Sun Aug 16, 2015 7:24 am
Well, it was no Portage event set up by Jeff Rice, but given the last minute change in plans I think it was a great event. As Bryan said before the diving was really nice at Gilboa, but the parking situation is intolerable. It is especially bad for a group of divers that want to swap, trade, and dive a multitude of different regs and tanks. White Star was cheaper, had a nice air fill station, parking in the same county as the dive location, and lots of stuff to explore underwater. There was a giant open water class on Sat and Sun and as a result the water was a tad stirred up. The poor viz did not stop the Lung who logged about 100 dives on Saturday alone I think.
A lot of neat gear was spotted. Karl busted out a NIB Airmite and shared with several other divers. The Scuba Museum also took the CG45 out for it's firtst dive in decades. It actually breathed rather well and looks great on the triples.
The swap meet was pretty decent as well. I ended up spending more money than I earned, but that happens every year. It is just too hard to pass up on the great deals and no shipping charges. Karl and Roger had the best stuff and they were besieged by hungry vintage divers even before they could unload the stuff out of their autos. The trading and selling was fast and furious,
I think including the Cow's brigade from Minn we had about 15 vintage enthusiast show up. Most were regulars but I know that we had at least one new guy, Mark L, The weather was really warm and sunny.
All in all a great time was had by all.
I would definitely like to do it again next year at White Star if Portage is still not an option.
Until next August.........