Fortune Pond Dive Report
- We had six divers turn out for this terrific diving weekend at Fortune Pond. Ron met a new guy named Tony on line and Tony came and dove with us both days. We also had Mark with his re-breather... It's really neat to have someone with such a high degree of technicality that likes diving with us. Then we had the Intrepid SwimJim (see photo)... Jim did one Full-out Tech Dive to stay in practice and then dove nothing but vintage the rest of the weekend. SheriffDiver Ron came prepared with a variety of vintage gear. Seen here in his silver Sea Hunt suit... He also has a neat Techna suit we all envied for its smooth black skin with yellow and white accent decals. Rich 50,001 Questions came prepared for adventure. He had his new twin steel 45s and actually got two dives out of them. He brought along his DIY Snuba/Hookah system which we dove from the pier with a 50+ feet long hose. Rich dove it with a single hose reg. But he set it up for ME to dive with a DA AquaMaster. And, he had along the Tekna DV3 scooter with brand new batteries. Myself, I (SurfLung) came prepared to dive nothing but Twin tanks and double hose regs all weekend. Had my BEAST Submerge UV-26 scooter, too.
- Weather was supposed to be partly cloudy Friday and Rain on Saturday. Instead, we go blue sky and calm wind all day Friday. And Saturday was bright overcast and calm all day... Really about perfect weather for diving. Warm air temps between dives so no freezing and shivering.
- Visibility was up to 100 feet I think. It varies with where you are and how much has been stirred up. But it was really good at just about all depths. One of my dives was a slow speed scooter ride all the way around the lake at about 13 feet deep with great visibility. Another one was a scooter dive all the way around at medium speed and 85 feet... with a swoop down to 95 feet at the "Grim Reaper" formation. That one I had to go medium speed because I can only take the 39 degree temperature for 30 minutes! Let's see, we did a double hose twin tank bounce dive down to 134 feet. I dove my Snark II single hose for the first time it worked great down to 80 feet.
- Vintage Equipment... Wow there was lots of variety. Above you see a Snark III double hose on a set of Twin 48s. SwimJim and I dove DivAir regs on one dive. I dove a Voit 50 Fathom, a Royal AquaMaster, and a Japanese Kowasaki DA AquaMaster. Oh and I dove my YELLOW AMF Swimaster mask and it worked even better than my usual favorite Pacifica.
- Food and Lodging... We stayed at our favorite the Lakeshore Motel and we ate out both nights at Alice's... Fabulous.
- Good Deed by Vintage Divers - While diving the Hookah rig we discovered the big, heavy park picnic bench had been jammed under the pier by vandals. Us old farts managed to muscle it down, over, and out... Then we floated it to shore, lifted it out and put it back where it belonged.
- After Thoughts: I really treasure these trips. Got some great diving friends to talk diving and vintage with... Always enthusiastic over this or that latest acquisition or diving method they're trying. We don't have another FP trip scheduled but we're hoping to do some shorter day trips until then.
