Dive: 23
Season Dive: 8
Date: 9/27/08
Site: Snowshoe
Avg/Max Depth: 28/42
Temp: 57
TBT/CBT: 0:50/18:32
Buddies: Curtis, Ted, Mike, Adam
Snowshoe was a nice place to dive. We swam along a wall with a lot of interesting nooks and crannies. I could tell I was breathing heavily. Partly because I was sick and fatigued by the swimming, partly because I was hoping we’d (secretly I’d) find the metal before Mark’s group, and partly because it was exhilarating to look under things. With all the imaginary mine pit creatures my head conjured up, I had to tell myself they wouldn’t jump out at me. Throughout the dive I kept thinking how comforting it was that we were in MN and not in the ocean where so many dangerous creatures could be lurking around corners and under rocks, waiting to take a bite out of me. It was right about then that Curtis pointed out a giant snapping turtle swimming about. Hmmm, a false sense of comfort. I spent the remainder of the dive not peering head first into the little hiding spots.
I was so busy looking around that I forgot to look at my air. I glanced down at my computer only to see that I was at 750, right on the red. What a dumbheaded move that was. I looked around to find the closest diver. Adam was the only one near me, of course… great way to make a first impression. I swam over to him and showed him my predicament. Since we were around 20 feet we surfaced. The exit was less than 100 feet away, so we descended and made the remaining swim underwater.
The path back to the parking lot was irritating. It definitely lived up to the medallion clue, “you have to be fit to get out of this pit.” Not that it was all that steep (nothing like Feigh), but it was long and I was breathless even getting out of the water.