I just checked and since the “Scared Turtles” have been
doing this dive, this is now the 9th “official” Columbus Day John
Weaver Invitational Dive at Dutch Springs!
(Let the pigeon loose!) Whenever I think of this day, the old Lou Monte
song; Please Mr. Columbus, (turn the ship
around)! always sticks in my head. (Google it!) My father used to play old Italian records on
Sunday afternoons during the summer, and this one made the rotation a few times…
check it out, it’s funny! Anyway,
another Columbus Day dive was here, and I was actually able to make it this season
(Last year I was on my way home from Michigan after a Penn State football
game) John put the calling out on the
Scared Turtle page, but the only ones that bit were Rob and me. The one GOOD thing about being at Dutch today
was that they opened up the 2016 membership season, and it was $215.00 and is
valid until the end of March 2017! (yeah
I know they’re only open a few days in November and on the 31st of December until the second week of April) But the fact
that today, and the rest of the year is included! (and all of 2016) So if I get there maybe one
more time THIS season, and at least four NEXT season I should recoup my
fees! (And given the circumstances, I
SHOULD get there a few times next season)
But anyway…..
It was a beautiful Fall day, and Rob offered to drive, so
after getting our breakfast at Sheetz, we made a bee-line to Wegman’s for our
lunch! Once we got to the lake, we set
up, and tried to remember HOW to set things up since none of us have been
diving since the end of August. It
almost felt like that first dive in March or April when that other place we
used to go would thaw. After getting
things set, we decided that a semi easy kind of dive plan was in order to get
the cobwebs out. So we made our way to
the water, and finished setting up.
We dropped in off of the platform, and went to 20 feet to see
of things still worked correctly, then decided to just meet at the training platforms.
Once there, we still felt ok, so the order was given to continue. We followed along and were soon at the
Trolley. John and Rob took a little trip
through it, I was trying to still get myself totally comfortable, so I stayed
out and played with my buoyancy a little (it helped) After that we decided to not really go crazy
over the embankment, (we’ve seen the ‘Cuda, and the deep hole ain’t all that!) but
we still made our way out to the “Deuce and a Half”. Everyone checked in and we
were still good, so we went back over the embankment, and started on the
backside of the hill. As we got nearer
to the plane, we surfaced a little bit, then went back down to find the line to
the bus. At the bus we all took a quick
trip through it, and then followed the bottom of the hill out towards the
Comet. As we followed the bottom of the hill in that direction a large Albino
fish followed along with us, possibly looking for a hand out. At the Comet we all went through, and I got a
little hung up inside of it, but soon made it out. The order to head towards the exit was given,
so we followed the bottom of the hill until we got near the exit point. John did a valve drill, and I was watching a
few fish. As I made my way closer to the
hill, another fish was watching me DEFINITELY looking for a hand out, so I
turned a few rocks over and didn’t see any cray fish, so I gave him a “sorry”
signal… He looked a little annoyed, but hey, I tried! Safety stop was done, and we all surfaced!
Duration: 50 minutes
Maximum Depth: 86 feet
Coldest Temp: 47º
Ok, not too shabby for that long of a summer lay off. We got
out of most of our gear, then decided it was time for lunch. After a nice break
on a nice day, we decided to start thinking about the next dive. We decided to
enter on the other side of the lot, and do a few things differently.
We put our gear back on, and waddled over to the other side
of the lot. After we were set, we
dropped to 20 feet, and did another bubble check. Everything looked fine, so we
kept going. We followed John’s heading and were soon back at the bus. John and
Rob decided to go back through it,
(after John decided to see if he could make the Philly’s Gnome stand on
the front seat…forgot to mention that on the last dive) I decided to swim outside, and check out the
plaque dedicated to the Sandy Hook victims. At the back of the bus, we followed
along and were soon at the Hell Diver.
After swimming by that we started back along the bottom of the
wall. We were back at the Comet soon
enough, and John asked how much air we had left; satisfied that we all had enough to keep
going, we started back in and headed
over to the Crane. I followed John UNDER
the crane (and kicked up a lot of debris)
Rob decided to stay over top. At that point we headed to the
platforms. Rob did a valve drill, John
did another one, I was feeling a little floaty, so I opted to not do one, so we
headed to the exit point. As we finished
(technically) our second safety stop, I got really floaty and ended a minute
before Rob and John, but we were all done!
Duration: 52 minutes
Deepest Depth: 64 feet
Coldest Temp: 51º
Again, not too shabby of a dive. When my wife texted me after I let her know I
was back on dry land, she asked if it was like riding a bike? I said “a big WET bike…not too bad!” I’m definitely out of practice, and as I
sit here can feel that I’ll be a little sore tomorrow because those muscles
haven’t had much practice over the past month and a half. We put our gear away, then went to the office
to get our 2016 memberships set up. After that we went back to Wegman’s for a
quick snack and a nice cold beer! Being
a holiday, the traffic wasn’t quite as bad as it usually is at that time, and
we made it back at a decent hour. Once we got to the lot, a lady asked John if
any of us had jumper cables, her car wouldn’t start, so John was quick to
oblige, and we got the nice lady on her way!
Not sure when we’ll all get out next, but I’m sure you’ll
know about it! Happy Columbus Day!
