Diving this weekend? - Page 9

**glynneco** · 08-12-2007, 02:20 PM

sounds like a hoot! You gotta love it! Have fun.

Scuba Mama · 08-14-2007, 02:22 PM

I was in the heat and the very cold. I went down to Mermet Springs in Southern Illinois. My goal has been to see a spoonbill or paddlefish depends on the name you prefer. My goal has been reached. I saw two lurking at 70 feet of water. It made the deep dive worth the cold. The spoonbill we saw got close enough to touch. The vis deep was good almost 40 feet as you went up less and less. The temp was a little rough it was 44 degrees. It was like diving over the moon. All the rocks and sand and floating over it all was very cool, physically and mentally. The heat was supplied by the surface 100 degrees, if you were breathing you were sweating. Being in a drysuit or wetsuit was very hard at the surface. Very needed past 37 feet in the water. The advanced student loved the paddlefish so much, he plans of doing a bit a reseach on them to learn more of their history. The catfish were as big as every and still love hotdogs. I have no pictures, no cameras when I am with students.

MgicTwnger · 08-14-2007, 02:29 PM

Mermet is my favorite, glad you had a good time. I'll be down there next on Aug. 25-26.

MgicTwnger · 08-24-2007, 02:17 PM

This weekend I'm going to a get-together of my "other" board, Midwest Dive Forum, at Mermet Springs in southern Illinois. Since we are so spread out it is hard to find a location we can agree on, and anywhere we decide on is simply too far for most people to go.
We are expectiing only about eight divers, but they are coming from as far away as Kansas and Chicago. Should be fun!

Vegas · 08-24-2007, 05:03 PM

Wow! Have a great time! I hope you will tell us all about it on Monday!

MgicTwnger · 08-26-2007, 07:53 PM

OK, I just got home. We had a great time Saturday: friends new and old, great diving as long as you stayed deep enough to get below the stuff kicked up by the open water classes, and free pizza. Unfortunately my neck seal split as I was getting out of my suit at day's end and they were way too busy to fix it, so I bought one and headed back this morning.

MgicTwnger · 09-21-2007, 10:08 AM

It's off to lake Michigan for me this weekend with a group I'm taking for a charter on the very southernmost end of the lake. The wrecks are shallow, plentiful, and easy to dive. The boat holds six divers and is fast. Since the wrecks are pretty close in there will be lots of time in the water. The icing on the cake is that the op, N'Pursuit, has a deal with a casino next to the marina for discounted rooms, so the wife will not get bored, I'll just get poor.
I'll post a report in a couple of days.

Vegas · 09-21-2007, 07:37 PM

Sounds like a fantastic time! I will look forward to your report!

I'm meeting up with the "Las Vegas Divers" Scuba club on Sunday morning (I'm the new 'events coordinator') then heading to the lake for a dive or two at the usual familiar cove. Nothing fancy, but I sure am looking forward to some bottom time, and a chance to say "hi!" to the fishies!

**glynneco** · 09-21-2007, 08:56 PM

Have fun guys I'm dry this weekend. I'm off to NJ to visit with my niece who's back from the sandbox for a few of weeks before returning. I hope to see her shiny new Purple Heart. Somewhere I missed the debate about sending women into combat. In spite of being the best shot with the 50 cal they have her driving the humvee.

Anyway blow some bubbles for me!

MgicTwnger · 09-23-2007, 05:33 PM

All the best to your niece, Glyn.

We had a beautiful sunny day on lower lake Michigan yesterday except for some strong winds early morning, which brings me to my stupid move of the day:

DO NOT EAT THAT BIG, GREASY BREAKFAST THE HOTEL GIVES YOU, NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT LOOKS!
I missed the first dive worshipping the porcelin god along with a couple of my fellow divers.

The highlights of the rest of the day were two dives on the Material Service Barge, a 239' grain hauler that went down south of Chicago in 1929. I sits in only 32' of water and is full of easy swim-throughs. Since we had some new divers the silt got kicked up pretty badly, but there was enough of a current to clear that away quickly. We all had a blast playing find-the-crew's-bathub. It's still there under the goop.

A typically fine experience was provided by my buddy Capt. Mike Tapper and his N'Pursuit charters.

I've got one more trip to that big pond booked in three weeks, that that's it till next season for lake Michigan. It just gets too windy.