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!

2016 and New Stuff!

The weather has been a mess lately, and a proposed trip to Dutch Springs LAST Saturday, turned into a “never mind” with the screwed up weather patterns these days, so I got to go hang with my wife and her family up in North East PA, and hope that the weather THIS weekend was better!  As the temperatures resolved into “Sixty something on Saturday and Seventy something on Sunday” we decided that Sunday would be the day! (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think John was also originally unavailable on Saturday, so his preference was also Sunday, but then with the nice weather, something work-related came calling, so he had to bail)

ANYway…Rob picked me up around seven-ish, and we made the long-ish drive to Dutch, both of us hoping that the set up space wasn’t a tough thing to come by, and thankfully my thoughts that “Sunday would be a lighter crowd” were correct!   Once set up we decided that a trip to the Trolley, then out towards the crane and see how we’re feeling from there. (On this first really serious-ish dive of the season)  I thought it was good to take it easy at first since we’re usually doing something like this at Bainbridge once the ice melted (and that probably would have been mid last month)(-ish)(and we would have had 2-3 dives in already)

Once we set up, we waddled down to the water and after finishing our set up, gave the thumbs down, and met at 20 ft.  Everything seemed to be working right, so Rob took a heading, and we continued; out past the old boat, and remembering how to do all of this. We were a bit to the right of the boat, and started seeing something in the distance further to our right.  There was an old platform and its floatation pieces sitting sort of on its side, and I could tell by how he slowed down that Rob was as inquisitive about it as I was.  We shrugged it off, and then kept going.  When we ended up at the ridge to the “hole” area, we adjusted ourselves, and saw that we were just a little bit off from our targeted spot.  When we arrived at the Trolley, we went in and swam through it (Bigger hole, easy entry and exit).  Outside Rob gave me an OK, and I returned it.  He pointed towards the hill where the Crane is located, and I agreed.  As we got closer to the Crane, I could see he was messing with his computer, he turned to me and showed me his wrist, I looked and it seemed to be on, so I shrugged, and he gave me a “something’s weird” kind of look, and then kept going.  We went past the Crane, and to the bottom of the hill where the Cessna is located.  We slowly went up the hill and over the plane. Rob checked in, and I returned an OK, then he pointed off in the distance and made a “plane” gesture, and I agreed.  As usual, we started to descend a little, but it seems that they put this plane a little shallower than the old Helicopter.  As we were approaching (in nasty kicked up visibility…that I had nothing to do with) We both noticed something that looked like one of the “prize tubes” from the dive shop party (two years ago, that were never recovered)  Rob went down, and checked it out, and realized that it was too big to be one. While we were down there, we did notice that some of the junk that fell off of the old copter was still sitting there.  We then ascended to the new plane. It’s not quite as big as it looked when they were preparing it (cold water shrinkage maybe?) but it was definitely cool from an “it’s new” standpoint!  (it looked a little like how the Vandenberg looked several years back when I was able to dive on it the first season that they sank it, a little bit of “stuff” on it, but not cruddy)  We went in the one door (next to a sign that had an overhead environment warning on it…ok…it’s NOT a cave…anyway) and went to the right.  I followed Rob, and we exited a few kicks later at the other door. I DID notice that there was an overhead exit, and a floor exit, so maybe next time in we’ll give that a shot.  Outside, Rob checked in and I returned the OK, and we headed back towards the Silver Comet. As we got closer, Rob gave me the cold hands and cold signal, and I gave him an OK, so I knew this was going to be a 45 minute dive, which was great. (Ready for a break) we followed up past the platform, and did a safety stop, once that was over, we exited and dive one was in the books!

Deepest Depth: 65ft.

Duration: 46 minutes

Coldest Temp: 40º

Not a bad “get the cobwebs out” kind of dive.  I felt OK, but had a few issues here and there, not to mention some nasty allergy kind of stuff in my head. Rob said that his ears were “singing”...mine were about the same.  We removed our gear, and he told me that his glove leak was still happening, so he did a little maintenance on it, and I let him use my other inner gloves for the second dive.  Hopefully it worked.  We also checked his computer, and it seems that the battery died again.  His T-3 also seemed to have an issue, and we discovered a leak, so that puppy was put to bed for the trip.

We had our Wegman’s booty for lunch, and he went over and visited with a few of his old firehouse co-workers that were on another training mission.  I just soaked up the sun (and got too much according to my wife) When we had a good surface interval, we decided upon our next trip.  This time, head straight out, and up over the hill, then go see the tanker, come back and do another trip through the new plane, and decide what was left.  Ok, worked for me!

We suited back up, and I decided to try out my new OMS mask (that I bought from Pete Nawrocky at Beneath the Sea) hoping that my cleaning job worked enough that it didn’t fog!  Back at the platform, Rob gave the thumbs down, and I returned it and we descended.  We went past the platform and along the bottom until we came to the hill.  Up the hill past the Cessna (Rob went under the right side, I went over the left.  We checked in, and Rob pointed to the line leading out to the tanker.  I wasn’t sure if I was ever over there, and once we got there (in cruddy visibility) I realized that I haven’t seen this, yet!  I swam slowly around it and tried to take in the sights.  Rob found a spot and wrote his name on it in the crud.    We turned, and started back in.  We found the new plane again, and we took a few looks at the underside, Rob decided that trying to enter from the bottom with a set of doubles wasn’t a good thing… Seeing that I’m a little larger than him, I didn’t even consider it.  We went in through the front side door, and this time I looked left to see the cockpit.  Not a bad view from that perspective!   Let’s just hope that the people that feel the need to wreck stuff don’t mess with this and it stays in decent shape so the Zebra Mussels can find their new home.  We went back through the plane, and Rob decided that exiting from the upper hole would be a better option.  It was tight, but I made it, too.  Rob pointed in the direction of the Silver Comet, and I agreed.  When we got there, he went through, and I just took a trip around the side.  Once he left the hold, he looked at me and pointed towards the exit point, and I was ready!  We swam up, did our safety stop, and were done with dive two!

Deepest Depth: 68ft.

Duration: 46 minutes

Coldest Temp: 41º

Better, but still not great.  The new mask felt great, but the cleaning job I did on it wasn’t adequate, and it started fogging late in the dive (a little on the edges at first, but as the dive wore on, it got pretty bad.  I let a little water in and cleaned it a bit, but it was a chore!)  I felt a little better during this dive, but not where I wanted to be, so that was a little frustrating.  My SAC rate was actually pretty good for early in the season, and being frustrated, so I’m actually happy with that!   Rob’s leak issue was still there so he has something to work on to resolve, which just sucks!  My gloves were fine, but my feet were a little damp, so I’m wondering if the repair I did a few years back is starting to get messed up. (My thoughts are to just get rid of the dry suit, move to Florida and dive in a 3mm all year long…ok…now to convince my wife that that’s a good idea!)(I think it is!)

We packed, and headed to Wegman’s (where I had a list texted to me) (and Rob got a smaller list) and we had a snack and a beer. Traffic back was a little tough as we got closer to Hershey, but not as horrible as a week day work day at the same time!

Going to try to go get those cylinders filled at some point this week (probably Lancaster, since the local shop is still being lax in the repair of their compressor!) And attempt another trip next weekend (since I’m headed to Philly for a concert on Friday night, I’m sort of pushing for another Sunday adventure!) So I’ll keep you posted!   Anyway, this season is just starting, here’s hoping that something breaks with the old quarry, but that we can also figure out some of the other stuff that’s within a reasonable diving distance! Have fun!  Diving 2016 is just beginning!

Vikings, and Rangers, and Beer! (oh my!)

Well, the first dive of the new season is upon us!  With no Bainbridge to hope for melting ice, we have to take what we have….so Fuller Lake was the option.  We talked about it early in the week, and decided that we should run up there this weekend, figuring that any ice that would have been on the surface should be melted by now.  Little did WE know that Jim Weakland called a few times over the past few weeks, and kept inquiring about it…a little more on that later! But apparently it JUST was cleared for diving!  So we were lucky.  We all were able to get fills (John squeezed some Nitrox out of what’s left at DDS, Rob and I went to West Shore Scuba for  air… Rob had SOME Nitrox in his, I had some air)  We decided to meet at Rob’s and made the trip through Carlisle. John suggested our lunch place…more on THAT later also!   John also mentioned hoping to run into The Real Hiking Viking (one-half viking, one-half thrill-seeker, and two-thirds beard) whom his daughter Rhea has been following. This guy is apparently walking the entire Appalachian Trail , and was in PA this week, so that’s a cool thing.

We arrived and before we started setting up our gear, we noticed that Jim and Frank, two guys we’ve done dives with over the years at BSC were set up and ready to go. Jim said that he was calling the rangers all week and finally got the OK to go.  We were just lucky.  So once we got in, Rob wanted to walk John over to the water and give John the “nickel” tour. As we were walking towards the water, John spied the Hiking Viking, and went over to talk to him. (got a few selfies, and sent them to Rhea!)  So that was a neat thing…  When he moved on, we went back over and finished the remaining four cents of the nickel tour, and then started getting our gear set up.  This seemed to be a weekend of computer issues, Rob’s T-3 was having difficulties, and he discovered that the problem was a leak, John accidently adjusted the dimmer switch on his, and was having problems getting that re-set. Rob was walking him through the screens with his, and he was able to find it.  Mine…more on that later….

After we set up, we discussed our plan, and went to the water. Rob’s regs started free flowing, my inflator hose popped off, and John was all good.  We decided to drop in, and meet at the usual 20 ft.  All good, so we kept moving… Rob lead, and John and I were right behind.  It took a few minutes for me to get my act off of the bottom, but once I did I felt fine throughout, although the water was cold!  We came up on the first structure, and did a quick look, then kept going. (keeping moving was the order of the day)  We passed the next one, and I saw a fish underneath one of the beams (looking as cold as we were) We kept running through the trees, and found a few canoes.  The visibility wasn’t quite as good as it was the last time, it almost looked like a late spring/early summer Bainbridge kind of viz (with mid-winter temps) but there were a few spots with some good visibility.  We saw a few areas that we either missed, or just swam by the last time, a few more boulders, and some trees.  John reached down and found a kids mask.  We went over a small ridge, then around some more trees.  The next canoe came up, and we went back down around some boulders.  I found a Mares mask (which I have soaking so I can see if it will clean up when I have more time to mess with it)(like tomorrow) we swam through more trees, and I found some sort of marker light, so I kept that. (John’s guessing the battery may be dead) Rob gave us the “cold” sign, and we kept going.  A little while later, I got a cramp in my calf, as I tried to clear it, which was surprisingly easy) it went to the upper back part of my leg, (I’m guessing biceps femoris) And pretty much flipped me over.  As I did I felt the air in my suit all rush to the top, and…well thankfully I was only in about 15-20 feet of water, and had already done about three safety stops throughout this dive.  So I surfaced, and tried to get John’s attention.  John tried to get Rob’s.  I heard Jim yelling from the shore (they were about to do dive number two) and he asked if I was ok, I told him I had a cramp, and had to surface, but was ok.  He pointed to Rob and John who just surfaced, so I waved to them and started swimming towards shore.  As I did, a Ranger said that I needed to exit the water because I didn’t check in at the Ranger station.  I told him I was exiting, but also waiting for my dive buddies, and that I had to surface because of a bad cramp.  He asked me if I was the one that was calling all week, and I told him that the person that was calling just started his second dive, and pointed to their bubbles.  Then he started asking about the viz, and what we saw down there.  When Rob and John got to shore he started on the “needing to leave the water because we didn’t check in” stuff, and was informed that we were told that they were closed on the weekends this time of year and didn’t know how we COULD check in. So we finally got him off of our back, and then were able to start walking to the tables to get those heavy tanks off of ours…

Deepest Depth: 50 ft.

Duration: 50 minutes (for me, 53 for Rob and John)

Coldest Temp: 37º

Ok…except for the nasty cramp and unexpected exit, it was a pretty good dive (although it was pretty much freezing the whole way through)  Rob had a slight leak, and was really cold. John and I didn’t have any leaks, but were still really cold. (Purple hands and extremely pink faces were the order of the day)  When Jim and Frank came out of the water, we informed him that Mr. Ranger was a little “peeved” because he didn’t check us in. He said it’s kind of tough when no one’s at the ranger station! 

We put our gear away, packed and headed towards home. As we got nearer to Enola, John told us where lunch was. Al’s of Hampden!  Something like 80-90 draft beers, and good food!   So we stood there and had to memorize the number of the beer we wanted, and ordered our food.  Good food and some cool beers!  One of those places that if you ran a tab, you’d need a cab!   (Dangerous enough that I live near Tröegs)  After that we went back to Rob’s and unpacked, and went our separate ways.

When I got home I unpacked my gear, and went to download my dive.  For some reason, the program is not recognizing my dive, and will not download it.  It’s on the dive computer, but not coming up on the program. Rob thinks that maybe I just need to reload the software, but for some weird reason, Aeris’ software page is down, and I haven’t been able to find my most recent copy.  So I don’t get to put that up yet.  What a pain.

Anyway… that’s it for today. The first dive of 2016 is in the books, not pretty, but it worked!   Hopefully this starts a good year…We’ll be in touch!