NC Divers - 2 year anniversary get-together

[Jason B.]

I'm sure I speak for a few folks when I say we would have never thought our meeting 2 years ago would turn into this.

We had a huge crowd today. At least 32 folks. A big 'thank you' to all those that did make it, and a big 'we missed ya' to those that couldn't. It was a really good time with lots of food, funny stories, and great diving. And what could have been better than the great viz we were rewarded with today! It was so great to be able to dive on the rock crusher again. It just gets better from here.

A big 'thank you' David, he really did a great job with his poker run. I think everyone that participated (16 divers I believe) had a blast.

Bunch of food was eaten. 2 deep fried turkeys, clams, shrimp and chicken-kabobs, hot dogs hamburgers, and more..... Thanks to all who brought food and those that cooked.

A big thanks to Brent of Hide Away Scuba, Capt Paul of Aquatic Safaris, and all the others that donated gifts for the prizes.

It was great to see so many familiar faces and so many new ones as well.



Great food, great friends, and great diving.

[SparticleBrane]

I had a great time!

[Siren]

what!?!? thats IT?!?! COME ON! Where are the amusing anecdotes? Funny stories?

[bpevans]

No wonder I didn't see any of this crowd at Blanch today. Sounds like I missed out on a good time this afternoon at FL. Blanch was nice too, 25ish viz and 68F from 38ffw to the surface.

[SparticleBrane]

Well.....
Erik got his scooter and his scooter battery charger.
Leda got some Jets.
And then there was this white cookie monster that I thought was Jason's, due to some confusion in Havelock when picking this stuff up. Turns out Erik also got a "backup light" that happens to say "COOKIES!!!"

[David]

I had a great time today and it was great seeing a bunch of familiar faces and meeting some new folks as well. Detailed trip report follows:

I rolled into the quarry around 8 pm at night, and it's already dark and a bit chilly. I'm surprised to see groups from a couple dive shops there, and find my way to way the NC Divers always hang out. Hard to tell who's who in the dark, and I just don't want to walk up on the wrong people, but then I hear Marci(Babyduck) laughing over by the fire. Ahh...fire...warm. Tom(fpsndiver) and Erik(Bumble) are valiantly trying to cook some hot dogs over on a table (we later find out they took so long because the grill went out). Over by the fire are Tom's wife Sandy, Marci, Rich(fireflock) and some other people, but I can't remember who at the moment. Charlie, Mark W, Jason2 and Eric2 (2 guys from Virginia) are suiting up for another night dive a this point..brrr. They head off and I throw some food around the fire for dinner. We all get to talking and after what seems like a very long time, they night divers come straggling in. Erik showed off his little Bumble doll someone gave him with the obligatory rebreather strapped on. We all sit around talking for many hours, some serious talk, mostly funny stuff. The smores are broken out and laughing continued. Most of us went to bed around 1:30..some starting in one place and ending up in another. Apparently a few stayed up till 3am or so.

At about 7 am, I wake up in the cold and just can't get back to sleep anymore. After some coaxing and much futzing, got a nice fire going and we start looking at some breakfast. Mike(MCDiver) and Mel show up fairly soon and Mel has the donuts and coffee, which they for some odd reason decide to eat away from the nice warm fire...odd folks them coffee drinkers.

As 9-9:30 starts rolling around a couple more folks roll in and I'm gearing up to go set up for the poker run using the nicely loaned big tanks from Rich. Charles(Sparticlebrane) and Casey(Cnspence) show up just in time with Erik's scooter. I don't think I actually got in the water till around 10:30 and headed out to set things up. A few other folks were gearing up to hop in for a morning dive as well. Ahh...nice scooter...very nice scooter. Put out the first two spots, and arrive at the third to realize that I've lost all the other signs I need to hang under water....much cursing into the regulator, and turn the scooter around and head back looking for them...they float, so I find most of them on the surface, but missed a couple of them. Get the rest of the course all put out, and come ashore to find that folks have been arriving and that they found some of my signs. It's 11:30 at this point for a poker run I was gonna start at 11:00, oh well. Give people a 20 minute warning to get fills etc, and rush back out to put hang the two signs I needed. Did I mention nice scooter? Makes quick travel of the quarry. The nice vis I'd seen earlier was damaged a bit by a swath of divers skimming the bottom generating clouds of stuff as they went. Overall, the vis was better than it was last time I was there. In some places the vis was at least 20-30 ft.

Get folks organized for the poker run, and we've got a crowd of people around. I can't remember who the whole crowd was at this point, but we had 16 people participate in the poker run and at least another 10 who were standing around or had been their earlier and had to leave. By the end of the poker run, we had a few more folks show up and a couple head out. Lots of food on the tables that was consumed in great hurry it appeared. Most of the teams completed the poker run course correctly, and the general consensus was that it was fun. We put all the correct finishers into a drawing for the reel donated by Brent (Thanks Brent) and Casey won the reel.

Tickets were then handed out to all present who wanted a ticket. At first I wasn't going to get one, but then I remembered Jeff(Harelyridernc) put in some Jet fins that I've been hoping to get to try out for a while, and they looked to be about the right size, so I got a ticket and decided that if I was picked for any of the other prizes, I'd just have them draw for someone else, and if I didn't win the fins, I'd find some eventually. Well, I won the fins. Yea!.

Headed out for a second dive and saw some others doing the same. Picked up the signs from the poker run, and scootered around for a while burning air and just checking the place out. Man you can cover some ground in a hurry with that baby. Found a dive knife, so if any of our group lost one, let me know, I might have yours.

I also have a red camp chair that someone left behind, so if that's yours, also let me know. By the time I got out of the water, most of the folks had packed up and headed out, but some stragglers were still there, and we chatted a bit and packed up and headed home. I finally got home around 8:30 I think, and for someone who didn't do a lot of kicking, my legs are tired.

But, I had a great time and look forward to the next get together. We have such a great group of laid back folks that can laugh at themselves as much as we laugh at each other. Many funny stories were told over the weekend and it appears fun was had by all. Thanks to all of you for coming out, and thanks to the "originals" for getting this group (not a club) *grin* together.

David C.

[RED]

I first would like to say a big thank you for inviting us to attend this event. It was the best diving I have ever down with a group of people. I had a great time cooking out and I'm glad everyone enjoyed the shrimp and chicken kabobs. The poker run was challenging, to say the least. Especially for Eric the Jew and Myself. I think what took us the longest was trying to figure out how to get the lift bag to work. . Blank stare at each other, glance back at the bag and instructions, another blank stare at each other, then we put two and two together, But heres the kicker, the darn thing comes back down, I grab on fighting to hold it down and jot down the four places because I don't want to look stupid filling it back up again, plus wasting unnecessary air that we newbs don't have... ..

I learned a lot of valuable information from a vast number of very experienced divers. All of you know whats going on and I look forward to learning tips and tricks, and joining you in upcoming dives.

I do think that Eric2 does not like me snoring, so I will have a solo tent next time We got home about 11, due to some wrong turns, stopping by to get some Monopoly pieces in NC, and our legs giving out a couple of times. I hope everyone had as great of a time as we did.

Thanks again for the wonderful company and good diving,

[Tortuga]

I want to extend my appreciation to the enitire group at the quarry for making me and Jan feel so welcome and right away...no warming up period required. I had a great time.

The only negaitive for the day being that upon my arrival in my driveway in Durham about 4:30, I realized I left all of my important gear on the rocks by the water. BC, Reg, fins, mask and WB. You see, I thought I was going to dive again, but after a few brews and a couple of burgers, decided not to.

I made it back to the quarry in 40 minutes, making several people on 540 who didn't want to drive 85 very annoyed. MarkW had just left with my gear. It was worth the trip back, just to find out it was in safe hands. I PM'd and gave him my cell phone # and he called soon after. Looks like my mask may be the only casualty. We are going to hook up at the Seas Scuba expo this afternoon.

Thanks again to everyone, especially Mark, not only for rescuing my gear, but for being my poker run partner, and for putting up with my ADD. I hadn't found any of the cool stuff on my first dive (ever) in the quarry, so I kept wanting to poke around each site, forgetting we were on a "mission".

[Bobby]

Sounds like a great time and wish I could have made it. Looks like I may be out of diving for a while until I can get my back problems worked out. Hopefully I will make it next year.

Bobby

[Jason B.]

Looks like I may be out of diving for a while until I can get my back problems worked out.

Hope this is a quick recovery Bobby. Good time to send that (those) drysuits off to Steve.

[Bumble]

Where to start where to start. My trip to Fantasy lake started off as a snafu. My normal shop wouldnt give me gas. THey are a little nervous about high nitrox mixes but the "mixer" wasnt there. THe other shop was nervous because this was the first time they had seen these tanks and they didnt have nitrox bands on them. O well I decided if I wanted to dive I could use the one AL. 40 I had and go naked holding it in my arms. I loaded up the truck and hauled ass to Rolesville. I made it there is remarkable time. Beating Davis even though he left well before me. Some might call me a speed demon but, I was just going with the flow of traffic officer I got to the quarry just as it was getting dark enough to not be able to see in anything. There were a ton of people there but in the wrong spot. As I rounded the corner there was a good gathering going on over by a not so roaring fire. Tom, Sandy, Marci, Mark, Rich, Eric, Jason(not cookie), Rich were all ther ewhen I got there. Charley and Dave would show up shortly. Some decided to get a night dive in. My options were limited so I attempted to cook hotdogs. The rest of the night involved some beer drinking, story telling and general camp side mayhem. Let me tell you there was some snoring that could have awaken the dead. About three in the morning the last of the last decided to call it quits. I was headed towards a tent when I decided, "You know the bench seat in my truck is comfy and there is heat and a radio....Bam camping Erik style. I got up at 6 but there was no one up and the dive shop wouldnt open for another hour so I started the truck and listened to the morning radio. About 715 I get up and start puttering around. Dave was making fire, People started rolling in. Mel brought donuts but was scared to go wake up Tom to give them to him.

So I started set up with numerous jokes about what I was doing. Got everything together. Got Some gas and hit the water. Spent my first 20 minutes in the 10 foot range checking things out and making sure the whole I cut into the system on frriday was good. So 6 minutes into a 5 foot dive my VR3 says, MISSED STOP USE TABLES and locks out all functions other than depth and time...thats weird. I continue to putter around. Now I had one of those scream masks on and I was having a good time popping up around the shallows with it on trying to make people laugh. I did it a couple times around the spool and even got a pair of divers not from our group at one point in the day. (Remember people diving it fun) I continued on a fairly shallow dive for about 75 minutes. The vis was FL good which is perfect for me. As long as I can see my guages I am happy...very happy. Vis, we dont need no stinking vis. While cruising around I kept finding this trash on all the underwater attractions. They were in little ziplocks so I started to collect them up. I mean thats almost as bad as leaving a scuba tank in the cavern zone at ginnie springs or something...hehehe During this I saw some of the most beautiful freshwater jellies. I got back to shore and dekitted and waited for the poker dive. (no david I really didnt steal the bags...)

So the poker dive went pretty good. Tom and I navigated like rock stars. Unfortunately we cant follow instructions...oh well. I feel redeemed becuase we made some good navigational swims. I pushed the breather to its limit on that alum 30 but came to find out I have a tiny oring that was leaking on the DIN connector so maybe I could have gotten more time than I did. THe dive was a lot of fun and I won a book so I was extremely happy.

I suited up and did a third dive. Almost had mels salvo reel on that one but she is much faster in the water than I can swim. Spent about 45 minutes watching Charles practice with Casey's salvo reel. Nice reel Casey!! All the women in this club have these really nice reels. I was being goofy and playing in the rocks and dirt...Just having fun! Jason was doing some underwater instruction and Charles was picking it up pretty fast. That ended my last dive of the day.

Got to the surface and had a very unorganized on the back of my truck demo on how the drager works. Jason wants me to stop trying to convert all his buddies. It was a lot of fun to show people something that I am very interested in.

Leda showed up but had to take off...no diving. I am going to have to quit picking on her she might never come back.

Then we did the clean up. I had to help Bob out because I think Polly broke him.. We cleaned up the area and I got on the road. I got home at about 930, took a shower and hit the rack. It was a great weekend.


One funny side story so Charles shows up and gives me my scooter in the morning. Then he asks "Where you supposed to get a backup light from Dottie?" I say, No not that I know of. he goes, " well we where trying to figure that out must have been a mistake." I think nothing of it. Later in the day jason has this white cookie/bumble light on his truck. He is going I wonder why dottie gave me a white cookie monster. I start laughing hysterically because at that point I have it figured out. THats my bumble backup.... And let me tell you I had to use it last night to get into my house thanks dottie.



Hope everyone had fun. Ill bet we were pushing 40 people out there

[SparticleBrane]

My reel work would have been much better had I realized that I pulled the line through the hole on the front--before I tried to tie off to the mainline. After that I was just frustrated, lol.

Thanks to Jason and his backup kit I now have a ball on the end of the line so that it won't get pulled through again.

[Cnspence]

Thanks to Jason and his backup kit I now have a ball on the end of the line so that it won't get pulled through again.

You mean I now have a ball on the end of the line

Just kidding all! Charles did all the work getting it set up, and I wont be using it for a while!

[SparticleBrane]

Note that I also cleaned off both sets of gear. Of course, Casey was exhausted and had zonked out, which I can understand.

[RED]

I guess I need some breath rite strips , sorry if I woke the dead snoring . Or, Maybe I should wear my mask to bed.

Also, those fresh clams were Darn good, thanks Tom.