…Well you know the rest…
Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been in the water, October 10th
for the Columbus Day Invitational Dives, I had to miss New Year’s Eve because I
was stuck out in California for some parade and football game… my wife made me
go… (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)
So when I knew that we were going to be able to go this weekend, I was
all for it!
Not knowing how many people were going to be arriving at the
site, seeing that it was the first official open weekend, Rob thought we should
try to get an early start to get a table, then go to Wegman’s for our lunches
(which didn’t open until 9:00 anyway) So
that’s what we did. Being excited, I
went through my bags, and made sure that everything was in working order; the
computer had a good battery, check, defog bottle filled, check, Drysuit and undergarments packed, check! OH, and I got a new undergarment at Beneath
the Sea that I was anxious to try out, so I can now retire that old sweat suit
I wore forever! All gear taken up to
the garage, and all I had to do was wait…. (and explain to my two new kittens
what I was doing)
Rob was picking me up at 6:30. So I was in my garage about 6:25, to move everything to the front, and as I was, I realized that I ALMOST forgot
my weight belt…that would have been bad!
The trip was uneventful, and we were able to find plenty of tables for
set up. We unloaded, and decided to
start setting up since we still had time to kill to go get our subs. John and Todd showed up right before we left,
so thankfully someone was there to keep an eye on our gear. After getting our lunch we came back to find
Ron and Mindy, so we had a nice contingency of locals. (And we all still miss
Bainbridge)
Mindy was doing her first dry suit dive, so this was
exciting! I remember when I did mine (at Bainbridge) with Lee Millard, and we,
as he put it “dusted off a few platforms”…that was a fun day! (and I still occasionally dust off
platforms)
We decided, that since it’s been a while for both of us, to
keep it conservative, and the fact that the water is cold; we didn’t think more
than about 35-40 minutes would be a good idea anyway. So we planned on heading
out towards the Trolley, dropping in to see the Deuce and a Half, then follow
around the island, and go from there. I
was having some trickle difficulties, but since I had a “cave fill”, we thought
that everything might work out as I sucked down the tanks. (and it did) So we popped in, and dropped down to 20 feet
to look for any odd bubbles, and there weren’t any to worry about, so we kept
going. We went out towards the Aqua Park
area, past the busted platform, and over to the top of the ridge. We then swam over to the Trolley, and popped
over the hill and over to the Deuce and a Half.
We checked in, and everything was still good, so we headed over towards
the island, and just swam around the bottom off of that. After a while Rob started spotting some of
the lines, and we were close to the Cessna, so he turned us, and we headed back
around. It really felt good to just get the feel of being under water again,
and I was getting back into my comfort zone quicker than I expected. At about 35 minutes, Rob turned to me and
pointed over to the platforms, and I agreed. We did our safety stop on the
platforms just swimming back and forth until we were done, then Rob pointed to
a line and we headed back in.
Deepest Depth: 73 ft
Duration: 45 minutes
Coldest Temp: 38º
Not a bad one to start the day, when I got out of the water
I said “Hey, I remembered more than I forgot”!
So we schlepped up the hill and took everything off. My hands were FREEZING, but my body wasn’t
bad… So far so good with the new underwear!!
Everyone else slowly came up and we had a nice little party
in between our dives! John and Todd got
more time on their rebreathers, and Mindy had her first dry suit dive! (and
according to Ron, did a nice job trim-wise)(but had a leak up her sleeve) We had our lunch and caught back up with each
other. When the time to go back in came,
the rebreather guys (who already had 85 minutes in) opted to stay warm and
Mindy opted to stay out, so Ron decided to tag along with Rob and me.
This one was going to be a shallower “line following” kind
of dive, to just get back in the water and continue getting comfy, so we bid
John and Todd a fond farewell, and got dressed again. We dropped to about 20 feet and got into some
other people’s way, so we swam over to the platforms, and did our check,
nothing bad, so we kept going. Down the
line past the Comet, and over towards the mystery boat following the line up to
the Cessna (which is starting to look beat up and broken) Over that hill, then
following the line to the school bus. Rob swam through, and Ron and I just swam
around. Rob pointed to the next line,
and we started over towards the firetruck. (That’s a long-ish swim) We did a
few laps around the firetruck, then started back in, past the bus again, and
past another one of those old boats. Rob
pointed to the platform, and we did another rolling safety stop up there. After
five minutes, we were all getting cold, so we popped back up to the exit and
finished dive number two!
Deepest Depth: 60 ft.
Duration: 46 minutes
Coldest Temp: 39º
OK, all back safe and sound, and everything felt pretty
good! (Well except the frozen hands…jeez!!) I think everything worked the way
it was supposed to, and we all got that first of the year tough one in!
The drive home was a long one due to a very nasty looking
accident on 81, but I made it home in record time thanks to Rob’s expert
driving abilities! (And no help to the out of state morons that kept him from cruising
in the passing lane)
Not sure when the next trip is going to happen, but just not
next weekend due to the Easter holiday. (Which means that the marshmallow peeps
will be on sale starting next Monday!!!)
I’ll try to stay in touch!
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