Bass Ackwards!?!?

The Dutch Springs trip we had planned for Friday didn’t go off.  Rob and I were still suffering with the allergy issues, and decided that we should probably hold off, but we kept the option for the weekend open for Bainbridge.  Rob decided to try some Allegra, and that seems to help him out.  I’ve been on that stuff for years, and I think it works.   (just not the generic)(it helps to be married to a Pharmacist, to know this sort of thing!)

The weather looked a little questionable, so I texted him and said I was going to leave shortly and go see if I could get us tables in one of the pavilions.  As I hit send, my phone rang and it was Rob checking in to see if I was still up for a dive.  We also agreed that it would probably be empty today looking at the weather, and the fact that most of the local dive operations had classes the past few weeks.  So I wasn’t in QUITE as much of a hurry as I was two minutes earlier.  When I got there, I saw that there were a lot of people signed in, and several instructors…I first thought that maybe they just used the sign in sheet from the day before, until I got to the pavilion area and saw that it was full.  There were several tables at Upper A taken, so no one is afraid to get wet! I texted Rob and said “nothing in the pavilion” He got back and was there in a few.

After Wednesday, we were hoping to get a little more out of it today, but we were still being careful. As we got to the bottom of the steep access, there were a few people standing there, (strange that a class was entering there) so we had to swim around them to descend.  Rob went first, and I followed.  As I passed the people, I started a little over towards the left, thinking we were headed to our usual tree…but I didn’t see Rob’s light…so I did a few 360’s and then I saw his shine….I went over to him, and we did our quick check.  All systems go and we were off.  Since we weren’t at our usual tree, and the visibility was pretty cruddy, we had a tough time finding the pipe.  We swam through trees, around things, under things, and over things and didn’t see anything I recognized. Rob looked at me at one point and pointed to his ear, so I thought maybe he was just taking a long circuitous way to get to our probable destination, and hoped that his ears would settle, until he turned to me, and wrote on his slate “lost”… Ok, we WERE lost….so he sort of re-grouped it, and we started back, and soon we saw a boat, and one of the big steam shovel arms, then the Pennsy magically appeared!  (I also found a rather expensive looking snorkel, and wondered if it was the one Susie told us to keep an eye out for a few weeks back) After passing the Pennsy, Rob had the line of where we were going, and we were soon following the pipe down towards the CAT.  At the CAT, he looked at me and was making some hand signals, I didn’t understand, so he just grabbed the snorkel and stuck it in one of his pockets… I wasn’t thinking there was a “stick that snorkel in your pocket” signal in the PADI manual, so I didn’t get it right off the bat (there might be one in the IANTD manual, but I haven’t really learned those yet)  So we started down the slope to the Deep Boat.  We had it a little better today, and approached from our usual angle.  At the Deep Boat, Rob pointed out to the wall, so I agreed, and we followed over the void until we were at the wall.  We followed along over the 110ft. Trench (which looked pretty eerie) and along the bottom of the hill out towards the Outhouse. We were soon passing the tripod tree, and there was the Outhouse.  Rob pointed back in, and I agreed once again.  As we followed, I saw what looked like a rather large dead fish…maybe the aforementioned “Bass”, but he was big!  As we went back over the trench, I HAD to slide into it a little, so I did...and it WAS eerie!  At the bottom of the wall, we started our ascent, and checked on the little Lobster on top of the Pump House.  He was good, just a little dusty.  Up the hill, and we were soon at the Aqua Adventures truck. I pointed my light at the line, and Rob agreed, so we followed that back over to the CAT, at the CAT, Rob turned along the other line, and we headed to our safety stop.  I seem to do ok the first few minutes, but the last minute or two I always tend to get a little bouncy, I need to work on that.  (well, I can use the excuse today that my 119’s were getting a little light, since I didn’t get a fill, but, I usually bounce a little) After our five minutes were up, we went back through the brush, feeling the nice warm thermocline as we did, and we were done!

Duration: 50 Minutes

Deepest Depth: 97ft.

Coldest Temp:  37º

Except for being the opposite of our usual path, it was a pretty good dive!   I still seem to feel a little awkward in the 119’s, and have to use the 130’s up, so I can get them in for their annual.  I was considering hanging on to them a little longer, to see if I could stretch them into September, but I really like how they feel.  But all in all it was a good dive!

When we got back up, there was no rain, so we didn’t get wetter!   On my way out after packing, I stopped and gave Susie the snorkel; she does think that it’s the one someone was missing, so hopefully it gets to its rightful owner!   As I said it looks like an expensive one, but…it’s a snorkel!  Rob said he didn’t like those anyway.

Ok, looks like we’ll be back again Wednesday…not sure who’s going to be back in town, but I’ll keep you posted on things.