The weather guess was for a nice clear autumn weekend. And by Sunday afternoon, when everyone was packing up to go home, that is what we got. Before then, we had a chilly Saturday morning, drizzly Saturday afternoon, rain showers Saturday night and overcast Sunday morning.
But, the weather underwater was just great. I counted 7 DiveBuddy.com members myself, Greg from MD, Clay and Roxy, Gypsy, Mike from NJ, and Scout. I don’t think we were ever all in the same place, so no photographic record of the gathering.
Greg and I had four dives on Saturday; we pretty much toured the whole quarry, seeing everything except the kitchen sink. Trolley to 6x, missed the 6x and ended up on the back all, almost all the way to the pump house cover. Pumpkin carving on the platform; I managed scuba flag eyes, but only got an honorable mention ... still fun (and a 50% off one item coupon in the goodie bag paid for the contest fee) followed by a nice circuit around the island and then cross country to the helicopter then cross country to the near wall. For our third dive, we decided to head out under the Aqua Park and see how far we could go. We stayed shallow and managed to hit the west wall and turned south, probably going about halfway along it. I had gotten a "short" fill at Dutch (what a surprise!), so decided to turn around rather than continuing onward. Last dive of the day started at the east end of the peninsula to the Silver Comet then out around the island, back to the Silver Comet and cross country to the School Bus and the old boat out past the School Bus before heading back. We did stop by the crane on this dive and I was surprised to see one of the cabin walls had fallen off. Got some nice pictures of the inside of the cab.
We decided to bag the night dive; we both were feeling chilled.
Sunday morning Mike joined us for a dive out to the Hole (started at the trolley, to the 6x and out past the telephone pole); coming back we made a nice circle and ended up at the trolley.
So, all weekend I had been hearing Greg talk about this "redneck front yard"; with a kitchen sink, toilet and assorted other items. He claimed that we had "just missed seeing it" on several of our dives. So, for the second dive of the day, we decided to make a concerted effort to find it. We went cross country to the crane, then started counterclockwise around the island, looking for that solitary tree at about 35 foot depth. From there, Greg took his heading and off we went. After about 5 minutes of swimming, there it is, just as Greg described it. I especially liked the "No Dogs Allowed" sign!
So, after all that, we did see most of the quarry, INCLUDING the kitchen sink.
Mike’s doubles were empty so he left, and Greg had a long drive back home, so I helped him pack up. Clay, Roxy, and Gypsy had about much fun as they were going to have this weekend (having certified several new OW and AOW divers) and Scout was working his petition for Michael DeCamp as Diving Legend at Beneath The Sea.
So, I decided to pack up. Stopped at the Spot for the traditional milk shake, my last of the season (they close next weekend, and I have other plans); then on the road and home in time to start all my laundry before dinner.
dive on. and if you are ever looking for your book of air fill tickets, be sure to check the right foot of your dry suit.