Dive 30 : Racine Quarry, Racine, Wisconsin

Dive No. 30 of 236

Date May 31, 1999

Bottom Time
To Date	16:06
This Dive	0:42
Cumulative Time	16:48

Location Racine Quarry, Racine, Wisconsin

Time IN 13:11

Time OUT 13:27

SI 0:00	PG		PG N

29' DEPTH			15ft STOP

		0:42

Air Temp 86F

Water Temp 52F

Visibility 2'-10'

Buddy Mark Jockel

Dive Chart

Notes

We thought it would be cool to try a cold water dive. Well, it wasn't quite what I expected, but "cool" was right on target.
We were going to go to Pearl Lake, but that was much further and we were already running really late.
Anyway, we rented thick hoods and gloves from the local dive shop and we both had 7mil wetsuits. It's a lot harder to move around with the heavier suit. Also, my Citizen watch wouldn't fit around my wrist with the suit and gloves on. I attached it to my BCD, which really sucked as I had to feel around for it every time I wanted to see the depth and temp. Feeling around was hard with those thick gloves.
If you look at the graph above, you will see I spent a lot of time at the surface. That's because several in our group had trouble getting under with all the extra neoprene. I swam down and got some rocks for their BCDs to help them out. Also, at one point I had to surface as I lost track of Mark. I followed his bubbles back down to him. We also took a break at the other end of the quarry to figure out how to return.
Anyway, the cold wasn't that bad. There was a definite thermocline at about 18 feet, where it dropped from about 57 degrees to 52 degrees. The 52 degrees felt cold at first, but it wasn't that bad once I got used to it. The advantage was I could tell my depth from how cold my face was getting.
The worst part was the visibility really sucked. At best it was 10', but too often it was less than 5'. I dove with Mark and a couple times I lost track of him, then all of a sudden I saw a fin just before it smacked me in my face. I took some pictures, but I don't expect a whole lot to turn out with that much muck floating around.
Fun stuff.
As far as stuff to see, there wasn't that much. There was some Trout and Carp, but they were smarter than us and stayed near the top. All the rocks were covered in Zebra Mussels, which are supposed to filter the water. They haven't done that much good there, yet.
We were told there were some sunken cars, but they are a bit deeper. My maximum depth was 29' and it was nearly pitch black by then and my little light was completely useless.
Anyway, it was fun, but could have been a lot better with better visibility.

Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture.

Mark and Lily getting ready for their first cold water dive. Since Lily couldn't wait, she was already in all her gear long before any of the rest of us.
Viewed: 294 times.

I have no idea what these were originaly, as they are completely covered by Zebra Mussels.
Viewed: 195 times.

Oh look a fish! I'm no expert at fresh water fish, but I think this might be a Trout of some kind.
Viewed: 156 times.

Basically, anything not moving is completely covered by these critters. The blotches are some algae.
Viewed: 150 times.

Here I am trying to blind Mark with my strobe.
Viewed: 147 times.

Another picture of a fish. This one turned out much better. Notice how black the background is. This dive was in the middle of the day, and most of the fish stayed above 10 feet.
Viewed: 149 times.

And yet another picture of a fish. This one looks different. I was told there are only Trout, Bass and some Bluegills in this Quarry.
Viewed: 293 times.

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