Solo Mt. Storm

I was supposed to go to guppy gulch with dori's crew today, but she got sick with what Davey's had all week. So' I decided to head to Storm alone. I didn't feel like eating breakfast today, so I headed to the lake. Temps were about 24, but the wind was blowing around 25mph, gusting to 30mph. I sat in the truck for a while, deciding if I was really going to get in the water. After 2 failed attempts, got back in the truck twice saying I wasn't going to dive. But, in the end I decided to go for it. I did a deco dive to 121', practiced skills, and got out after 1 hour. Everything froze before I got to the truck, so I left everything together and sorted it out when I got home. It was a trick zipping my back entry dry suit by myself for the first time. All in all a good time!!

Deco. check out!!

Well finally made it, after a winter of cold diving it paid off!! I'm now deco certified. We did our check out dives at Mt. Storm. Davey and I were partners, Dori our instructor, and Richard, and Aaron dove with us. We had 2 good dives, 0 vis at the 90' platform on our 2nd dive, but all went well. Now more practise!!

Ice diving cert. class

Well I've wanted to go ice diving for 20 years, today things finally came together! A friend of ours, Dennis, is an SEI ice diving instructor at BMD. So, today we went to Bainbridge quarry, which has been frozen over for over a week, to do some ice diving. We couldn't have asked for a better day, air temps were in the high 50s. Corrine handled the lines for us, and we did two dives. We didn't have to cut a hole, the ice was beginning to melt a little from shore. So, we just busted a hole and dove in! Diving under ice is great. I really enjoy diving with Dennis, and davey.

Dive Mt. Storm. 2/1

Davey and I went up to dive again last sunday. We were able to remove the loose line on the 50' platform. It was an old line that had an old plastic jug attached, it had at one time been a marker float for the platform. We cut it loose , and secured it to the platform, then headed on down to the 90' platform, and down the deep line. We turned at 6 minutes ndl, then headed back up. We swam out to the dam, then back to the platforms, did some skills. Back to the 50', pick up the line and jug, then to the safety stop, and out. It was a warm day, 45 degrees, only a light wind, and sunny. A really great day for storm, this time of year.

Saturday dive Mt. Storm

Corrine and I went up to storm yesterday, for a dive. It was much warmer than last week-end, 27 degrees. When we arrived it started snowing, by the time we left, it had snowed 1/2". We got geared up, and I helped Corrine down the hill to the water, it's a very steep hill. I got in the water, clipped on my 2 stage bottles, and off we went. We headed to the main platform, and did some skills. I can now do a valve drill in my drysuit, yea!! From there we headed down to the 50' platform, then to the 90'. I discovered that one of the lines between the platforms is losse. Corrine was getting cold, she was diving wet, so we headed back up. I will return next week-end to remove the line so no one will get tangled in it.

Dive today at Mt. Storm

Jeff m. and I went to Mt.Storm today to work on skills and drills. When we arrived at the stained glass restaraunt it '0', a little cold. We ate breakfast,and hung out enjoying the warmth. But, we had come to dive, so it was off to the lake. When we arrived at the lake it had warmed up to '3', not a big improvement. We geard up quickly so we could get into the relatively warmer water,'53' at the surface. When I tried to inflate my BC I found that the inflator was frozen. After sitting underwater for a few moments it started working. We hit all the platforms, and practiced slills,it was '43' at 90'. We had a 1:10 dive, and I finally figured out how to do a valve drill in my dry suit. When we got out it had warmed up to '13', luckilythere was only a slight breeze, wind would have been brutal. Our gear had frozen by the time we got to the truck, Getting a frozen dry suit off is interesting. We had to leave our gear together, it was frozen, and we couldn,t get it apart. Still it was a good dive.

Milbrook the 11th

Davey and I went to millbrook for the chilly willy dive. It was cold when we got there at 10:30{24degrees}. But we had a propane heater in the shed, and that made it very comfortable to change. There were more people there than I thought there would be, about 15. The water was cold{42degrees}. We dove to the platform at beach2 then down to the airplane{76'}. Unfortunately someone had arrived there before us and were still there. One of the divers was very good, but the other was having bouyancy issues, he was rototilling the bottom reducing the vis to about 1'. I had to do widening circles to find the line to the winnebago. When I found it we started to follow it, only to discover that the others had followed this line also. the vis along most of the line was 1-2'. Normally this time of year the vis is 20'-25'. It was quite cold at 86'. From there we made our way back to the platform and did our safety stop. When we got out the temperature had risen dramatically, sun was shining, no wind. It was a beautiful day. We talked with Geof, and Elliot, from The Dive Shop, and headed home.