Applying Uncle Pug’s Lesson

[MikeS]

Went to the Millbrook Quarry this weekend. Still two thermoclines, 43 degrees Fahrenheit below 45 feet. I tried Uncle Pug’s suggestion of ascending with a horizontal orientation rather than vertical. I still have to go vertical to vent air due to BC bladder construction, but remained horizontal the rest of the time. What a difference in control! I no longer feel like a yoyo and was able to achieve a steady ascent rate of 10 fsw a minute. Despite that fact that this goes against the PADI doctrine, if you haven’t tried this it is certainly worth a try. Thanks UP.

Mike

 

[O-ring]

Rolf and I were out there on Sunday...must have missed you. We should coordinate sometime and head down there...here was my "trip" report from another list...

Rolf and I decided to say the hell with waiting for
training and just jump right in. We cut some tables
in decoplanner, loaded up the doubles we borrowed from
Todd and Dave, got trimix fills (12/70) from the NoVA
Tech guys and dropped in at about 1 pm this afternoon
to do the sunken bus at Millbrook Quarry.

Knowing full well that better divers than us had lost
their lives trying for the fabled first class school
lunch trays, we tried to keep our wits about us as we
descended past the first OW skill platform and headed
for the mysterious bus...

Since we had planned ahead of time, we took a surface
bearing of about 30 degrees to the milk carton buoy
where we knew the Mt. Everest of quarry diving was
awaiting us in her silent slumber. As we descended
past the 20' mark, we were silently glad that we were
breathing 12/70 as back gas instead of any other
stroke mixes...nobody does the bus on deep air, at
least not us. The bus slowly emerged out of the haze
like a dark curtain had been slowly lifted from our
field of vision. It was enough to make you
cry...years of training for this moment. We had to
have a group hug underwater before pushing on.

We deployed our wreck reels and tied off outside the
wreck. Rolf dropped in first, entering through the
now famous Giblet's Hole. Lights popped on and we
made our way through the twisted carcass of a once
proud child transportation vehicle. After breaking
through to the other side, we checked our SPGs and
realized we had burned at least 30 psi finning down
the promenade deck through the entire wreck. We
figured it was time to head up...

We ascended to 20' and shot a bag to start our
drifting deco. We followed our decoplanner tables and
used the following deco schedule:

27' - 30 mins (bottom mix)
19' - 4 mins
18' - 3 mins
17' - 2 mins
16' - 2 mins

We then switched over to our 50% bottles and continued
for:

15' - 5 mins
13' - 5 mins
11' - 5 mins
10' - 12 mins

After ascending to 10', we made the switch to our O2
bottles and finished our deco obligation at 8' for 30
mins.

When we broached the surface, tears streaming down our
faces, we realized that all the training and
preparation was worth it even though we could not
locate any lunch trays. We were happy that artifact
fever had not claimed the lives of these astute tech
divers.

----------------------

Seriously though, we did 2 at Millbrook on 32%.
Dive 1 - 87' for 37 mins (I found a golf ball)
Dive 2 - 87' for 35 mins (nothing recovered)
Vis was about 20' and temp was about 50 or so at
depth. New lights worked out great.

 

[Jarhead]

ORing:
Great report except that I think I ruptured something while laughing and can't get off the floor now.

Jarhead

 

[PA/NJdiver]

O-ring,

That was an excellent report. I could hardly stop laughing.

I hope your DIRF report is just as funny.

Stacey

 

[MikeS]

O-Ring,

Great trip report! We were at the quarry on Saturday. The weather was unbelievably nice. I went with a buddy from AOW and Rescue classes to try out a couple of things before going on a wreck dive trip to North Carolina, specifically passing off a pony and shooting a surface marker. Maintaining buoyancy while doing either is a challenge. I didn’t think about the effect on buoyancy till I handed off the pony bottle and started up while my buddy started down

I’m not sure which side of the quarry you go in from but we generally take a right at the fork (North side?). If you go out on a bearing of 120 (toward one of platforms), and drop over the first wall there is an armless statue (good marker for the return trip bear go over the wall and head 300 to the entry point). Then turn left and follow the wall to the infamous bus. If you continue along the wall there is a 3-foot diameter pipe you can swim through and further along is a cabin cruiser.

If you turn right at the wall you go to the pit, drops down to 85 ffw. Man was it cold. I wore the tropical gloves on the first dive thinking it would be easier to manipulate hardware, what a mistake. While my body was warm I think my fingers got frostbite. I wore my Goldcore 5 mil gloves on the second dive, what a difference.

It must be fishy matting season because all the big perch were nesting. They didn't want to leave those nests, you could swim right up to them, two inches from your mask and they would just sit there and look at you. Kind of made me hungry.

It would be fun to get together sometime I’ll let you know what we are doing. I might go this Saturday if I can find a buddy willing to go.

Mike

P.S. The only artifact I was able to find was a big crawdad claw, and I left it there for future generations!