Guinea Pigs…

Since 100% Oxygen is a tough commodity to come by in beautiful Hershey Pennsylvania, it trickles down into Nitrox production at local dive shops, so if you want the “Voo Doo Gas” you have to make other arrangements.  (and my wife won’t let me buy the full Nitrox/Trimix system that’s up for sale within five miles of my house, so you need to do the next best thing, just find who has the gas)  Rob heard that West Shore Scuba was starting to pump Nitrox, so we were making plans to run over on the day that they were opening early. Ever the cautious one,  I shot a note to Ron to see if he was ready to go, and thankfully I did, because he wasn’t.  But possibly that night, so I said I’ll get back in touch.  Well things took a little longer than expected, and we weren’t able to go over until Saturday morning.  I think once he gets a little time in with it, he’ll be better, but it seems like a good system, and he just has a few growing pains to work out, so be patient with him! My name is the first in his Nitrox log book, Rob’s is second, so we were the first ones!  (that’s kind of cool!) We got our fills, but they weren’t the cave fills we’re used to, so we had to do some things a little differently, and pay a little more attention to how much gas we were breathing…. We’re old pros, so I’m sure we’d be able to get at least something in.

Since when we got there last week it was a little packed, we decided to attempt leaving earlier (which meant getting up earlier) but it paid off! Although Wegman’s didn’t have their made to order sub shop open quite yet (9:00am) we were able to get some nice premade ham and cheese sandwiches that were actually pretty darn good!  When we got to the quarry, we were able to find two tables that were free, so we quickly scarfed them up!  And since the aforementioned local shop was having an Advanced Open Water class, (thankfully it wasn’t a Nitrox class) we decided to go over and talk to John (and give Ron a hassle) We also saw a few familiar faces from the old Bainbridge Days wandering about, so there were friendly people all over.

We set up and decided that we wanted to be back in with 1500psi in our cylinders, so Rob made a quick and easy dive plan, with escape routes depending upon air consumption (Looking at my dive computer, my starting pressure was 2730psi) So that was an ambitious task to come back at 1500, but not impossible.  So we dropped to 20ft. and made sure everything looked good, and we were off. Rob took his heading, and soon we were passing the old boat on our way to the Trolley. I noticed that my left hand felt a little squishy, so I was playing with my glove a bit, with no luck, so I just sucked it up and had a cold-ish wet hand.  We got to the Trolley, and went through.  Rob pointed downhill, and I agreed, so down we went.  We were soon looking at the car, and heading towards the Deuce and a Half. We missed it and swam around at 85 feet for a few minutes, then found the hill and started up. We were soon staring at the blast shack, so we missed it by a little.  The visibility left a lot to be desired, so it’s highly possible we swam right by it and didn’t see it.  Rob took another heading and we were swimming across some open terrain until we found the hill, and started around it, and were soon swimming past what we thought was the crane (which was pretty much not visible, you could also tell there were people by it recently)  Rob asked me what my psi was, and I told him, so as we passed by the Comet, we just headed up to the platforms, and decided to head in to save some gas, a quick safety stop and we were done! 

Deepest Depth: 86 feet

Duration: 39 minutes

Coldest Temp: 47º

Not a horrible dive, almost 40 minutes, and only about 1000psi used.  When I pulled my dry suit off, my whole left arm up past my elbow was soaked, so I figured I’d just dive in my wet gloves the next dive, and hope that my under garments dried in the sun. (they did) 

We had our lunch, and went over to see the guys from the shop again, I ran into another friend that was there with her students from Liquid Therapy Diving, where she trains active military and veterans free of charge, on donations. If you can, check her out and give what you can, Donna’s doing a great thing!! 

http://www.liquidtherapydiving.org/

After we decided it was time to go back in, we decided to keep it simple and just follow the ropes out to the tanker and back in; easy enough. I decided to take along my pony bottle just in case.  So we went back in, set up and met at 20 feet.  Everything felt good (and it was weird getting used to the wet gloves) so we kept going.  As we descended, I was getting a little bit of a squeeze in my left leg, so I was trying to get some air into it.  I got a little, but when we got to the platform area, I just grabbed on and tilted, and the squeeze was gone!   I followed Rob off to the left, and we were soon passing the Comet, and found the first line.  Off to the boat, then to the next line up the hill to the Cessna. Over the Cessna, we checked in, and were still a go, so we kept going.  The visibility at the line left a lot to be desired, so Rob took another heading, and we dropped where the viz was better, and were soon at the tanker where the viz was actually decent! (not many students going out there)  We took a trip around it, and looked at some of the hardware on top of it, then followed the line back in towards the hill.  Around the hill, and we did a quick gas check, since we still had a decent amount, we just followed the bottom of the hill to the Crane (well we think it was the Crane)  Rob looked at me and gave me a choice, head back in or head back towards the Comet (at first I thought it was the direction…this way…then that way, but then made it look like one or the other)  So I said Comet.  We swam back out, and found the Comet again.  Rob went through, and as I turned to just go along side, I got nailed in the leg by someone swimming by.  I followed Rob’s bubbles, and he exited the boat then pointed up the rope, and I agreed. (as he got knocked by the people that just ran into me)  When we got to the platform, we just did a few trips around it to see if those guys would finish way before us.  I tried using my breath only to go under the boards, and got one to work.  After our second trip around, Rob pointed to the rope, and I said OK!  So we did a safety stop, and finished. (678psi, and I didn’t use the pony)(although I probably should have, it’s up for visual inspection…)

Deepest Depth: 64 feet

Duration: 49 minutes

Coldest Temp: 50º

Again, not a bad dive, very relaxing! Except for the leg squeeze at the beginning, I felt pretty good throughout. (although Rob lost me during the safety stop, I wasn’t far, though) 

After tearing everything down, we met John over at Wegman’s for some post-dive refreshments (lemonade and cookies!)(that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)  And then we went our separate ways.  Well, we made it, the gas we were breathing worked, and we lived to tell about it!  

When I got home, I filled that dry glove with water (hey, it was already wet) and found that it’s not leaking, so I have a few other things to check out…if not dive two next time will be with wet gloves again!  SPEAKING of next time, there is talk for next weekend, so stay tuned!

Getting a few in when we can…

It’s been a while; June 10^th was the last time I was able to get out.  Rob and Todd were out, but I was having some issues, (mostly mental) so I had to back out at the last minute. So this was the first opportunity where we were able to hook up and get to Dutch. Weekends aren’t optimal this time of year, but you take what you can get.  When we arrived, we had a tough time finding a spot, in the Peninsula area, it was pretty packed (and the Wounded Warriors were having an event) so we had to improvise.  We grabbed one of the plastic tables and carried it down to the bottom of the hill, then I went up and grabbed my doubles to “reserve” the table, and we brought our stuff down…I felt like I was unpacking my car from the grocery store trying to carry everything else in one trip.  Rob thankfully, brought his canopy, so we were able to shield ourselves from the sun when it was out (and eventual passing shower over lunch)

It wasn’t horribly hot, but it was hot enough, and we were sweating getting things set up (and I was trying to remember how to set it up since it’s been such a long time)  As we were getting things ready, we decided upon a dive plan that wasn’t too overly crazy to try to get back into the swing of things.

We dropped in off of the platform next to the water park area, and went to 20 feet to look for anything odd.  All things seemed in order so we kept going.  Visibility was “eh” as expected seeing the number of people, and we made our way past the downed platform and ended up not too far off from the Trolley.  We swam through, and met up at the back. Rob pointed down the hill and I agreed.  Over the hill, and into more crappy visibility, it almost felt like a smoky bar at this point. It took a while, but Rob found the Deuce and a Half, and the visibility over there was making it feel like we were in Bainbridge.  Up over the ridge, and out past what we thought was the Crane, (tough to tell in the visibility) and along the bottom of the hill.  We made it to the line out to the Comet, and Rob pointed, so I agreed.  We followed the line, and when we got to the Comet, I decided to follow Rob THROUGH this time, since I usually swim along the outside….hey nothing wrong with a little light penetration….So I followed, and reminded myself why I usually don’t go through, it’s tight in spots.  Rob applauded me when I exited, and I just shrugged.  He pointed up the line, so I followed up to the platforms.  People were all over, and two almost collided with Rob.  We were at about 35 minutes, so we decided to take our safety stop and head in. (well I sort of bounced through it) and we were done!

Duration:  44 minutes

Deepest Depth: 85 feet

Coldest Temp: 47º

Not too bad of a dive to get the rust out.  I had a few mishaps early on getting my spot in the water, and my safety stop was kind of yo-yo-ish, but otherwise, not bad.  We sat back and had our wonderful Wegman’s lunch as a short passing shower went by.  After about 90 minutes of watching young girls in bikini’s (don’t get excited, nothing too crazy) we decided that it was time to go back in. 

We dropped in again from the platform next to the water park, and did our 20 ft. check. Everything again doing what it should and we were off.  Rob took a heading towards the Comet, then we found the line up the hill to the Cessna, up the hill to the plane, and as we were approaching the top, I noticed a hole in the side of the hill and saw something moving, it was a nice size crayfish keeping watch on me, I tried to put my finger in, and pull him out, but he went in further, so I left him alone.  (but now that I know you’re there hahahaha!) Over the hill, we checked in and Rob pointed to the line out towards the School Bus. Visibility was again pretty bad so we just tried to follow the line.  When we found it we went through, and met on the back side. He was considering the Hell Diver, but with the way the visibility was, and how bad it usually is over there on a normal day, he just decided to follow the line to the Firetruck.  I wasn’t paying close attention, and almost ran into the truck when we arrived.  From there we followed the line back to the Bus, then the line back to the Cessna from the front.  Over the hill again, then down past the other boat on our way to the Comet.  At about this time I just happened to look at my computer to check on my remaining gas, and noticed that we were down for 46 minutes. I realized that I just doubled my dive time for the month of July on this dive! (and almost spit out my regulator when I started laughing)(ok, it’s not funny, it’s pathetic!)(but I was probably half narced)  At the Comet he pointed up the line, and I agreed.  We swam up and back on the platform a few times, Rob was working on some breathing control going in and out of the cross pieces on the platform, I just tried to keep at one depth.  After a few laps, Rob pointed up, and I said OK, so we did our safety stop, and we were done!

Duration: 64 minutes

Deepest Depth: 64 feet

Coldest Temp: 51º

A lot of swimming around, but it was a comfortable dive.  I think we caught up on some missed safety stops over the years with the depth changes we did because it seemed that every time I went to look at my computer, it was in safety stop mode. But at least this time we weren’t crowded in the water.  We packed up, and took another trip to Wegmans for some post dive snacks, then made the long trip home.

Not sure when we’ll be out again, but we’re hoping.  Keep safe!

Back to Bethlehem!

After getting my fills Monday night, Rob asked if I was going to be around Friday to run back up. I said I wasn’t sure if I was going out of town that day, but would check. When I got home, I asked the Mrs. and she said we’d be home, so go diving, why not!     It was a crazy week, but thankfully this day got here and I was able to go get wet! (and hopefully stay dry)

Rob picked me up and we made the nice long drive to Wegman’s for our lunch.  After that we timed it right and drove right in. This week the weather was nice, so it was a little more packed, but still not horrible.  We got our gear together, and started talking dive plan.  We’ve been talking about the car that’s just below where the Trolley is located, recently.  I (for some reason…and I don’t know diddly squat about cars) thought it was a Monza.  Rob said that it’s a Barracuda, and that it was listed as a Barracuda on one of the maps we downloaded years back.  This week while tooling about Facebook, and seeing some pictures a friend posted of a bunch of different cars that are scattered around the quarry, he listed it as a Chevelle?!?!  OK, look at some pictures of the cars, definitely not a Monza…but certain views, had it looking like a Chevelle, and certain views had it looking like a ‘Cuda…so the first plan was to run down there and take a look.  Then hit a few of the other sites, and just make sure we have enough gas for a second dive.

We suited up and went into the water, decided to go to 20 feet to check for bubbles, and kept going.  We followed the bottom, and got a little closer to where the Aqua Park is located since we saw one of the old platforms on the ground, so a quick course adjustment and we were back at the Trolley.  Rob looked at me and pointed down, so I agreed.  Down the hill, and over to the car we went.  We looked in every spot that was still there, on the outside, and inside, but couldn’t determine the exact type of car, I noticed on last week’s dive that it was looking pretty beaten up, so it wasn’t a huge surprise that we couldn’t figure it out, so we shrugged, and headed over to the Deuce and a Half. AS we got closer we noticed that someone kicked it up like crazy, there was a serious cloud of crud all around it. Up the slope, and over towards the back of the island, it was still pretty bad, so Rob changed direction, and we went back around front to the crane.  A little trip through that, and over to some of the boats out to the  Silver Comet; Rob looked at me and gave me the “up” signal, and I agreed, so up towards the platform, and into a safety stop.  After a few minutes, we were done!

Deepest Depth: 90 feet

Duration: 35 minutes

Coldest Temp: 44º

Not a bad first dive, a little short, but we stayed conservative to have a decent amount of gas for dive two, not a big problem.  We were taking off our gear and started talking to a gentleman from Buffalo who was with the shop teaching a sidemount class. He was curious about the temp of the water, and was telling us about some of the diving he does.  (But 5 hours to come to Dutch?  Hmmm…) We had our lunch and then started talking about the second dive. Rob wanted to see if he could figure out the “brand” and date of origin that the firetruck had.  So we had a plan to get there and wander about that area on this dive.

Suit back up, and hit 20 feet for any weird bubbles. All systems go, so we headed off towards the direction of the Silver Comet.  We saw the sidemount class as we passed the platforms, and continued on down the rope.  At the Comet, we continued, and found the rope heading up the slope on the island to the Cessna.  Up the hill, and under the wing, and we checked in.  Next we found the rope for the bus.  Out to the bus, and pick up the rope to the firetruck.  The visibility wasn’t quite as good as last week, so it was an odd kind of journey.  At the firetruck, Rob looked in a few places he knew to look for any information, but couldn’t seem to find anything that gave him any indication so he shrugged his shoulders and pointed back towards the bus.  After the bus, he took a heading, and we headed back to the Silver Comet, we swam through the middle of it, and he pointed towards the back of the quarry, so I figured; ‘crane’?  I was right, back over to the crane. After swimming around the crane, he pointed towards the platforms, and we were soon swimming up on to them.  I got a little too close, and tried to make a course correction with my left fin, and got a calf cramp, when I twisted to clear it, I flipped a little, and felt myself rising. I got to about 8 feet and stopped, then tried to make sure had no air in my wing or suit to drop back down, and it wasn’t happening.  With the psi left in my cylinders, I was a little too light to drop back down so my dive was over. Rob was looking up and checking on me, so I gave him an OK, but shook my head no since I couldn’t drop back down, so he finished his safety stop (another minute or two) and joined me at the surface. I wasn’t overly worried since two or three times I glanced at my computer during the dive, we were at safety stop depth) But yeah, I guess when I have that little bit of gas in my cylinders, I should put maybe another two pounds on my belt, I was feeling a little “floaty” towards the end of the dive.  So…note to self;  stick 2 lbs in a pocket when you know you’re sucking the tanks lower than 1000!

Deepest Depth: 60 feet

Duration: 50 minutes

Coldest Temp: 46º

Other than the mishap at the end, not a bad second dive for the most part. After we went up the slope to the Cessna, I wasn’t as comfortable as I was earlier in the dive, and it took a little while to get back into the swing of things and where I wanted to be.  But other than that,  not a bad dive again! Rob put a little hole in his dry glove trying to move zebra mussels from the firetruck to see if he could see anything, he didn’t think those little buggers would bite!

After we packed we hit Wegman’s for a quick snack, and made the long trip home.  Not sure what’s in store for the weeks to come, but since this is pretty much the only game at the moment, we’ll probably be back!   We’ll keep you posted!!

Friday Dive Club!

The past few weeks, Rob, Todd and occasionally John have been heading up to Dutch Springs for a couple dives. Wanting to join them, but unable, I’ve been chomping at the bit to get up there, and finally had my chance!  (since there was nothing happening on my end of the world this week)   I know I’ve been saying this for weeks, and I don’t mean to beat a dead (sea) horse, but, the fact that it takes a little more planning to get out to Dutch than it did to go to Bainbridge is starting to take its toll.  (And weekends out in Bethlehem are kind of “first come first serve” so it’s a gamble for space) (off soapbox)

Anyway, so the plan was to meet out in Grantville at 8:00, pile everything into one car and head up to Bethlehem. The weather was sort of wet-ish, so we weren’t sure what to expect since “Jane” wasn’t attending. (yeah, I had a tarp, but it doesn’t have the magic)  So as the ride up was drizzle here and there, we were keeping our fingers crossed, and getting possible game plans for our dry gear in order.  

First stop was Wegman’s though, so we could get our lunch plans settled.  After that, the wait for the gate to open (I guess while they vacuumed the pool to get it ready for us)  9:58am (EARLY!) and they opened the gates!   As we were setting up the man that sits in the little booth watching the water all day approached us and started a little conversation, and I guess since we were nice to him, he offered us use of one of the tents along the bottom of the Peninsula parking area, stating that there’s no one using them today!  What a nice guy!  (and in the tradition of “Jane” since we had something to keep our stuff dry, there was no serious rain to speak of… Ya gotta love “karma”!)

First plan was semi conservative since I’m way out of practice (April 17 was my last dive)  So we figured we’d be ok on this one.  Waddle down to the water and off we went!  

As we started our descent I saw Todd assisting Rob with something, figured something was tangled, so I dropped to 20 feet and waited.  As we got there and checked in, Rob looked at me, gave me his “ok”, then went to add air to his suit, and his inflator popped off.  I was happy that I was able to pop it right back on, and we were good to go. (His assessment later on was that something with his GoPro camera was somehow knocking his inflator hose off, so he decided that the GoPro was a NoGo for this dive!) (although I hear there’s footage of me putting his inflator on)  Since it was our usual dive plan for the first dive to start, we were on our way to the Trolley…and, well with the inflator incident, we got a little off of our plan, and ended up by the crane… so that was a bonus object on this trip!    Quick course correction and we were back on track for the trolley. After a trip through the Trolley, we gave the thumbs down and popped over the hill to the car (which is looking pretty bad these days)  Then over to the “deuce and a half”, and back up over the hill.  We swam around the back of the island, and headed towards the new plane. Rob and Todd took a quick trip through it, I just swam around it… it’s so small I get claustrophobic. I DID notice that it’s getting dirty, and people are writing their graffiti on it.  After the plane we came back in towards the bus, and took a quick trip through that,  then continued back towards the Silver Comet.  Rob and Todd went through I was checking out the bumpers on the side with my light. (trying to see if the light went the whole way through them….the ones I tried, didn’t….zebra mussels probably) Rob pointed over towards the platforms, and we agreed.  As we filed past the platforms, we looked for the proper line to follow to go back to the exit point, and started our safety stop; five minutes later and we were done!

Deepest Depth: 87 feet

Duration: 48 minutes

Coldest Temp: 43º

Not a bad first dive after my lay off, except for the occasional cramping in my foot and calf, I would have totally enjoyed that dive. I wasn’t able to be where I wanted most of the time, but was able to keep moving, and not have any catastrophic incidents.  Everyone else seemed to be alright afterwards, so that was good!    We had our Wegman’s lunch booty, and started discussing the next dive.  Since we were close to the other Peninsula entry, we decided to use that, and take a trip out to the firetruck, by way of the bus, then come back in towards the Hell Cat and take the usual path back in.  Works for me!  

So after a few minutes of set up, Rob making sure that his inflator hose was totally secure this time, and changing his camera set up, we were ready to roll!  Walked down the steep slope into the water, and Rob gave the thumbs down.  My first few minutes were touchy since I was getting a nasty foot cramp (again) and my legs felt a little tired. But once I worked out the kinks, I was better, and moving along at a decent pace.   We were soon at the Bus, and took a quick trip around it, after a minute or so, we went by the van. (which I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever seen this one or not…)(and no I’m not running through every Dutch Springs dive report to see!) (and just for the giggles of it…I ran a query, and I’ve only done 43 dives there… guessing the “odd” number was because of New Years Eve this…err LAST year)   After the van was the firetruck.  We took a quick trip around that, (I honestly think that the last time I saw this was when I was here with my cousin back in July of 2008 which was actually HIS last dive!)  and were soon over by the Hell Diver, which definitely has seen a LOT of better days, I may have mentioned this before, but that thing is really getting beaten up, and it was beat up when they first sank it, thanks to some morons that  were messing with it!  Rob took some quality footage at that spot, and we continued on towards the school bus again. (I think this is a record for school bus passes)  We then swam over to the Silver Comet again, and Rob wanted to get some footage inside.  We met at the front, and he pointed back into the quarry, so we agreed and followed. We soon passed the other (broken apart) boat and were on our way to the crane.  At the crane we looked at each other and pointed back in, and started up the line (which I got tangled up in…thanks for untangling Todd!) After another safety stop, we were done, and ready to pack up!

Deepest Depth: 63 feet

Duration: 47 minutes

Coldest Temp: 45º

Actually a VERY relaxing dive for me, I felt pretty good (besides the very beginning, and an almost cramp towards the end) the whole dive, and was able to go mostly where I wanted to be.  I actually even held about six minutes of safety stop depth right at the end (and wasn’t going to push it so I started sliding up after a while)  

The weather held out, which was great! Hopefully the next time we have to deal with any potential rain, we have one lucky charm or the other.  We stopped over at Wegman’s for a quick snack, then ran home in the crappy traffic.

Not sure when the next outing will be, looking at MY calendar I know it won’t be next weekend, but if another day works (well after I get a fill) there’s always that possibility!   See you next time, and hopefully it’s not as long!