Ice Out Dive

My ice diving was weak this winter. I only got to scuba under the ice about 10 times because I was distracted by Fat Biking and other things. Last year it was more like every weekend and something like 33 dives. They all looked like the photo on the left.

In this photo the ice is new but thin and the water is pooling because our weight is pushing it down. Ice is maybe 4 inches.

We would cut 6 holes in a day and be on the lake for 8 hours or so.

The tails of the season when the ice is very poor is the best to play on with a dry suit and friends. In fall the ice is hard and clear and cracks loud and make cool spiderwebs under your feet before it drops out. In spring it's all soft and it bends and water pools under your feet like walking on a hard mattress before breaking. This photo on the right is early ice about 2 inches and we broke though after walking next to each other. Breaking through from the top is easy but going under and trying to break out is very hard to imposable. In order to lift the ice you'd have to create a bubble and you can't.

My buddy Terry and I went out to Lake Garvais last Saturday thinking we could find some weak ice to play with but it was all open water. It was a little sad to not find any ice but we had a couple of fun dives with visibility about 6 feet and water temp of 38. We spent 45 minutes on the first dive and 35 on the second dive. We saw lots of things like old ice skates, boat parts, steel beer cans from Schmidt, Hamms and the lot. All mostly junk but it holds your attention long enough to find something new to look at and show your dive buddy. I mean, most of this stuff hasn't been touched in decades. It's like a museum covered in thin silt and they let you touch.

Summer at the beach!

I found a bottle from 1855-1865 (marked L&W glass) and a Hamm beer bottle that I assume is worthless and I don't have a price on the L&W. The bottle on the right is the old one. I spent about an hour researching it and it's a match for a Post-Bottom Mold (vented) with Applied Finish (lip) that and the maker mark allowed me to date it. So I go for a dive and pick up a bottle thats laid on the bottom for the better part of 157 years.

Anyone want to buy some old glass?