The Diveblog

Where's Stef?

Just testing out the map tech.  Cool huh?  Kind of a high tech Where's Waldo:

New Year's Resolutions

lose weight.....swear less.....blah....blah....BLOG MORE!

Now that my life seems to have returned to some sense of normalcy, post-Katrina, its time to blog it up!

The Cuffs are Off

Yeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaawwwwwwww! (sorry, just watched Dukes of Hazard)

Cleared to dive and got in a couple of easy ones last week.

I was so anxious, I went out and dove the Tacoma after work one day.  I haven't been diving on her since 1996 and she's still a nice little entry level Lake Michigan dive (about 35 feet to the bottom).  I haven't been on her in 9 years because its such a niusance to catch the charter boats out of Burnham Harbor (paying $16 to park drives me nuts!).  However, the charter operations are pretty good.

I was a little overdressed in my drysuit with the surface water temperature in the high 70s.....It didn't matter.....I was happy to be blowin' bubbles!

Went to Haigh Quarry to teach an Advanced class on Sunday and was able to get in a fun dive, as well.

Let the diveblogging begin again!

Explaining My Absence

For the three people still reading my site (Hi Mom!), I would like to explain my absence for the last few weeks.  I went down to Ocean Isle Beach (just on the North Carolina side of the border near Myrtle Beach) with a couple of friends for a long golfing weekend and...well...I got hit in the right eye (the glasses actually) with a golf ball.  Two emergency surgeries (one traditional and one laser) have saved the eye and I'm happy to report that I have a significant amount of vision today through the eye.  However, its a long road to recovery and my stamina for things like reading, watching TV, driving and blogging has been limited.  Since my work requires a decent amount of reading and computer time, my appetite for spending any time at the computer at home to blog has been nil.

I believe the worst is behind me and I expect to be diving (and blogging) again soon.  The dive season up here is so short, that the layoff is driving me nuts!

Scuba Endurance Attempt

Rich Henry (picture here), a Kenosha, Wisconsin dive instructor, will attempt to break Jerry Hall's underwater scuba endurance record this summer.  He's targeting 7 days (at 15 feet) in Lake Andrea in Wisconsin and will have a team of support divers helping him out.

The effort will benefit the Wisconsin Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Kenosha volunteer dive rescue team and it looks like they are building a whole week of festivities around it called Wish Dive Week (see the end of this article).  That's nice.

Cool, looks like he'll have some toys to play with.  I only have one question.....why freeze your tookus off in a Wisconsin lake?  There are many warmer options.

New Look

I'm playing around with the blog's look.  So if you see something wierd over the coming couple of weeks, its just confirmation that I just don't know what the heck I'm doing.

One of the reasons to do this blog was to move beyond the typepad basics and learn HTML and CSS.  To say its challenging would be an understatement.  I've spent hours trying to figure out how to center a banner image with CSS........I gave up!

How's the banner look?

Haigh "Warm Up" Dive

Its tough to call what I did this weekend at Haigh Quarry a "warm up dive", since I froze my tookus off.  S-drills, manifold valve shutdowns, shooting a liftbag......all worth practicing as often as possible.  I plan on using stage bottles on a trip up to Presque Isle, Michigan in May, so I spent a little time working on dealing with an 80cuft stage in addition to two 40cuft deco bottles.  I'm not planning any extended bottom times, but just want to avoid having to blend any trimix doubles while up there.  I still need to practice more.

If anyone is wondering "whatever happened to the propeller from the Straits of Mackinac?"........Tina's got it at the quarry and they plan on sinking it later this year. 

They also plan on sinking this thing!............

You probably can't tell from the picture, but its the size of a car.  Can you imagine the first time an open water student comes face-to-face with this beast underwater!

I Can't Take This Anymore

Mid-March, air temp in the low 40s, water temps in the 30s, no ice.........perfect day to go diving!

Heading down to Haigh Quarry with a few of my technical diving buddies to get in a couple of warmup dives and drills. 

I'll get to play with a scooter too!

I'm Back!

Spent a few days laid up with the flu.  That sucked!  I even missed the best weather day of the year on Sunday (50s and sunny).  Drat.  Too tired to even blog.  You know, 16 hours of sleep per day may sound sweet, but not when its forced upon you by illness.  I'll try to blog up a storm over the next few days.  There's plenty to discuss and link to.

A Heart Warming Story

Joe, the captain of the Winds of Change ship relates a heartwarming story here.  There's even diving involved.  Sniff......I told myself I wouldn't cry.......but the aborted dive did me in.