I get that a lot.
Wow, June 30th was the last time I dusted off the dive gear,
and some people might say “It’s about time!”
I agree! The past two years have
been tough on us physically; Me last year, and Rob and John this year. Rob and John were able to get out on Columbus
Day, but I had to work, and since it’s football season, it’s not as easy for me
to get out on the weekends, but my team had an away game, and Sunday seemed
like a good time for the three of us!
This was the weekend that we had to put the clocks back, so we
were able to sneak in an extra hour of sleep!
That was a plus for today! We
agreed to meet in Grantville about 8:30-ish, and made our merry way to Wegman’s
for our lunches. When we got into Dutch
Springs, we were surprised at how many people were there, but we were still
able to get a good table or three. It
was a little tough for me to remember how to get everything together, but after
staring at it for a little while, it all
came back to me, so I set it all up, checked my gas, and waited for the “go” to
put on the suits.
We waddled down to the entry, and set the rest of the gear
up; when we were all ready, John gave the thumbs down, and we were off to
20ft. No bubbles coming from places that
they shouldn’t come from, so we agreed to keep moving. It took a little while for me to get
comfortable, but after some time, I felt like I knew what I was doing. We swam past the old boat, then soon found
the Trolley. We all swam through, and
met at the back. The question was posed
to go down the hill, or over to the Deuce and a half, and down it was! We popped over the hill, and were staring at
the rusty car that no one seems to be sure of what kind it is (Monza!!)(although
the map says Barracuda) We swam past,
and up the little slope to start our trek behind the island. This was where I really settled in, and got
comfortable, in fact at one point, I had a “Zen” moment, and really felt in the
zone! After we toured the back of the
island, John posed the question to go to the plane, so we all agreed. It took a few kicks to get there, but soon we
could see debris from the Helicopter on the ground, and the chains on the
plane, so we ascended slightly to visit it.
John and Rob swam in through the door on the bottom, I just swam around
it, and met them at the door. After the “ok’s”
were exchanged, we started towards the Comet.
Again, John and Rob swam through and I swam around (I don’t like getting
stuck) So from there we followed the
rope and were taking our safety stop on the platform, and were done!
Depth: 93ft.
Duration: 50 minutes
Coldest Temp: 44º
Not a bad dive after my long lay off! Didn’t take TOO long to get comfy, and once
I did, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing! Time to take a break and eat our wonderful
Wegman’s lunches.
After about an hour, we started planning our next dive. This time we would enter from across the parking
lot, and mess around over there.
We dropped in, and were soon headed out towards where the
bus is sitting, Rob and John swam
through, and I swam around again, the next point of interest was the Hellcat.
After swimming through the murk for a while, (almost felt like a Bainbridge dive
in mid-August) we almost gave up, but, Rob turned and saw the wing, and we were
there! John sat on the propeller, and
we just laughed at him. We then headed towards
the wall, and just did a nice leisurely dive between 40 and 50 feet, following
around it. When we got close to the Comet, John checked to see what we had left
gas-wise, and decided that we had more time to kill, so we started out towards
the Crane, and swam around that for a few minutes. After that we popped back up to the platform
for another safety stop, and we were soon done!!
Depth: 66ft.
Duration: 50 minutes
Coldest Temp: 50º
Once again, a nice comfortable easy dive! I’m impressed with myself for being able to
do two 50 minute dives after such a long layoff (although I’m sure I’ll
probably feel it tomorrow) But as I said, I actually felt good on both dives!
After we finished packing, we popped back over to Wegman’s
for a quick snack and a beer, and headed back home. Hopefully we can figure out someplace to dive
when Dutch closes for the season (after next weekend) But we’ll keep you posted! Until then!
