Summer’s Return!

Summer decided to come back so why not celebrate with a BARN RUN!   Hey why not, we haven’t been there yet this year, and who knows how long that it’s going to be standing. Plus the fact that it was so hot, we may as well spend more time in the cooler water!  John, Rob, and I all arrived at the quarry at the same time, so figuring that we were on the same page, made for an easier decision to do this!  Thinking about it, it’s been probably about two years (not consulting my dive reports) since I’ve been out to the barn, so I was really game!

We got our usual spots at Upper A, and with the weather being pleasant otherwise, it was a nice time setting up, not too crowded.  Walking down the steep path, we all noticed that someone finally cleared the brush away and you weren’t dodging weeds with large pickers on them to keep from puncturing your dry suit!  Everyone was down, settled, and ready so: 20 feet!

We all looked good, no odd bubbles coming from places they weren’t supposed to be coming from, and we were off. John went through a few trees, past a boat, and over to the pipe, and we were soon staring at the CAT. We all checked in, and everything was still good, so we kept going. We passed someone as we neared the Deep Boat, and were looking for the pipe with the line attached.  John trained his light on it, and we followed that out to the collapsed building and the tool box. I was confused for a second, and thought that the collapsed building was the Barn, but between my usual confusion, and probably being slightly narced, I soon realized where we were when I saw the tool box.  John took us past the Step Van, then we seemed to be a little off course.  We stopped for a second, and then turned, and we were soon at the Tanker.  Passing the Tanker, John found the next set of lines, and we started out to the Barn.  I followed John through it, Rob took no chance of it collapsing and swam outside, which was almost like he was swimming next to me since the walls are almost totally gone.  We met on the outside, and were soon headed to the wall for another long swim.  Rob was thinking that this MAY have been where we were last week when we got lost leaving the Outhouse! Not having benefit of a map prior to the dive, I always seem to forget where things are situated within the quarry, and was surprised when after swimming along a wall, and many boulders that we arrived at the Pump House.  The Lobster was near his usual perch, so I left him alone.  Everyone checked in, and we started up the cliff. At the top, John went into the Aqua Adventures truck, and Rob and I met him at the back.  We followed John again into the bowl, and past the Pennsy. As we swam around the Pennsy, we passed by the old scoop, and Rob saw a vice sitting on it. John and I missed it, but we’ll have to see that next time we’re down. Along through the boats, and we were ready for our safety stop.  About two minutes in several people seemed to be hovering over us, and one seemed to straddle Rob, to tell John something.  I backed away thinking that if it was some sort of problem, John and Rob were more qualified to help than I was, but nothing seemed to be really wrong.  A few minutes later, we were down with the safety stop, and we finished our dive!   I had a slight issue with my left dry glove, my tube got dislodged, and slid into my wrist seal, and my glove puffed up, I tried a few things to relieve it, but it seemed to pop as I ascended, and my hand got wet… I don’t think the glove or wrist seal got damaged, just dislodged somehow. I’ll have to give it a better look in the daylight.

Duration: 51 minutes

Deepest depth: 94 feet

Coldest Temp: 37º

Truthfully, a pretty good dive!  I had some problems trying to stay off the bottom, not sure why all of a sudden that is becoming an issue for me, it could be using the 119’s vs. the 130’s, but it’s hard to tell while at depth.  I need to figure that out soon. (well first get my 130’s viz’d, and see if that really IS the problem, then see what I need to work on)(maybe if we DO get out Sunday, that’s the task!)  But otherwise, I felt pretty good for such a long deep dive, although I could tell that as we kept going, I was breathing a little heavier, and seemed to suck my cylinders down, my consumption wasn’t as good as it had been. 

One interesting part of the evening was thinking that I hit all Wednesdays in August, and there’s only one more month (four more Wednesdays) to get in! (what WILL I do on Wednesday evenings after September?)  College football season starts this weekend, so some weekends will be tougher to get out than others, so I have to make sure I balance my time (and not annoy my wife...well any more than I usually do over the next few months) 

After packing, we made our way out to PizzAtown, and thankfully they had Tröegs in their beer coolers!

That’s it for me I am OUT of here!  As I mentioned, Sunday is a slight possibility, but nothing solid yet.  I’ll keep you posted…if not see you next Wednesday in September!      

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!