Descending
Again
PLUS
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Adventures & Training Above and Below the Water!
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PLUS
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It's true, my dive computer read 56F when I entered the water at 10:00 this morning, that's air temp of course. It was glorious when I emerged to even warmer temps in bright sunshine, sans portable propane heater, sans building. Steve is working on (re)grading the Lower A access so Upper A was the setup for all divers today. There was a large Baltimore and DC contingent and I was the only local joe diving today. Four from Balto were in neoprene for apparent cert dives before heading to warmer destinations, yikes! I was the first one down the steep path to warming water, a whopping 39F on my Aeris, and dropped over the sheer face to start my circle around the Bowl to the water tower. Vis was not pleasing and I could see only half the length of the water tower as I approached. Through the Bowl trees and over the pipe to the Table, hence the Table Dive, was my path of solitude and R&R. I rigged my 100# bag first and filled it with exhaust to save air, then the 50# bag...the Table got lighter and I could definitely agitate it a bit but it wasn't going anywhere. I deflated the bags one by one and packed everything up, 22 minutes elapsed time and plenty of gas to spare.
I continued a NW-erly track over the pipe into the depression then started a
slow ascent up the slope. I passed the lawnmower, now perched nicely atop
a rock on the slope at about 75' (my pig pen cloud is gone Tibz!). The
spool came next, the gear and mystery boat and I arrested my ascent at the
Christmas trees at 18'. It was my intention to right the fallen tree but
it has this goo on it...I just couldn't bring myself to touch it; maybe when I
have "help" :o) . My safety stop counted down from three and I
exited at the road for a leisurely climb back to Upper A; I'm just not ready to
walk the steep path yet. My buddy Ian stopped by BSC to purchase his 2009 membership so he followed me back to York for our famous Texas Hot lunch - that's two dogs with the works, with fries and bottomless Mountain Dew for $5.95! Hillside Restaurant, South Queen St. "on the hill". Good to see you buddy! Two more things: my dive profile of the day and an annotated panoramic pic of Access A at BSC (panorama by Tibz).
Tibz took 4-6 pictures on his shiny new digital camera then let the software
stitch them together.
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The
new box van isn't looking so new anymore, it is really dirty. Where's Jeff
with his brushes when you need him? I dropped over the edge to the pump
house, passed under the two 65' platforms and arrived at the deep cruiser, very
dirty here but I could just see it end to end. The stairs are just to the
north so I had to go move Tibz' block. Well, I didn't move it move it,
just tipped it upright for a higher profile in the water. This is where I
had my "second ever" at BSC. As I hovered over the stairs at 95', I see
this little mud disturbance just ahead to the west...no, it wasn't me and the
lawnmower Tibz! Here comes a walleye just wiggling on/through the dirt,
then resting, then wiggling on, then resting. I moved up and over about
10' so I could hover over him, less than an arms' length away for maybe 30
seconds. He just sat there, then resumed his wiggle/rest ritual. I'd
say this guy was about 24" long. Pretty cool, especially at 90'!
The only other walleye I ever saw in BSC was at about 20', last winter, doing
the same wiggle/rest routine.
