Thanks guys for the fabulous day at Haigh. It could not have gotten much better than today, well unless the water were warmer, the vis better, and the sun shining a little bit more often but who am I to complain. I was diving and diving with great people. I was going to write this earlier but I had to take a nap as I was exhausted.
The day started out for me at 7 am with nasty black rain clouds overhead and a (semi) long drive to the quarry. There were a few rain drops on my windshield as I headed down the highway but I was not going to let a little bit of rain prevent me from getting wet. Especially since wet was the point for the day! Upon my arrival, I meet my new friend kyphur and his two daughters. My pink fins really were a statement. Reallydg and dwightfrie came out next and it was great to see some friends I had met before. (Thanks for the use of your weights dwightfrie) Jepuskar was the last to arrive and it was nice to see him again in a location where our actions could not be interpreted for anything closely resembling a drug-like exchange (Don't get the wrong idea, we meet when I purchased his steel HP100 tank at gas station). I could tell right away the day was going to good, even if the weather may not have held all that well. Santefejoe was supposed to come around but I got a pm from him telling me that he was not going to make it so we knew not to wait around.
After gearing up, reallydg and dwightfrie take charge and set the course. dwightfrie is to get us to the flamingo and then I was to navigate us to the LARC. Of course I think I can handle it but forget to mention that I can't find my way out of a cardboard box sometimes which is why I have a GPS for all those silly things like directions and maps. To bad that does not work underwater. I hope someone gets on that one of these days. So after a leisurely swim to the flamingo and after taking a call or two, I took over and led the charge. It started out ok as I was diving my course but well for those of you who dove with me at Gilboa, you know of shiny things get me (oh look at that, look at that). I turned right for no reason and kept going. dwightfrie stopped me before we got to the deephole (probably would have turned full circle long before then though) and took over the navigation. he lead us right to the LARC via the quarry drain plug. Of course none of us knew where the drain plug was as we have never seen it before so therefore I must take credit for that since we would not have found it had it not been for my navigationally challenged dive plan. Since dwightfire could not remove the plug, we decided to continue on to the LARC which we (he) found with relative ease. After puttering around a bit it was time to find the road to do a nice safety stop and surface. Total Dive was 32 minutes at 46 degrees and Max depth of 51 feet. I would have to say that viz was 30 feet or so but that is not my strong suit (accurately judging distances - on land or underwater, see previous description of my nav skills).
At the surface, I was the first to point out my inability to direct the path. Oh no need to worry the group was going to tell me exactly how bad I was at it. After plenty of good natured ribbing about my navigation it was also pointed out that I am speed racer when leading as well. My twin jets have little motors in them and I was off to the races. Note to self- turn off the engines when diving with a jepuskar and his totally awesome rebreather - (looked like the robot in
Lost in Space "Danger Will Robinson! Danger). That is one helleva piece of dive gear.
After a surface interval of about one hour, we kitted up again for another round. We picked up two more divers but I did not get their names. The plan was to go to the flamingo for another round and then head to the dump truck. Joe was to lead this time since he got us to the LARC that last time after being taken off course (by me). After petering around the flamingo for a bit, we headed toward the truck. We traveled for a bit and found the riding lawnmower. dwightfrie was able to get a ride and his picture taken and then we continued on our way. After seeing the same rock formation three times ("Look kids ... Big Ben ... Parliament") For what seemed like forever, dwightfrie realized that we are hopelessly lost and jepuskar took over. Miraculously, we came up on the LARC (again) and knew which path we were on. After another cruise for a bit we traveled to the platform, completed a safety stop and called the dive at 42 minutes, 45 degrees, and a max depth of 50 feet. The vis was made a lot worse by our group on this dive, sorry jep for having to wade through that mess.
On the surface, don't be surprised that dwightfrie had to take what he was dishing out earlier by getting us temporarily misplaced. Oh, and he has small outboards on his fins too. He and I were speeding along at a nice pace, but by the faces of the exhausted divers at the end of the dive, we clearly cant be the ones driving again. I cant tell you why we were on a racecourse, since we took the long road to nowhere, but fast was our game and lost was our name. Jepuskar claimed that he accidentally came upon the LARC but with his setup, there had to be a magnet on that rebreather that was pulling him straight to the LARC since we came upon it so easily. So after lunch and about an hour and half surface interval, Jepuskar, kyphur and I decide we are going to make a shallow spin around the quarry.
Dive three for me was an leisurely stroll in the park. Jepuskar was leading the way and oh my ... his buoyancy is amazing. While the rest of us are floundering our way about, he is steady as can be. But then again, that rebreather shows his dedication to the sport. We started out at the platform and headed out to the rock crusher. We followed the line out there and I knew it was coming up but since jepuskar was leading the dive and we were taking to slow road, I was surprised when the rock crusher was instantly in front of my mask. Took me completely by surprise. After a quick peek we took a right turn and followed the rocks to the fuel tank, then over to the golf ball and rock mound. We then came about to the port-o-potty and the buoyancy course. We swam around to the platforms and hung out for a bit and then surfaced. My computer did not call for a safety stop since the dive was shallow but I tried to do one anyway, at least a little one. This dive lasted for 31 minutes at 51 degrees with a max depth of 26 feet. The viz was crap, maybe 15 feet but since we were on the training side, it was expected.
The guys went on a 4th dive but I had to sit it out and get my gear packed up.
Until the next time, I will work on my nav skills and make sure I take my motors down a notch so we can take the slow path versus the racecourse. Thanks guys, you were all great buddies and I had a lot of fun. I cant wait to see the pictures that you guys took so get them posted here as soon as you can. Overall, it was a great dive day and look forward to the next event, which has already been posted for May 23rd. Here is the link.
Haigh Quarry May 23rd I look forward to seeing you guys again and hopefully many others as well.
And when the alarm goes off I'll have to get up right away and leave quietly because I'm already in trouble with the wife for taking Thursday off to go diving, and now I'm going to be gone all day Saturday! So all I gotta say is, it better be fun! 
Going to go pack!
