My LDS put together a trip down to Haigh & Mermet last weekend. Eight of us left early Friday, got a couple dives in at Haigh and then headed down to Mermet for DUI Demo Days.
We left Milwaukee suburbs about 8:00AM, got into Haigh about 10:30. Pretty easy drive and easy to find. There was a lady there to take the $20 park fee, have us sign the waiver, check our C-cards, and generally be crabby. It's a nice layout, with plenty of picnic benches to get geared up on. We got set up, donned the drysuit and waded in. Unlike the lady at the desk, the fish were VERY friendly. Lots of big bluegill and bass, saw some perch, albino and other catfish. Saw the boat, the truck, spent 70 minutes underwater on our first dive and got to most of the quarry. I had a problem with my drysuit inflator valve, every time I pressed it to let air in it was letting water in as well. By the end of the dive I was soaked. 71 minutes, 46' max depth, 28' average, 56F vis varied from 10-25'.
I wrung out the undergarments, hung them up and tried to fix the valve. Pulled it apart, everything looked fine, put it back together, got in the water with just shorts under the drysuit - very uncomfortable - to check if it was still letting water in. It wasn't so pulling it apart must have done the trick.
We geared up and hopped in for dive #2. Pretty much the same as dive #1. 58 mins, 47', 57F, vis the same. Nothing too exciting but it was good to be underwater.
We decided to get our tanks filled before we left to avoid potential lines at Mermet, since they expected well over 100 divers for DUI demo days! Ms. Bitchy was still in the shop, wouldn't fill a few of the tanks that were out of vis (no problem) but she only grunted what I assume was "no" when we asked if we could get them vis'd. She was snotty when I tried to help her move some of the tanks back to the fill area, filled them hot and short (2600psi on 3440psi HP Steel tanks). Overall, not a good experience and none of the eight of us will ever be back there. Caribbean of the Midwest - not so much...
Drive to Mermet was a little over four hours, some construction mess but overall it was pretty easy. Stayed in Paducah. Woke up early and headed to Mermet to try and beat some of the crowd. Pulled up, parked, and the guy at the gate directed us to the check in table. From there we went in, paid the park fee, inquired about fills and then walked around to get a lay of the place. Very nice setup! Covered pavilions with benches made for gearing up. Steel racks for hanging gear, camp sites, all very well laid out. Our LDS didn't reserve a pavilion so one of the Mermet folks offered for us to gear up in the Student area or then offered us the "West" pavilion - since we already had drysuits and weren't going to be test diving any of the DUI stuff. It was perfect. On the opposite side from everyone else, had our own pier and the whole area to ourselves. They were even running a tank exchange delivery service with four wheelers!
Diving was good, obviously with that many people in the water and that many new to dry suits things got pretty stirred up by the school bus and main platform areas. We made a pass through all the wreck stuff (727, semi, train car, ambulance, cessna, boats, school bus, etc.) on our first dive. 52min, 58', 50F, vis varied from 5 by the school bus to 40' along the walls more towards the west.
Had lunch provided by DUI, burgers and dogs, chips, iced tea and lemonade.
2nd dive my buddy and I went along the north wall, dropped down to find the deep boat and rock crusher thing and then back along the center wall. 52 min, 104', 44F. Saw the spoonbills above us on the way back, very cool looking fish!
Third dive on Saturday went through the center again, this time they had the music going - what a weird experience that was at first! But it was pretty cool!! Ended up going back through the 727, etc. 47 min, 83', 43F.
Went to BBQ fest in Paducah at night - what a blast! Lucky timing on our part for this to be going on while we were there!
Went back Sunday for one last dive before the 8+ hour ride home. Had a great dive through the deep area, left from the deep dock returned to the main dock. It was a great dive - not sure why exactly but it was a great way to end the weekend. 34min, 105', 43F. Vis was a bit better today and it was less crowded.
This was one of the best run dive places I've been to. Totally customer service oriented, tanks were filled full, they vis'd our tanks for us, filled and delivered them to our pavilion! For having that many people there, we never waited in line for anything - the only line we saw was for the dry suit try out - it was VERY well run. We stopped on the way out to let them know how great things went.
The only part I could have done without was the 8+ hour drive home!
We left Milwaukee suburbs about 8:00AM, got into Haigh about 10:30. Pretty easy drive and easy to find. There was a lady there to take the $20 park fee, have us sign the waiver, check our C-cards, and generally be crabby. It's a nice layout, with plenty of picnic benches to get geared up on. We got set up, donned the drysuit and waded in. Unlike the lady at the desk, the fish were VERY friendly. Lots of big bluegill and bass, saw some perch, albino and other catfish. Saw the boat, the truck, spent 70 minutes underwater on our first dive and got to most of the quarry. I had a problem with my drysuit inflator valve, every time I pressed it to let air in it was letting water in as well. By the end of the dive I was soaked. 71 minutes, 46' max depth, 28' average, 56F vis varied from 10-25'.
I wrung out the undergarments, hung them up and tried to fix the valve. Pulled it apart, everything looked fine, put it back together, got in the water with just shorts under the drysuit - very uncomfortable - to check if it was still letting water in. It wasn't so pulling it apart must have done the trick.
We geared up and hopped in for dive #2. Pretty much the same as dive #1. 58 mins, 47', 57F, vis the same. Nothing too exciting but it was good to be underwater.
We decided to get our tanks filled before we left to avoid potential lines at Mermet, since they expected well over 100 divers for DUI demo days! Ms. Bitchy was still in the shop, wouldn't fill a few of the tanks that were out of vis (no problem) but she only grunted what I assume was "no" when we asked if we could get them vis'd. She was snotty when I tried to help her move some of the tanks back to the fill area, filled them hot and short (2600psi on 3440psi HP Steel tanks). Overall, not a good experience and none of the eight of us will ever be back there. Caribbean of the Midwest - not so much...
Drive to Mermet was a little over four hours, some construction mess but overall it was pretty easy. Stayed in Paducah. Woke up early and headed to Mermet to try and beat some of the crowd. Pulled up, parked, and the guy at the gate directed us to the check in table. From there we went in, paid the park fee, inquired about fills and then walked around to get a lay of the place. Very nice setup! Covered pavilions with benches made for gearing up. Steel racks for hanging gear, camp sites, all very well laid out. Our LDS didn't reserve a pavilion so one of the Mermet folks offered for us to gear up in the Student area or then offered us the "West" pavilion - since we already had drysuits and weren't going to be test diving any of the DUI stuff. It was perfect. On the opposite side from everyone else, had our own pier and the whole area to ourselves. They were even running a tank exchange delivery service with four wheelers!
Diving was good, obviously with that many people in the water and that many new to dry suits things got pretty stirred up by the school bus and main platform areas. We made a pass through all the wreck stuff (727, semi, train car, ambulance, cessna, boats, school bus, etc.) on our first dive. 52min, 58', 50F, vis varied from 5 by the school bus to 40' along the walls more towards the west.
Had lunch provided by DUI, burgers and dogs, chips, iced tea and lemonade.
2nd dive my buddy and I went along the north wall, dropped down to find the deep boat and rock crusher thing and then back along the center wall. 52 min, 104', 44F. Saw the spoonbills above us on the way back, very cool looking fish!
Third dive on Saturday went through the center again, this time they had the music going - what a weird experience that was at first! But it was pretty cool!! Ended up going back through the 727, etc. 47 min, 83', 43F.
Went to BBQ fest in Paducah at night - what a blast! Lucky timing on our part for this to be going on while we were there!
Went back Sunday for one last dive before the 8+ hour ride home. Had a great dive through the deep area, left from the deep dock returned to the main dock. It was a great dive - not sure why exactly but it was a great way to end the weekend. 34min, 105', 43F. Vis was a bit better today and it was less crowded.
This was one of the best run dive places I've been to. Totally customer service oriented, tanks were filled full, they vis'd our tanks for us, filled and delivered them to our pavilion! For having that many people there, we never waited in line for anything - the only line we saw was for the dry suit try out - it was VERY well run. We stopped on the way out to let them know how great things went.
The only part I could have done without was the 8+ hour drive home!
)
