I got to Gilboa on Friday night and set up camp. Didn't see anyone around and crashed. I woke up Saturday morning and the infamous Popeye was camped right next to me. Turned out Netmage was next door as well. I saw Laser and buddy and it wasn't long before the Scuba Guys showed up and quickly a nice contingent of folks were around and getting geared up for the first dive.
Sadly, I couldn't go out for the first one but a group of about 12 divers went out with Scot and Brando and they ran the camera and did some skills demos.
For the second dive (my first dive) I went out with Mike Ferrara and Sandy and managed to talk detroit diver into letting me use his bp/w again. I worked on some weighting issues and we just cruised around the quarry. As we were headed back we went over the plane only to see a sea of bubbles and utter chaos breaking out amongst the DIR/GUE divers from the big group. The harrassment drills had begun. (Has anyone seen Popeye's reel?) We moved on and met everyone back topside.
For the surface interval we went up to the office and reviewed the video from the previous dive. It turns out that the bit of harassment we saw in the water was only a fraction of the antics that actually occured on the dive. Very funny video. Most impressive: Brandon (I think) discovering his spg was unclipped while unmasked and in a 3-way air sharing ascent.
For my next dive I went out with the crew and buddied with DSJ. He was in a wetsuit and I wasn't in the mood to do a bunch of swim throughs so we just cruised around above the group and watched everyone play. I have to say that for the number of divers in the water together it didn't feel like anyone was really in anyone's way and the dive went very smoothly and without excessive contact. It was very impressive for me to see the quality of the divers in the water.
The lowlight of Saturday's dives were a family of (to quote Mike Ferrara) bottom-walkers where the mom panicked from vertigo and came up screaming and at the end of dive #2 I saw a couple of divers with no business in the water going into the plane.
After dive #3, most people packed up and went on their way. I was hanging around and camping Saturday night so we had some beer and sat around the campfire "discussing" the state of the industry today.
Saturday morning I did a dive with Popeye and the Boom Brothers in my own gear. <sigh> I did venture into the plane and the bus and worked on some stuff that needed some work.
My gear review: After now doing 3 dives in a bp/w I'm now convinced I need one. I dropped some weight off my belt and it was much easier to trim correctly. Not having anything in front of me was nice. I was also diving Jets and although I don't feel like I have the power I do in my Spacefrogs, I found that I prefer them to the Quattros I used for part of the dive on Saturday (if you want to see underwater gymnastics, switch fins with someone underwater). I've now put 5 dives on my White's Nexus drysuit and I'm getting more comfortable with how it reacts to changes in depth and how to feel the difference between the feeling of the air in the drysuit vs. the bc so I know what I should be paying attention to.
Thanks to everyone who turned out and especially everyone I bummed gear from throughout the weekend and who took the time to check me out underwater and help me understand what I was doing and how I looked.
I have to say, the best divers I saw in the water all weekend were people that were there from Scubaboard. You all are great and I hope to dive with you again soon!
Rachel
Sadly, I couldn't go out for the first one but a group of about 12 divers went out with Scot and Brando and they ran the camera and did some skills demos.
For the second dive (my first dive) I went out with Mike Ferrara and Sandy and managed to talk detroit diver into letting me use his bp/w again. I worked on some weighting issues and we just cruised around the quarry. As we were headed back we went over the plane only to see a sea of bubbles and utter chaos breaking out amongst the DIR/GUE divers from the big group. The harrassment drills had begun. (Has anyone seen Popeye's reel?) We moved on and met everyone back topside.
For the surface interval we went up to the office and reviewed the video from the previous dive. It turns out that the bit of harassment we saw in the water was only a fraction of the antics that actually occured on the dive. Very funny video. Most impressive: Brandon (I think) discovering his spg was unclipped while unmasked and in a 3-way air sharing ascent.
For my next dive I went out with the crew and buddied with DSJ. He was in a wetsuit and I wasn't in the mood to do a bunch of swim throughs so we just cruised around above the group and watched everyone play. I have to say that for the number of divers in the water together it didn't feel like anyone was really in anyone's way and the dive went very smoothly and without excessive contact. It was very impressive for me to see the quality of the divers in the water.
The lowlight of Saturday's dives were a family of (to quote Mike Ferrara) bottom-walkers where the mom panicked from vertigo and came up screaming and at the end of dive #2 I saw a couple of divers with no business in the water going into the plane.
After dive #3, most people packed up and went on their way. I was hanging around and camping Saturday night so we had some beer and sat around the campfire "discussing" the state of the industry today.
Saturday morning I did a dive with Popeye and the Boom Brothers in my own gear. <sigh> I did venture into the plane and the bus and worked on some stuff that needed some work.
My gear review: After now doing 3 dives in a bp/w I'm now convinced I need one. I dropped some weight off my belt and it was much easier to trim correctly. Not having anything in front of me was nice. I was also diving Jets and although I don't feel like I have the power I do in my Spacefrogs, I found that I prefer them to the Quattros I used for part of the dive on Saturday (if you want to see underwater gymnastics, switch fins with someone underwater). I've now put 5 dives on my White's Nexus drysuit and I'm getting more comfortable with how it reacts to changes in depth and how to feel the difference between the feeling of the air in the drysuit vs. the bc so I know what I should be paying attention to.
Thanks to everyone who turned out and especially everyone I bummed gear from throughout the weekend and who took the time to check me out underwater and help me understand what I was doing and how I looked.
I have to say, the best divers I saw in the water all weekend were people that were there from Scubaboard. You all are great and I hope to dive with you again soon!
Rachel