November 2nd! I didn’t get to dive in
October. I have this odd personal goal
to try to dive 12 months consecutively, and I still haven’t been able to do
it. Oh, I’ve done at least one dive in
each month, but never for 12 consecutive months…. This year we got messed up with
the ice in February, so that messed up the last one, now, I missed October, so….back
to the drawing board…at least if February gives us a Frozen quarry, I won’t be
QUITE as upset as I was last year…ok…Let it go….
This time of year is mixed for me, I’m happy that the
college football season is here, and that I still have season tickets to Penn
State, but the weekends are funky in regards to when I can get out and
dive. Depending upon the schedule, I can
sometimes, come home after a game, get a good night’s sleep, then get up and go
in the morning, but this season has been kind of crazy (and add in that we are
going to two away games, doesn’t help get me out diving) The Wednesday night season is over, and until
the clocks change, why NOT keep the Wednesday nights open…. On October 1st I sat in my living room, at
about 5:30pm and thought “there’s no reason we couldn’t be diving tonight” Anyway...enough of my complaining… I WAS able
to get to a game yesterday, and out today!
I shot a note to Rob earlier in the week, and we decided
that we’d talk about it again on Saturday.
After the game, I called him, and he was still willing to go. John was
also in the mix so we had a little group.
I had to miss the Columbus Day dives due to one of the aforementioned
away games, but now I was back in the mix.
This is also the end of Daylight Savings Time, so that extra hour of
sleep helped!
We were meeting at 11:00am.
I looked outside when I did wake up, and saw that it was blustery, might
make for some fun setting up, but I knew I wouldn’t sweat my buns off getting
into my dry suit. (And Susie said that a few people that were out yesterday
said that the water was warmer than the air.)
My Dive Rite regulators were in for their service, and hopefully to fix
a leaking issue, so Rob texted me and said that they were ready, and he’d bring
them today so we could test them, and make any adjustments tomorrow night if
necessary. (I just had to put my transmitter on, and the clips)
We sort of formulated a plan once we got down to the water,
John ran it by us, and it seemed to be a good one. (And I’m sure I’ll mess it
up since we covered a LOT of ground…so correct me if I’m wrong) Down to 20ft. for the bubble check. (well
after I wet breathed the regs and made sure they were fine in those
respects)(safety first!) We got to the
tree, and no errant bubbles to speak of from anyone (Rob serviced his this week
as well) and we were off! We followed
John past some of the trees, and over the boats past the Pennsy until we hit
the pipe, and started down past the CAT.
We looked at each other, and things still seemed fine, so we continued
down to the Deep Boat. Another quick
glance, and we were soon swimming over the 110 ft. trench and out towards the
Outhouse. There was a lot of swirly stuff on the bottom (Cue the Pink Floyd music)
and it was neat to swim through, but I had to focus and keep an eye on John and
Rob, so I didn’t lose them. Over the
rocks, and soon someone saw the Tripod tree, and we were at the Outhouse. After checking in again, John took a heading,
and we were headed out to the Step Van.
A few fin kicks later, and there was the rubble from a building, and
the Step Van. Next up was back out
towards the Deep Boat, then past it and over the hill down towards the pump control
building. The visibility was pretty
crappy there, so no use in going down any further. Back towards the CAT, then along the ridge
over to the wall. We passed over the pretzel jug on a stick, and were soon at
the wall and making a left. We followed
the wall for a while, and we ended up just below the Aqua Adventures truck.
John went through it, Rob went over it, and I went around it. We met at the back, then followed through the
trees out to the wall. Once we passed the boat with the fuzzy caterpillar on it,
we started up to our safety stop. Five
(and a half) minutes later we were headed out and back to our exit point.
Deepest Depth: 94 ft.
Duration: 48 minutes
Coldest Temp: 37ยบ
Not a horrible dive for being out of the water for over a
month, but a few little things went “wonky” for me. Down at depth, I couldn’t seem to get back
off of the bottom, when I did, I got a little floaty, and was afraid I was
going to do a feet first ascent, probably just an out of practice thing, but
always a concern, when I’m not THAT comfortable. (well and narced) But no mishaps to speak of, really. Regulators breathed fine, and it good to have
the Dive Rites back! Both John and Rob did work on them, and they did a great
job, thanks guys! Rob’s seemed to work
fine for him, so nothing equipment related went wrong, and we made it back in
one piece, so that was a good thing!
The weather was still cold and windy, so putting everything
away was a challenge (and I cut my finger on something so it was a challenge
trying not to get blood all over everything)
After we were done packing, we decided that lunch was in order, and
since PizzAtown was on our way home, we decided to stop! (and have a cold beer as well)
Can’t say when I’ll be back in the water, another away game
next weekend, then a home game that we don’t know the time yet. November 22nd is another away game
that I won’t be attending so there’s a possible weekend (well unless the Mrs.
decides we should go out of town, then…bummer!)
(well unless it includes a winery or brewery…)
See you next time!
