Mermet Feb 17&18

[DeepDiverBob]

I'm sitting here in the Metropolis Inn, watching the Blues hockey game, redoing all my hose routing and switching from my MK17s to My Apeks 1st stages, waiting to jump back in the water tomorrow. I will post water temp and conditions tomorrow night. They are saying 2-4 inches of snow tonight, so I am really looking forward to this.

Oh Jim, by the way I do have ALL my gear in the hotel room tonight. And it will be in here again tomorrow night.

[nauifins73]

They are saying 2-4 inches of snow tonight, so I am really looking forward to this.

You are sick very sick! :D

[scububa]

Sounds better than what I am up to which is shoveling snow. No doubt anything wet outside would be pretty frozen.
Good dives to you.

I'm sitting here in the Metropolis Inn, watching the Blues hockey game, redoing all my hose routing and switching from my MK17s to My Apeks 1st stages, waiting to jump back in the water tomorrow. I will post water temp and conditions tomorrow night. They are saying 2-4 inches of snow tonight, so I am really looking forward to this.

Oh Jim, by the way I do have ALL my gear in the hotel room tonight. And it will be in here again tomorrow night.

[DeepDiverBob]

okay, got in three dives today, all just over 40 minutes. Was diving with Wally on the first 2 dives, and then ken on my third dive. Both Wally and Ken are new to doubles, so we did some easy profiles.

Vis was about 15-20 foot on average. A little better deep, and a little more cloudy shallow. Vis opened up pretty good just below 45 foot. Water temp was 44 from top to bottom. Air temp I think almost got into the 30s, but not quite.

There was a few other people diving today as well. From what I saw, there was a lot of gear freezing problems. Mostly inflator hoses, and a few regs, but nothing underwater. All the freezes occured on the SI. Luckily, I was one of the few who didnt have any issues like that (This time.)

Going back again tomorrow to do another dive with ken, and then my shop is doing a dry suit class, and I will hang out with them for the rest of the day, and drive back tomorrow evening.

[do it easy]

Ohh I thought you were ice diving at Mermet. I guess the water is too warm down there for ice.

Is there anything new for this season at Mermet? Isn't this the time that Glen usually adds new stuff?

[DeepDiverBob]

I was told the water has never froze down here. And as cold as its been, this is a good proof that maybe this place never does freeze.

They have a fire truck they said should be sunk sometime next month.

[DeepDiverBob]

Two more dives today. Vis was the same as yesterday. I saw 42 degrees on my computer today. I will have to download it to get the exact temps though. First dive was with Ken again. I can honestly say this dive took us all over the quarry. We started out going out to the bus, then out to the box car. Then we swam a little more, and the next thing I see is the 85 foot platform going by. Crazy. Second dive, my shop had a dry suit class going on, so after Ken called it a day, I joined them and took them on a small tour, before they computed the skills and finished off their dry suit cert.

All in all, a really good weekend. Next time I take the giant stride, the water is going to be a heck of a lot warmer than 42 degrees.

[do it easy]

That first dive sounds good- I usually do a reverse tour like that. Start from the docks near the 85' platform, drop over the wall, swim around a bit, come up shallower near the plane, and then head towards the bus or petting zoo to hang in the shallows before heading to the exit. Glad to hear it was good.

What were the paddlefish up to? Did you see a lot of them cruising around?

[DeepDiverBob]

That first dive sounds good- I usually do a reverse tour like that. Start from the docks near the 85' platform, drop over the wall, swim around a bit, come up shallower near the plane, and then head towards the bus or petting zoo to hang in the shallows before heading to the exit. Glad to hear it was good.

What were the paddlefish up to? Did you see a lot of them cruising around?

I was surprised, I didnt see any this weekend.

I forgot to mention, I saw a huge turtle over by the petting zoo. And no, it wasnt part of the zoo, it was a real turtle. I saw it move and everything.

[do it easy]

Awesome, what did he say to you? :D

[MgicTwnger]

I saw that turtle too, and he wasn't talking. I did see a paddlefish on a dive I did with another buddy.
High points of the weekend were:
Frozen gear: I pressed the purge button between dives and a big chunk of ice shot out.
A poorly donned neck seal got me wringing wet. When I got out I was a walking slurpee.

And thanks to Bob for helping out with my new doubles.