Just the Two of Us…..

I put the call out to see if anyone wanted to join us today, and no takers…One is just getting back from somewhere warm, another is still somewhere warm, so no one in our little group wanted to join us… In fact NO ONE wanted to join Rob and me, we were the only ones that were at the quarry today!  I was the first on the sign in sheet, Rob was second, and no one was there when we were finished… I guess everyone is out finishing up their Christmas shopping!  (heck, I haven’t even started!) 

Today is the last day of Fall, so why not celebrate it by doing a dive! After last week’s adventure, I mentioned to Rob that this weekend was probably free, so we decided to keep it open.  A few personal things happened, but the logistics worked out that I was able to get back into town, and get one in.  Rob suggested putting a notice up that we were going, but no one bit, so it was just us. Since the visibility was pretty decent in spots last week, Rob decided to bring along his GoPro and do some filming.  We had no plan in order so it was just a follow the leader sort of thing, and since I navigate as well as I ballet dance, Rob did the leading.

We dropped in from the steep access, which is getting shallower by the minute, and met at the 20ft. tree to see if anything weird was leaking.  All bubbles were intentional, so we kept going. First past the boat where the Fuzzy Caterpillar used to hang out (didn’t see where he ended up) and through the trees past the Pennsy and the Dolphin Tower over to the pipeline.  We took a slight left at the pipeline, and headed towards the CAT.  Since the visibility is pretty darn decent, I was able to see that just to the right of the CAT there’s a deep drop off, and it’s not just a foggy area. I don’t recall if I knew that, I’ll have to root through some old reports from this time of the year, but it looked pretty cool from my vantage point.  We looked at eash other at the CAT, and kept going towards the Deep Boat.  At the Deep Boat, Rob pointed towards the back wall, and I agreed, so we swam towards that past some of the usual landmarks (The board, a few trees). At the wall we started left, and followed that over the 110ft. trench,  past the Pump House and over the rocks.  The visibility was pretty foggy, so we think we missed the Tripod Tree and the Outhouse, so Rob pointed back in.  Back over the rocks, and along the bottom of the wall, we must have swam below the Pump House, so Rob started up the hill next to the telephone pole.  It’s ironic that I saw the deep part to the right of the CAT earlier because that’s where we ended up at the top of our ascent, right next to the CAT. Rob turned left again, and we were soon at the Aqua Adventures Truck.  Rob decided to swim through it (to film, I’m guessing) I opted to meet him at the back end.  When he got through, he looked at me and gave me the signal to go over the wall, (I knew he wanted to film over there) so I agreed, and we headed over to the wall to do a quick safety stop.  After the safety stop, we swam over the road, which is a lot shallower due to the decreased depth of the entire quarry, and popped into the Lagoon (where an ice cream headache was re-established)  We swam over the building debris, and past a boat over to where the pipeline is located.  Rob swam through first, and I followed, noticing the pile of shells on the bottom of it.  Out of the pipe and around past the boat, we headed to the wall.  At the road again, we popped back over into the bowl. Just as I was attempting to descend, and started descending, I got a cramp in my leg and had to dump air from my suit since I just put a little bit in and surfaced.  Cramp gone, and back to 15ft. we swam along the road to our exit point, and we were done! 

Duration: 44 minutes

Deepest Depth: 91ft.

Coldest Temp: 37º (still warmer than the air!)

A nice dive to end Fall!  Barring the cramp at the end, and my foot giving me a little cramping issue early in the dive, I think it was a pretty darn good dive to (possibly) end the year!  (27^th & 28^th are still in play for 2014)  This week’s air temperatures were a little colder than last weekend, but there was no wind this week, so it felt better. (I also brought a hand warmer, and activated it before we got in the water, so it was working when we got out…THAT helped a lot!)  It was still hard to believe that no one else showed up while we were in the water, I can’t honestly remember a time when we were the only two people there for the whole duration.

We packed our gear and headed to PizzAtown for a quick lunch.  Probably getting a fill Monday night, and discussing if we’re going to try to sneak one in after the Christmas Holiday, and then work on the New Years Day adventure!   Tough to believe that it’s that part of the year again, it didn’t seem like a long time ago when we were doing the New Years Day dive in 2014! 

Hope to see you all again, soon!  Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!   I hope you and your families have a great holiday!     See you next time!

Baby it’s Cold Outside!

December is a strange month. Remembering back to my childhood, December ALWAYS had lots of snow, and was cold, and you just didn’t go swimming.  Now that I’m older, and the bones are creakier, getting into the water in the North is just an everyday thing, and nothing to think twice about doing. However, due to circumstances beyond my control (The Penn State Football schedule, and my wife) I haven’t been able to get out diving as much as I’d like to be. Looking at my dive log, the last three dives I logged were November 2nd, September 24^th, and today.  With that sort of record in mind, you can imagine that things were rusty.   We tried last Saturday, but Rob was having some sinus/cold issues, so it just didn’t happen, so when this weekend broke free, the opportunity was a good one!

I was at my usual table at Upper A, setting my gear up (well trying to remember how to set my gear up) and John pulled, up, followed shortly by Rob.  As I put my regulators on my cylinders, and turned on my air, I heard a leak, and thought “not again” but this time it seemed to be a hose issue as opposed to a first stage issue. It was soon remedied by swapping hoses with another set of regulators I had along. Good to have back-ups!  Getting everything ready was a testament to our love of this activity, we were COLD!   No doubt about it, and the thought that we were jumping into water, just made it that much more appealing.  Standing in the same spot in July, in intense heat and humidity is another testament to our love for this activity, and trying to decide which scenario is the better of the two is a tough choice….ask me in July!

Once we were all put together, gas tested, and dry suits zipped, we made our way to the water.  No serious dive plan was planned, but a quick route of,  Cat, Deep Boat, Step Van, Outhouse, etc. was agreed upon, and thumbs down was the next move.  Knowing that I was a little rusty, I was overly cautious with my descent, and seemed to make it to 25 ft. as opposed to 20. John checked in with me, and I was OK, Rob looked over and gave me the OK sign, and we were ready to go.  Past the one boat, and through the trees, we were soon passing the pipe with the yellow cage on it and staring at the back of the CAT. At the CAT we all looked at each other, and everything seemed fine, so we kept going.  Soon we were at the bottom of the hill and at the Deep Boat.  John eyed up the line, and we were following that.  As usual I was a bottom dweller, and was able to keep the line well in view.  When we got to the Step Van, I saw John “convulsing” and thought “cramp!”, so I just held on to the tool box, and waited him out. Rob was fiddling with his compass, and between the two of them appeared to be formulating our next move. (little did I know that Rob wasn’t able to really see his compass due to a lens in his mask moving, and the small numbers on his compass)  We were soon following the bottom, (I was ON the bottom, and even taking some of it with me) and arriving at the tripod tree, then making a slight maneuver to the Outhouse.  At the Outhouse, we all checked in, and turned and followed back along the bottom of the wall.  I was SOOOO tempted to slide into the fog of the 110’ Trench, but decided that it wouldn’t be a great idea, and stayed close to John and Rob.  We were at the Pump House, and I could see that the Lobster was about ready to put up his Christmas tree, since the Christmas tree stand was sitting on the edge of the little building.  At this point we started up the slope, and to the Aqua Adventures Truck. John penetrated, and Rob and I went around back.  After John made it though, we started along the line out to the CAT, and did a deep stop of sorts.  At the CAT, we started over towards the wall, and followed that for a few minutes.  Next thing you know Rob was looking at me and signaling “20” for a safety stop. So I slid up to 20 ft. so my computer started the countdown.  The next five minutes, I was playing a game of yo-yo, and glad I wasn’t breathing oxygen since I was sitting at 28 ft. at one point. John looked at me and asked how long I had, and I still had two minutes. Rob looked like he had one.  After another minute or so, we started over the wall and into the clear Lagoon. (although I experienced my first “Ice cream headache” of the day, it was COLD in there!) Along the bottom, and over one of the collapsed buildings to the boats, and what was probably the clearest I ever saw of the pipe.  We swam through the pipe, then around the boat, and back along the wall, where we popped back over the road.  Along the wall again on that side, and we were at the exit point and finished.

Duration: 49 minutes

Deepest Depth:  95ft.

Coldest Temp: 37º

After a long layoff, not a horrible dive, but much room for improvement.  I stayed too close to the bottom for most of the dive, and hit once or twice, and I couldn’t hold a safety stop to save my sorry butt! But otherwise, I felt pretty good, almost like riding a bike!   Tearing things apart on the surface was pure Hell since it was really cold.  At this point I will admit that the heat and humidity of July are a better option, I can always get cooler, but not warmer. (note to self, bring the chemical hand warmers for post-dive if we get out next weekend)  After a clumsy (due to gloves) tear down, we quickly retired to PizzAtown for a much needed lunch. (and those two cold Mad Elf’s went down like nothing!)

Ok, as usual things to continue to work on, but otherwise a pretty good dive after such a long layoff.  As I said, hopefully next weekend cooperates and we can do this again!  Not a lot of time left in this year!  Quarry fees didn’t change for 2015, so that’s a good thing!  See you soon!