December is a strange month. Remembering back to my
childhood, December ALWAYS had lots of snow, and was cold, and you just didn’t
go swimming. Now that I’m older, and the
bones are creakier, getting into the water in the North is just an everyday thing,
and nothing to think twice about doing. However, due to circumstances beyond my
control (The Penn State Football schedule, and my wife) I haven’t been able to
get out diving as much as I’d like to be. Looking at my dive log, the last
three dives I logged were November 2nd, September 24th, and today. With that sort of record in mind, you can imagine
that things were rusty. We tried last Saturday, but Rob was having
some sinus/cold issues, so it just didn’t happen, so when this weekend broke
free, the opportunity was a good one!
I was at my usual table at Upper A, setting my gear up (well
trying to remember how to set my gear up) and John pulled, up, followed shortly
by Rob. As I put my regulators on my cylinders,
and turned on my air, I heard a leak, and thought “not again” but this time it
seemed to be a hose issue as opposed to a first stage issue. It was soon remedied
by swapping hoses with another set of regulators I had along. Good to have
back-ups! Getting everything ready was a
testament to our love of this activity, we were COLD! No doubt about it, and the thought that we
were jumping into water, just made it that much more appealing. Standing in the same spot in July, in intense
heat and humidity is another testament to our love for this activity, and trying
to decide which scenario is the better of the two is a tough choice….ask me in
July!
Once we were all put together, gas tested, and dry suits zipped,
we made our way to the water. No serious
dive plan was planned, but a quick route of,
Cat, Deep Boat, Step Van, Outhouse, etc. was agreed upon, and thumbs
down was the next move. Knowing that I
was a little rusty, I was overly cautious with my descent, and seemed to make
it to 25 ft. as opposed to 20. John checked in with me, and I was OK, Rob
looked over and gave me the OK sign, and we were ready to go. Past the one boat, and through the trees, we
were soon passing the pipe with the yellow cage on it and staring at the back
of the CAT. At the CAT we all looked at each other, and everything seemed fine,
so we kept going. Soon we were at the
bottom of the hill and at the Deep Boat.
John eyed up the line, and we were following that. As usual I was a bottom dweller, and was able
to keep the line well in view. When we
got to the Step Van, I saw John “convulsing” and thought “cramp!”, so I just
held on to the tool box, and waited him out. Rob was fiddling with his compass,
and between the two of them appeared to be formulating our next move. (little
did I know that Rob wasn’t able to really see his compass due to a lens in his
mask moving, and the small numbers on his compass) We were soon following the bottom, (I was ON
the bottom, and even taking some of it with me) and arriving at the tripod
tree, then making a slight maneuver to the Outhouse. At the Outhouse, we all checked in, and
turned and followed back along the bottom of the wall. I was SOOOO tempted to slide into the fog of
the 110’ Trench, but decided that it wouldn’t be a great idea, and stayed close
to John and Rob. We were at the Pump
House, and I could see that the Lobster was about ready to put up his Christmas
tree, since the Christmas tree stand was sitting on the edge of the little
building. At this point we started up
the slope, and to the Aqua Adventures Truck. John penetrated, and Rob and I
went around back. After John made it though,
we started along the line out to the CAT, and did a deep stop of sorts. At the CAT, we started over towards the wall,
and followed that for a few minutes.
Next thing you know Rob was looking at me and signaling “20” for a
safety stop. So I slid up to 20 ft. so my computer started the countdown. The next five minutes, I was playing a game
of yo-yo, and glad I wasn’t breathing oxygen since I was sitting at 28 ft. at
one point. John looked at me and asked how long I had, and I still had two
minutes. Rob looked like he had one. After
another minute or so, we started over the wall and into the clear Lagoon. (although
I experienced my first “Ice cream headache” of the day, it was COLD in there!) Along
the bottom, and over one of the collapsed buildings to the boats, and what was
probably the clearest I ever saw of the pipe.
We swam through the pipe, then around the boat, and back along the wall,
where we popped back over the road.
Along the wall again on that side, and we were at the exit point and
finished.
Duration: 49 minutes
Deepest Depth: 95ft.
Coldest Temp: 37º
After a long layoff, not a horrible dive, but much room for improvement. I stayed too close to the bottom for most of
the dive, and hit once or twice, and I couldn’t hold a safety stop to save my
sorry butt! But otherwise, I felt pretty good, almost like riding a bike! Tearing things apart on the surface was pure
Hell since it was really cold. At this
point I will admit that the heat and humidity of July are a better option, I
can always get cooler, but not warmer. (note to self, bring the chemical hand
warmers for post-dive if we get out next weekend) After a clumsy (due to gloves) tear down, we
quickly retired to PizzAtown for a much needed lunch. (and those two cold Mad Elf’s
went down like nothing!)
Ok, as usual things to continue to work on, but otherwise a
pretty good dive after such a long layoff.
As I said, hopefully next weekend cooperates and we can do this again! Not a lot of time left in this year! Quarry fees didn’t change for 2015, so that’s
a good thing! See you soon!
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