Anybody diving this weekend - Sept 24 & 25?

[reefraff]

A couple of us are going out with Cap't. Dale from Waukegan Harbor to dive the Wisconsin on Sunday morning. It's a great dive to a wreck that is full of cargo (including some cars) and there are seats available but she sits in 120 feet of water with some occasionally stiff currents, so this isn't an advanced dive at the very edge of recreational.

If you'd like to join us, contact Cap't. Dale and he'll sign you up or PM me and I'll see if I can help.

Fall is nearly here, the weather's supposed to be better to good, it's time to get wet!

[Atlaua]

I've already turned down another trip this weekend. Saturday is my daughter's first birthday and no way am I missing that. Keep them coming Steve...

James

[theskull]

Diving? Why yes, thank you. I'll be diving at Mermet this weekend. Will be working with a rather large OW class, so my fun dives will be limited--perhaps 2 per day outside of the class dives.

theskull

[MgicTwnger]

I'll be at the southern end of the lake with N'Pursuit.As Steven said, the Wisconsin is something else. Those Model-T's are amazing.
I'll be on the Enterprise with Capt. Dale on Oct. 8/9, and we're looking for some more divers to fill the boat. If anyone's interested, post or PM me.

[DeepDiverBob]

I was suppose to be in Cozumel Saturday, but this hurricane is trying to ruin my flight plans.

[reefraff]

I was suppose to be in Cozumel Saturday, but this hurricane is trying to ruin my flight plans.Ain't that an aggravation. I once spent most of a summer rebooking trips to the Flower Gardens - we got blown out every time. Never did get to make that trip...maybe next year.

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to the little mermaid, James. I hope it's so messy you're still talking about it when she starts dating...;)

[MgicTwnger]

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to the little mermaid, James.
I'll second that!

Bob, I can only imagine how much that must suck. Good luck, and have a great time when you get there.

[DeepDiverBob]

Diving? Why yes, thank you. I'll be diving at Mermet this weekend. Will be working with a rather large OW class, so my fun dives will be limited--perhaps 2 per day outside of the class dives.

theskull

Since my trip has been pushed back, I am thinking about making a run to Mermet this weekend. Do you know if anyone else will be down there to dive with, since you are working class?

[theskull]

Since my trip has been pushed back, I am thinking about making a run to Mermet this weekend. Do you know if anyone else will be down there to dive with, since you are working class?

There is ALWAYS someone to dive with at Mermet in the summer! I don't know of anyone whom is coming down with us to fun dive, but if not I can sure help you get set up with one of my other buddies who will certainly be there.

theskull

p.s. I saw that mention of me wanting a MWDive logo thong! :l

[Atlaua]

p.s. I saw that mention of me wanting a MWDive logo thong! :l

I just assumed that what Bob really meant is that he really wanted to see you in one ;)

[nitroxbabe]

Men in thongs = :eek:


Pearl Lake for me Saturday - helping w/a Rescue Class.

"Call for pizza!" LOL

[MgicTwnger]

I may be joining you if my trip w/N'Pursuit gets blown out.

[nitroxbabe]

I may be joining you if my trip w/N'Pursuit gets blown out.

Well, I hope your trip is OK but... if the worst happens, come on up!

Kurt's new band has a gig Saturday night too - you could check it out. :)

[Captain Caveman]

How did the dive go steve?
i wish i could of been there.

[DeepDiverBob]

Looks like I will be making a run to Mermet in the morning. I hope to rain hold off a little bit, or at least the lightning. It sucks though, because I am suppose to be in salt water now, damn Rita. Oh well. Looks like she is moving on, and I hopefully will b down there Tuesday. So for now, its 727, box car and paddlefish.

[MgicTwnger]

Just got back from diving with N'Pursuit Sat. afternoon & Sun. morning. I'll keep it short.

Crummy viz.
Iffy weather.
Did the David Dowd, Tacoma, Louisville, and Materials Service barge.
Had fun!!

Bob: good luck this week.

[reefraff]

Sorry to hear that, Ken. The dive on the Wisconsin was very nice. On Saturday, the NOAA forecast for Sunday was calling for building 4-6 footers and thunderstorms on the lake. Instead, we had flat seas with gentle 1 foot rollers, fog and temps in the mid-70's. The "heavy showers" we were told to expect actually ended up being a light drizzle for about 30 minutes on the way home. Gotta love those weather guys.

There was a light current (+/- 1 knot) on the surface and the top 50' was pretty milky but once you dropped through the thermocline the water cleared up to maybe 60' visibility with no current. The bottom was 40F, so it was a little brisk but everyone was prepared for it.

Everyone chose to do one long dive and spent +/- 30 minutes on the bottom with total run times running more or less 1 hour. The wreck continues to slowly collapse inwards and the silt layer has built up enough this year that it's hard to see smaller items like the piles of shoes inside the hold. Then again, the viz was good enough that penetration was easy and most folks spent the majority of their time inside the wreck. Everything is still there, just shorter than last year. The cars are good for a smile but the further inside you get, the more snaggly things become. It's still possible to drop down through the funnel by the cabins and navigate through the maze to the cargo hold, exiting through the port cargo door, though with deco bottles it requires good coordination between buddies and very slow and controlled movements to avoid stirring the silt up.

The deck of the wreck is mostly gone and the beams are folding in, which actually makes for a little more interesting dive. It's easier to see deep inside the wreck, though wriggling through the jambles into the interior is tempting but not doable in many places. My buddy and I got our sick thrills when we saw the bubble trail of the other team passing through the hold below us - one good hard bang on a deck beam with a deco bottle and they both thought the wreck was falling in on them. Let's just say that their gas consumption escalated to newbie levels for half a minute and I was laughing so hard I had to open my ODV.

There was a burbot that had to be nearly 30" long hanging around some bottles in the sand off the port side that was pretty closed to pissed off by the end of the day because everyone kept flashing him with their lights. Poor fella just couldn't find a hole big enough to hide in. The ubiquitous zebra mussels still clutter up the topsides of everything but inside the wreck there are large areas that are mostly clear of them. I didn't see any alewives hanging in the lee, but there wasn't much of a current and the water was a little cold for them.

With my banged up knees, I'm becoming something of an afficionado of boat ladders and Dale & Dave have a great one - good thing because its a long hike up to the deck on that tug. With only four divers on the boat, we had room to spare - even with doubles and stages and a cooler full of apres-plonge imbibables. Dave had an emergency backup skipper, Roy, along to help man the helm. Never tease the driver BEFORE the dive is a good rule, but we had a great target for some boisterous fun on the way home.

Arriving on the dock at 6:30 in the morning for a dive is a pretty hateful thing, the payback is that we were back on the dock and unloading before noon. More pizza and beer time at The Quonset, which is always a good thing.

TMX21/35 & EAN50 and 30 minutes bottom time left me with a 3 minute stop for a gas switch at 70, plus a 3 minute stop at 30 and a 13 minute stop at 20 for a total run time of 55 minutes. We would have stayed on the bottom for another 15 minutes but that stretches the run time to 82 minutes and I had torn a glove and was wet up to my shoulder, which isn't good for cold water decompression and was making my arm numb.

It was a good dive.

[Captain Caveman]

sound like you had fun steve, I would like to do that dive with you when you think im ready to do it. i would like to get the pratice with you at haigh or even on the lake.
just let me know.

+ would i need to run doubles?
+ im still not nitrox cert.
+ i can get a back up air supply at the lds.
but what would be my total bottom time with just air?
we would have to get together and talk about doing this type of diving

[reefraff]

sound like you had fun steve, I would like to do that dive with you when you think im ready to do it. i would like to get the pratice with you at haigh or even on the lake.
just let me know.

+ would i need to run doubles?
+ im still not nitrox cert.
+ i can get a back up air supply at the lds.
but what would be my total bottom time with just air?
we would have to get together and talk about doing this type of divingWe'll get to dive together again, but it's going to be a bit before you're ready to dive the Wisconsin. Though the wreck can be done as a recreational dive, anybody who heads out there should be prepared for a challenging dive: it's deep, it's cold, the visibility is often bad and the currents can be a problem. I've seen wetsuit divers do the dive on a single tank but it's a short, miserable dive.

PADI NDL's for 130 feet are 9 minutes - which is about as long as anybody can stay down on a single 80 before they run out of gas. Add the time to return to the surface, including the longer 5 minute safety stop and you're looking at a dive time of 17 minutes or so. Switch to EAN and you can stay down a little longer but you still have to deal with the gas issue.

All in all, I think this is a dive for planned decompression. The plan will almost certainly need to include doubles for gas availability and for equipment redundancy. It can be done on recreational nitrox mixes or you can accelerate the decompression by using a deco mix - EAN50 works well. A drysuit is pretty much required for the longer exposure times, especially since decompression requires good blood perfusion and cold shuts down blood supply to the arms and legs to conserve heat. At the very least, a diver should be AOW with significant experience and nitrox and decompression trained. If you're going to deco on hot mixes, add an Advanced Nitrox certification. If you're going to penetrate the wreck, you need training beyond a recreational wreck class.

Don't rush it - the wrecks may be falling in a little bit but they're still going to be there. Take a class every year and work on developing your skills and gathering the equipment and remember that there is lots of fun diving that is lot's easier than this.

[Captain Caveman]

i want to get some experence doing a deco dive. thats on thing i havent done yet and i want to do it with a well experenced diver like you..
let get together and dive some time this comming month and get me more into tech.

[MgicTwnger]

Sorry to hear that, Ken.

Steven,

Despiite the viz and weather, I really did have a good time. This was my third trip with Capt. Mike this season, and the first one that didn't get blown out at least partially. I was beginning to think that I'm jinxed.

One more weekend on the Enterprise and I'm probably done for the season.

[DeepDiverBob]

despite the weather, I did make a day trip down to Mermet yesterday, and got a few dives in. Had a good time even though there was a steady rain the whole time. Also, got to talk to theskull briefly and finally show off my dry suit that he recommended me to get.

[Mverick]

Well,

I sat in a boat on the Mississippi in my drysuit. All geared up. With a line on me. While someone else was in the Helmet for 1.5hrs... Rain pouring on me...

Looking for a "classified" for the "classified" Agency. But, everyone wished they were me. I was in a drysuit. Everyone else but the Coast Guard was soaked... And I mean Soaked...

Didn't find it. But made a Few real good Contacts... LOL... One nobody could ever guess.... LOL...

Wish I was on the boats. But, I had to work anyway.... Did a debriefing and off I went to work... With my truck loaded with gear....

Although I usually would rather be under. It was nice to chat with the people on the boats... By the way, 35ft depth and trees and concrete Chunk bottom with rebar... Pretty standard. I've been there before myself..

[Mverick]

OH yea. VIS.... HhhhaaaaaaaHhhhhhhaaaaaaaHhhHHhhaaaaaa.........LOL

[nitroxbabe]

What is it exactly that you do? This sounds interesting.

Well,

I sat in a boat on the Mississippi in my drysuit. All geared up. With a line on me. While someone else was in the Helmet for 1.5hrs... Rain pouring on me...

Looking for a "classified" for the "classified" Agency. But, everyone wished they were me. I was in a drysuit. Everyone else but the Coast Guard was soaked... And I mean Soaked...

Didn't find it. But made a Few real good Contacts... LOL... One nobody could ever guess.... LOL...

Wish I was on the boats. But, I had to work anyway.... Did a debriefing and off I went to work... With my truck loaded with gear....

Although I usually would rather be under. It was nice to chat with the people on the boats... By the way, 35ft depth and trees and concrete Chunk bottom with rebar... Pretty standard. I've been there before myself..

[Mverick]

I'm a ScubaPimp.... :D



What is it exactly that you do? This sounds interesting.

[nitroxbabe]

LOL

What exactly does a scuba pimp "pimp" anyhow?

Fish, beware, huh?

[MgicTwnger]

LOL

What exactly does a scuba pimp "pimp" anyhow?

Fish, beware, huh?
I don't want to know.

[nitroxbabe]

I don't want to know.

Reminds me of a line from Emo Phillips:

"I caught a fish once... I was going to mount it... but there were people around..."

[Mverick]

What do you mean what does a Scuba Pimp "Pimp"...... Mermaids or course... Duh.... LOL.....

Want me to hook ya up?????:D

LOL

What exactly does a scuba pimp "pimp" anyhow?

Fish, beware, huh?

[nitroxbabe]

What do you mean what does a Scuba Pimp "Pimp"...... Mermaids or course... Duh.... LOL.....

Want me to hook ya up?????:D

Silly me - of course it's mermaids.

But no thanks, I'll pass on the hook up.