Jillapalooza

IM IN UR OCEAN. EATIN UR CARDZ.

PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III, dive 24

Dive: 24
Season Dive: 9
Date: 9/28/08
Site: PADI #79, Mahnomen II & III
Max Depth: 34
Temp: 63
TBT/CBT: 1:12/19:44
Buddies: Curtis, Ted, Mike, Adam

Ahh, PADI #79… always my favorite place to suit up. Spacious with a large shallow entry point. Honestly, it’s December 1st right now and I don’t remember much of this dive. Rock bass. I’m pretty sure there were rock bass. And I found a chip hanging from a tree. Actually, I saw the chip then immediately realized that Adam had already been going for the chip, so technically he found it. Oh well, at least I saw what a chip underwater looks like. It was a nice dive. If I remember correctly, maybe we miscalculated our return path (???). I don’t know. It was fun. A nice way to wrap up Dive Fest 2008!!

Dive Fest 2008, part 3

After we got out of the water and trudged up the hill we learned that Mark and his buddy did in fact find the medallion, which I think we all suspected to be the case since none of us found it. Apparently it was to the left, and not too far either. Pooey. But I have a good feeling about next year.

We headed back to the HQs to drop off our tanks again. We knew we wanted to stay at the campgrounds for the live music, but there were other decisions to be made. We narrowed it down to dive now and eat later, or eat now and do a night dive. I was feeling sickly and fatigued from Snowshoe, so I didn’t much care what the decision was since I was about 90% sure I was done for the night. We decided to eat at Gary’s, but after we ate everyone was feeling sluggish and tired so we just headed back for the live music.

As we were sitting around the campfire patiently waiting, I became entranced by some music that was playing on someone’s laptop. After I got home I used my mad Google skillz and discovered it was the CD Charmed and Strange by Yoav. It was definitely the musical highlight of the evening. I’m not saying the live musician was bad, he was very talented, just not my type of music. We didn’t stick around too late that night.

Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast at Sportsman’s again. This time I was able to enjoy an Ike Muffin. Mmmm. I also got a pancake because everyone raved about them the morning before. It was good, but it was no Fat Nat’s pancake, sorry to say I was slightly disappointed.

Once at the HQs we decided to dive Padi #79 because there were lots of chips left. Our plan was to go somewhere with a lot of chips so we could dive twice without moving locations. That was ok with me since I missed diving there the day before.

Snowshoe, dive 23

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.

Dive Fest 2008, part 2

After our non victorious medallion hunt at Feigh, we decided to get bring our tanks to the headquarters to get filled and then bring our bellies to Zorbaz for a filling of a different kind. We left the campgrounds not a moment too soon as the storm started.

Once at Zorbaz we were mostly dry. We ordered a couple zzaz (I would normally say zzas, but we were at Zorbaz, so I feel zzaz would be the appropriate plural). During slice #2 of the Jose Zorbaz with a 2% chance of black olive, I felt the ball on my tongue ring pop off. Woops. I promptly proceeded to the bathroom to screw it back on where I realized the acrylic ball had a large crack in it. Crap. Cross Lake at 9:30 pm doesn’t offer much options for the piercing enthusiast. I called three places in Brainerd, but no luck. I would have to wait until the morning and hope for the best.

When we left Zorbaz it was full fledged storm mode. The quick run to the truck got me soaked in the process. Upon arriving at the cabin we quickly unloaded our bags, my pillows got just a bit soggy. I decided hanging up my wet suit wasn’t going to do much good so I opted to leave it in a ball in one of the trucks. Curtis & Sweeny hung it up later which was a nice gesture, but it didn’t do much good.

I slept crappy the entire night. I kept having dreams that the ball came loose and I repeatedly woke up to check its integrity. On top of being tired I spent most of the morning hacking up phlegm. Fortunately a trip to Sportsman’s for breakfast made me feel a bit better. I decided my normal order of the Ike Muffin would have too much wear and tear on the jewelry so I opted for scrambled eggs and toast instead.

After breakfast we headed to the headquarters for the next three dive sites and medallion clue. Adam met us there, increasing our buddy group to a whopping 5. The clue was a location hint and apparently our dive the night before was bound be fruitless. I decided to opt out of the first dive. For one I didn’t much feel like coughing the entire time I was submerged, and two I didn’t want to have my tongue ring fall apart when there would be no way to salvage it. The boys decided on PADI #79. I happily hung out in Ted’s truck, watching him and Sweeny put on cold wet suits. It was quite a chilly morning. Polar opposite of the “thick” weather the day before. I used the downtime to call Nick and chit chat. Shortly after the boys got in the water the sun came out. I took the opportunity to lay my wet suit out in the sun for optimal drying time.

Once the boys’ dive was done we hightailed it back to the headquarters to drop off our tanks before the van left. Then Ted was kind enough to bring me to the piercing parlor in Brainerd for a replacement tongue ring. A couple miles from Brainerd my top ball popped off again, but this time the ball cracked completely in half. It was an awkward few minutes of talking, but I managed. Luckily the parlor had quite the selection and I was able to get exactly the barbell I wanted: 5/8″ 14 gauge with acrylic balls. The balls were slightly larger than the last ones (tee-hee) so it took the day to get used to it. While we were in town we grabbed lunch at Hot Stuff Pizza and some coffee at Caribou. Mmmm.

Back at the dive site they were ready to announce the next medallion clue and set of dive sites. The clue was “Bear Paws, Rabbits, Cold Weather…” Curtis pinpointed Snowshoe as the site and we raced away. During our drive there Ted and I were contemplating the best method of finding the medallion. Do we spread out and comb the area in a line? Or do we split in two groups and go in different directions? We decided it would depend on whether or not we had company. After we were on the road for a little bit the traffic thinned out. It seemed we would be the first at the pit. Ted said he would feel a lot better if there wasn’t one car behind Mike & Curtis. After a moment of contemplation I told him I thought it was Adam, and after that we were much at ease.

Unfortunately when we arrived at Snowshoe there were already two divers about ready to get in in the water. Jolly old Mark and a young man who we later found out was Mark’s daughter’s boyfriend. We suited up as quickly as we could to beat some late arrivers into the water. Our game plan was to spread out and head to the right, the opposite direction of Team Mark.

Feigh Downaway, Feigh, dive 22

Dive: 22
Season Dive: 7
Date: 9/26/08 (Happy Birthday to Me)
Site: Feigh Downaway, Feigh
Max Depth: 38
TBT: 1:01
CBT: 17:42

Once I decided to dive I suited up as quickly as possible. Since I didn’t have my swimmer on it took me a bit longer than usual. Also, since I was trying to hurry it seemed like I was fumbling around a lot… or maybe it just felt that way. My main concern in rushing was that it was extremely hot outside and I didn’t want to make the poor boys stand around in their suits longer than necessary. As curtis so eloquently put it, the weather was “thick.”

feigh

The trip down the hill wasn’t as bad as I had expected. It was steep and the ground was silty, but I easily slid down most of the way on the side of my leg. The water felt great for how hot it was outside. Once we were all in the water, Mike pointed out a mother and small child a few hundred feet away at the waters edge. WTF. How did they get there? We decided to span out in different depths in order to find the medallion. My ears were taking a bit longer to equalize because of the sickness, and I tried my hardest to stay at the same depth during the dive.

Diving sick is exhausting. I felt winded and tired the entire time, and the cold dry air was not easy on my throat, sore from the persistant cough for the past two days. Coughing under the water wasn’t so bad, I made sure to hold my reg securly so it wouldn’t fly out of my mouth. Clearing my mask, on the other hand, wasn’t as fun. You know how when you’re wearing a mask and have to breathe from your mouth you get all phlegmy in the nose? Pair that with being previously congested and it makes for a disgusting situation. Clearing my mask was basically the equivalent of blowing my nose into it. Fortunately most of the time it left with the initial clearing. But gross nonetheless.

There was a neat beaver dam that we hung out at to observe fishes for awhile, but other than that the dive was pretty uneventful. No medallion. Ted found a tire to bring to fill a garbage back with for an additional raffle ticket. I’m not quite sure how he managed to get it up the hill.

I was the first one to scale the hill, already weakened from the dive… it made it probably more difficult than necessary. That and I’m wimpy in general. I mostly crawled up on my hands and knees, destroying the path for everyone else. I was so caked with mud by the time I got to the top it was more disgusting than the nose blowing. I decided it would be easier to rinse off if I didn’t take everything off and haul it to the pit across the street, so I left all my gear on and waddled across the street, across the parking lot, down the boat launch and back into the water. It’s probably the most exhausted I’ve ever felt in my short diving career. And hot too. I rinsed myself off, caught my breath and trudged back to the vehicle.

Of course, we later found out there was a nice staircase where we saw the mother and child.

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