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Adventures & Training Above and Below the Water!

December 2, 2006 - BSC Dive with Chris Mayo & John Thibidoux

We had a great day after the big storm blew through Friday night and swept away the mild temps.  Ambient temp today was 42ish, the water was warmer!

A 9:00am start was planned and I simply turned off the alarm, delaying my arrival by 30 minutes.  Thibs trumped me with his 10:00am arrival, after arriving on time but having to return home for a pair of finz.  Chris was incredibly patient with both of us!  We set up at Upper A and had the place to ourselves.  John Gross, Jeff Raykos and Terry Grogan were at Lower A with a couple of other divers.  The sky was blue and the sun was shining but the air was cold as I reconfigured my pony reg after letting Steve V. use it on the 18Nov oyster dive.  Then my Aeris console computer decided it needed a new battery.  Chris questioned if I ever maintained my gear; it didn't seem like it that day.  We finally got to the bottom of the steep path at 10:45am but Thibs' new Lowes makeshift dry gloves were not sealing properly.  Back up the hill he hauled his twin steel 100's while Chris & I waited in waist-deep water.  He reappeared with dry rings removed and wet gloves donned and ready.  11:03am the dive begins.

The plan was to run to the Barn with a south wall return but we agreed to check in at the step van as everyone was on air and we didn't want to rack up too much deco sans thermocline to warm us up.  The grassy slope was clear and revealed the unmarked 35' boat as clear as I've ever seen it.  See the pic of Chris below, taken at the unmarked boat.  The dozer was in full view at 65' as we headed toward the deep boat.  The white cloud on the 90' plateau is as thick as I've ever seen it, Chris concurred.  We could barely make out the rim of the Hole as we followed our heading to the east.  The debris pile just west of the step van barely came into view and only the top half of the step van could be seen.  The usual sharp demarcation between clear and cloudy existed and offered truly surreal exposure at our cruising depth.

A quick check-in here showed lots of air but only 9 minutes NDL remaining.  The Barn was out for me.  I was testing new gloves and already the left hand was not happy.  Since the oysters ate my Henderson Duratex Dry Gloves on 18Nov, I needed some new mitts for cold-water diving.  I had a Mares Trilastic glove on the left hand but with only a 5mil back and a 3mil wrist and palm, it was no match for the 38F water at 90'.  The right hand was pretty happy with a Henderson Gold Core Mitt; wrapped in 7mil of very pliable neoprene.  The wrist seal was modified to eliminate the long, bulky cuff that is standard on this mitt, which improves the fit considerably with dry suit use.  Order quantities of 12 are required for this custom item so I'm working on assessing interest...Thibs already claimed one pair.  Another bonus...the tactile properties of this product made operating my UW camera rig pretty easy.

So off to the south we went, skimming the bottom until we came head to head with the Blossom Tree.  A right turn here put us along the south wall heading home.  The vis was excellent here but you could see the white cloud looming off to the north on the flats.  We crossed The Point and could see the pumphouse, another first for me, to see that clearly, that far away, in this little corner of the quarry.  The usual ascent up the wall to the 50' forest plateau started to chip away at our deco obligation; moving through the trees here is always a fun buoyancy and navigation game.  On up to 30', across the pipe and over to the water tower and spools at 20' commenced our remaining deco hang and safety swim to the exit.  The Aquarium on the west wall was vacant today except one lunker bass playing peek-a-boo around a tree.

11:03am start, 49 minutes bottom time, 94ffw

Click the thumbnails for an 800x600 pic.  5.0 megapixel pics available on request.

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