Earlier this week, a co-worker found me and asked about my diving.
It seems that his 12 year old Mexican hairless had wandered off last weekend. He has a small pond (about 100 ft. by 75 ft. and 8 ft. deep) where he has fish. He uses an aerator for that reason that leaves a hole in the ice at the approximate center of the pond.
He had tracked his dogs footprints to the edge of that hole with no set leaving. He asked if I would take a look under the ice. Seeing that I am writing this, you can guess my answer.
I showed up this Saturday with doubles and fully rigged out for diving an overhead environment. I was greeted by his sons (about eight years old and ten years old) and proceeded to gear up. The ice was thick enough to support me in doubles, which means that it wasn't going to break anytime soon.
Let me just say that I was torn. Do I want to actually find and recover a deceased member of this family or do I hope that he didn't go in and will turn up elsewhere? Anyways, I went in with a wreck reel clipped to his deck. I quickly discovered that his pond gets real dark. I searched the bottom anticipating that I would lose vis from simply moving around in this shallow of water in a silty environment. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I couldn't see my wrist with my HID can light. Following my plan, I them searched the ice surface. Within ten minutes of starting careful sweeps, a little brown creature appeared in front of my mask. After gently removing him from the ice surface that had frozen around him, I tucked little Jake into my right arm and went back to daylight. I handed my co-worker the amazingly lifelike form of one of his oldest friends and had him hold onto my rig while I got out of it on the surface. He got the heavy tanks to safety and I quickly climbed out to the thanks of the family while I warmed my hands in the garage.
One part of me is still torn. The family thinks that I did them a huge favor and I guess that I did. But, it's not fun when a successful dive involves bringing back something that once was alive and no longer is. It just doesn't seem very successful to me.
But, you all can be the judges of that.
Oh, and those of you with pets...
please give them an extra hug today!
It seems that his 12 year old Mexican hairless had wandered off last weekend. He has a small pond (about 100 ft. by 75 ft. and 8 ft. deep) where he has fish. He uses an aerator for that reason that leaves a hole in the ice at the approximate center of the pond.
He had tracked his dogs footprints to the edge of that hole with no set leaving. He asked if I would take a look under the ice. Seeing that I am writing this, you can guess my answer.
I showed up this Saturday with doubles and fully rigged out for diving an overhead environment. I was greeted by his sons (about eight years old and ten years old) and proceeded to gear up. The ice was thick enough to support me in doubles, which means that it wasn't going to break anytime soon.
Let me just say that I was torn. Do I want to actually find and recover a deceased member of this family or do I hope that he didn't go in and will turn up elsewhere? Anyways, I went in with a wreck reel clipped to his deck. I quickly discovered that his pond gets real dark. I searched the bottom anticipating that I would lose vis from simply moving around in this shallow of water in a silty environment. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I couldn't see my wrist with my HID can light. Following my plan, I them searched the ice surface. Within ten minutes of starting careful sweeps, a little brown creature appeared in front of my mask. After gently removing him from the ice surface that had frozen around him, I tucked little Jake into my right arm and went back to daylight. I handed my co-worker the amazingly lifelike form of one of his oldest friends and had him hold onto my rig while I got out of it on the surface. He got the heavy tanks to safety and I quickly climbed out to the thanks of the family while I warmed my hands in the garage.
One part of me is still torn. The family thinks that I did them a huge favor and I guess that I did. But, it's not fun when a successful dive involves bringing back something that once was alive and no longer is. It just doesn't seem very successful to me.
But, you all can be the judges of that.
Oh, and those of you with pets...
please give them an extra hug today!
