First Lobsta Diveah Pumpkin Dive...

[PK]

Okay, I'll start this thread. I'll give a few details and let the others add more.

Believe it or not, our pumpkin dive today, Oct. 19, was a blast!

Rax, Notabob, Shellbird and I were the first to arrive at Ft. Wetherill. Although there were a huge amount of divers in the parking lot, we can see that the S-SW winds whipped the water too much for any decent hope of visability. Luckily Rax had a couple of good books on nearby dive sites. We selected a site that was North facing and drove there (Rax please add with the name of this site).

It was calm but we were unsure if it there would be any sea life to see, although it would be fine for carving pumpkins. Since we were first to arrive and it would be a few hours before the others show us, we decided to get coffee and breakfast to discuss our plan for the day. We went to a great restaurant called "Tricia's" and some of us ate alligator soup... yuuummmm. They had a great menu and the staff was super friendly.

After breakfast, we drove to a bunch of nearby dive sites but they were all blowing all over; clearly the one we picked from Rax's book was the best one for the day (Rax, you've got a good book). We went back and the others started to show up: dkerr, gmbaker, and MSilva. We cleaned out the insides of our pumpkins and got ready for the dive.



I'll let someone else continue the report from here...

 

[gmbaker]

as pkatzman mentioned, the surf was kickin at the site we all met at. After Introductions and greets, we headed to an alternate site which I wrote down but dont have with me right now. Perhaps Rax can post the site and the the great book reference?

We did clean the insides up the pumpkins up on shore and after a few pre pumpkin carvin pics by Rax, we hit the water. The tide was low, so a medium surface walk/swim ( it was easy) was necessary. We then descended for the carving fun, and carved away whil Rax was busy snapping pics like a wedding photograapher.

Carving was a lot of fun, expecially the guts and cut out pieces were floating around. The bottom was a little silty and vis. got poor at times. Carving a pumpkin while maintaining neutral buoyance is a true test of one's skills.

who's next?????

 

[raxafarian]

The site we ended up at is called Potter Cove/Taylor Point. The only thing that can cause a blow out at Ft. Wetherill is southerly winds... and that's what there was... 25 kts or so(forecast to increase to 35kts) causing 3ft. swells in the cove and probably some funky currents with the waves reflecting back and forth in the cove... Northeastwrecks buddy "Ed" was just coming out from teaching some classes, and said "I wouldn't dive here if I didn't have to .... 0 vis... Plus some idiot couldn't get his boat started, and it was swinging overtop of students... and then was dragging anchor.

The book mentioned above is Rhode Island Adventure Diving... it has 2 volumes and lists both shore and boat dives. Usually the local shops have copies. Potter Cove was described as "usually diveable when other spots are not". We head over there, and sure enough.... the cove is basically flat. Our only concern was we could see a class about 100yds offshore... and they were still able to stand up !!

After all parties met, I snapped a bunch of pics (still working on 'em ... will have them posted later today) of the pumpkin prep, and off we go.... walked about 100yds offshore... then kicked out another 50-80yds and decided to give it a whirl. Depth was around 15-17, so that was just about perfect for the pumpkin carvin' fiasco to begin. We all had stuffed rocks in the pumpkins and they were negative (really didn't take too many). I snapped some pics of carvings in progress (which turned out to be a good thing!!). After about 20minutes... I clipped off my camera and carved my first pumpkin (first ever, not just first uw!). I finished my 2 bats and took a few more pics... Then I look over and see a "diver pumpkin" complete with a reg in it's mouth! We all set our pumpkins down, and started to ascend (planned to let the silt settle a little and then take some more pics) and I had the bright idea to shoot a lift bag and attach it so we could find the pumpkins again. Well, the wind caught the bag like a sail and there was no way a pumpkin was gonna hold it in place.

To make a long story short.... someday, somewhere, there is gonna be an open water class wondering "WTF are all these pumpkins doing underwater .... and they are even CARVED"!!!

So, hopefully, we at least have given some other divers a story to tell!

We had a blast doing this, and at least have some pics to remember the first ever NELD Pumpkin Dive!

 

[raxafarian]

Pumpkin dive pictures are now posted

HERE

4 pages... use page forward in upper right corner.

 

[Rick L]

Looks like the n.e.l.d had a great time!!
While I was here at work again :-(
Some nice knife work going on there
Does padi have a pumpkin carving speciality course hehe.
Oh ya nice web site raxafarian
Rick L

 

[raxafarian]

Rick L once bubbled...
Looks like the n.e.l.d had a great time!!
While I was here at work again :-(
Some nice knife work going on there
Does padi have a pumpkin carving speciality course hehe.
Oh ya nice web site raxafarian
Rick L

thanks... been redesigning it... adding more pictures... deleting some old ones... should be finished later today/tonight. Have 1 more RI section and 2 more Mass. sections to add.

 

[notabob]

Great day of diving! Won't repeat much of what others have already reported on, but will say that everyone seemed to have a blast. Carving a pumpkin underwater was a unique experience - I joined Rax in the ranks of 1st time carvers (yes, my 1st pumpkin ever as well!), not to mention finally getting officially initiated into the NELD ranks. The carving dive went great, despite losing the pumpkins at the end. MSilvia, dkerr, gmbaker and myself later hopped back in the water for a 2nd dive. Didn't find the pumpkins, but Msilvia took lots of good photos of marine life at Potter cove, including a giant spider crab, a neat four-armed starfish, and I think a black bass, among many others. As far as marine life there, most of it is pretty small there, the bottom is mostly sandy, but there were lots of hermit crabs, spider crabs, some starfish, and quite a few smaller fish whose name I'm not sure of.

By the way, since Rax was kind enough to serve as our designated photographer and therefore is absent from almost every pic, here's a pic of most of us (Msilvia hadn't showed up yet) with Rax actually in the photo for a change.

-Roman.

 

[MSilvia]

Huge Spider Crab
Flat Clawed Hermit Crab, Macro
Black Bass resting in a clam shell

Can anyone identify this fish?
How about this one? They like to hide.

Four-armed Forbes' Sea Star

The post-dive group photo

 

[dkerr]

Wish the weather had cooperated a little more so we could dive the other site, but oh well. Was really happy that my plans for the weekend had changed so I could join everyone in the fun. As much fun as the uw carving was, I think the highlight of the day was Shellbird's discription of the scene from her point of view. Had us all in stitches (I wonder if that is an efficient way of off gassing?!?). Thanks everyone for a great day and great pictures.
Thanks
Doug

 

[shellbird]

We certainly have some talented photographers in our group!

Here's the surface report... due to equipment problem (weightbelt vs. bc) I couldn't dive but I snorkeled above our pumpkin carving fiends... what a trip that was! All the bubbles coming up made me feel like I was in a Jacuzzi! The large bubbles were like mirrors and I could see my reflection in them as they came up (as you can tell, I am easily amused). Then the pumpkin particles started to emerge! Crooked smile pieces, noses, eyes.... I was laughing my a$$ off. But something made me take my face out of the water and look around - a flock of seagulls also spotted all the debris! I narrowly escaped a defecation bomb!

Anyway, learned a good lesson: any change in gear, no matter how minute can reek havoc on your configuration and cause problems...

Had a blast nonetheless and got to meet 4 more NELD members.

umpkin: umpkin: umpkin: