Scuba Diving The Devil's Den

Devil's Den is a spring about 40 minutes from Gainesville that offers some fun diving practice in fresh water.

The UF Scuba Club had booked some of the gear setup areas with tables and it was very nicely organized. We arrived and the group all geared up and headed into the spring after checking in, doing waivers, paying the entrance fee and rental needed equipment.

Entry is through a tunnel heading downward and you need to mind your head as its rather tight.

Even though you enter through a cave entrance, there is direct sunlight through the ceiling of the collapsed cave.

That hole is rather pretty when viewed form under the water:

There's a nice platform set up that you then enter into the water.

There's a mound of rocks and rubble piled in the middle of the spring with deeper areas to the sides.

There's a few fish wandering about the spring;

There are some swim-throughs, meaning an overhead environment, but it was always a pretty quick transition through them,. and you can still see daylight,  and some swim-throughs turned out to end in blockages that require you to turn around which got a little tight but was fine.

 

There is a cave entrance, but entry into the cave is strictly prohibited.

Most springs with caves have the standard Grim Reaper with the "No Non-Cave Trained Divers Should Enter" sign.  This one is an outright prohibition.

Lights were needed as it was dark in the spring, and a lot of particulate in the water made for some difficult photos.

Leah loved her first certified dive experience, and she did great for a first dive as a certified diver without an instructor present, and did a very good job as a dive buddy.

We had a nice 54 minute run time with a max depth of 52 feet. The temperature ranged from 72-75 degrees depending on where you were in the water which made for a comfy dive.

A great dive and a great time with the kid.

Go Gators!

This weekend I went to Gainesville to visit Leah.

This was the UF Scuba Club Parent-Student dive weekend.  Leah has decided she want to get certified and she just earned her Open Water Certification last week through the club, so of course I had to be there for her first dive as a certified diver.

We had a number of activities planned, including attending a tailgate and going to watch the Gators play LSU.

The tailgate, hosted by the UF Scuba Club was a ton of fun.

Good food, fun people, and a good time had by all.

And, of course, there was a keg of beer. As no tailgate is complete without one.

After watching the kids do keg stands, there is a rumor that I was challenged to do one, and a further rumor that I then set the standard. Rumors only of course, but someone had to show them how it was done . . . .

After the Tailgate, we met up with some of Leah's friends and wandered into a frat house for some food which was also a fun experience. 

Then we headed to the game.  We had seats in the upper level endzone and it was a fun experience.

90,000+ fans. The energy was incredible.

Having 90,000 people belting out Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "I won't Back Down" was quite the experience.

The Gators, while not favored to win, recovered from a rocky start and beat LSU 27-16.

It was an amazing game to attend.

 And quite the celebrated win

Quite a great day.

Amherstburg Naval Yard

When I was in Amherstburg last weekend, I decided to check out the historic site of the Navy Yard.

Used by the British in the War of 1812, the area saw heavy use ending in the Battle of Lake Erie - that the US navy won.

And of course there are Cannons

And Carronades, guns that while being shorter and shorter-ranged than cannons, packed a heavier wallop at close range:

 

There's also the flags of Ontario, the United Kingdom, Canada, The United States, and France on display:

Ok, just kidding about the white flag on the right being the French flag, mostly.

There's some nice monuments to the Battle of Lake Erie even if it looks like the gun carriage has gone missing, hopefully temporarily.

 and its a nice walk along the shoreline with Michigan across the water.

They did a very nice job with a series of connecting parks along the shoreline, and have nicely preserved quite a bit of history and it's well worth visiting, being such a short hop from the Detroit area.

First Heating Day Of Fall 2024

Turned the heat on yesterday evening as 61 degrees was a tad chilly.

 I had resisted turning it on up until now.  Certainly more comfortable, but a sign winter is coming.

Remembrance Day and Veteran's Day

In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, today is Remembrance Day marking the end of the First World War and honoring all those servicemen and women lost in the First World War and since.

I was in Canada this weekend and among other places visited Amherstberg, Ontario and the Town certainly memorializes and honors its servicemen that died in the wars, and will hold ceremonies today to honor them.  

In the United States, it is Veteran's Day, a day for appreciating and honoring those who have served our country and defended this great nation in times of open war both declared and undeclared, cold war and in preserving the peace.

Trump and America Win

Not only in the electoral college, but likely also winning the popular vote, President Trump had a very very convincing win yesterday, too big to rig as it were.

We still wait for my Democrat-run State of Michigan to get its act together and actually administer an election in a timely manner.  And also as part of that potentially more fraud out of Democrat-run Wayne County to try and tip the balance in the Senate race between Rogers and Slotkin, but that will not affect the overall outcome of a Republican victory.

I certainly wish President Trump and the country success.  

I hope that he has learned the lessons of his first term, including not to keep people in government offices that are actively working against him and stymieing his policies. I hope that he leads the country with wisdom and good judgment, and makes our nation  preeminent among the nations of the world and an example to all.

The Republicans in Michigan also wrested control of the state house from Democrat hands, ending the Democrat domination of all three branches of state government, which is a good thing.

It is hoped that the Democrats will learn some lessons from their loss.  The lessons include their error in the selection of a terrible and inarticulate candidate appointed more for her filling DEI check-boxes than for her actual ability; and their push to tilt the Overton window so far left that they left the American Middle, and even some of the American Left far behind among many other mistakes on their part.

And to my Democrat-supporting readers, as few of you as there may be: We survived 4 years of Biden-Harris, you'll make it through 4 more years of President Trump.

Flying: To CYTZ And Back

On Saturday I flew over to Toronto Island Airport to go visit the folks and celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday.

I did the electronic paperwork, called Canpass, filed my typical route and got my clearance to depart. Approved clearance was ADRIE T781 OLAMO CYTZ

I climbed to 3,000 as instructed and contacted Detroit Approach.

A beautiful day and still some fall color to see.

Detroit Approach climbed me to my filed altitude of 5,000 and then amended my clearance to just fly direct to CYTZ, which was nice.

Had a light tailwind and was cruising along at a nice 146 knot ground speed.

Crossed the border and it started getting a little overcast around Sarnia:

I got permission to climb above the layer to 6,000 and enjoyed the view.

Toronto Center then amended my clearance and had me go direct to OLAMO before heading to the airport.  I then did a practice localizer approach to Runway 26 and had a very good landing.

I had a nice time in Toronto with the folks, and the open house party on Sunday to celebrate my dad's birthday went very well.

Then yesterday, it was time to head back.  The weather would, unfortunately, not be quite as nice. Overcast, rainy, and windy it would be.

I had filed what I had done for the return on the last trip, which was accepted. Easy enough.

I got to the airport, paid my parking and fuel bill, did the preflight.

 I contacted Ground, and then was told my clearance had changed and was I ready to copy?

Yep, yet again I got the PERL.4 Departure, DERLO Transition, PICUP, OKLND ONE Arrival.  So next time I go, I'm  just going to file that from the outset to save time as they seem to like it a lot on Mondays.  Knowing it well from the last time made reprogramming the system a lot faster.

I then, just before takeoff, got a further amendment to the departure procedure and was told to climb to 3,000, on heading 210 degrees, so I did that and out over the Lake I went.

It was rather overcast and I had a pretty major headwind of around 30 knots so my ground speed was around 90-100 knots, most of the time so it was kinda slow going.

Toronto Center then got me on course to the next waypoint and I was told to climb to 6,000, and then once I reached that next waypoint ANCOL, I got an amended clearance to fly straight to DERLO which saved a little bit of time.

At DERLO the Overcast became more acute and I started getting some instrument time.

It was rather solid with some light chop and light precipitation.  Air Temperature up there was 15 degrees C due to the warm front that was moving in and causing all the winds and clouds, so no icing risk which was good.

The clouds opened up just a bit as I was crossing the border.

And soon closed up again, with even more rain and bouncing around and I was again in solid IMC conditions.

Then for a brief while I was right in between two layers of clouds which was kinda neat.  The air was smooth and it was all rather beautiful.

But soon it closed up again.

I got the weather at Pontiac with winds of 14 knots at 180 degrees for a very direct crosswind for landing on 27L.  I was passed on to Detroit Approach and clearance amended to fly straight to GUZVY for the 27L RNAV and was then cleared onto the approach.

Up to the Final Approach Fix it was IFR, as I followed the glideslope down and got lower I broke out of the clouds.

Not the best visibility, and I was kinda flying sideways in the wind following the RNAV guidance.  This was a tad disorienting, so I just kept on the needles, and it took a bit to find the airport as the nose was pointed into the wind left of the Airport, even as the plane was moving on a nice straight line right to the runway.

Then I had the runway in sight before the missed approach point, and still had to fly crabbed into the wind on the way towards final.

I then made a most excellent crosswind landing, even as it felt like a lot more than 14 knots.  The excellent landing was likely due to a lack of observers of same.

I then cleared customs, then headed to the hangar and got the plane refueled and put away, and that was the end of the weekend.

November 2 I had 2.0 out, and 1 great landing.

November 4 I had 2.4 back, .9 actual instrument time, an instrument approach and another great crosswind landing.

An excellent trip flying that sure as heck beats driving, and it was good to get some actual IFR time and a real approach in and plan for and deal with more challenging conditions.

A Safety Brief For Halloween

Remember witches, flying VFR into IMC will get you every time.

Happy Halloween to all.