SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
I sent my father an E-Mail yesterday telling him about my dive. He sent back a note telling me he was jealous, then he reminded me of a couple of dives we did that we call our Helldives. I ached just thinking about them.
One of them turned out to be what was the absolutely most miserable dive I have ever done.
It was the middle of November, it was snowing lightly and there was a storm forecast to come blowing in. A car in Falmouth had slipped it's parking pall, rolled down a pier and ended up in the water. Because the storm was coming in so were the fishing boats and other craft. The Harbor Master needed that car out of there soonest but the county dive team wasn't available. (They were doing a Dive Search on the other side of the county.) The Harbor Master remembered seeing my father and I working on boats, we were doing things like replacing Annodes. He asked around and finally found my fathers phone number. He called my father who promptly called me.
We showed up at the pier in my beaten and battered mini van. The back was loaded with our gear. We were greeted by what my father had demanded. There on the pier was a couple of large Wreckers, easily able to lift the car out of the water once their cables were attached. At the foot of the pier was an Ambulance as well as a warming tent.
We parked the van and carried our gear to the tent where we got changed. Now we're not rich so we don't have DrySuits. We were wearing our normal gear. 7mm Wetsuits with 3/7 hooded Vests. 7mm boots and gloves. Over this we had our B.C.'s, (Bouyancy Compensators, like a life vest for divers. They also hold our Air Tanks.) 23 pound lead belts completed the ensamble.
Both of us had our large tanks, 80 cubic foot tanks. We also had our bailout bottles just in case. Everything was tested and the air valves opened. We waddled down to the waters edge then dumped bottles of hot water into our suits. It was cold out and even colder in the water. The surf temp. was running right about 35°. When that water hit our exposed skin it burned. When it seeped into our suits it burned and wanted to cramp us up. Man that hurt as we swam out to where the car had gone under. Looking at each other we gave the high sign and dumped the air out of our B.C.'s and submerged.
Visibility was minimal. We're talking we were working by braille as we found the cables and attached them to the car. We double checked each others work even though we couldn't feel our hands, feet or faces. It took us 20 minutes to get this done. Finally we surfaced, swam out of the way and signaled for the trucks to lift the car out. We had to stay in the water just in case.
When the car was safely on the pier we swam towards the entry point. We kept our regulators in our mouths to help with our breathing but it wasn't easy. Both of us were shivering uncontrollably. Just swimming was a chore. I had cramps in both legs and my father later told me he had a cramp in his belly that wouldn't let go.
When we reached the shore we had to be helped out of the water. Neither of us could stand. In the warming tent we were stripped of our gear, bundleedd into warm blankets and loaded into the ambulance. We spent the night in the hospital recovering from sever hypothermia.
We both paid for that dive but it was worth it to us. We both received 1K and we had the satisfaction of knowing we had done the job. I still shiver when I think about that job though.
Cat
One of them turned out to be what was the absolutely most miserable dive I have ever done.
It was the middle of November, it was snowing lightly and there was a storm forecast to come blowing in. A car in Falmouth had slipped it's parking pall, rolled down a pier and ended up in the water. Because the storm was coming in so were the fishing boats and other craft. The Harbor Master needed that car out of there soonest but the county dive team wasn't available. (They were doing a Dive Search on the other side of the county.) The Harbor Master remembered seeing my father and I working on boats, we were doing things like replacing Annodes. He asked around and finally found my fathers phone number. He called my father who promptly called me.
We showed up at the pier in my beaten and battered mini van. The back was loaded with our gear. We were greeted by what my father had demanded. There on the pier was a couple of large Wreckers, easily able to lift the car out of the water once their cables were attached. At the foot of the pier was an Ambulance as well as a warming tent.
We parked the van and carried our gear to the tent where we got changed. Now we're not rich so we don't have DrySuits. We were wearing our normal gear. 7mm Wetsuits with 3/7 hooded Vests. 7mm boots and gloves. Over this we had our B.C.'s, (Bouyancy Compensators, like a life vest for divers. They also hold our Air Tanks.) 23 pound lead belts completed the ensamble.
Both of us had our large tanks, 80 cubic foot tanks. We also had our bailout bottles just in case. Everything was tested and the air valves opened. We waddled down to the waters edge then dumped bottles of hot water into our suits. It was cold out and even colder in the water. The surf temp. was running right about 35°. When that water hit our exposed skin it burned. When it seeped into our suits it burned and wanted to cramp us up. Man that hurt as we swam out to where the car had gone under. Looking at each other we gave the high sign and dumped the air out of our B.C.'s and submerged.
Visibility was minimal. We're talking we were working by braille as we found the cables and attached them to the car. We double checked each others work even though we couldn't feel our hands, feet or faces. It took us 20 minutes to get this done. Finally we surfaced, swam out of the way and signaled for the trucks to lift the car out. We had to stay in the water just in case.
When the car was safely on the pier we swam towards the entry point. We kept our regulators in our mouths to help with our breathing but it wasn't easy. Both of us were shivering uncontrollably. Just swimming was a chore. I had cramps in both legs and my father later told me he had a cramp in his belly that wouldn't let go.
When we reached the shore we had to be helped out of the water. Neither of us could stand. In the warming tent we were stripped of our gear, bundleedd into warm blankets and loaded into the ambulance. We spent the night in the hospital recovering from sever hypothermia.
We both paid for that dive but it was worth it to us. We both received 1K and we had the satisfaction of knowing we had done the job. I still shiver when I think about that job though.
Cat
