Dive 118 - Another Day, Another Dive

So this morning, 6 divers went to Maceday Lake to see if the visibility had improved any since a few of them dove there last week -

It had not.

Previously I've dove Maceday with excellent visibility. Today, not so much. The viz was about 5 feet, meaning you can see five feet away from you and then nothing in the haze.

I had suggested we do the dive in buddy teams but they wanted to stay as a group of 6. Down we went and it was fun from the start.

I dropped down to 35 feet and tied the flag off on the post that is conveniently placed at that locaton. Then, we went looking for the two sunken boats that none of the other divers had seen, which sit at 86 feet. On a day with good viz you can see both boats. Today was not that day. Instead we were slowly searching until we found the first boat at 86 feet.

At least two of us did anyways (John and myself). The other four got lost quite quickly in the viz, with divers 3 and 4 separating off and ending up way out there, and 5 and 6 heading back in relatively quickly (one was in a 7 mil wetsuit and was cold).

John and I then followed the line from the first boat to the second boat, which none of them had seen and we hung around for a while and then came across diver 6 and we surfaced going up the float line, which we left attached as we didn't know if the other divers were out of the water yet.

Of course we didn't see 3 and 4 anywhere on the surface and didn't see any bubbles breaking the surface of the water either. Since 6 and I were the only ones in doubles with plenty of air left, we went to search for them in case they got lost.

Of course, the viz sucked and finding them was a losing proposition. We then we signaled by diver 2 that 3 and 4 were ok. They had come up away from the float and headed in without us seeing them.

All in all, a good dive, after all, I found the boats!.

The details: 38 minutes, 45 cool degrees, and 87 feet maximum depth on the dive computer.

Maceday is cold, dark and silty, and a nice spot to go diving to practice handling depths and ascents from the deep. Its a different world from the 30-40 feet depths of Union Lake and there's a real difference in pressure, both physical from the water and mental from seeing the numbers on your dive computer.

On the downside, getting to and from the water is a pain and a half, especially in doubles as its a good walk down a steep path to the water and then have to go up the trail when you're done the dive - getting to and from the water is more than half the fun.

Also today a good lesson was learned: A group of 6 divers is too big. Next time we're in teams of two or three max even if were all together -- much easier to manage.

Great dive, good bunch of people and fun stuff to see. A good way to spend a morning.