Atlantis Divers

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Divers' Talk: This is our excuse for a chat room. If you email us, we will post your comments to share with others. Please note if you don't want your message to be published. We don't edit, but keep it clean. We want to be fair, but we won't publish trash. Carol Parrish left this one!! Dear all, I know that you like to keep track of my diving life so I want to share my wonderful Saturday, March 25,2000. I went Ice Diving . Before you worry, I was a 'support crew' member and not a diver. Our dive was a mountain reservoir at 7,000 feet. Strawberry Reservoir , a large and beautiful treeless lake has varying depths and an unstable and often mucky bottom. The crawdads and weeds are abundant. We descended a steep embankment to the lake shore, bearing a variety of equipment including scuba cylinders, a stove, ropes, buoyancy compensators (BC), a saw, ice screws, and an ominous white bucket to use as the WC for the day. I walked thigh high through snow drifts and immediately found the only wet hole at the edge to sink into. On the first trek across the lake, I was wet to my knees, leather hiking boots, three pairs of socks, and four layers of pants. There were about 15 crossings to make throughout the day, for each of us. Mike Weyland, our fearless leader, guessed where the water might be deep enough. He screwed an ice auger into the lake and drilled until he hit water, a depth gauge confirmed that it was only eight feet, not deep enough for a dive. All the men took turns (literally), on the 2 foot thick ice, Finally, on the fourth test, they hit a spot that was about 16 feet deep. Sharon and I portaged equipment, as the guys drilled another three holes for the dive site. The holes were about 4 feet apart and formed a giant triangle. The men sawed the ice until the triangle was free. Standing on the ice they pushed the great block under one side and anchored it under the ice with a screw in the last hole. Two hours had gone by, Everyone was exhausted but excited. Snow started blowing and the crystalline blue day began to get overcast. Quickly, we got the first three divers into the water. They were suited up with 2-4 layers of polartec under drysuits. They wore BC's and three regulators and 2 tanks, one a little bottle called a Pony bottle, had enough air to get one safely to the surface if the other tank had a problem. A harness attached each diver to a rope which was tended by a line tender (me) on the surface. A fourth diver was suited up with feet in the water, ready to perform as a rescue diver if there was any problem below. Standing astride, the two tenders held a taut rope which allowed the diver freedom to swim but a life line when they needed to get back. A simple rope signal code let us know, basically what was going on below. I was unprepared for this day, it was exhilarating and cool and gradually brightened up. The intense responsibility of my job really heightened the stress. The line I tended had one or two divers tethered to it. They relied on my paying attention the the smallest signals. They needed me to stay bare handed and level headed . When the emergency signal came, with four faint pulls, I didn't even understand for a second. Thankfully my partner got the same signal and started a quick hand over hand retrieval of rope as quickly as she could. Within a minute, a broiling of water signaled a free flowing regulator which can happen easily in cold water. Sharon and I stood side by side and pulled the diver out of one of the points of the triangle. He rolled to the side and we unhooked his harnesses, BC and pulled off weights, gloves and fins. He looked a bit like a beached whale as he got his breath. I love this part of diving most of all. We dive as a team or not at all. We rely on each other and appreciate the effort that everyone makes, or it doesn't happen. Being prepared is vital. Mike carried extra equipment and tools to repair problems rather than aborting a dive trip. The dives proceeded as planned. No one dived longer than 20 minutes on any dive. The thirty three degree water made chilling, head freeze, and exhaustion come quickly. We kept warm water and cocoa ready for the divers as they recovered. Between dives, it took at least 45 minutes to an hour to get the divers ready to jump in the water again. Finally, after seven hours of tough work and play, we quickly packed up our gear before we lost all daylight. What a day. I really enjoyed the shear energy of the day in addition to the exhilaration of being needed in real life situations. ---------------------------------------- The point of view from one side is, it is just plain littering to place guide strings underwater to guide divers to eye catching structures rather than using and documenting good navigation techniques to obtain the same results. (can you imagine how cluttered the American West would be if Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and other pioneering scouts would have strung strings everywhere they went? Talk about a major spiders web!!!) We feel that all of the strings and or cords that have been placed in Flaming Gorge are not only "UGLY litter", but, could very well be a death trap in turbid waters, as well as lead unskilled, untrained novice divers into situations (cramped quarters, overhead environments and other pitfalls) that could easily end their life. On the flip side of the coin the believers of the guide lines feel they are explorers and have the god given right to leave whatever means they wish to help them get back to the same places some of us have been diving for years. I'm sorry. I thought I could write a non biased report concerning this problem. However, I admit, I can not. It would be of the utmost help to get feedback from as many divers, instructors and dive leaders as possible to put their feelings in print as to look at the big picture rather than just two opposing view. Please send your comments in to be posted so we can get a broader consensus of opinions. Thank you, Michael Weyland

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