LOST….The Sequel!

After a very long weekend of being out and about, traipsing about in different states, I’m home, and got my fills in time for a Wednesday night.  I was able to get out of Hershey at a decent hour and actually beat Rob to the quarry for once (not by much, but I was there first) It’s always nice to have my usual table, and beat the rush, but it was a little bit of a quieter Wednesday. (Maybe people heard that Annette was coming out, and weren’t sure if John brought the tarp or not...you remember what happened that LAST time that scenario played out!)  Well we knew that John was going to be there, and that Jane (the tarp) would be in tow!  So thankfully the weather held of rather nicely!

Last week my computer started giving me some trouble because the battery was dying, so I made sure that I put in new ones, and (as usual) was skeptical about my seal job on the battery compartments, so I grabbed my back up and had that activated just in case. (However this week it was only six feet deeper than my primary!)

Once we knew what we were up against, Rob and I started getting ready, and were soon wandering down the steep path to the water.  Everything looked good, so we dropped to the tree for a bubble check. Nothing to report at the tree, all of the bubbles were coming from the right places, so we kept going past the boats and towards the pipe.  The visibility was getting a little foggier as we went, but we were still seeing the shadows where we expected them to be.  Pretty soon we ran into the pipe. Rob took the high road; I took the low road and went under it.  We slowly followed it down, and were soon looking at the CAT.  Rob looked at me and gave me an OK sign, I returned it, and he pointed to the left of the CAT, and down the deeper path. I agreed, and we continued following the pipe.  At the Pump House, we continued down, and Rob pointed at the steps, so we followed those down to the Deep Deep Boat.  At the boat, Rob gave me the back up the steps signal, and I agreed, and followed.  At the top of the hill we checked in and continued until we saw the Deep Boat.  We kept on, and headed to the bottom of the hill. We turned left and followed the bottom over the 110ft. Trench, and out over the boulders.  When Rob saw the Tripod Tree, we checked in, and continued until we hit the Outhouse.  Passing the Outhouse, we looked for the Big Boulder in the fog, and met behind it. It was good to see it this time, the last time I was having mask issues. Rob checked with me, and I was still ok, so we continued around the Boulder, out towards the left, and headed out to what I thought was the other side of the Trench, and towards the Steam Shovel Bucket.  After swimming over nothing for a little while, I noticed that Rob seemed to be moving a little fast, I just thought I was narced, and admiring the foggy-ness over the Trench.  Soon we saw one of the lines that run through the muck, and were at the pipes not far from the Deep Boat.  At the Deep Boat, Rob continued, and started up towards the CAT.  At the CAT, he turned to me and pointed to his wrist slate which still had “LOST” written on it!  I had a SLIGHT feeling, but wasn’t thinking that we were THAT out of it, and felt like my brain was probably a little wonky from the time at depth.  We followed past the CAT, then wandered around the Bowl and through trees for a bit, and ended up by the Pennsy. After a trip around that we hit some of the large beams, and steam shovel arms, and headed over to our safety stop point.  At 20 ft. we took a break, and I got a kick out of watching the fish swarm Rob…I was wondering if he had a tuna sandwich for lunch or something.  Five minutes up, and we started over to the exit point, and we were done!

Duration: 47 minutes

Deepest Depth: 117ft.

Coldest Temp:  37º

If he didn’t tell me we were lost, I never would have thought it, and still would swear that I was narced, and lagging behind over the barren wasteland. (which I MIGH T add was pretty cool, I was trying to determine that if what I was seeing was fog, or the bottom…or just my imagination…but it was neat!)   I’m still diving in the 119’s, and not really loving them in comparison to the 130’s. I feel better trim-wise in the 130’s. I just need to get them inspected and back on my back! I might also need to see if it’s possible where they are oriented on my back is causing a little bottom heaviness.  I also need to get my Dive Rite regulators serviced; I really miss them at the deeper depths. Not to detract from the Zeagles, but the Hurricanes just breathe so smoothly!

After John and Annette surfaced, we packed our gear and met a strange man over at PizzAtown for dinner.  We’re still holding out that he’ll join us at the quarry one of these nights…but as good divers, we aren’t holding our breath!

I’m hoping to get out this weekend, so stay tuned for that...but, I am out of here for now!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!