Grand Valley Scuba Divers

I attended a meeting for the first time with the group the first tuesday of this month.  This is the oldest (most seasoned) dive club in any relative area.  Although I may be the only attendee NOT a member of the A.A.R.P. you have to consider the vast amount of knowledge I was surrounded with.  These are the guys that have seen it,  done it, tried it,  ALL. 

They meet once a month and have several outings and picnics (most involve diving) throughout the year.  This is a great group of guys (and a couple gals) I have allready been diving with most of them for a while so my presence was less than akward.

They have very modest dues (75bucks a year!) and it is a great way to stay active in the diving community, I would encourage you to visit their website.  I am not a member as of yet but I am considering it… checking if there is enough room in the fire for another iron.

New Mask

http://www.aqualung.com/us/content/view/218/108/

My new mask… I bought the all black on black silicone.  This mask is sweet! at first look it appears to be a kids mask but it is actually extremely low volume which makes it a breeze to clear and the smaller design is easier to don after a hood without having to peel your hood back out from underneath it. Check em out via the link above or GLDL may still have some in stock, retails at 100.00 bucks i say its worth it you decide.

The Ironsides

Wow, what a great wreck right in our back yard….

I joined Grand Valley Scuba Divers for the first time at one of their club meetings among other things they discussed diving the ironsides off a members boat, I’m IN!  (I will post about the club and the meeting in seperate detail)

It was decided that we meet in coopersville park and ride at about 10:30, I showed up at 10:45 (had a hard time finding my thermals). Originally there was going to be 4 divers but one had to cancel last minute and no time to invite new. So the three of us loaded gear in the boat and headed off to launch in grand haven. 

We were under way with out much difficulty, all of us had experience with boating so backing trailer and staging on the dock went quite smooth.  A slow put out through the channel as you may well know but Ross driving slowly accelerated as we cleared the mouth of the river. (They spun the hub the last two times they went out so easy going it was.  We accelerated to about 30mph and was clipping along pretty good when something smelled funny (#&!% we’re overheating!) long story short 45min later we had replaced the thermostat and were back underway. 

Upon approaching the coordinates we noticed another idle boat at what appeared to be our destination, as we continued in no flags were flying but we approached cautiously.  Sure enough they were anchored to the wreck alleady for us!  I knew the three divers and learned that they had allready dove but their anchor was caught in some steel cable below.  We suggested/ asked if we could follow down their line and tie off to the wreck to then release their anchor for them.. agreed (pretty sweet deal, they got untangled and we didnt have to try and hook the wreck because it is not marked.

I was diving with my double steel 112’s and a 35% mix was a little much, got a little dizzy on the bottom so I went up to 80 feet or so until i felt better then finished the dive hovering above the wreck, no other issues during the dive.

On the second dive I slung a 21% pony and swithched to that at depth, yeah backwords I know, but I was working with the mixes I allready had.  We had about 25 min of bottom time each go.  A max depth of 120′ to the sand. Not alot to tell you about the wreck, there is plenty to look at even though it is pretty broken up and the zebras are present, quite a bit remains upright for about a 130 year old wreck. 

I recommend diving this wreck and sooner rather than later she is taking a beating being in the fishing and shipping lanes.  Good luck and let me know what you thaught of her.

Port Sanilac

We dove this the last weekend in July, the cost improved over the straights, 175 bucks a head for 5 dives over 4 in the straights and my wife wife stayed home (cha-ching)!  We dove The New York, The Mary Alice B., The Regina, and some unknown barge.  I sat out the first dive on day one, felt pretty ill from the day before. I spent 6.5hrs in the water setting a slalom course and ended up pretty sick by the end of the day, it was pretty hot, I am pretty sure some dehydration played in a little. (7mil, hood, and gloves) it was still great fun and I got paid for it (who gets paid to dive   anyway, The Regina was by far the highlight of the trip, penetration is a must if you dive this (baring proper training ofcourse).  The funny… I forgot my weight harness and made it to the tag-line to attempt my descent before I figured it out (embaressed? yes) but the great part is after 30+ years of diving my buddy Keith did the exact same thing himself for the first time EVER on the very next dive!  HA

Straights Diving

The fourth of july trip was pretty cool, we had some lower level divers with us so we kept it under 120′  it made for some nice easy diving though, low stress.  We dove the bow and stern of The Cedarville, The Sandusky, and The Stalker.  Visability throughout the weekend was pushing 60+ phenominal!  The only thing I would change is the cost, 200 bucks per person just to charter the boat (and my wife came, ouch!)

Who wants do dive?

Hey folks, I am out diving every weekend and during the week if someone asks.  All levels of divers always welcome to join me

Let’s do a buddy finder: comment your e-mail address and when/where you want to dive, others will contact you if interested.