Beautiful!
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Beautiful!
Helmets are only for cave divers. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
There’s a lot of ambient light, depending on depth. We do carry dive flashlights.
This is video someone else took Sunday. We’re in the wide open cargo holds (and lots of openings above) of the Material Service Barge. 35ft to the sand. I come along about the 4:10 mark. Tried to swim under the bar, when I should have gone over. Stirred up the silt some as a result. ;)
https://youtu.be/afT6Tfd22Gs
Still get overly nervous at times, but it’s so much better than it used to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by nswef
It's admirable that you work through your fear and do it anyway. That's the definition of courage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Yesterday, I did both charters (morning and afternoon) on my local charter boat, Sun Dog (Double Action Dive Charters). I have a season pass for the boat.
We did four wrecks, the Louisville (wooden propeller steamer, sunk in 1857), a new wreck known as the "mystery barge" (I didn't do this dive as I didn't like the surface conditions), The Straits of Mackinac (a coal-fired car ferry that operated between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan from 1928 to 1956 when the Mackinac Bridge opened - this wreck was sunk in Lake Michigan in the late 2000s as fish habitat and diver attraction), and the Wells Burt.
The Wells Burt was a triple-masted wooden schooner, massive at 201 ft long (201' x 33'5" x 14'2"). She was built in 1873 and sank in a storm off Evanston, IL, in May 1883, going down with all 11 hands. Despite a lot of wreckage, none of the crew were ever found. She is almost entirely intact, amazing for a wreck only 40ft deep. This is my favorite local wreck. The deadeyes are the highlight of this site for me. They were used to manage the rigging.
Pics and video were taken with an Intova Nova HD. This is a small waterproof camera with the camera body built into the floating housing. It was only $140 off Amazon a couple of years ago. Video isn't the greatest, but it gives you an idea of this awesome wreck.
Some more advanced divers have shrugged off this wreck to me, saying it's too shallow for them to bother with. Their loss! It's just incredible. What makes it even more incredible is that it survived so intact at just 40 ft, not having been beaten to pieces by the winter ice and wind. I've read that ice on the Great Lakes can go as deep as 70 ft. And with this shallow of a wreck, you can spend more time on it.
https://i.imgur.com/E3EWESB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/anb9xcT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N3EfUVp.jpg
More from the Wells Burt
Deadeyes - used for managing the rigging on a sailing ship. This first photo would be a great Halloween one!
https://i.imgur.com/0CyqorF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/toHYuzK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/v6QTTt0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8pgioVF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NBPhB9P.jpg
Videos
https://youtu.be/rNZRyBA6W4A
Those photos are so amazing to see. Wonderful how much enjoyment you are getting out of your diving experiences.
Thank you! It’s been life changing.
Great pictures, Tradd!
Very cool pics!
https://www.facebook.com/742609033/p...6537109534034/
Hope this works...there's been much talk about red ride here. My son is the captain.
Interesting! Thanks for the video.
This pic is of me from Sunday. I went up to Milwaukee with a friend and we did two wrecks off a charter boat there. I did my deepest dive to date - 117ft! I got “dark narced.” Feelings of gloom and anbit scared, too. Rented a bigger tank from my dive shop, which was a good idea!
I’ve replaced my drysuit. Ordered it right when I got back from Lake Huron trip. Took a month to come in. Much more comfortable diving now. Stay warm and dry!
An online friend sent me this. Litany against fear from Dune. Didn’t know it existed. Said he memorized it and it helped with the feelings of gloom and doom when being dark narced.
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Today is my 2nd diversary. 172 dives and 35 lbs lighter!
Tradd, I know you've come a long way from day 1. Please celebrate your success - as do I! Proud of you!
Tradd, You are amazing! Thanks for sharing your journey!
Thank you! I’m going to work really hard to get in better shape this winter.
Did 45 minutes / bit more than 10 miles on the recumbent bike at the gym the last two evenings. Dripping with sweat by the time I’m done. I have a workout playlist with mostly 80s-90s music going while I’m watching Fox News (with closed captioning) on the TV on the bike. I don’t have cable so this is the only time I watch it. Bit of an odd combo but I find the music really helps me GO!
Love the diversary concept. Well done, Tradd.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Just put a deposit down on a diving trip in July to Tobermory, Ontario. Can't wait! On Lake Huron/Georgian Bay.
Been a few months since I've updated this thread.
The sidemount (tanks on my sides) experiment is over. Didn't go well. Gearing up was just too complicated and took too long, compared with just slipping int my harness. It was just a mess off a boat. I've sold the sidemount gear online. I'm now diving back mounted doubles or what the Brits call a twinset. ;) Two tanks on my back. Originally I thought I wouldn't be able to do this due to my knees/sciatica, but I'm finding ways to manage it. I'm really building strength. I've found I can do squats with a 5lb dumbbell in each hand that don't hurt. If I do it without dumbbells, my knees travel past my toes, which really hurts. That doesn't happen with the weights. My knees are feeling much better and I'm walking easier.
For the twinset, I've just doubled up the tanks I already have. I've not spent too much. A lovely online friend from a large scuba forum, upon reading that I was thinking about doubling up my tanks, sent me an isolator manifold (to connect the two tanks together) and a wing (the blue air bladder in the pics). The manifold is about $100 new. The threading didn't fit my valves, so its up for sale. The wing is about 10-12 years old. I needed about $50 in parts to bring it back to life, but it's as good as new. The current model of this wing runs $330! Friend is an older diver (60s) and has lots of equipment sitting around that is no longer used.
https://i.imgur.com/FjxwstI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/k1acKru.jpg
The whole thing - double tanks, regulators, steel backplate, weighs about 80 lbs! But I can walk around with them OK. I use my collapsible cart to move them around.
I did my first pool session with them a couple of weeks ago. Resounding success! So much easier to get geared up than with the side mounted tanks. Regular dive buddy said I was always so stressed with doing sidemount and I was so unstressed getting geared up in the pool. I'm using the same backplate and harness, just moved to the twinset. So very familiar there. I had to hang some weights off my harness' butt D ring to balance things out, but I've got very light fins. These are short tanks and they tend to make people go head down. I got some heavier fins used very cheap on a FB sale group, so I'll try those in the pool next month. But with the small tweak of 4lbs hanging off my butt D ring, my trim (horizontal aspect in the water) was very good. People on the scuba forum were surprised I got the tanks to trim out so well, as people often have a hard time with these tanks. They work for me since I'm short. They're 4" shorter than the next size up! Trim has been something that I've had challenges with, so the wonderful compliments I got on my trim with the doubles was wonderful to hear.
https://i.imgur.com/GeNAJhe.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ul076VX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bfx9pFM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NC550oE.jpg
I've got some wonderful plans for the year.
Wreck diving in the Straits of Mackinac (between the Upper & Lower Penninsulas of Michigan, where the Mackinac Bridge is) in June for my 50th birthday trip. Tobermory, Ontario in July.
In August, I'm going to be driving 13 hours each way to Temagami, Ontario to do my first technical diving class (Intro to Tech). I've really hit it off with an instructor on the big diving forum. He offered to do the class for free. It would run about $250 if I did it locally, and while I like the two local tech instructors well enough (one did my sidemount class), but I had a 5 hour phone conversation one night with the instructor in Ontario. He's got 2 busted knees himself, is wreck obsessed like I am, and sort of specializes in divers with mobility issues. The friend who sent me the manifold and wing lives in DE. He's done an ice class with the Ontario instructor before and he's actually coming up to Temagami to do the Intro to Tech class with me. It's a long drive, but I've got online friends in the Toronto area (from an author fan group on FB) that I'll get to meet, as well.
If the intro to tech class goes well in August, I will do Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures class locally in Sept/Oct. It's done in two weekends - one at the local quarry, and another a couple of weeks later at a deep quarry in WI (Wazee Lake). The dives for AN/DP class go to 150ft. This will allow me to do the deeper wrecks or to spend more time on shallower wrecks without having to worry about coming up before no decompression time ends. You have a number of deco stops at certain depths to get nitrogen out of your system to prevent the bends. You generally use either 50% O2 or 100% O2 for a deco gas.
I'm working on the homework for the Advanced Nitrox class. There are a lot of manual calculations for things like how long you can stay down with your breathing rate on a certain size tank and planned depth, best gas mix for a dive, etc. But now there are phone apps and computer programs that most use, in additional to much more advanced dive computers than there used to be. I have a phone app /desktop program called MultiDeco. It's almost like a video game to divers - running the numbers in various ways for certain dives is a lot of fun and quite educational. Screen shot from the app for a local wreck off Milwaukee that sits at 130ft (Milwaukee car ferry). Anyway, you have to show you know how to do the manual calculations for class. Math takes me a lot of time, so I'm sitting down with it months in advance to make it much easier on me later!
https://i.imgur.com/WnOvOlx.jpg
Very interesting. I had no idea that there were math calculations involved for this advanced diving. Your 50th birthday trip sounds like it will be really memorable, especially to enjoy the rewards of your increased exercise levels. I'm sure it will be great!
Happy Divaversary! Tradd, I remember how nervous you were and look at you now!!!! Bravo! Bravo! BRAVO!
This is still amazing to me! The very idea scares the beejesus outta me.
Congrats! You have come so far. This is all so exciting! I look forward to your future excapades!
It's so awesome how you embraced your passion like this! I remember when you just tagging along with the guy you were dating for a while. Interesting the ways in which God / Universe works! You have come so far! Thanks for keeping us up to date on your dives!
Look - me in action! :D. Last pool session of the winter yesterday. Stuff just sort of came together.
https://youtu.be/MfF6bHOYplA
You look like a mermaid; well done.
I'm with Iris Lily; I'll just stay here on shore...
Scares me too:))
Looks like fun. I wish I could get the wife interested. We are going to key largo next week. Maybe do some snorkeling, but most likely just do the glass bottom boat ride. Maybe do a little kayaking.
This video is mostly from this year's Great Lakes diving and the associated road trips. I'll come back a bit later and update with my adventures from this year. It's been a fabulous season.
https://youtu.be/nXeZjWytZ6I
Neat video, Tradd. There is a red freighter in different parts of the video. I think that I need some more info on how the Great Lakes trip was arranged. Where do you dive from, where do you stay, what are the goals of the adventure?....
PHi Razz -Quote:
Originally Posted by razz
This wasn't one trip. Most of my diving is local on Lake Michigan. I'm only an hour from the Chicago boat, 2 hours from the Milwaukee boat. These are day trips from home.
I spent Memorial Day weekend in Port Sanilac, MI. My Chicago-based dive charter operation also has a boat on Lake Huron, halfway up Michigan's Thumb. Stayed at a local mom and pop motel.
Second weekend of June was in the Straits of Mackinac (stayed in Mackinaw City, MI). I chartered the entire boat in July of last year. Good charter ops book up quick. The captain trailers his boat over from Two Rivers, WI. We had the boat for three mornings and another group had it for the afternoon. There are several Great Lakes charter ops that have 30ft (or under) boats that are trailered to various points on the lakes during the summer months.
Third weekend of July was Tobermory, Ontario. I drove to Toledo, OH and met up with a group from a dive shop there. Then caught a ride with trip organizer to Toby. There is the Fathom Five National Marine Park. Awesome shipwrecks. We all stayed at a cottage the trip organized rented via Air BnB.
First weekend of August was Temagami, Ontario for my Intro to Technical Diving class. 1800 miles roundtrip, two days each way. Instructor is someone I connected with online and I actually know local people who have taken classes from him. Came very well recommended. I needed to work on some things before my Decompression Procedures class next year, so this was the class for it. Small steps and then put everything together. Instructor has property on a small inland lake in northern Ontario (6-7 hours east of the Soo), with water on 3 sides. There is a 1920s cottage on the property where students can stay - part of course cost, although this class was free. I did pay for tank inspections class, as did the friend who did the class with me.
The red freighter was 3 different boats. There was a Canadian Steamship Lines laker, another one I'm not sure what it was, as well as the old US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, that was the heavy ice breaker on the Great Lakes from 1944 through 2005. The Mac is a museum ship in Mackinaw City, MI.
The goals? Just to see neat old wrecks. A lot of people visit historic sites or museums. Mine just happen to be underwater. :)
Thanks for the info. I have a little better understanding now. Looks like a lot of fun!
It was fabulous! I will do a weekend trip to Sanilac next year, but I'm primarily going to be concentrating on my advanced training, which will get me down to 150ft and allow more bottom time on shallower wrecks.Quote:
Originally Posted by razz
Very cool! Please share more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
More has been shared. Lots of pics in the thread.