ABWA report Sat. 3/3/07

[RocketMan]

What part of the quarry did you dive on the night dive? Did you buy you some cool new dive lights? How did you navigate..compass?

Need more details Clay

Compass...we don't need no stinking compass...

Okay Denise, here are so of the details...
My dive buddy Jim Strong and I got there a little before 1:00PM and were in the water by 1:36PM. The air temp was about 62 with a lot of wind and very cloudy. I wore my 5mm and a hooded vest while Jim was dry. The 1st dive maxed out at 114' and we swallowed up over by the fire truck. The water was a crisp 52F and after about 25 min I started to get a little cold so we headed back to the 20' dock. The dive time was 33 min including safety stop. I decide to keep my wetsuit on during the SI. I pulled my Frog-Togs over my wetsuit and put on a sweater over those. For the second dive Jim wanted to play around with his new camera and wide angle lens, so we just played around by the fire truck and basically stayed shallow since he was using available light (which there wasn't much of since it was so cloudy). About 20 min into the dive I started to shake and was getting pretty darn cold. I let Jim know and we headed back to the dock. Once out of the water I was shaking quite a bit so I decided to take my wet suit off and get dry. I put on all the dry clothes I had to warm up. I was thinking about calling the night dive, but I was able to warm up inside the shop (man was I glad their heater worked). So around 5:45PM I got back in my wetsuit, which I had left inside the shop to keep it from getting too cold to put back on. All 8 of us hit the water around 6:00PM. I had an LED primary light and a backup light as well as a body locator beacon on my tank. Jim had a HID light that light up the whole quarry. We went down to the sail boat and over to the school bus. Once I started to shake again I let Jim know and we headed back to the dock. Once out of the water I got dressed faster than a speeding bullet. All but 3 (Clay, Lester and Camero) of us met at IHOP for an after dive meal.

 

[denisegg]

Well thank you RocketMan for the extended report. You guys were mighty brave to tackle that water three times in those temps, especially diving with a 5m suit. Wow, so you guys had one of those monster lights. I bet that was interesting. I have been night diving at Vortex with regular dive lights but we have been there several times and know our way around. Then on my AOW check out, we went to the wreck, The Massachusettes, out of Pensacola, but our instructor did the navigation, we just followed him. There is different sea life that comes out at night and it makes it very interesting.

 

[snepdiver]

I'll have you know Rocketman, Cameron,Luster and I went to Gardendale and ate Mexican food with my wonderful wife who did not complain about my late night diving.

 

[denisegg]

Well Clay, why didn't you invite RocketMan and the rest of the gang to eat Mexican food with you at Gardendale? You made them have to go to the IHOP to eat....You call that a Dive n Dine? Haven't I taught you better than that Man??

 

[snepdiver]

They were to hungry to drive over 3 miles to eat.

 

[denisegg]

Wow, they must have come out of that water like a pack of ravenous wolves ......I have never been hungry enough to eat at IHOP when there is something else 3 miles away...

 

[philmottrek99and02]

The Waffle House was just across Hwy 31 from the IHOP. Now that's fine dining!

 

[RocketMan]

It's further than 3 miles to Gardendale from ABWA, besides we had to get some carbs fast...I had a meat (ham, bacon, sausage and shredded beef) lover’s omelet, pancakes and about 8 glasses of coke...we invited clay, cameron and luster to go with us but clay said he had to meet his wife or something like that...

Hey, don't be knocking a fine dining establishment like The Waffle House...at 2:00AM there's nothing better.

 

[RocketMan]

I'll have you know Rocketman, Cameron,Luster and I went to Gardendale and ate Mexican food with my wonderful wife who did not complain about my late night diving.

Can I get your wife to talk to my wife...about not complaining that is?

 

[mwhities]

Can I get your wife to talk to my wife...about not complaining that is?

Mine too? No diving for me, unless I want to be "selfish".

Michael