I didn't realize that I would be in the water again so soon upon returning from Brockville, but....
I received an e-mail from my tri-mix instructor on Tuesday that stated that he would be in Alpena this week. Thursday looked good to dive and finish up my Normoxic Tri-mix class.
Having tried my last attempt to finish the class on roughly three hours of sleep, I took the last half of Wednesday night and all afternoon on Thursday off. I set up my rig to my double 130's on Wednesday night and had to replace a fraying LP inflator hose which is now cut in half. Other than that, it was set.
At 5:00 am, I started the drive to Alpena on a lovely day. I was in front of Summer Place, my instructor's boat by about 8:30 am. There were four people on the boat this fine morning. Jesse (my instructor), myself, and Dave (one of my instructor's friends) would be diving. My instructor's wife would watch the boat while we were diving.
I chose the wreck and chose the one where Mr. Murphy set-up a cot and waited for me on the last trip (I must be a glutton for punishment). I decided to actually see the Pewabic for once instead of fighting equipment issues. Besides the Pewabic is one of the closer deep wrecks to the marina
. With gas at $3.50 a gallon, well....
I had to use a back-up light as my canister light got banged up on the Lillie Parsons in Brockville. It is now in Florida for repairs again. Oh yeah, my O2 bottle was a lot lower in pressure than I thought so as to make it useless. Thank Goodness, I had a bottle of EAN50 in my car.
So we get out to the wreck and Dave makes three tries to hook the buoy before getting it. I run Jesse's O2 regs down the line as Jesse keeps a full bottle of 02 on the boat with enough line to run the regs down to 20 ft. for emergency decompression gas.
My plan is for twenty minutes of bottom time at 165 ft. I have enough gas to do my deco on my leaner mix if need be, but have written things out to use Jesse's O2 hanging off of the line as a primary plan so that I can get out of the water that much faster.
The wreck is beautiful. We get down the arch where the mooring is tied. The line will be easy to find on the way back as it is at the peak of the arch that runs over the whole ship. I swim around the stern and around the port side of the wreck. I look at my computer and I am eight minutes into the dive. I am looking at the hole that the Meteor (the Pewabic's sister ship) put into this ship so many years ago. Over a hundred people died due to a couple of boats passing wrong. I say a quick couple of words and come around the starboard side back to the ascent line. I had planned on coming up at 18 minutes to buy myself some cushion on my dive plan. On this well lit day, I can see the vast dimensions of this wooden steamer in repose. I want to see more, but I get back to the line with sixteen minutes on my computer. A hold just under the line becons me and I have time. I dip down into the hold and look around with my light after verifying the position of Jesse, Dave and my ascent line. I think this where I hit 162 ft. I come up and start my ascent at the 18 minute mark, as per plan. I do two deco stops deep as per my VR3 prior to reaching my shallow stops. The second was at 68 ft. Why is this important? There is a visible thermocline at 72 ft., LOL.
I do my gas switches and stow my deco bottle hose while using Jesse's O2 on my 15 ft. hang. I do a few more skills as I am still feeling good and clip my deco bottle on the line that we hang off of the boat for just such a purpose. Then we head in for home with my class completed and one of my most enjoyable dives to date indelibly in my memory.
Visibility: Good, Depth: 162 ft. Run Time: 37 minutes. Memories of a sobering, yet beautiful wreck: Priceless as always.
I received an e-mail from my tri-mix instructor on Tuesday that stated that he would be in Alpena this week. Thursday looked good to dive and finish up my Normoxic Tri-mix class.
Having tried my last attempt to finish the class on roughly three hours of sleep, I took the last half of Wednesday night and all afternoon on Thursday off. I set up my rig to my double 130's on Wednesday night and had to replace a fraying LP inflator hose which is now cut in half. Other than that, it was set.
At 5:00 am, I started the drive to Alpena on a lovely day. I was in front of Summer Place, my instructor's boat by about 8:30 am. There were four people on the boat this fine morning. Jesse (my instructor), myself, and Dave (one of my instructor's friends) would be diving. My instructor's wife would watch the boat while we were diving.
I chose the wreck and chose the one where Mr. Murphy set-up a cot and waited for me on the last trip (I must be a glutton for punishment). I decided to actually see the Pewabic for once instead of fighting equipment issues. Besides the Pewabic is one of the closer deep wrecks to the marina
I had to use a back-up light as my canister light got banged up on the Lillie Parsons in Brockville. It is now in Florida for repairs again. Oh yeah, my O2 bottle was a lot lower in pressure than I thought so as to make it useless. Thank Goodness, I had a bottle of EAN50 in my car.
So we get out to the wreck and Dave makes three tries to hook the buoy before getting it. I run Jesse's O2 regs down the line as Jesse keeps a full bottle of 02 on the boat with enough line to run the regs down to 20 ft. for emergency decompression gas.
My plan is for twenty minutes of bottom time at 165 ft. I have enough gas to do my deco on my leaner mix if need be, but have written things out to use Jesse's O2 hanging off of the line as a primary plan so that I can get out of the water that much faster.
The wreck is beautiful. We get down the arch where the mooring is tied. The line will be easy to find on the way back as it is at the peak of the arch that runs over the whole ship. I swim around the stern and around the port side of the wreck. I look at my computer and I am eight minutes into the dive. I am looking at the hole that the Meteor (the Pewabic's sister ship) put into this ship so many years ago. Over a hundred people died due to a couple of boats passing wrong. I say a quick couple of words and come around the starboard side back to the ascent line. I had planned on coming up at 18 minutes to buy myself some cushion on my dive plan. On this well lit day, I can see the vast dimensions of this wooden steamer in repose. I want to see more, but I get back to the line with sixteen minutes on my computer. A hold just under the line becons me and I have time. I dip down into the hold and look around with my light after verifying the position of Jesse, Dave and my ascent line. I think this where I hit 162 ft. I come up and start my ascent at the 18 minute mark, as per plan. I do two deco stops deep as per my VR3 prior to reaching my shallow stops. The second was at 68 ft. Why is this important? There is a visible thermocline at 72 ft., LOL.
I do my gas switches and stow my deco bottle hose while using Jesse's O2 on my 15 ft. hang. I do a few more skills as I am still feeling good and clip my deco bottle on the line that we hang off of the boat for just such a purpose. Then we head in for home with my class completed and one of my most enjoyable dives to date indelibly in my memory.
Visibility: Good, Depth: 162 ft. Run Time: 37 minutes. Memories of a sobering, yet beautiful wreck: Priceless as always.
