Y'all missed some great visibility! The drive wasn't terrible, took about an extra half hour coming from the south but most of the problem was the back roads once you got off at Napoleon Rd. I hear it wouldn't have been so easy if you were north of Detroit though.
We left the tents and heaters at home since there was so much wind in the forecast that they would have been useless and probably gotten damaged. It wasn't quite as windy around the quarry as I expected and as long as I had my hat and gloves on I was comfortable wearing just a t-shirt over expedition weight long johns with no coat. There was probably an inch or so of snow on the ground making the steps and docks a little interesting to traverse.
That was the first dive I had been on where I was truly glad to have the drysuit. The water was warmer than the air but brisk on my face and just watching the wetsuit guys get in sent a shiver down my spine. My computer showed 44-45 degrees with the warmer water near the tubes at 40 feet, some of the guys had 42 degrees for water temperature on their computers. I didn't want to go too deep because my sinuses were acting up and I didn't want to risk a reverse sqeeze so we maxed out at 40 feet. The coolest thing on the dive was hearing Don say my name through his regulator and being able to understand that was what he said. When he realized I could hear him he asked via voice and some hand signals if I wanted to stay at 40 feet and go out to the tubes to see Adam and Ken. I couldn't believe how easily I could understand him, the hand signals really weren't necessary we were probably 25 min into the dive and I'm thinking I was a little narced. Steve told me I was constantly checking my computer as we moved toward the tubes and at one point I had to tell myself nothing was coming out of the darkness of the deep end to get me. I was happy when we saw Ken and Adam though for a moment my mind was muddy enough I couldn't tell what they were and I felt a little fear rising until the shapes turned into divers and waved. Don called the turn and we headed back to the sanctuary of the shallows.
My reg was occasionally breathing wet though it could have been the simple fact that my lips were numb and not sealing well on the mouthpiece. I inhaled water a couple times resulting in a brief coughing fit but finally got to the point where I could simply drink what I was occasionally drawing into my mouth on an inhale. I remember being glad we were in fresh water and enjoying the crisp flavor of the quarry, my awareness of simple sensations was really turned on high that dive. We moseyed through the helicopter and Steve said he was cold so we headed back to the safety stop area where we re-met up with Ken and Adam. Don asked if I was game for 5 more minutes so we left Steve with Ken and Adam and cruised out around the bus and back to the safety stop. It felt good to fly through the cold clear water, it was worth every bit of effort to get there and set up/tear down in cold windy conditions.
Mike's chili after the dive was heaven sent and hanging around the office listening to the stories told by other divers was a great ending to a fun day spent with friends. I wish my husband would have joined us but temperatures in the 30's combined with 25+mph winds doesn't spell good time to him. He's already got the t-shirt for that one and clearly has more sense than I do LOL! One day the call of the warm bed will overwhelm the call of the cold water and wind for me as well but for now I'll answer the call of the water.
Happy New Year to all!
Ber :lilbunny:
