A Much Better Day!

Ok, after having pretty much the week from Hell, all is just about right with the world.  After last week’s equipment issues, and subsequent “EHHHH” dive (at least we were in the water), this week took it’s toll, but the rewards were worth it (ok, not really, but the efforts of the week paid off)  I did a quick check of  the O-rings on my dry suit, and the right hand O-ring was pretty much dry rotted (the left one was fine) so that was replaced (and both were lubricated)  I looked at the rings holding my dry gloves to their respective “glove rings”, and it seemed that the “spanner rings” (Si-Tech’s description) were a little loose, so I went up to the next size, and that seemed to fit rather nicely and snugly.  So that part was seemingly resolved.  I ran by the dive shop on Monday night and got a new hood (I need to trim the bib a little) and that worked out.  Now having my cell phone give up the ghost on Thursday was another stressful thing that ALMOST kept me from coming today, but I was able to finally get that problem resolved last night, and only a few apps need to be re-downloaded, the rest of what I need on that phone showed up.  (hard to believe how much you rely upon a stupid cell phone) 

This weekend is also Penn State’s annual practice game (AKA the “Blue & White Game”)  but after a few times experiencing that, I decided that I’d much rather go diving than deal with the “tourist season” atmosphere up there.  And thankfully I had this day planned for while, because the weather was beautiful!

My drive to the quarry was very nice, and relaxing, I saw a rather large bird take off at one point (wasn’t sure if it was an eagle or not) that was pretty cool to watch, and I made it down in a nice amount of time listening to some relaxing music.  After checking in at the office, I went back to Upper A, and found some corner tables. John and Rob were soon to follow and we were all setting up in no time at all. Rob was having a slight glitch with his computer transmitter, so he borrowed one of John’s extras.  

We were down the steep path in a few minutes, and ready to do our bubble check at 20 ft.  My day was already good since I had no leaks in my gloves. (although rather than go whole hog with my new inner glove set up, I opted to just use the tubes instead of the half gloves for less of a “task load” while setting up)  I was worried that with the new hood I’d be getting some mask leaks, but the first few minutes were great, so that wasn’t the issue I expected…. So we’re ahead of the game so far!   The plan was to take a “Barn Run” since we haven’t done that in a while, and expected the visibility to be pretty decent.  After our bubble check, we continued out past the Pennsy, and through the trees until we passed the pipe, and met at the CAT.  We all checked in, and we were still a good go, so we continued down to the Deep Boat.  At the Deep Boat, we thought that maybe the visibility was starting to get bad, but as we swam out towards the bow, we noticed that it was clearing up, we soon saw the pipe with the line attached, so we started to follow that.  Swimming along the line, I looked down into the deeper hole, and it looked like the visibility was still pretty decent down there, that’s a consideration for next time. We were soon at the Tool Box and Step Van, and then passing the Water Tank. Everyone was still doing well, so we kept moving, following those lines.  At the wood pile, we continued following the line until we were at the Barn.  John started through it, and I was surprised that Rob went through, he’s usually pretty skeptical to actually go THROUGH it seeing that it’s probably going to be known as “the wood pile formerly known as the barn” pretty soon, it’s in that bad of shape.  After we passed through, we met on the other side, and “John the Navigator” pointed to our next direction.  We followed along the wall out past pretty much everything, and slightly increased our depth as we swam. We were soon, (well not really soon, but sooner than other dives) staring up at the Aqua Adventures Truck.  As we got to the top of that hill, John was already going through it, and surprisingly Rob was following (Rob was in a penetrating mood today, I guess)  I wandered around to the back, then met with them there.  We checked in and started back towards the exit point.  At one point I saw a huge catfish (that Rob thinks was in its last moments) just sitting along a small gulley under a pipe. I shined my light on it, and he didn’t move, but just looked annoyed, so I kept going.  We went past the Pennsy again, and John gave us a “what next”?   Seeing that we were about 43 minutes into the dive, it was about time to start thinking safety stop, so we headed to the exit point.  John wanted to attempt a valve drill, Rob kept watch, and I attempted to work on just staying in one spot (I was a little tired, that was a long swim out and back)  Once we were done, we started to the exit, and were done!

Deepest Dept: 93 ft.

Duration: 50 minutes

Coldest Temp: 35º

A MUCH better dive than last week, we were comfortable, and just seemingly in better spirits afterwards. My biggest concerns were all taken care of, and I was glad that my equipment issues were all resolved. Those are usually my biggest worries the next dive.  Other than a slight cramp (and kicking a little tree as a result) I felt pretty good the whole dive!  So no complaints from my end.

After we packed, we headed to PizzAtown for a little lunch and some frothy liquids.  We’re already talking about next Saturday, so I better go get a fill!  Hopefully you can join us!