Polar Bears anyone?
A blindingly painful icecream headache!
That's what I remembered from my last cold water dive.
The water was the color of lead and absolutely flat calm. The sky hung low and gray with winter's chill in the air. But for the fact that the air temperature was 50 degrees and there was no snow on the ground you could almost believe it was an early spring day on the St. Lawrence River. But this was the first day of 2011 in the northen climes.
I arrived at Dive Brockville Adventure Center in Brockville Ontario at the appointed hour excited to take part in the seventh annual Polar Bear Dip-n-Dive. Mind you I had my reservations, mostly about the cold and some new equipment I was trying out. But I figured that this would be a great way to start my 2011 diving season and test my new equipment.
So, after the hustle and bustle of the dive shop and a lot of typical diver's good natured ribbing we all adjourned to the park on the river's edge. Because the weather was only chilly (not the typical minus whatever with blowing snow and feet of ice on the river) a lot of the local residents came out to see the specticle. See, we divers were doing our diving thing but , at the same time there was a group of daredeviles who were going in wearing only their bathing suite - the "Dip" part of the Dip-n-Dive! The dipper were there to raise money for a local charity. Interestingly the leader of the Dippers and the charity drive was thirteen year-old Emily.
We divers all know that our love of the sport includes a love of the technology too - come on , in your heart of haearts you know its true. And that dispite all of our best attempts sometime equipment fails, most often at the worst of times.
When I arrived in my warm fleece undergarment to start putting my rig together there were divers already geared up and getting into the water. I assembled my gear on the tailgate of my truck, checked it to be sure all was working - then checked it again - and began getting into my drysuite. After some wrestling, grunting, and a little persperation (thank goodness it was chilly!) I finally got my suit on.
Ok. So now its time to zip the suite up. If you've used a drysuite you know that this is a task that requires assistance. (Yet another way that diving is a social sport) Looking around I asked a nearby diver for her assistance - yep, thats right I was solo diving with a group. She stepped upp and was only behind me for a second or two when she said ...."the zipper's broken" !!!!
And just like that my first dive of the year was done!
And no the drysuite was not the new piece of equipment I was trying out. It was my regulator!
(at least I didn't show up after all the action was over like the local TV cameraman did !!!)
That's what I remembered from my last cold water dive.
The water was the color of lead and absolutely flat calm. The sky hung low and gray with winter's chill in the air. But for the fact that the air temperature was 50 degrees and there was no snow on the ground you could almost believe it was an early spring day on the St. Lawrence River. But this was the first day of 2011 in the northen climes.
I arrived at Dive Brockville Adventure Center in Brockville Ontario at the appointed hour excited to take part in the seventh annual Polar Bear Dip-n-Dive. Mind you I had my reservations, mostly about the cold and some new equipment I was trying out. But I figured that this would be a great way to start my 2011 diving season and test my new equipment.
So, after the hustle and bustle of the dive shop and a lot of typical diver's good natured ribbing we all adjourned to the park on the river's edge. Because the weather was only chilly (not the typical minus whatever with blowing snow and feet of ice on the river) a lot of the local residents came out to see the specticle. See, we divers were doing our diving thing but , at the same time there was a group of daredeviles who were going in wearing only their bathing suite - the "Dip" part of the Dip-n-Dive! The dipper were there to raise money for a local charity. Interestingly the leader of the Dippers and the charity drive was thirteen year-old Emily.
We divers all know that our love of the sport includes a love of the technology too - come on , in your heart of haearts you know its true. And that dispite all of our best attempts sometime equipment fails, most often at the worst of times.
When I arrived in my warm fleece undergarment to start putting my rig together there were divers already geared up and getting into the water. I assembled my gear on the tailgate of my truck, checked it to be sure all was working - then checked it again - and began getting into my drysuite. After some wrestling, grunting, and a little persperation (thank goodness it was chilly!) I finally got my suit on.
Ok. So now its time to zip the suite up. If you've used a drysuite you know that this is a task that requires assistance. (Yet another way that diving is a social sport) Looking around I asked a nearby diver for her assistance - yep, thats right I was solo diving with a group. She stepped upp and was only behind me for a second or two when she said ...."the zipper's broken" !!!!
And just like that my first dive of the year was done!
And no the drysuite was not the new piece of equipment I was trying out. It was my regulator!
(at least I didn't show up after all the action was over like the local TV cameraman did !!!)
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