richerso
Contributor
Seriously, it is not so bad if you are wearing a dry suit and the proper attire. Really.
Ice Diving Extravaganza dates set for Feb 6-9th
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Seriously, it is not so bad if you are wearing a dry suit and the proper attire. Really.
That's an interesting setup with the ladder. Is that anchored to the shanty and/or the ice? We ice dive here in Wisconsin but only use a shanty to dress and warm up. We just cut a triangle shaped hole which allows us to back into the corner and plant two hands on the ice and push up to get out. It works OK when you have a couple guys pulling from above.
I did my ice cert in a 7mm wetsuit and did a few wet ice dives since then just for fun. It's not too bad if the winds are calm and the air temp isn't frigid. We always bring warm water out in coolers to dump in our suits before and after the dive. This year I'm going dry. It's definitely the preferred way around here but certainly not necessary.
OP
Wow!! There is quite a bit of interest this year. Last year I almost couldn't give this trip away. Well, in this post, I will try to answer some of the outstanding questions that people have. Also, I plan to have 2 free orientation presentations, (they will both be the same presentation) in the first week of November and December. (probably Nov 5th?) These will be in the Arlington area somewhere (probably at the SI Scuba classroom, unless I can find a local tavern with room usage for free). I see quite a few folks showing interest from the Austin area, maybe we can work something out on a weekend or possibly I can do this over webex. I am open to all kinds of ideas and have some resources at my disposal.
This is the PADI Ice Diver Speciality course. The course is being offered through Surface Interval Scuba in Arlington, TX. (DFW area) Welcome to SI Scuba.
The diving location will be Lake Okoboji, IA. I grew up in this part of the world and my family has owned property on the lake since 1968. so am very knowledgable on the local area and conditions. I get up there several times/year.
When we are in Iowa, I rent the diving facilities in Okoboji from Blue Water Divers. BW Divers cuts the hole in the ice, puts a heated hut over the hole, will haul our gear to/from the dive site and provides classroom and dive shop facilities while we are there. Not a bad deal at all.
Course Requirements: You must be at least 18yrs old and have at least an Advanced Open Water certification. There are 3 dives over 2 days and dives must be completed in the daylight hours. This time of year, daylight is about 0830-1630, days are short. I will also throw in the requirement of having drysuit experience (recommend at least 8-12 drysuit dives before going under the ice). This is as much for the surface conditions as it is for underwater. I have seen one person ice dive with a wetsuit, but he was a burly Wisconsin boy and the surface temp was 45F. (in 2007 our surface conditions were -15F with a 25mph wind, wind chill was around -50F, the heater in the hut could only get the air temp up to 19F, standing around cold and wet would downright dangerous)
Cost: The cost of the course is $250, ($100 for those that are already ice trained and want to come along and dive) This price covers the instruction, facility rental, use of special ice equipment (harnesses, tethers, carbiners, etc) What is not included is: dive gear, drysuits, undergarment, travel expenses, lodging, meals, etc. With the course fees, driving from DFW and lodging, most people spent $500-$600 (fuel prices drive a lot of the expense)
Itinerary: The itinerary is to drive from DFW to Okoboji on Friday (~15hrs), dive Saturday/Sunday, Drive back on Monday.
Travel: I have a full size conversion van and a trailer, I can carry 6 people fairly comfortably, after it fills up, you are on your own. If you wanted to fly, there are really no close airports. Omaha, Des Moines and Minneapolis are all 3-4hr drive. Souix Falls, SD is 2hrs. If you fly, I might be able to haul your gear and would probably hit you up for $20 to cover my added fuel usage. Flying after diving isn't a big concern becaue the dives are shallow (25ft and short, 30min is a long ice dive) and it will be several hours to get to an airport.
Now for the gear:
Regulators: Regulators need to be environmentally sealed to try and prevent freezing in the first stage. I personally like Sherwood regulators for ice diving, the dry air bleed system doesn't let water in and therefore no freezing. My Sherwood regulators even performed very well in Antarctica.
Cylinders/valves: Pretty much any tank will work fine, even an aluminum 80. However if you have doubles it isn't a bad thing to bring in case one of your regs freezes up, you can switch regulators. I personally dive with a steel 120 with an H valve and 2 Sherwood Oasis+ regulators. With the LPI from each reg connected to a different bouyancy device (drysuit & BCD) that way if I have to shutdown a reg, I don't lose all of my bouyancy control.
Drysuit: You will want a drysuit. Any drysuit will work as long as it stays dry. The key are the undergarments. Layers tend to work best. Never use anything cotton, or you will freeze. Use wool, polypro, polartec, thinsulate, under armor, something that wicks the moisture away from your skin. I use merino wool as the base layer, then polypro, then polartec as the 3rd layer and 2 pair of wool socks. Usually find that stuff from the hunting or ski stores work the best.
Hoods: You will need a good fitting hood. But to really avoid getting the ice cream headache, i recommend a Henderson Ice Cap. The ice cap is a 2mm hood with an extra strip over the top lip. It is worn under the regular hood. Works really well, even when I dove in 30F water in Antarctica, no headache. I have dove with and without the ice cap. I dive with the ice cap now.
Gloves: Wet gloves or dry gloves work about equally as well. Eventually your hands get cold. It is almost always the hands getting cold that will limit you dive time. If you use wet gloves we dump warm water into them first to pre-heat the gloves, works pretty well. I personally prefer the dry gloves, more comfortable when I get out.
Diving Operations: You and your buddy are harnessed with a 130ft tether. That's all you get, this is still recreational diving (i.e. not tech) Dives will shallow (25ft) and fairly short, 30minutes is a long ice dive. We cover a lot on dive operations in the classroom presentations.
I hope that this answered a lot of your questions. If you have more, then ask away. I hope to see you all on the trip.
I am going to Grand Cayman Nov 12th-19th. I also have a new drysuit on order, once I get back from the trip and get the new suit, I will be looking to get wet. You can pretty much bet that I will be in the water on one of the days Fri/Sat/Sun after Thanksgiving, over Christmas Break and on New Year's day. I like to get out and work with people to get some practice in and work with new gear configurations before we hit the ice. I will try to get some other dates out there as well, but these are dependant on if I can get a kitchen pass from my wife.
Regards,
Randy Cook
PADI MSDT-53412
Ice Diving Instructor
This is the PADI Ice Diver Speciality course. The course is being offered through Surface Interval Scuba in Arlington, TX. (DFW area) Welcome to SI Scuba.
The diving location will be Lake Okoboji, IA. I grew up in this part of the world and my family has owned property on the lake since 1968. so am very knowledgable on the local area and conditions. I get up there several times/year.
When we are in Iowa, I rent the diving facilities in Okoboji from Blue Water Divers. BW Divers cuts the hole in the ice, puts a heated hut over the hole, will haul our gear to/from the dive site and provides classroom and dive shop facilities while we are there. Not a bad deal at all.
Course Requirements: You must be at least 18yrs old and have at least an Advanced Open Water certification. There are 3 dives over 2 days and dives must be completed in the daylight hours. This time of year, daylight is about 0830-1630, days are short. I will also throw in the requirement of having drysuit experience (recommend at least 8-12 drysuit dives before going under the ice). This is as much for the surface conditions as it is for underwater. I have seen one person ice dive with a wetsuit, but he was a burly Wisconsin boy and the surface temp was 45F. (in 2007 our surface conditions were -15F with a 25mph wind, wind chill was around -50F, the heater in the hut could only get the air temp up to 19F, standing around cold and wet would downright dangerous)
Cost: The cost of the course is $250, ($100 for those that are already ice trained and want to come along and dive) This price covers the instruction, facility rental, use of special ice equipment (harnesses, tethers, carbiners, etc) What is not included is: dive gear, drysuits, undergarment, travel expenses, lodging, meals, etc. With the course fees, driving from DFW and lodging, most people spent $500-$600 (fuel prices drive a lot of the expense)
Itinerary: The itinerary is to drive from DFW to Okoboji on Friday (~15hrs), dive Saturday/Sunday, Drive back on Monday.
Travel: I have a full size conversion van and a trailer, I can carry 6 people fairly comfortably, after it fills up, you are on your own. If you wanted to fly, there are really no close airports. Omaha, Des Moines and Minneapolis are all 3-4hr drive. Souix Falls, SD is 2hrs. If you fly, I might be able to haul your gear and would probably hit you up for $20 to cover my added fuel usage. Flying after diving isn't a big concern becaue the dives are shallow (25ft and short, 30min is a long ice dive) and it will be several hours to get to an airport.
Now for the gear:
Regulators: Regulators need to be environmentally sealed to try and prevent freezing in the first stage. I personally like Sherwood regulators for ice diving, the dry air bleed system doesn't let water in and therefore no freezing. My Sherwood regulators even performed very well in Antarctica.
Cylinders/valves: Pretty much any tank will work fine, even an aluminum 80. However if you have doubles it isn't a bad thing to bring in case one of your regs freezes up, you can switch regulators. I personally dive with a steel 120 with an H valve and 2 Sherwood Oasis+ regulators. With the LPI from each reg connected to a different bouyancy device (drysuit & BCD) that way if I have to shutdown a reg, I don't lose all of my bouyancy control.
Drysuit: You will want a drysuit. Any drysuit will work as long as it stays dry. The key are the undergarments. Layers tend to work best. Never use anything cotton, or you will freeze. Use wool, polypro, polartec, thinsulate, under armor, something that wicks the moisture away from your skin. I use merino wool as the base layer, then polypro, then polartec as the 3rd layer and 2 pair of wool socks. Usually find that stuff from the hunting or ski stores work the best.
Hoods: You will need a good fitting hood. But to really avoid getting the ice cream headache, i recommend a Henderson Ice Cap. The ice cap is a 2mm hood with an extra strip over the top lip. It is worn under the regular hood. Works really well, even when I dove in 30F water in Antarctica, no headache. I have dove with and without the ice cap. I dive with the ice cap now.
Gloves: Wet gloves or dry gloves work about equally as well. Eventually your hands get cold. It is almost always the hands getting cold that will limit you dive time. If you use wet gloves we dump warm water into them first to pre-heat the gloves, works pretty well. I personally prefer the dry gloves, more comfortable when I get out.
Diving Operations: You and your buddy are harnessed with a 130ft tether. That's all you get, this is still recreational diving (i.e. not tech) Dives will shallow (25ft) and fairly short, 30minutes is a long ice dive. We cover a lot on dive operations in the classroom presentations.
I hope that this answered a lot of your questions. If you have more, then ask away. I hope to see you all on the trip.
I am going to Grand Cayman Nov 12th-19th. I also have a new drysuit on order, once I get back from the trip and get the new suit, I will be looking to get wet. You can pretty much bet that I will be in the water on one of the days Fri/Sat/Sun after Thanksgiving, over Christmas Break and on New Year's day. I like to get out and work with people to get some practice in and work with new gear configurations before we hit the ice. I will try to get some other dates out there as well, but these are dependant on if I can get a kitchen pass from my wife.
Regards,
Randy Cook
PADI MSDT-53412
Ice Diving Instructor
thevalkyry
Queen of the Turtles
Seriously, it is not so bad if you are wearing a dry suit and the proper attire. Really.
Uh-huh...and have proper equipment? Like a space heater??
I just have trouble wrapping my mind around 37 F anything being tolerable for longer than walking from the house to the car. Of course, I have trouble thinking that about anything lower than 55 too
OP
Don't forget the cute local farmer's daughters that give you a massage after diving.
OP
the ladder is actually connected to a plate that is embedded into the ice and under the edge of the hut.
I did my original training in Wisconsin with Green Bay Scuba. (My parents live in GB) We just cut triangle holes and stood out on the ice.
I with you on the diving dry part, much more comfortable.
I did my original training in Wisconsin with Green Bay Scuba. (My parents live in GB) We just cut triangle holes and stood out on the ice.
I with you on the diving dry part, much more comfortable.
OP
Can you rent a drysuit somewhere? I know that we just ordered a bunch and some will be put in to rental. There is plenty of time to get enough experience in with a drysuit.
You will also find that once you start diving dry, it opens up a whole bunch more diving options and once you have been to the ice and dove in the extreme cold water, you have an entirely different perpective on things.
You will also find that once you start diving dry, it opens up a whole bunch more diving options and once you have been to the ice and dove in the extreme cold water, you have an entirely different perpective on things.
ZzzKing
Contributor
And in a heated ice hut, with warmed towels provided!
Are the Amish in Iowa?
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