After spitting snow for two days Sunday dawned clear but cold, I left the house about 6 and tooled up to Milwaukee for a ride out on the LenDer to dive the Car Ferry and arrived with a fresh cup o' Joe at 8:15. Now this is the first dive of the season for me, while I had hoped to make some warm-up dives in the quarry before getting out on the lake a last minute seat on the trip opened up and I gladly signed on knowing I hadn't been wet since mid-October and quickly found Murphy lurking in wait.
It dawned on me as I opened up my right post after assembling the kit that I had experienced a small issue at the end of my last dive, unfortunately I had packed hastily and departed for Atlanta where I spent a week on business and by the time I got home I unpacked and stored all my gear blithe fully ignorant of my impending trouble. Today when I cracked the first stage my primary immediately began free-flowing. I pop off the cap and look inside, mostly 'cuz the guy I would ask is yet to arrive. I'm no reg tech, but I've watched it done
if there isn't some visible grain of sand breaching the integrity of the seal then i'm all out of ideas. When I pull back the diaphragm the lever falls loose from the IP seat, so I drop the diaphragm back in place and screw the cap back on, its time to call in an expert.
Luckily at that point my go-to-guy showed up, and unlike me, had a spare second stage in his truck. After quick work with wrenching and loading we're underway and everything seems to be working.
The briefing was thorough as always and included an extended segment on cold-water diving techniques and common issues/solutions. I learned that when you shut off the air on a frozen first stage the water would thaw the regulator and restore its function, as we were all diving redundant air supplies due to depth and temperature we reinforced the signs for assistance with a valve. (Yes you should be able to reach your valves, but sometimes...like when the water is 37 and you're wearing three sets of long johns under your UG, flexibility suffers. Those wearing H-valves, as my buddy was, were especially challenged.)
Starting to gear up I see that Murphy was not content to wait on the dock, my trusty Versa Pro, my solitary depth/bottom timer, that one piece of gear I didn't validate last night or again in the parking lot, failed to boot at all.
More politicking, bargaining, and wrenching and I am outfitted with a Cobra/compass console set to gauge mode and finally my buddy and I are seated on the stern. The briefing included notice that a breath should not be drawn from the regulator above water to help prevent a first stage freeze-up. So with full BCs and small-medium strides we entered the water but did not breathe the regs. My buddy and I made it to the descent line and collected ourselves for the descent to 125 FFW.
The descent was smooth and I was glad to see my buddy was very controlled and appeared calm in the water. The last words I had told him on the surface were inspired by a posting I saw on SB; I dont like surprises and I dont like tough guys, when youre too cold to continue tell me. As we neared 50 feet the outline of the wreck loomed out of the green haze and became sharper as we closed on the bow. At around 85 FFW we were sighting down the bow rails and could see multiple dive teams further aft on the wreck, the visibility was 35-40 feet and the car ferrys hulking bow hinted at the promise of history and mystery as we finned slowly toward the port side bow.
At this point my buddy gave me a signal that began with a shared air sign and ended as a turn off this valve sign. As he was breathing comfortably on his alternate second stage I followed his final request and turned off his primary valve. The free-flowing primary fell silent and he clipped it off to his BC. We exchanged Oks and pondered the wreck in front of us for a moment. It was a telling moment, neither of us appeared comfortable with the switch and turn-off/on of valves to maintain the airways that we were depending on and we straddled the decision for a moment. When we did tentatively take two kicks forward my buddy turned to me and asked me to switch his valves and demonstrated for me that he was breathing off a free-flowing regulator, again. As he appeared confident and competent breathing from the flow of air that was pouring out into Lake Michigan I went to work on his valves, reopening his primary giving a signal, receiving an ok once he resumed breathing on the primary, and closing the left post down to subdue the free-flowing alternate.
At this point my buddy flashed a sign I had just taught him on the boat, the forefinger extended in the direction of the ascent line and the thumb extended in traditional end-dive thumb, like a pistol leer. Up-and-out. Find the exit/upline and lets get out of here.
The ascent was uneventful but chilly, the boat captain and crewman were still on the foredeck when we surfaced. The last team in, the first team out. My buddy felt really bad for ruining the dives, and my friend Ken whod put the trip together and originally planned to buddy with me felt awful, the boat captain and crewman sulked for me but I didnt really feel bad at all. Ive had shorter dives, Ive paid more to ride a boat out and been so stricken with seasickness that I couldnt suit up, Ive lugged doubles and drysuit, kit box and sav-a-div kit across two states to find that the weather picked up and no boats were to venture out. Ive scrubbed dives in the first 15 feet of descent, and Ive dealt with a few emergencies in depths of 75-110 FW. Its all a part of the sport.
Sundays dive was strangely serene. My buddy was competent and as comfortable as could be expected, he handled his first freezing regulator incident much better than the first time mine froze up. Of course his slowly stopped providing air, my dive-rites start popping violently and I was sure the intricate bits and pieces that make up the innards of the second stage were going to dislodge and form a shrapnel volley down my windpipe when that happened to me a few years ago. While I did escape the same fate on this dive, once onboard I saw that both first stages were encased in ice, I imagine I was not far from the same experience as my buddy.
The Car Ferry Milwaukee is a beautiful wreck, though I only saw a quick peek from the bow, this old boats steel hull is holding up well in the Great Lakes water.
The LenDer is a comfortable diving platform; Jerry the captain is very knowledgeable on the local waters and a wreck-hunting diver himself. As any good boat captain should, Jerry tells enthralling stories of his time spent on the water.
All in all it was a good start to the 2006 season, Im still not convinced the Great Lakes are a year around diving attraction but its definitely possible to get a dive in in March. After relating the story to my spouse she suggests maybe March is too early, but Im not sure yet. Might have to dive next March to figure it out.
Max Depth: 85 FFW
Total Run Time: 7 Min
It dawned on me as I opened up my right post after assembling the kit that I had experienced a small issue at the end of my last dive, unfortunately I had packed hastily and departed for Atlanta where I spent a week on business and by the time I got home I unpacked and stored all my gear blithe fully ignorant of my impending trouble. Today when I cracked the first stage my primary immediately began free-flowing. I pop off the cap and look inside, mostly 'cuz the guy I would ask is yet to arrive. I'm no reg tech, but I've watched it done
if there isn't some visible grain of sand breaching the integrity of the seal then i'm all out of ideas. When I pull back the diaphragm the lever falls loose from the IP seat, so I drop the diaphragm back in place and screw the cap back on, its time to call in an expert. Luckily at that point my go-to-guy showed up, and unlike me, had a spare second stage in his truck. After quick work with wrenching and loading we're underway and everything seems to be working.
The briefing was thorough as always and included an extended segment on cold-water diving techniques and common issues/solutions. I learned that when you shut off the air on a frozen first stage the water would thaw the regulator and restore its function, as we were all diving redundant air supplies due to depth and temperature we reinforced the signs for assistance with a valve. (Yes you should be able to reach your valves, but sometimes...like when the water is 37 and you're wearing three sets of long johns under your UG, flexibility suffers. Those wearing H-valves, as my buddy was, were especially challenged.)
Starting to gear up I see that Murphy was not content to wait on the dock, my trusty Versa Pro, my solitary depth/bottom timer, that one piece of gear I didn't validate last night or again in the parking lot, failed to boot at all.
More politicking, bargaining, and wrenching and I am outfitted with a Cobra/compass console set to gauge mode and finally my buddy and I are seated on the stern. The briefing included notice that a breath should not be drawn from the regulator above water to help prevent a first stage freeze-up. So with full BCs and small-medium strides we entered the water but did not breathe the regs. My buddy and I made it to the descent line and collected ourselves for the descent to 125 FFW.
The descent was smooth and I was glad to see my buddy was very controlled and appeared calm in the water. The last words I had told him on the surface were inspired by a posting I saw on SB; I dont like surprises and I dont like tough guys, when youre too cold to continue tell me. As we neared 50 feet the outline of the wreck loomed out of the green haze and became sharper as we closed on the bow. At around 85 FFW we were sighting down the bow rails and could see multiple dive teams further aft on the wreck, the visibility was 35-40 feet and the car ferrys hulking bow hinted at the promise of history and mystery as we finned slowly toward the port side bow.
At this point my buddy gave me a signal that began with a shared air sign and ended as a turn off this valve sign. As he was breathing comfortably on his alternate second stage I followed his final request and turned off his primary valve. The free-flowing primary fell silent and he clipped it off to his BC. We exchanged Oks and pondered the wreck in front of us for a moment. It was a telling moment, neither of us appeared comfortable with the switch and turn-off/on of valves to maintain the airways that we were depending on and we straddled the decision for a moment. When we did tentatively take two kicks forward my buddy turned to me and asked me to switch his valves and demonstrated for me that he was breathing off a free-flowing regulator, again. As he appeared confident and competent breathing from the flow of air that was pouring out into Lake Michigan I went to work on his valves, reopening his primary giving a signal, receiving an ok once he resumed breathing on the primary, and closing the left post down to subdue the free-flowing alternate.
At this point my buddy flashed a sign I had just taught him on the boat, the forefinger extended in the direction of the ascent line and the thumb extended in traditional end-dive thumb, like a pistol leer. Up-and-out. Find the exit/upline and lets get out of here.
The ascent was uneventful but chilly, the boat captain and crewman were still on the foredeck when we surfaced. The last team in, the first team out. My buddy felt really bad for ruining the dives, and my friend Ken whod put the trip together and originally planned to buddy with me felt awful, the boat captain and crewman sulked for me but I didnt really feel bad at all. Ive had shorter dives, Ive paid more to ride a boat out and been so stricken with seasickness that I couldnt suit up, Ive lugged doubles and drysuit, kit box and sav-a-div kit across two states to find that the weather picked up and no boats were to venture out. Ive scrubbed dives in the first 15 feet of descent, and Ive dealt with a few emergencies in depths of 75-110 FW. Its all a part of the sport.
Sundays dive was strangely serene. My buddy was competent and as comfortable as could be expected, he handled his first freezing regulator incident much better than the first time mine froze up. Of course his slowly stopped providing air, my dive-rites start popping violently and I was sure the intricate bits and pieces that make up the innards of the second stage were going to dislodge and form a shrapnel volley down my windpipe when that happened to me a few years ago. While I did escape the same fate on this dive, once onboard I saw that both first stages were encased in ice, I imagine I was not far from the same experience as my buddy.
The Car Ferry Milwaukee is a beautiful wreck, though I only saw a quick peek from the bow, this old boats steel hull is holding up well in the Great Lakes water.
The LenDer is a comfortable diving platform; Jerry the captain is very knowledgeable on the local waters and a wreck-hunting diver himself. As any good boat captain should, Jerry tells enthralling stories of his time spent on the water.
All in all it was a good start to the 2006 season, Im still not convinced the Great Lakes are a year around diving attraction but its definitely possible to get a dive in in March. After relating the story to my spouse she suggests maybe March is too early, but Im not sure yet. Might have to dive next March to figure it out.
Max Depth: 85 FFW
Total Run Time: 7 Min
