Visibility: 1 Divers: 0

 As the Wednesday night diving season grinds to a close, you know from experience that this time of year brings the visibility issues, as well as the lack of sunlight during the dive. Putting both of these together makes you glad you spent those extra bucks and purchased your canister light. (or in Todd’s case, your stadium lights) (still haven’t seen them in live action yet, but the reviews are pretty explicit)  Last night was the “beginning of the end” to any light or visibility.  It may sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not. This just adds to the challenge of the dive, and makes finding things a little more interesting. (and gives you good practice for night dives!)

My usual arrival time was skewed a little since my wife was a little late getting out of work, but I texted Rob, and told him I was still coming, no problem from him. We were supposed to be diving with a friend of his, but he never showed, and never called.  So my later arrival wasn’t a big issue. (I hate making people wait for me)(just one of those personal pet peeves)(blame my mom)  Todd and John were also there tonight with their special guest Annette! (I was worried about the weather, but John assured us that “Jane” was packed and ready! Although the clouds I saw on my way to the quarry made me skeptical)   Rob kindly put his tool box on my usual table in order to save it for me, but some people apparently don’t understand the “if there’s stuff on the table, it’s reserved” unwritten rule…seeing who’s friend it was, the oblivious nature of the person was understood. No problem, the table I ended up with was fine…thanks anyway Rob!   I finished setting up and we were waiting for our third. Annette showed up in the interim, and the clouds parted and the sun came out, so I think her weather “curse” has been lifted by the gods!  At 6:00pm, we decided that our third was out of luck, so Rob and I started getting ready.  We were soon traipsing down the hill, well I was, I think Rob forgot to close his dry suit zipper after strapping on his cylinders, and John and Todd were assisting.  I didn’t ask. 

Rob soon joined me at the bottom of the steep access, and we were all tucked in and ready to roll, the “20 feet” command was made.  As I made my way down, and the pressure started affecting my mask, I felt that maybe I had it on my face slightly askew, so I took a little longer getting to the tree. At the tree I felt it was better, so we checked each other out, and we seemed fine, no odd bubbles coming from odd places, so we continued. It took maybe about 10-15 fin kicks for me to getting the mask entirely comfortable on my face (a larger nose isn’t fun, damn Italian ancestry) But soon things felt fine, no little leaks, and I was a happy camper, I mean diver!   As we made our way through the bad visibility, we passed things that didn’t look like they normally did (shadows as opposed to actual items) and were soon passing through the trees, and over more rocks.  Rob looked at me and gave me the “circle back” sign, and I agreed.  Back through, and he soon spotted something familiar, so we changed direction, only to see some lights coming from where we wanted to go, so he went a little further and down, and soon we were at the Pump House.  We continued down, and along the bottom of the wall, and over the big boulders.  The visibility was so bad that I couldn’t see the 110ft. Trench to see if the haze was over that (the bad haze covered the good haze) so we kept on.  We passed one of the familiar trees, now to find the Tripod Tree.  I happened to spy it out of the corner of my eye, Rob was a little further to the right, so I got his attention and pointed to it and he changed his course.  We were soon at the Outhouse and since there was nothing to see, we turned, and followed back along the bottom of the wall.  Back to the Pump House and we checked on the Little Lobster who was still happily sitting on his perch.  Rob looked at me and pointed back towards the Deep Boat (since we missed it on the way down) and I agreed.  We swam along until the Deep Boat was in view, and then passed along the front of it towards the ledge. At the ledge, Rob saw the pipe that goes down deeper, so we followed that. Once we hit about 90 feet Rob reversed course, and we headed back up the slope towards the CAT. At the CAT we checked in, and started back towards the Bowl.  We swam past the Pennsy, the Dolphin Tower and the crane arm, then through some trees and went to find our spot to do our safety stop.  Before we got into the water, John asked if we’ve been doing any valve drills, and while we both have been checking to see if we could reach our valves, we haven’t really done one. John chastised us, so we felt guilty and had to do them. So Rob made the sign that he was going to attempt one.  He did some of his, but started having a glove inflation issue, so since he couldn’t actually grab his valve, he decided to stop, but he did reach, and turn his valves to make sure he could work them. I attempted one, and was able to turn off my right post, and breathe my regulator down, change to my back up, turn the valve back on, and purge the regulator to make sure it worked. Then I put it back in my mouth and started turning my left valve. About halfway through I thought “dummy, you’re supposed to leave the secondary in your mouth and breathe it down before changing…”  Ok, I tried!  I turned the valve back on, and turned my center post off and on just to make sure I could do it.  I’ll attempt it again next time. After another minute, our safety stop was done, and we were ready to finish our dive.

Duration: 44 minutes

Deepest Depth: 94 feet

Coldest Temp: 37º

Despite the visibility, and the pathetic attempt at our valve drills, I think it was a pretty decent dive!   I got my 130’s back from their annual, and felt a lot better in the water!   (I like those!)  The visibility makes it a little bit of a challenge, but with Rob’s expert navigation skills, we got to do a little sightseeing! Everyone else came back from their dives safely and happily! (and with a tan from Todd’s light) 

We packed, then went to PizzAtown where we had a distinguished guest again, holding tables (and avoiding children) for us!  

Rob and I are considering diving on Sunday, Rob is working the local dive shop on Saturday so go buy something from him (so he has to count the register drawer before he goes) Keep an eye on the Scared Turtle page for any details!  If we make it, hope to see you!   Other than that, I am OUT of here!  Two whole Wednesday nights left, so get them while you can!!!

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

Optimism Backfires…

   

Welcome to September!   When we last spoke it was during the waning hours of August. Now we are officially out of the “summer season”…. Well the weather is still nice, but since the kids are back in school, full force, and the majority of summer activities are over and done with, we’re done with summer!   Not so with the diving community, we’ll find a way to get into the water no matter what the temperature might be!  

Everyone was present last night (Tuesday) for their fills and talk of how to work the “big knob” was at the forefront of the conversation.  Apparently Ron has no experience with the big knob, so he just learned to not touch it. (but now that he is aware, we can almost be assured that he will in the future!) Tonight (Wednesday) we are again present and accounted for to start the last month of Wednesday night diving!  There was a decent turnout, and Todd found his way back (well with the new lights he has, I think he’ll find his way with a freaking vengeance!)     Since Todd was back, John decided to pair up with him, and I with Rob, and we went our separate ways tonight. (No barn runs for us!)  Rob asked what I wanted to do, and I thought that if the conditions were right, we should hit the Deep Deep Boat, and go from there. He thought that was a good plan so we went with it!

At the bottom of the Steep Access, we got ready, and met at the 20 foot tree.  Nothing was out of order, so we continued on over the boats and through the trees until we found the pipe.  At the pipe we turned and started towards the CAT.  My ears weren’t cooperating at a rate I was comfortable with, so I was a little hesitant, then like magic they just popped, and I was good. About this time we were at the CAT, and checked in with each other.  The visibility through the bowl, and out to the CAT seemed fine, so Rob pointed down the hill, and I agreed.  As we descended, the visibility was getting a little worse, but I thought that maybe as we got lower, it would clear.  No luck!  We made it as far as the collapsed building, and as I was just turning to Rob to say that the viz was bad and he was already deciding to bail on the deep part.  I agreed, and we turned up the steps to the top of the hill.  At the top we aimed ourselves towards the Deep Boat, and were soon passing it.  Rob then went to the line that’s attached to the pipe sticking out of the ground, and we started following that.  With both of our lights aimed at it, it was still a little tough to follow, so (we’re guessing) we were about three quarters of the way to the Step Van, and we turned, and followed the line back to the Deep Boat. The visibility didn’t seem to want to clear up, but we pressed on, and were soon following along the wall and passing below the Pump House.  As we went over the 110ft. Trench, I could see that the swirl was pretty thick, so I opted to not slide into it.  We kept following the bottom of the hill, and looked for the Tripod Tree.  A little more swimming and it finally appeared. Rob admitted later that he thought we passed it.  We kept on, and were soon at the Outhouse.  Rob turned to me and pointed back, and I agreed since it didn’t seem like it was worth trying to go find the big rock. We followed the bottom of the slope back.  A few fin kicks later and we were back at the Pump House.  I said hi to the Lobster, and we started up the hill.  Once we got just beneath the Aqua Adventures Truck, Rob pointed to the line to the CAT and I agreed.  We followed the line, and then took the line back into the Bowl.  As we passed by the crane arm, and the Pennsy, we noticed that the bowl was a lot more kicked up than it was when we first went through it, and started to think that maybe we were following the culprits.  We went by the Dolphin Tower, then back around towards the boats and Rob gave me the “let’s end this” sign, and I agreed. We found our spot at 20 feet, and fought off the fish for five minutes.  Thankfully this week no one decided to ride Rob, so it was a fairly uneventful safety stop. Five minutes later, we gave each other the OK sign and we headed back to the surface.

Deepest Depth: 103ft.

Duration: 48 minutes

Coldest Temp: 37º

Despite the bad visibility, it wasn’t a bad dive. I felt a little more in control of myself, and seemed to stay a little more off the bottom than I had been the previous few dives. I finally dropped off the 130’s for their annual, so hopefully they get back sooner than later!   I also tried sucking down my pony bottle, but I still have about 1000psi left, so that’s not worth emptying yet. 

Once everyone was done we packed, and headed out to PizzAtown for a night cap!

Ok, the start of the last month of Wednesdays, get them while you can!  Talk of the Annual John Weaver Columbus Day Dive is already happening so mark your calendars!  October 13 will be here in a flash at this rate!     This weekend isn’t looking good for me, so I’ll catch up again next Wednesday night, so I am OUT of here!

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

Hanging on to August!

Wow, hard to believe its August 31^st already!   Where did the summer go?  Usually my wife and I are either up at my in-law’s or at a Penn State football game this weekend, but since the football team played their game in Dublin Ireland, and we had a friend passing through town, we decided to stay home Saturday and Sunday, and take a run up to spend the day in the pool tomorrow.  So the option was given to me to go diving, and who am I to pass up a chance to get wet!  I put a bug in Rob’s ear on Wednesday night, and after running into him Thursday while getting a fill, we decided that it would work!

After spending most of Thursday and Friday cooking for the weekend, I woke up early Saturday to watch the game, then take in a day of college football!   The plan was to meet Rob at the quarry at 10:00 and we were right on schedule!   Not as many people down there as I thought, but a decent amount none the less!  My 130’s and my pony bottle are all up for their annual inspection, so I decided to tear the 130’s apart the other day and use my pony to try to get the air out of it.

We had a pretty loose plan and were soon staring at each other at the tree at 20 feet.  All systems looked good so we kept going.  We swam past the trees and a boat, then over the pipe that leads towards the CAT.  As we were getting close to the CAT Rob turned to me, and looked at me sort of strange, (well more so than usual) and motioned for me to move my arm up. He was messing with something, I thought maybe I had something tangled, he couldn’t seem to fix the problem, but moved my back up light out and pointed, I must have bumped it, and turned it on… So I shut it off, and we kept going down to the Deep Boat.  At the Deep Boat we checked, in, and Rob pointed out towards the wall, I agreed, and we started swimming in that direction. One of my tasks this dive was to attempt to get a little more OFF of the bottom, and I had my good moments, and not so good moments.  We soon passed over the trench, and kept close to the wall until we hit the outcropping of rocks.  I started keeping an eye out for the tripod tree, and soon enough there it was, meaning that the Outhouse was not far away.  Finding and passing the Outhouse, we went over to the big boulder.  We checked in, and turned back, over to the Outhouse, and back over the boulders to the Pump House.  Remembering that he was in a different place, I moved the little lobster back to his usual perch, and Rob did something with one of the rocks.  Rob gave me the option to either go up the hill from there to the Aqua Adventures truck, or back out towards the Deep Boat. I had just looked at my computer and saw we had a pretty decent amount of bottom time left, so pointed towards the Deep Boat.  We passed the Deep Boat again, and started slowly up the hill to the CAT.  We paused at the CAT for a minute, and then kept going up and into the bowl.  We passed the Pennsy, and turned around the back, and followed over the rocks and other bottom debris to the boats.  At the boat with the fuzzy caterpillar, Rob dusted it off, and gave me the thumb up sign, and I agreed.  Since I had the pony, I got the regulator ready, and turned it on, once we were at 20 feet, I switched to my 40%.  I tried changing the gas on my computer, but couldn’t get it to work, so I just gave up. Wasting the time trying to do that made the time go a LOT quicker than the usual safety stop, and I was soon at two minutes.  I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rob was contemplating doing a valve drill, but seemed to abandon that idea.  After the five minutes passed, Rob gave me the OK sign, and we were soon finding our exit point, and we were done!

Deepest Depth: 95 feet

Duration: 46 minutes

Coldest Temp: 37º

Except for not fixing my placement in the water, it was a pretty good dive!  I felt comfortable most of the dive, and didn’t use a whole lot of air.  I wasn’t able to suck my pony bottle down more, so I’ll probably use it again on Wednesday night.  My glove issue from Wednesday seemed to resolve itself, so it was just a temporary mishap.

We packed, and then made our way to PizzAtown for a quick lunch.

Wednesday night starts the last run of evening dives, so get there while you can get them in!   Hard to believe we’re in September starting tomorrow!   See you soon!!

Summer’s Return!

Summer decided to come back so why not celebrate with a BARN RUN!   Hey why not, we haven’t been there yet this year, and who knows how long that it’s going to be standing. Plus the fact that it was so hot, we may as well spend more time in the cooler water!  John, Rob, and I all arrived at the quarry at the same time, so figuring that we were on the same page, made for an easier decision to do this!  Thinking about it, it’s been probably about two years (not consulting my dive reports) since I’ve been out to the barn, so I was really game!

We got our usual spots at Upper A, and with the weather being pleasant otherwise, it was a nice time setting up, not too crowded.  Walking down the steep path, we all noticed that someone finally cleared the brush away and you weren’t dodging weeds with large pickers on them to keep from puncturing your dry suit!  Everyone was down, settled, and ready so: 20 feet!

We all looked good, no odd bubbles coming from places they weren’t supposed to be coming from, and we were off. John went through a few trees, past a boat, and over to the pipe, and we were soon staring at the CAT. We all checked in, and everything was still good, so we kept going. We passed someone as we neared the Deep Boat, and were looking for the pipe with the line attached.  John trained his light on it, and we followed that out to the collapsed building and the tool box. I was confused for a second, and thought that the collapsed building was the Barn, but between my usual confusion, and probably being slightly narced, I soon realized where we were when I saw the tool box.  John took us past the Step Van, then we seemed to be a little off course.  We stopped for a second, and then turned, and we were soon at the Tanker.  Passing the Tanker, John found the next set of lines, and we started out to the Barn.  I followed John through it, Rob took no chance of it collapsing and swam outside, which was almost like he was swimming next to me since the walls are almost totally gone.  We met on the outside, and were soon headed to the wall for another long swim.  Rob was thinking that this MAY have been where we were last week when we got lost leaving the Outhouse! Not having benefit of a map prior to the dive, I always seem to forget where things are situated within the quarry, and was surprised when after swimming along a wall, and many boulders that we arrived at the Pump House.  The Lobster was near his usual perch, so I left him alone.  Everyone checked in, and we started up the cliff. At the top, John went into the Aqua Adventures truck, and Rob and I met him at the back.  We followed John again into the bowl, and past the Pennsy. As we swam around the Pennsy, we passed by the old scoop, and Rob saw a vice sitting on it. John and I missed it, but we’ll have to see that next time we’re down. Along through the boats, and we were ready for our safety stop.  About two minutes in several people seemed to be hovering over us, and one seemed to straddle Rob, to tell John something.  I backed away thinking that if it was some sort of problem, John and Rob were more qualified to help than I was, but nothing seemed to be really wrong.  A few minutes later, we were down with the safety stop, and we finished our dive!   I had a slight issue with my left dry glove, my tube got dislodged, and slid into my wrist seal, and my glove puffed up, I tried a few things to relieve it, but it seemed to pop as I ascended, and my hand got wet… I don’t think the glove or wrist seal got damaged, just dislodged somehow. I’ll have to give it a better look in the daylight.

Duration: 51 minutes

Deepest depth: 94 feet

Coldest Temp: 37º

Truthfully, a pretty good dive!  I had some problems trying to stay off the bottom, not sure why all of a sudden that is becoming an issue for me, it could be using the 119’s vs. the 130’s, but it’s hard to tell while at depth.  I need to figure that out soon. (well first get my 130’s viz’d, and see if that really IS the problem, then see what I need to work on)(maybe if we DO get out Sunday, that’s the task!)  But otherwise, I felt pretty good for such a long deep dive, although I could tell that as we kept going, I was breathing a little heavier, and seemed to suck my cylinders down, my consumption wasn’t as good as it had been. 

One interesting part of the evening was thinking that I hit all Wednesdays in August, and there’s only one more month (four more Wednesdays) to get in! (what WILL I do on Wednesday evenings after September?)  College football season starts this weekend, so some weekends will be tougher to get out than others, so I have to make sure I balance my time (and not annoy my wife...well any more than I usually do over the next few months) 

After packing, we made our way out to PizzAtown, and thankfully they had Tröegs in their beer coolers!

That’s it for me I am OUT of here!  As I mentioned, Sunday is a slight possibility, but nothing solid yet.  I’ll keep you posted…if not see you next Wednesday in September!      

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