Just a minor amendment to Alan's report:
It was a beautiful day in the countryside outside Terrell. I couldn’t really tell if it was very late winter or early spring but already the memories of the mid-week freak snowstorm were fading.
I was not the first to arrive. Three Swampers were already in various stages of unpacking as I drove up to the canopy across from the fill station. Timeliner and Firefyter had driven over from Gaye Pairee and TxDiveGuy was there from Arlington. Richerso arrived shortly thereafter. Hands were shaken. Stories were told. TwobitTexan arrived and began gearing up. I had never met him so got the opportunity to speak with one of the original Swampers.
Good turn out! Still expecting at least one of those Kunks, though. After all, they are the ones that started this.
Eventually, everyone is geared up and ready for dive 1. Still no Kunks. As the last of our merry band begins descending the steps, Pearldiver07 arrived. He’d have to catch us on dive 2.
Timeliner took the lead and set the pace. Within a few minutes everyone except me (DOH!) decided that his pace is not their pace and drop off to more reasonable rates. It’s a little difficult to keep up with a wetsuit guy that is hellbent on staying warm! He and I drop to bottom of the gully and head north we're not far from the silo before I reach my turn pressure and we head back. A good dive of about 45 minutes, maximum depth about 51’ and about 50 degrees.
Everyone met Pearldiver07. Seems like a nice guy except he broke nearly every Scubaboard rule there is. He had splits, a pony and headed out for a short shake down cruise on his own!
Seems he is a D.I.M.W.I.T. diver like the rest of us. (“Doing It My Way In Texas” for those of you that are unfamiliar with the term) We were all pretty sure, as he headed toward the ladder, that that would be his last dive and we would be splitting up his gear afterward. Somehow he made it back in one piece and was ready to go with us for dive 2.
Stories were told. Snacks were consumed. Rigs were prepped.
TwoBit bowed out on dive two as his drysuit had become more of a dampsuit with a valve leak.
Richerso headed out in the van on dive 2. Pretty soon we were all in about 5’ feet of water. He had decided to take us on a nice tour of the hydrilla flats first.
He checked his compass and headed out to deeper water.
This is where it got ugly for me, personally. As we got to about 15’ and my suit started squeezing. I tapped my inflator valve. Nothing. Tapped again a little harder. Nothing. Apparently you can’t inflate your drysuit unless you remember to actually attach the inflator hose. Hmmmm. Mental note for future dives. By the time I got this worked out, the rest of the fleet had moved on. I headed in the direction that they were moving but didn’t catch them within a minute or so I surfaced and looked around for bubbles.
I found them, swam over and dropped down again to rejoin. There are three of them by then. Timeliner, Richerso and TexDiveGuy. The other two had broken off at some point. We arrive at the shark and do a quick swim through before heading back. I got 50 minutes with 32’ maximum depth.
More story telling ensued. No fist fights broke out. No hockey games broke out, either. Fun was had by all, I got to meet two more divers and I learned that it is best to connect the inflator hose to the drysuit BEFORE you get in the water. All in all a very successful day. Now whatever happened to those Kunks?
