Monday, October 12, 2015

Thanks CC!




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!

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