I was planning on getting here this weekend anyway, but with
what’s happening, it has a little more meaning.
Each time I drive up, I hope that there’s some different news, but there’s
just more stuff being sold at a premium.
I don’t need more cylinders, and the gear that they have for sale is
either stuff I don’t need or don’t want.
(or pretty ratty) As I drove up to Upper A I saw it was pretty packed,
so I looked over the hill, and Lower A was pretty full as well, so I found a
lone table in the corner, and figured that we could make do with it. So I
parked and unpacked.
Rob showed up shortly after me, and we started getting
things ready. As soon as I analyzed my breathing gas, and went to set up my
computer, I got the “change battery” message. So I figured, “may as well”, so I
got it in, asked for a second opinion, and Rob thought it looked good, so I
stuck it back into the bungie mount holder (easier with warm water), but for
some reason the code to my transmitter got fouled up (may have been when I was
attempting to reset my time and date)
but I got it reset. (Rob knew right where to go) Crisis averted. (I
prefer doing that in the quiet of my own home, not when I have a dive in 20
minutes, oh well)
Rob thought that since there were a few classes being held,
that it might be a better idea to try to get as far away from the bowl area as
possible, and head out past the Outhouse and along the wall, I thought that was
a good idea, thinking the same thing as far as things getting kicked up. Once we were set, we wandered down the steep
access, and checked each other, everything looked good, so we descended and
found a tree at 20 feet to see if any bubbles were leaking. Nothing to speak
of, so we were good to continue. The visibility in this area was already pretty
nonexistent, and even following Rob around a tree proved to be a tough thing, we
got lost that easily, but we found each other though, and continued on through
the nothing-ness. We finally found a
landmark we recognized, and headed to a spot to drop down the slope. We descended to the Pump House, and Rob tried
to find the little lobster that we’ve befriended over the years, he was
missing, so apparently someone already claimed him, or hid him where we can’t
find him. (I also found out that John was the one that put him there
originally, I don’t think I knew that!)
We kept swimming past the rocks, and out along the bottom of the
wall. We were soon passing the Tripod
tree, and heading to the Outhouse. Rob
went right, and I went left, and we met behind it. Rob pointed towards the wall and I agreed,
and followed. We hit about 80 feet, and
just took a nice leisurely swim along the bottom of the hill, checking out the twisted
corrugated metal in different spots, and old railroad ties here and there. At
the rate we were going I thought that maybe we would just start back along at a
shallower depth, but Rob gave me the turnaround sign, and I agreed, and
followed. We were mostly above 90 feet
at this point, and headed back to the Pump House. We both gave it another quick
look, shrugged, and ascended to the line that leads to the CAT for a deep stop.
(Rob also wanted to check for a toy car on that, but someone apparently grabbed
another souvenir) After our deep stop,
we started back in, through the cruddy visibility to the boat with the
fuzzy caterpillar on it. Rob gave it a shake, then gave me the signal to go
take our safety stop. Rob fed a few
fish, and I annoyed some while just checking rocks, and we were done!
Duration: 46 minutes
Deepest Depth: 92 feet
Coldest Temp: 36º
A nice leisurely dive on a Saturday to take your mind off of
things…well not really, but it sounded nice.
It actually was a nice leisurely dive, but it’s hard to not think of the
immediate future of the quarry, and the convenience that it has for everyone. Anyway, I did a slight change with my
weighting from last Wednesday, and used 10 pounds instead of eight; Rob
said I looked a little better in the water. I felt a little more comfortable,
so I may keep this for a while to see how it works.
After getting out of
the water, we watched the Open Water class get suited up for their next dive,
and it was cool to see a little kid getting ready to go, if I only started at
that age instead of 11 years ago! (or if I WAS his age 11 years ago, I’d only
be about 22-23 by now!)
I have a prior commitment on Wednesday, so I won’t be able
to attend, We’ll see about the 15th, but I will be out on the 16th
(The 16th is Dutch Springs)
Until, then, I hope you all have fun, and if YOU get to do SNUBA, I hope
YOU get to go to 90 feet! (Ask me about
that one)
See ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment