Who Loves Ice Diving? I do!

[SwimJim]

I did the underwater ski thing on my last dive. It was pretty awesome. Something that every ice divers got to try.

 

[Depth Gauge]

Hey there,

Has anyone taken any photos while dipping below the ice? Love to see some.

Jason

 

[JDostal]

Here are some photos on the Central Wisconsin Scuba Club page - not from any very recent dives, but photos they are:

http://divewisconsin.net/photos/photos.html

Unfortunately, our webmaster has decided against putting the full size ones there...I'll have to talk to him about that.

Also, this link takes you to a message w/ a few links from the Madison scuba and some photos from some of their ice dives:

http://www.divewisconsin.net/wwwboard/messages/130.html

 

[aquaviper]

We love ice diving. Our group has got 9 or so dives in so far this year. The year started off poorly as we didn’t have good enough ice until the middle of January. We now have just under 20” but it’s going to be in the 50’s by the weekend.

We are able to get to spots in lakes that would be suicide (due to boat traffic) in open water conditions.

Two weeks ago mrs. aquaviper found a wallet that had a drivers license expiring in 1986, a few coins and a folded up cigarette cellophane containing what appeared to be a greenish vegetable matter. I’ll let your imagination run with that. She also found a carpenters hammer that was ball-parked to be 100 years old.

Three weeks ago we cut a hole over what must be a great fishing spot as each of the 5 teams of 2 divers brought up at least 1 boat anchor. It’s funny to think how the anchors get there. “Hey Bob, toss the anchor over, would ya”. Zzzzzzzzzzzzztt….”Oh-Oh~”

We also wind up the day with camaraderie and a hot bowl of chili or sloppy joe’s.

 

[pt40fathoms]

If the chilli is real good, and real potent, and you have a bowl or three "before" you dive as a pre-dive pre-heat. You won't need argon to fill your dry suit with warm gas for insulation! Just don't go near any open flame whan you get back to the surface, and please stand down wind when you crack that drysuit zipper.

 

[JDostal]

Ewwwww.

I've been near guys that have done that. Something happens to that air after it sits in a drysuit for an hour or so. Wow.

Makes your hair stand on end.

 

[raybo]

pt40fathoms once bubbled...
If the chilli is real good, and real potent, and you have a bowl or three "before" you dive as a pre-dive pre-heat. You won't need argon to fill your dry suit with warm gas for insulation! Just don't go near any open flame whan you get back to the surface, and please stand down wind when you crack that drysuit zipper.

OK...I just had to jump in here. I felt an overwhelming urge to educate the rest of you about a subtle difference in terminology. Anybody form Texas, jump in & concur.

First of all...chili, with an "i" refers to something made with beans, and maybe meat, tomatoes, and various other ingredients. Usually concocted to be a sort of soup.

Chile, OTOH, is a reference to the plant, i.e., jalepeno, anaheim, habenero (don't got there if you don't know what you're doing! If it's an orange pepper about the size and shape of a golf ball...whoooweee!), and my favorite...the New Mexico Big Jim.

Chile, inthe New Mexico sense, is something you have to experience. In August, you can drive downthe street, and almost get "narced" by the smell of fresh roated green chile. It's something you just have to experience to believe! The really good stuff makes your lips feel like you've been to the dentist & had a good shot of novacaine! :flame:

Anyway. Back on topic. We just did a de-brief on our Ice Dive trip early in Feb. What we all cocluded was that the surface support was the bigg thing, and the comraderie and the effort toget the site set up was as big a deal as the diving.

Ummmm....fresh green chile...I need a fix!

 

[gatorboy]

and we dive all year long. There's is a group of us that dive every Sunday for sure. It doesn't matter what temp the water is. We either dive Chippawa Creek or the Niagara River. The current is so strong that they never fully freeze. It's really cool to see "ice coral" forming on the bottom of the river. It hs to be pretty cold for that to happen. The average temp. for us this year has been between 28 and 34 degree's.

I use a DUI CF200 Signature series drysuit and wouldn't change it for anything. I also use Weezle drysuit underwear, hp steel 104's, Scubapro S600 primary reg., Poseidon Xstream backup reg., DiveRite backplate with Classic Wings.

If you haven't ice dove yet, it's a must try!! Have a redundant air supply, even if diving witha buddy. Use a reel with cave line if you're going below the ice, stay close to hole, watch your air because doing a CESA won't help you!

 

[JDostal]

I've heard about that "ice coral" before - isn't that where the water freezes on the rocks because the disturbance/slowdown in the current?

 

[gatorboy]

That exactly what it is. It has to be really cold for it to happen. Since the water has been above 28 degrees, I haven't seen any.