scububa
July 26th, 2009, 01:59 AM
Just back from a trip to Wisconsin. Was a family vacation of sorts that I hoped to get some diving in. We spent a night/day in Dubuque sight seeing and going to the the Mississippi River Museum. We dropped the youngest daughter off in Plattsville to attend a Forensics camp at UWP. She had a great time.
The rest of us headed up to the Two Rivers area to camp at Point Beach State Forest. A pretty nice campground, while very wooded camping, there is walking access to the lake and beach. One of the neat things was a little walk up to the lodge parking lot Monday night to see what the night sky might look like. Two local astronomers were there with telescopes one 4" and one 10". Jupiter, galaxies, nebula, double stars...very neat evening and they were very patient and gracious, we spent quite a while viewing things. Also, a few satellites and a great space station overflight while we were there. Camping in WI was pretty nice as far as sleeping weather, however the mosquitos are pretty plentiful. Of course we were in sweatshirts most of the time, so while we looked out of place to all the WI'ers, it helped provide defense!
I was able to hook up with Greg for one dive. He tried to set up some local divers for a trip out of Two Rivers but he wasn't able to get anyone to commit. When I got to Greg's shop Tuesday afternoon, he said we were going diving with Len-Der out of Milwakee and we dove the Prins Willem. It was a very nice evening. The boat was full and there was another diver Greg knew without a buddy (Eric) so we dove as a three man team. Eric was carrying 46% 40Al for practice, Greg had a light Nitrox mix, and I was dving air (by design I left the deco bottle in the truck.) Greg provided a nice brief on the wreck, conditions and swim thru plan. He provided the grand tour. We did about a 40 min dive, the water was 46 deg. and the vis was 35-40 ft. It was a nice dive and I enjoyed exploring the wreck. I got Eric's number and considered going back the next evening, but the logistics of having the family there and one vehicle made it too difficult. I was hoping to get in a little more diving, but Greg had a few days of training to give over at Black River Falls. But, it was great for him to hook up and dive with me.
We did make a run up to Door County, Sturgeon Bay and did some hiking around and a few bites to eat. Nice trip, just too little diving.
The rest of us headed up to the Two Rivers area to camp at Point Beach State Forest. A pretty nice campground, while very wooded camping, there is walking access to the lake and beach. One of the neat things was a little walk up to the lodge parking lot Monday night to see what the night sky might look like. Two local astronomers were there with telescopes one 4" and one 10". Jupiter, galaxies, nebula, double stars...very neat evening and they were very patient and gracious, we spent quite a while viewing things. Also, a few satellites and a great space station overflight while we were there. Camping in WI was pretty nice as far as sleeping weather, however the mosquitos are pretty plentiful. Of course we were in sweatshirts most of the time, so while we looked out of place to all the WI'ers, it helped provide defense!
I was able to hook up with Greg for one dive. He tried to set up some local divers for a trip out of Two Rivers but he wasn't able to get anyone to commit. When I got to Greg's shop Tuesday afternoon, he said we were going diving with Len-Der out of Milwakee and we dove the Prins Willem. It was a very nice evening. The boat was full and there was another diver Greg knew without a buddy (Eric) so we dove as a three man team. Eric was carrying 46% 40Al for practice, Greg had a light Nitrox mix, and I was dving air (by design I left the deco bottle in the truck.) Greg provided a nice brief on the wreck, conditions and swim thru plan. He provided the grand tour. We did about a 40 min dive, the water was 46 deg. and the vis was 35-40 ft. It was a nice dive and I enjoyed exploring the wreck. I got Eric's number and considered going back the next evening, but the logistics of having the family there and one vehicle made it too difficult. I was hoping to get in a little more diving, but Greg had a few days of training to give over at Black River Falls. But, it was great for him to hook up and dive with me.
We did make a run up to Door County, Sturgeon Bay and did some hiking around and a few bites to eat. Nice trip, just too little diving.