Gilboa - Trip Report

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wreckchick

Scubavangelist
Scuba Instructor
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Location
St. Thomas, USVI
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
 
My thanks to Rachel for instrumenting a nice get together with some very nice people. I really enjoy putting a face with the names from the board. Thanks also goes out to all who came out and dived. I hope we can do that again soon, before the real cold stuff gets here.
Wish we could've stayed longer and gotten in a few more dives. Next time....

take care and dive safe!---brando

ps...I'll try to post some pics and vid caps to our website...hopefully by the end of day today!
 
A very fine time was had. Thanks for getting people together.
 
We had a great time too, well, except for talking with that women's upset little boy on the dock.
We should do it again before winter gets here.
 
Especially nice to socialize with everyone on the surface... old friends and new acquaintances. In fact, it was so much safer on the surface that I begin giving my gear away so I wouldn't have to go back in :D

Thanks for sharing your food Popeye... there was enough for a small army! Did you every get your spool back?

Don... Do you still own a reel, or does someone else own it now?

Thanks to the ScubaGuys for the video and the harassment... Thank you, may I have another... I don't think I had a chance to take more than two breaths off my primary reg during the diving!

One thing I stumbled on this weekend is that Mike and his wife have a peculiar relationship.... What activity is it that she sleeps through? :D I may have misunderstood, so she'll have to repeat it for me!

See everyone around sometime!
Bob
 
biscuit7 once bubbled...
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.

Well, I am sorry I missed the weekend....and especially this incident....

Brando...any chance this will be on the website?

I'm glad you all had a good time without me, I hope you guys were able to camp in mostly dry conditions as we sort of got hammered with rain Sunday in Dayton. Well, until I have to bail for some unseen reason next time....

-T
 
Had a "reel:D " nice time diving with everyone.

WB416, yep I still own my reel. When I conveyed to my wife how I had to dive with it cradled in-between my inner thighs to prevent it from being "borrowed"... she cracked up laughing. Diving like that certainly affects one trim...

Enjoyed personally meeting and diving with those that I have (until this weekend) only known from your "call sign". For those that I usually dive with... always a pleasure as well as a learning experience.

Best regards to all...


Don
 
Dan and I enjoyed meeting and diving with such a fun group on Saturday. It was a pleasure to meet everyone in person and put real people with their online persona's (umm.. would that be 8 or 9 persona's for "Popeye"??)

Nothing beats seeing yourself on video for self assessment. Many thanks to Brandon and Scot for providing their time and toys to our quest for self improvement.

I thought all that chat about loud noises was a bunch of bunk until we were gathering for the last dive and heard it first hand :boom: :boom: :boom:

Scot - lurking at the bus window is way too obvious for spg snatching :wink: Next time I'll check my own as well as telling my buddy to look for his. I'm glad my reel and surface marker stay in my pocket during the dive.

Before we left I was sad that we weren't camping out the entire weekend to hang out with those who stayed. Apres diving and camping are favs of mine. That is, before the rain began to fall, and fall, and fall..... Guess my doggie knows how to swim now!

Rachel, if you ever want to borrow a bp/wings PM me and we can set up a meet-n-dive at Blue Springs, IN. Between Dan and I we have enough parts and pieces for a set up (or five) you could use. We even have extra Jet fins in various sizes we could bring.

We're seriously considering another weekend at Gilboa Sept. 19-21 (in conjunction with a certain class) maybe camping near the far end. Hope some others will also be there?
 
diveski01 once bubbled...
We're seriously considering another weekend at Gilboa Sept. 19-21 (in conjunction with a certain class) maybe camping near the far end. Hope some others will also be there?

Hopefully that will fit my sched better than this one did.

And I too have an extra plate/wing which is available for folks who are curious about the wing thing. If you see me at Gilboa, introduce yerself, then say gimme. Not sure which plate you'll get, but it will be a Koplin something or other, and the wing will probably be a Halcyon 27# so decide if it's gonna be enuf to keep you outa the silt. 8)

JohnF
 
Just as an fyi...I FINALLY was able to post some video from the weeknd up to the website. Right now I only have two small clips, but will get more posted. The movies had forced us to switch servers as our space had run out with the current server. There was a small problem w/communication with that server when we were requesting the registrar change and that caused a bit of delay. Anyway, there a re a couple clips there now and i will try to put more clips from that weekend up to the site later today. Go to the "video page" at www.scubaguys.com . Thanks again for the diving gang....I have some good clips of Popeye that I'll try to get up to the site!
 
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