Alright to make the
Dragon happy I will write about the DUI Dog Days.
Friday 16 May 08
I arrived early forgetting that Dutch Springs doesn’t open until 1000. So I sat in the rain for awhile just wondering if I was the only one who was going to show up. I may a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up some batteries for my camera. I arrived back at the front gate at 930. I saw only a few cars in the parking lot. 1005 they finally let us in the gate. I went down to the peninsula side. They had two large tents set up. I met with Faith Ortins from
DUI and some of her staff. I also saw
Eric Douglas from
DAN. They had coffee and some Blueberry muffins (my favorite). People started to arrive. We had some presentations by Faith, Eric, and the other Eric from
Subsalve. I had previously seen these at BTS. It was great to see them again. We got to play with the decon equipment. It was really cool. I felt like I was playing with the old flame thrower. We got done. We signed our releases. We got sized for our seals. The snap seals were pretty cool. I did have a tough time at first and the dry gloves were so much fun to try to attach to the suit. I dove the TLS 350. I liked the suit. I dove with
Justin Bates. I was glad he was there because a bunch of the PSD guys needed some serious instruction on dry suit. I have to thank
Keith and
Beth Wrisley for the Dry suit dives they let me due in the past. We dove the trolley, swam to the crane and then went back to the hole and around to the Dynamite shack. We only got one dive in due to the late start of the seminar.
Saturday 17 May 08
I showed up early again on Saturday. I had breakfast with the
Dragon at Perkin’s. We went to the gate Steve met up with his instructor and headed to the Peninsula side to do dives 1 and 2. I went over to the Peninsula. I found out that the tents would open up at 9am. I got to special treatment because I was there the day before. I got in line. I cut my way past the group waiting for airlines and seal sizing. I dove the 450 this time. I tried the dry gloves again but sprung a leak in the right glove. I went back to shore and got help. Everyone is a little surprise when I pulled off the glove and a bunch of water fell out of the glove. We switch out the seals and i dove with wet gloves. Dive went well after that. Came back in. I turned in everything, changed my tank and got back in line. I dove the 50/50. I went dove with Justin and Mark Juza. I had fun we went to the Helicopter and Justin did some reel training and then swam with out his mask in the helicopter while I kept watch. We then headed toward the helldiver. The viz was great. I saw a cabin cruiser just north of the Helicopter that isn’t on the slate for Dutch springs. We found the Helldiver and play around a little on it. We headed back to shore. I changed tanks and returned my suit. I got back in line and got the PSD Suit. My last dive of the day was a test dive of my DPV. Justin and I went down to the platform and I did some slalom runs of the buoy lines and a loop or two. We went down to the Bus and then headed back to the service to beat the 5 pm deadline. It was a great dive. We attended the DUI dinner and watch a great slide show by Faith. I didn’t win any of the prizes Dang the bad luck. We had fun watching the night divers DUI had 125 people try suits that day and a lot of second and third dives. he he he. The Dragon and I went to check out Keith and Beths new trailer (the front gate shack (OUCH)) It is definitely the way to go. I was oh so jealous as I walked back to the tent.
Sunday 18 May 2008
the morning started out great. We had some fruit for breakfast and a couple of granola bars. I got my spot for the day and the Dragon headed over to do dives 3 and 4. I met up with
John Stokesbury. I went and got my suit for the day I dove the PSD suit again We did a trip by way of the bus and the fire engine and then check out the "graffiti" on the north wall. It was raining when we got out. just a little. I went through the same drill with the suits as the day before. I dove the CF 200. It was a great suit. we went by way of the comet to the crane, passed by the trolley to the hole. We went to the 6X6 and then to the dynamite Shack. We headed back to shore. We got back. The rain started to come down in buckets. I packed up and headed over to the student side. I met the Dragon and congratulated him on completing his O/W certification. It was a great weekend of diving. The rain. Not so much. I would recommend for everyone to try it. It can’t hurt to try other suits.