May 29, Regina and wreck to be determined...

[diverbrian]

Hey guys,

I had a great time! I will say more later (I am diving again tomorrow so I have to get to bed.). However, I had to thanks to Tom (especially for providing the hospitality after the dive), Ted, Ray, Steve, and Netmage, our special guest from Chicago, for diving with me today.

The wrecks where wonderful, the weather was great, and the dive buddies were better than both.

I will be scheduling some thing similar up in Alpena later in the summer. Can anyone say Grecian and E.B. Allen?

Thanks again,

Brian

 

[cldwdiver]

I just wanted to drop you all a note and let you know what a great time I had on our dive trip Saturday.
Great weather, great friends, and great diving. That's what it is all about folks.
I expect to see a number of dive stories posted as well as some pictures from our trip.

Special thanks go out to DiverBrian for setting this whole trip up. You made it as easy as it could get to go on this trip. A bare minimum of paperwork and a great dive charter crew and boat.

Another special thanks go out to Frankenmuth_Tom who opened up his home to a bunch of smelly wreck divers and supplied them with apres dive refreshments and food.

Also thanks to everyone who supplied the other fruit, beans, salads, etc. It made for a great feast for a bunch of hungry divers.

I actually liked the Col. A.B. William's wreck better than the Regina. There was a lot more to see, even though it was a smaller wreck. The Regina is mostly upside down hull, with the debris field being the most interesting part.
However, given the chance to repeat the trip I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Thanks everyone for a great trip!

 

[cldwdiver]

There should be several funny stories posted about our trip on Saturday. This is just my contribution.

Frankenmuth_Tom and I dumped our BC's and started flying down the line to the Col. A.B. Williams. We like to do this at a fairly high rate to max our bottom time. Plus, it is just plain fun to play Skydiver underwater. I was slightly behind Tom on our freefall to the wreck.

Somewhere in the descent our other dive buddy Mr. Murphy showed up and hid Tom's inflator hose under the edge of the pony tank he had slung under his left arm.

As we approached the wreck Tom was fumbling around his shoulder trying to locate the hose. Then he started pumping air into his drysuit in a desperate attempt to stop himself.
It didn't work.

Tom went SPLAT on the deck and a huge cloud of silt arose around him. Leaving a nice marker for everyone showing where the ascent line was hooked up.

Now, Tom must have been thinking "Thank you Mr. Murphy, may I have another?", because his trip to the bottom wasn't done yet.

The ascent line was at an angle due to a slight current and Tom had built up plenty of momentum. So Tom bounced about 3 feet off the deck, careened over the railing, and embedded himself into the mud bank just off the side of the wreck. Mushroom cloud #2 billowed out in an ever expanding sphere.

Now Tom finally located his inflator, lifted himself off the bottom, and based on his expression I am sure his thoughts are not fit to post on this board.

He flashed me a belated OK sign and we went on to have a great dive.
Thus, I have to propose that we officially rename my dive buddy to MushroomCloud_Tom.


Mr. Murphy must have returned to the surface to visit his new friend Ted (gtxl1200).

But, that is a story someone else can tell.

Have a great day!

 

[gtxl1200]

Old Mr. Murphy does follow me on the RecnTec boat for some reason. I have yet to make two dives off of that boat on the same day. So now my new handle has become old mr onedive.
This time Murphy's law was going in full swing. In the proccess of moving my gear from my truck to the boat some very important gear was left in the truck known as Ankle weights. Since I have my weight set up just enough to get down, with them not on my person and of course not realizing it until I had made the 100 yard surface swim to the decent line I could not make it down to do the first dive. I was able to signal one of my dive buddy's but not the other who was sinking like a rock. I just told the other dive buddy to go ahead and catch mr rock and I will call the dive and do the next one. So that is what happened. Fortunatly for me Diver Brian carries enough gear for 3 divers I was able to get geared up for the Regina and enjoyed it very much. I definatly would like to do it again so I can spend more time in the debri field. It is a very huge wreck and just one 80cu tank on that dive is not enough. I have some pics I will post them later. as I know brian has some as well. I would also like to thank Frankenmuth_Tom for opening up his home to us hungry divers for a great meal and some great beer and some good stories afterwards. Lets do it again real soon.

 

[ScubaFishee]

Sounds like you all had a great time! Sorry I missed out again.

Just out of curiosity, were all of you diving dry? What were the water temps this time out?

I gotta get a drysuit soon...

Glad to hear you all had fun.

 

[diverbrian]

Sounds like you all had a great time! Sorry I missed out again.

Just out of curiosity, were all of you diving dry? What were the water temps this time out?

I gotta get a drysuit soon...

Glad to hear you all had fun.

The information from my dive log is that the Colonel Williams was at 78 ft. for a runtime of 40:40. The temperature was 45 degrees Farenheit.

The Regina dive had a max depth of 73 ft. for a runtime of 52:50. Water temp was 46 degrees.

Scott was the only one of us who wasn't diving dry.

I don't have many of the photos quite ready yet. But for a quick dive report:

We met at the restaraunt by the marina for lunch. There is good food and service there, by the way. With Captain Gary politely tapping his foot waiting for us (and reminding me that I wasn't moving it with my doubles and extra gear that seems to come in handy for other divers), we loaded the Sylvia Anne and headed off to the Colonel Williams. For some reason, Mr. Murphy bit me a little on the preps for this dive as my hoses on my doubles rig couldn't seem to find a home when I was gearing up, but after fumbling with all this stuff and appearing to be a complete fool (maybe two hrs. sleep had something to do with it), myself and my patient dive buddy, Netmage hit the water.

The dive went well as Mr. Murphy had his fun with me and decided to move over and visit Frankenmuth Tom and GTXL1200. Thanks, guys <grin>!

I got a few great pics and came up with a smile (also being introduced to a new past-time at safety stops).

Onto the Regina:

There was already a ship with Sea Cadets tied off to the Regina. As this was a great day most of the convenient "alternate wrecks" had divers tied on as well. So we stuck with the Regina. (I wish the mail would have been a day faster. I received a Deep Sea Detectives tape on the Regina in Saturday's mail. There were some things that I would have checked out if I had seen that first. I guess that I will have to dive her again and take a closer look at the small gash in the bottom of the hull instead of the large crack in the center. I believe that I did note that small gash and photograph it, but I am not quite sure now.)

In we go with me jumping into my doubles in record time this trip. Netmage and I poked around the crack in the center of the hull and the debris field a bit. We even went to the point of following the anchor chain and the ship's lines out to the debris field. Oh and we spent a little time by the huge props sticking up.

We came up hear someone remind us that dinner would be ready to start as the other members of the group were dressed with their gear put away. I believe that the phrase "we like to stay under deco limits" came up, LOL.

Off to Tom's where we had Brats, pasta (or was that possum), adult beverages, and other munchies. It was great time and we definitely have incentive to do it again!

 

[netmage]

(also being introduced to a new past-time at safety stops).

Mental Note for Brian: When someone shakes their hand three times and forms something resembeling a rock, paper, or scissor @ the 15ft stop... Do NOT reply by signaling your remaining air..... :06:

We couldn't have asked for a better day or group of folks. Gary's boat is top notch, this was my second time out with him. We only had 7 divers so we had plenty of room on the dive deck and inside the cabin. The one item I noticed is that the boat rides very low in the water. We had mirror flat seas, but if it had been rough I doubt the boat would have rocked much side to side.

The only downside to the trip was the 10+ hours of driving and being awake for 22 hours. But it was a jam packed weekend of fun heading out to huron for saturday and returning to Chicago for my wreck class at Haigh. My back& shoulders are now reminding me how much fun it was getting in almost 4 hours of downtime in my doubles. Lets do it again...!

 

[Tractor Tom]

...I haven't POSTED every dumb thing you have done on the board!!!! Let's talk about arriving for the Pumpkin Carving Dive at Lake Fenton the end of October sans Drysuit!

MAN! I make one stupid move an it immediately shows up in a forum that is read by every diver in the Great Lakes region and all parts of the world! I'm really miffed that my good name and semi-good skills are being slandered by someone who can't remember to bring a drysuit to an October dive, and walks to the water at Gilboa without a weight belt and causes me to wait in the water while he retreives it....!!!!!

All kidding aside, I DID manage to fend off the deck and railing with a gloved hand, but left a pretty good sized cloud of muck just off the side of the wreck before I found the inflator button for my wing, and then had to dump all the air I had been pumping into my drysuit trying to stop my headlong descent into the muck and mire....MAN, WHAT A RIDE THAT WAS!!!!

Glad most of you folks could stop by the house, even if the mosquitoes did drive us inside long before I could get the fire going. Good food, good beer and good friends are all that I ask for (not always in that order...) in this life.

Had a great time, can't wait to do it all again (except for the crash and burn at depth....)

 

[cldwdiver]

All in fun as you know my friend.

Mr. Murphy shall visit me again soon. He never seems to miss out on a dive if he can help it.

And then you may have all the fun you want at my expense.

There are very few dives where I do not learn something new, even if it is a tiny tweak or two with my gear.
Mr. Murphy has taught me many lessons.

Everyone have a great day!
:happywave

 

[Tractor Tom]

All in fun as you know my friend.

Mr. Murphy shall visit me again soon. He never seems to miss out on a dive if he can help it.

And then you may have all the fun you want at my expense.

There are very few dives where I do not learn something new, even if it is a tiny tweak or two with my gear.
Mr. Murphy has taught me many lessons.

Everyone have a great day!
:happywave

...that after something like 40 dives together I manage to screw up and make a fool of myself and you report it to the masses. I guess the other 39 dives I did PRETTY WELL!!!!! <LOL>

No harm done I guess. But watch yourself, because the next time you have to break a neck seal to stop a runaway ascent from 60' in Gilboa, I may be there with a camera!!!

For what it's worth, I've learned to rig my pony under the other arm so it isn't blocking my inflator or SPG anymore. Maybe we can make some dives at Tobermory the end of this month and NOT muck things all up for the next divers. <LOL>