One of the local dive shops had a “customer appreciation”
sort of event out at Dutch Springs. Since I occasionally use their services, I
felt that I was eligible to participate in their little soirée! Rob told me about it, and gave me $2.00 off coupon
from the shop and said “free food” so we were in business! The Mrs. was out of town today so I didn’t
have to feel guilty getting up so early, although the cat wasn’t my biggest fan
at 5:45am when I got up! (Hey, I had to give her some meds before I left so…she
probably slept the rest of the day, anyway)
I met Rob & John at Sheetz at 6:45 and consumed a double sausage
croissant and a hash brown with my large coffee! (tasted better than the energy
bars I usually eat when I’m diving that early)
After loading our gear, we set off and headed out to Dutch.
When we got there we unpacked and checked on the festivities
of the day. We were set up in one of the
pavilions behind where the Aqua Park part of the quarry, and what seemed to be
miles away from the water. (but close to
the young ladies in bikini’s that were sunbathing) Not our usual set up under the trees and 20
steps from the water when we’re there during the week. As people arrived we
figured out that we would be accompanying the group out to the far regions of
the quarry for the first part of THEIR dive, so it was a hurry up and wait sort
of scene, thankfully the weather was mild and we weren’t sweltering in our dry
suits.
The order was finally given to hit the water! Once I set up and got my mask and fins on, I
just popped out and waited. (and
waited) We were then informed that we
were leading so we dropped down to 20 ft.
One thing I don’t like about Dutch vs. Bainbridge is that there is really
no reference when you are descending off of some of the platforms, so I get to
depth, then start to rise, then dump some air, and…well…it’s just a thing I
need to work out, let’s say that! After
about five minutes, we were still the only ones at depth, so we ascended for a
few minutes until things were worked out. Finally we descended, and started out
towards the Trolley. John the Navigator lead, and I followed a few feet below him and Rob.
Once we got to the Trolley, it was a swarm of people trying to get
through it, so I followed Rob around the side, and watched everyone go through (been through it
before…not a must do) After everyone
went through, we popped around the back, and
slid down the hill to the “Army Truck” (as it’s listed on my one
map) or the “Duece and a half” as Rob and John refer to it (or the Duisenberg
according to someone else?!?!?!) Again
as we hit depth, the swarm was all over it, so I just followed Rob, and headed
off to the side. Once everyone had their chance to see it, I think the order
was to head out to the Crane, but I wasn’t sure who all was going with us (we
were diving double’s and the majority of the rest were diving single 80’s) When we got to the Crane, we waited for a few
minutes, then figured that everyone went elsewhere, so we kept going. John took
his heading, and we swam along the bottom of the Island, and ended up at the
Helicopter (ok, what’s LEFT of the helicopter!!) We took a quick run through that, and started
back towards the Silver Comet. Passing the Comet, we then hit the
platforms. As we ascended by them, Rob
pointed to some of the “markers” that were for the scavenger hunt. He apparently
had his, so I grabbed mine! After we
passed the platforms, we found our exit point, and did our five minute safety
stop. After we were done, we ascended
and finished our dive.
Duration: 59 Minutes
Deepest Depth: 78 feet
Coldest Temp: 46º
Not a great dive, I felt a little off kilter most of the dive,
and never really got comfortable, so I only semi-enjoyed it. Also, as I took off my gloves, I realized
that my right one leaked, and thought that I should have used my wet gloves
since the water here isn’t quite as cold as Bainbridge… I just thought that was
a “sign” so I pulled my 7mm’s out of my box to use the next dive. My sweatshirt was also soaked, so I pulled
that off, and put on my cut off sweatshirt…I didn’t leak, but I think I was
sweating so much that it got wet…Rob said “you get that way when dealing with
students” So no problem…
After everyone was back up to the pavilion, lunch was
grilled and served. Our plan for the
second dive was to try to find the rest of the markers for the scavenger hunt,
and just tool around the platforms and what-nots.
We went back to the water, and Rob, John and I dropped down
to our 20 ft. bubble check. Rob had a little glove leak issue at first, but
resolved it. We started to the
platforms, and looked around for the errant markers; the one we THOUGHT was
under the platform, ended up being a dead fish. We made it down to about 55
feet, and lost John. Rob and I started
heading to where we thought he was at the surface, and saw him. So we ascended. As we ascended, we saw John
descending again, Rob kept me on the surface long enough to tell me that he was
having a nasty leak in his glove and was bailing, but to go back down and keep
going with John. I made sure he was OK to get back to the platform, and
descended to where John was at the platform.
When I got there, John gave me a “where’s Rob?” kind of look, so I tried
to get my pencil and write on my slate. The pencil wasn’t cooperating, so John
handed me HIS pencil. I tried writing “Rob bailed, has a leak” on his slate, but
it came out garbled…so I kept his pencil and wrote it on MY slate. This time he
got it and we kept going. Under the
platform, and out past the dead fish we went again. I followed John for a
while, and we weren’t seeing anything. The visibility wasn’t great, so I was
glad I had my light with me. We kept swimming, and kept seeing nothing. John looked at me and shrugged, I agreed, so
we pressed on. After a little while I happened to see a line running across our
path, and a little higher than us. I tapped John and pointed. He shrugged, and
we started following the line. Soon we were at the crane, and he gave me a very
puzzled look. We turned, and kept
following the bottom. Some of what we saw was foreign to us, and when John saw
some lines bobbing up and down, figured that we were under the Aqua Park. I had
no clue where we were (nothing we don’t know) and thought we were at an entirely
different part of the quarry. Soon we
were at a wall (that I thought was the island) and John motioned that we should
ascend for our safety stop. When I
looked up I saw an entry platform and though “ok!” Five minutes later we
finished. John turned over a “clay pigeon” that was another local dive shop's
prize markers, and we were done with dive number two!
Duration: 50 minutes
Deepest Depth: 60 feet
Coldest Temp: 49º
From a “technique” standpoint, a much better dive than the
first one, but from a sightseeing perspective, one to forget! I never realized that Dutch had so many
points of nothing! This was almost as
bad as when I did a few dives with my cousin back in 2008, and the first dive
where we saw squat! (Ok, I was leading
the dive, so no big revelation there!) I told John, when my wife and I have a
bad day doing something she always says “At least we were together”...this one
wasn’t really ever good enough for that!
We found Rob back at the platform. Once he resolved his glove issue, he
took a guy who wasn’t totally certified, and did some platform stuff with
him. Good deal for that guy! (and Rob got to play a little more in the
water)
No comments:
Post a Comment