangerous situation. But as I just texted back to him…no use schlepping all this gear out to Bethlehem to just bag it after one dive.  So we’ll keep you posted on that one kids!  (It’s Todd, jinxing us, I just know it!)

Anyway, afterwards, since there was only the two of us, we were out of there in record time and at PizzAtown for the post dive festivities!  Still hoping for a better turnout in the coming weeks, it’s August on Friday, we’re halfway through the Wednesday night season (and we’ve had two taken from us…maybe we can lobby with Steve to let us go two Wednesday’s into October…although if all goes as planned I won’t be here for those two weeks anyway…hmmm…I’ll have to get back to you on that one!

So I am OUT of here!   I’ll keep you posted on the Dutch trip Friday, if not you’ll be hearing from me!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  (safe diving!)

Has it REALLY been that long?

Wednesday night was only going to be Rob and me, but Wednesday morning,  we got a note on the Scared Turtle page, that Annette was thinking of coming out, so that was good to know!  As the day wore on the weather was being predicted as being potentially rough after 6:30-7:00. I thought that the weather would be fine for dive time. I heard through the grape vine that the Penn State football team would be visiting the Children’s Hospital at the Medical Center, so I was going to be a little later than my usual time.  After the “event” I started down to the quarry, and called Rob. He was there, all set up and waiting, and resting on one of the tables until I got there.  He also said that it was drizzling, but not TOO bad, and the skies looked like the rain would pass soon enough.  By the time I arrived at the quarry, it was in a total downpour!  Susie and Steve were getting more and more hesitant about letting anyone go back due to the lightning, (for the obvious reason as well as because he didn’t want anyone stranded if more trees came down over the road like two Wednesday’s ago)  So we were held up in the shop.  Annette showed up shortly after I arrived, and was also hesitant about strapping on two steel cylinders and walking around in a lightning storm as well.  (can’t blame her for that, I was a little apprehensive, as well) So we decided along with the staff to bag the dive. Someone was already calling Ron to get him to come back up to the shop, so I asked if he’d tell Rob we were bagging it.  So we were done.    Annette was blaming the weather on herself since this was the first time she was getting out this year; I was blaming it on John, who wasn’t there with ‘Jane’ the magic tarp!   Going through my memory banks, I can’t recall ever getting blown out of a dive at the quarry that we were already there. A few times I remember the weather being that bad and we decided to just not go, and a few times because of the weather, we weren’t able to go, the night was cancelled. (two weeks ago)

Anyway, the main reason I’m writing this is that I’m about to hit another milestone and wanted to share it!  During the trip my wife and I took to the Florida Keys about six to eight months prior to my 40^th birthday, we had some time to kill before we had to head out of town to drive to Fort Lauderdale to spend the night in a hotel so we would catch our plane very early the next morning.  So since we’ve done MOST of the “tourist” stuff down there to just say that we did it, we decided to take a glass bottomed boat ride out to one of the reefs since that was something we hadn’t done.   When we got out there, we were able to see the coral, and a lot of fish, including some nurse sharks, and rays. I thought it was pretty cool.  On our way back in to port, they announced that they also ran snorkeling trips out to the same reef twice daily, and pointed to one of their boats off in the short distance.  I looked at Lisa and said “that sounds like fun, maybe next time we come down we should go snorkeling!”  After we got home from our trip, I was talking to a lady I spoke with very frequently, in one of my companies agents offices, and told her about my trip, and that I wanted to go snorkeling the next time. She informed me that she was a dive instructor out in Jersey Shore, PA, and gave me some tips on what to look for as far as snorkeling gear. (and sent some old Dive Training Magazines, and a Leisure Pro catalog with some Post-it notes through interoffice mail with “get something like this, not those cheapo kits you see at K-Mart!”)

When we decided to go down for my 40^th birthday, my wife said that she’d buy my gear for me when we get there as my present!  Our friend that lived there at the time said “Diver’s Direct” was the place to go for it, good quality equipment at decent prices, so the plan was in place!   I bought my new gear, and went out on one of the snorkeling trips. While I was observing the reef below, and the little creatures, I noticed a few people off to the side wearing tanks, and blowing bubbles, not having to resurface every 30 seconds to get air, and thought; “I think I can DO that!”  So when I got back home, I called my friend, and we tried to hook up for instruction, but could never find the right time.  While heading down 743 to the driving range one night, I noticed what I THOUGHT was a “Jack Gaughen” sign in front of the locksmith place, but thought afterward that it resembled a dive flag.  On the way back, I had my wife slow down, and I noticed that it was in fact a dive flag!  So I quickly copied down the web address, and phone number, and hurried home to my computer to check things out.  A new dive shop, training, equipment, etc.  (how convenient!)  So I called and got someone named Jeff on the phone. He informed me about an open house that weekend, and said I could come, and try it out in the pool.  I was excited and determined!   That day came, and it was cold, and raining out, but I still wanted to go, it was my chance. I met Jeff, we went out to the pool, him in a wetsuit, me in just a bathing suit (they didn’t have any that fit me)  and I tried it for the first time.  I only stood up once, but soon, I got the’ hang’ of breathing underwater, and was able to do some of the skills he was teaching me.  After a few attempts at the skills, he just let me go in the pool, and I was clumsily doing it.  Afterwards, I signed up for one of their classes, bought the PADI Manual and a hat, and was all set!

I also was able to accompany my wife on HER attempt at trying it in the pool, but she wasn’t as thrilled about it as I was, but I at least was able to get wet again!  I started my classes, but had to miss one since I was able to accompany my wife on a quick trip to Miami for work. We decided that after her work obligations were finished, we’d take an extra day or two for a quick trip to Key West to visit our friend that lived there, (no extra money involved, since we STILL had to fly back, we had the car rented for a few extra days, and it cost nothing to stay at his place…no brainer!)  I also figured that while I was there I’d do something similar to what I did with Jeff in the pool, but also would be able to go out to a shallow reef with the instructor, and give actual DIVING a try, so I researched it, made a few phone calls, and settled upon Captains Corner out of Key West.  That happened on July 26^th 2004!  Two dives with an instructor on Rock Key and Eastern Dry Rock reefs off of Key West.   Here’s what I wrote in my dive log: (yes, I was writing these even then!)

Lisa dropped me off at The Captains Corner, Bob, my dive instructor, was hanging out outside the shop waiting for me to arrive. 

We got right down to business, I started by giving him my current experience and he was happy to know that he didn't have too much to really show me at that point, but wanted to get me into the pool to make sure I was able to do the skills (which I was able to do with no problems) He thought I was well on my way to being in control of my buoyancy, and couldn't believe that I only had 2 pool dives previously to get to that point (Jeff gave me some good tips on those two dives) After he was satisfied with my skills, (and we went over some hand signals)  he left me under the watchful eye of one of his assistants while he took the tanks over to the boat, and told me to take my time and basically "waste the tank" practicing anything I wanted until either he got back or I was tired and ready to quit.

I finished, dried off then went to where the boat was docked.  I had more time to kill, so I had my lunch, then brought my stuff to the boat.

The boat trip was fairly short; the Reef is seven miles south of Key West. Our first stop was Eastern Dry Rocks, where I was snorkeling last year. As we approached the reef I was helped into my gear by Bob and the boat captain (never got his name, nice guy though) and did my pre-dive check and waddled up to the side of the boat. Bob had already jumped in and I was told I would be making a "giant stride" entry (which I had never done at that point) to which I replied "where, down there?" The captain said, "Yeah, that's where all the good stuff is" So I walked off the side of the boat!  No time to be nervous, just wait until I bobble up to the surface and give the "ok" sign (alright…make sure you're "ok" first) and I was. Bob asked if I was ready, I said I was, "then let's go!"  And off we went!

 I let the air out of my BC and followed Bob down onto the reef.  Once I was close to the bottom I realized I was going to hit (no buoyancy control yet) I didn't SLAM into the sandy bottom, just felt like I "ran aground!"  Once there I put some air into the BC and started to float, and started following Bob through the reef.  WOW!  What sights to see, many fish, coral, plant life, BRAIN CORAL look how HUGE it is, sea fans. A lot to see for the un-acclimated, but I'm sure there was more that I missed.  I felt like I was snapping pictures like a tourist as Bob pointed things out to me, as I would find, most of the pictures were a bust, but some are actually salvageable. We weaved in and out of the reef looking under ledges, seeing the occasional lobster, Sea Urchin, shrimp, Parrot fish were abundant as were Squirrelfish and Yellowtails.

 

My buoyancy wasn't bad once I got going, and I kept up with Bob throughout. Soon I was nearing 500 psi in my tank so it was time to end the dive. We made our way to the surface, and to the boat and I was given the instructions what to do once I got there. Take off my fins and hand them up, hand my camera off, then grab onto the ladder and ride it for a few seconds until I could start my way up.  No problem!  The slope of the ladder and weight of the tank kept me from falling off and I climbed up.  Unbelievable! AND I get to do it again! 

Duration: 34 minutes

Deepest Depth: 26ft.

We pulled anchor and headed off to Rock Key for our second dive. Bob changed my tanks and got me ready for dive number two. Told me I did great for my first time, and that we would just do more of the same on the second dive.  We wrote down the info for my log book and decided that we would go over the dive tables after the second dive. 

Once again we tied off and hit the water. This time as I made my entry, the weights in my pockets fell out, and it took some effort to get down to depth. Bob had a puzzled look on his face, and then he saw my weights sitting in the sand. A quick grab and stash, and we were off again. This time we saw a huge tarpon, a relatively small grouper, and a filefish (very interesting looking bugger)  At one point we looked under a ledge and saw a volleyball sized sea urchin and a another lobster.  The most interesting creature was the brittle star which Bob picked up and handed to me. It's such a privilege to interact with sea life, most people don't get this chance, but it was a very cool feeling! And as with the last dive, I was taking pictures like a fiend; if it moved or looked pretty (or Bob pointed it out) I snapped a picture! I also handed him the camera to take mine...I'm such a "tourist"!  

After we (well I) hit the predetermined air supply (500 psi) we made our way to the surface again, and climbed back in the boat. Bob paid me a great compliment; "thanks for making my day easy!"

Duration: 31 minutes

Deepest Depth: 31ft.

Not bad for the first two!

 The next week, Annette was filling in for the usual instructor. It would have been cool to have done a dive with her Wednesday after all these years, but thank Mother Nature for fouling it up…oh well!

Anyway...after all that (if you made it the whole way through)  I want to take this opportunity to thank Jeff and Annette for all they’ve done for me over the years, I’ve learned SO MUCH from the both of you, and appreciate everything!  I know you two aren’t getting OUT of diving, but it seems like the “professional”  part of your career is at least on hold for now, and the website is being eliminated.  I appreciate the use of the website as well for publishing my ranting and raving, so thanks guys!!!

Enjoy!

Needed to get wet again…

After the long layoff, I felt the need to get back in the water quickly. Not diving for a while always seems to make me antsy to get back into the water, so when the option to go this weekend came up, I jumped on it! Todd will be away on a work assignment for a while, and not able to dive, (at least that he’s found, yet) so we were hoping to get him in the water one more time before his trip. Rob is coming off of his sinus issue, and I’m back from several conflicts, so I’m just ready to keep going.  Friday at Dutch Springs didn’t work out, so the weekend seemed to be the best option. I had a house full since my niece is playing field hockey in the Keystone games, and was definitely in need of a mental break from the family who has been holed up on my house. (So is my cat, but since she doesn’t dive, she got stuck at home…poor kitty)  Saturday soon came out of play, so Sunday was the viable option.  Rob was able to go, so I checked in with the boss to see if I could get away with it, and semi-reluctantly (because of my solution for Casa Barletta since we have another friend coming out to stay with us over night) she agreed to let me go!!  So topping off the cylinders yesterday in between games was my quest, and it was performed perfectly! (I got to see both games)

Arriving at the quarry, we were informed that there were a lot of people in classes, so we weren’t sure what to expect down at Upper A.  Todd got the last table for the three of us, and since we all seem to have a decent amount of stuff, ( I know I have a lot of “crap”) we had to find a creative way to share table space.    Once we were all ready to finish setting up we talked about where to go.  Deep Deep Boat, Deep Boat, Wall, etc. and back… no problem!    Rob and I seemed to be tangled in weird ways, and we both had a little difficulty routing things, (and I knocked my fins to the ground twice) I think maybe since we were on a single table that may have been the issue, Todd had his gear on, and went down to the water to clip on his cylinders…so that gave Rob and me a few extra minutes,  soon were clipped in wrapped, snapped, and ready to go and joined him!

We dipped our heads below the water, and made our way to the tree for our 20ft. bubble check. Everyone seemed to be ok, so we started through the murk to find the pipe. A few minutes later the shadow of the pipe appeared, and we started off to the left, and out towards the CAT. At the CAT, we all checked in, and Rob pointed down, we both agreed, and started down the slope.  The visibility wasn’t as good as we’d hoped, but still wasn’t horrible. For a day time dive, it was a tad dark at the Deep Deep Boat. I went down, and put my hand with the computer at the edge of the boat to see what depth it is since the water levels have eased off a bit. (you can actually get into the pavilions at Lower A, now)  The last time I did this it was 118ft, this time it was 116ft, so roughly two feet of water has evaporated (or drained off)  from the quarry. Rob pointed to the steps, and we both agreed and followed him up the hill.   We checked in at the top, and started over towards the Deep Boat.  We passed the Deep Boat, and kept on swimming towards the wall.  We were soon passing the 110ft. Trench which is now fully engulfed in fog!  I stayed above it, and we kept swimming towards the Outhouse.  The Tripod tree was soon in our path, and the Outhouse was shortly following it.  We swam to the shadow of the big rock, and Rob pointed back in the direction of the Pump House, so we turned and started back.  I was lagging a little behind Todd because I wanted to see him diving in his sidemount rig. Pretty impressive for its purpose, and I think he’s getting a really good handle on it. (although he says the initial set up before the dive is a little time consuming)  Rob followed the quarry floor to the outside of the 110Ft. Trench, and we were soon at the big steam shovel bucket.  Todd swam THROUGH the bucket which was pretty interesting to see, I went over after he went through and looked to see how small it was, and it was a little tight!  We then headed back around and were soon at the bottom of the Pump House.  Rob spied the little lobster, and he was where we left him Wednesday night.  Up the hill we went, and were soon at the Aqua Adventures Truck. Todd went in through the windshield, and Rob went around back to make sure he got out without getting stuck…since sidemount is thin but wide, and the cage in the truck isn’t exactly a wide space. (Todd said he has to tip to the side to get through, which is easier with this rig)  At the back of the truck, we all checked in, and followed Rob to the line that goes to the CAT. (for our “deep” stop)  I was going to practice a “silt out” drill by making an “O” around the line and swimming with my eyes closed, but I noticed lights coming our way, and half of that group was doing just that, so I went wide left.  We were soon at the CAT, and Todd “penetrated” it! (never saw that before although he said he’s done it before)  Rob was trying not to laugh, and I was keeping my hand on my regulator so I wouldn’t spit it out! It was funny to see.  He got a little hung up, but was soon free, and we were back on our track towards the bowl.  The visibility was pretty murky, and it was tough keeping an eye on Rob’s yellow fins.  We swam along the road for a while, turned, and headed into the bowl. Seeing that the Bowl was really murky, Rob took a U-turn at one of the trees, and we headed back the road (not before I kicked the side of the quarry and made my own mess)  We soon hit our safety stop point, and tried to stay still for the next five minutes. And we were done!

Deepest Depth: 116ft.

Duration: 46 minutes

Coldest Temp: 36º

Actually a pretty great dive!  No major issues to speak of, I felt pretty good throughout, and had no equipment failures.  The past few dives I have been having mask issues, and I decided to go back to an old mask. It worked better than I remembered, but I lost my “cheater” lens that I stuck in so I could read my gauges. (I have one left, and will need to be careful with it, now…blind bat that I am) 

We talked to the people that we met at the line, who happened to be set up right next to us at Upper A. (I’m guessing they were in an Advanced Open Water class by listening to what they were talking about, but can’t be sure)   After we packed up, Rob and I wished Todd a great trip, and headed to PizzAtown for a quick lunch.

It looks like Rob and I will be the only ones from our group out on Wednesday (and maybe next)  so you’ll be hearing from us!   Have fun!

The Next Step

Just heard that MODScuba.com is going away shortly, so I wanted to start by saying THANK YOU!  To Jeff and Annette for letting me post my dive reports on their site!  It started when I started diving, and was putting my weird thoughts on the old Diver's Descent site when they were part owners. When they parted ways with them, Jeff started MODScuba.com, and allowed me to put my writings and musings there for several years. Now that he's going to stop that website, I figured I needed somewhere to keep my dive reports going, and both of my faithful readers, entertained...so we'll give this a shot for now!