Arctic Diving

My hunt for a semi-dry suit ended earlier this week when I got an offer I couldn't refuse - DrC dropped me a line and said if I could fit into this suit he couldn't use, I could have it. I motored over there to get it, and when I got home I tried it on and it fit like a champ. I can't believe the generosity, because this suit is N-I-C-E. While over at his house, I got to check out some of DrC's artifact collection. Quite impressive, I must say. He has some of it up on his web site, www.carolinadetectors.com. Needless to say, I went diving Saturday.

Just as I thought, the water was really cold. 57 F!!! BRRRR!!! But the semi-dry did the job well. I didn't really get cold the whole time underwater. But one thing I didn't factor in was that I would be much more buoyant with the suit. My normal 36 pounds of weight wasn't enough! With two tanks, I only managed about 2 hours of bottom time because I had to fight so hard. The water itself was more clear than I have ever seen it. I actually had some sunlight on the bottom, unbelievably. I barely scratched the bend where I found everything today, and with the long weekend coming up, I think I'll have to hit it again sometime soon. I'm sure there's an unbelievable bounty there.