Search & Recovery Diving – with a HUGE reward!

Posted by Steve Holak & John Zyskowski

Part I – Saturday – Fun, Laughter & Sadness….

Like a thunderhead building on the horizon, the buzz had grown all week from the loyal IVS stay-at-homes that it was high time to get some diving in at the local “Quarribean.”  Bonaire?  Who needs Bonaire?  We don’t need no stinkin’ Bonaire…we got Dutch!   Thanks to our resident ambassador to the guys who eat frog legs and make tasty deep-fried potatoes — Brad “Rescue” Creveling — we come to find that “bon” means “good” in French!  Well, it turns out that the first vehicle in line at the Dutch Springs gate on Saturday morning is none other than our own J-Glo with Grillmaster sidekick Chis Perry, trailing that latest marvel of engineering, the IVS Dry Suit Demo Trailer.  Need “bon” air?  He’s got “bon” air: aluminum 80s, steel 100s, you name it, fresh off the Harleysville compressors and more than enough enough for a day of diving for the IVS crowd.  And who’s that with them?  Cozumel veteran Deanna Kuik, with a boxful of tasty treats from Dunkin’ Donuts.  Bon-air and donuts, what else does an IVS diver need?  Time to get the day rolling!

We’re soon joined over at the peninsula side by tequila taster Steve Holak, Deanna, Rescue Brad, the younger “Z” brother John, Frank “Cruise Control” Gabriel, Buxmont Prez Donna “Hugs” Raleigh, IVS kidney doner / Dive New-yaker and Scubaboard posting champion Sam Auyeung and her diminutive sidekick Keith, and . . . wait . . .  who’s that?  Our dear old friend and visiting Left Coaster Csaba “I come to Dive” Lorinczy!  The ATM-dive founder flew standby for a day and a half just to visit his old buddies!

The group claims tables, deploys the awning, rolls out the grill, and gears up, ready to dive.  Surface temps in the mid 70s, and temperature at depth . . . well, just a *little* bit cooler.  We tour all the attractions on the peninsula side on two morning dives, and come out to find that Chris has a treat cooked up : barbecue chicken and grilled corn-on-the-cob!  During the lunchtime surface interval (and between naps) Deanna gets some lessons from Csaba and a few others on breathing techniques to help improve her air consumption, and on the afternoon dive it pays off: a half-dozen of the group do a long dive from the peninsula across the quarry via the bus / firetruck, past the Koi stairs and down to the pumphouse  and back, and emerge back on the peninsula 70 minutes later; Deanna is all smiles as she comes up with 1000 PSI left in her 100 — what an improvement!

The only damper on the day was Mrs. John Z losing her wedding ring at the Aqua Park.  But in true IVS fashion, we turn a negative into a positive and gear up for some Search and Recovery training!  John doesn’t find the ring, and plans to try again on Sunday, but there’s a silver lining: John finds a dozen dollars or so in cash, (which can be exchanged for an IVS gift card at any time, no matter how damp the bills are), and a few pair of sunglasses, including a rhinestone-studded pair that prompted J-Glo to pause loading tanks and put on an eerie Liberace imitation on the back of the truck!

The day proved that even without IVS’s absent Fearless Leader, the crew knows how to do him proud and show a stellar IVS presence up there in “Quarribean.”

Part II – Sunday….Joy & Amazement!

All I can say is….IVS does it again. A huge THANK YOU to team IVS and the Search & Recovery Specialists –  Frank Gabriel, Chris Perry, John Glodowski, Bill Bobowitz, and Craig Bentley.

First, the background: My wife Loyda, my son Miykael, and myself spent July 4th weekend camping at Dutch Springs, for the purpose to celebrate, kick back, barbeque, hydrate and have some fun. I spent the mornings diving and my family and me spent the afternoons at the water park,splashing andenjoying the cool water on the hot summer days. Saturday July 3rd was a great 1st dive as some geared up and planned a dive with Csaba.We, John Glodowski, Frank Gabriel, Chris Perry and myself made a 70 minute dive out to the west wall. What a trek, I thought I was a yellowfin tuna we went so fast, what a blast! I have never been to the west wall. When we got out there Frank was making a gesture like driving a vehicle to Chris Perry, Chris made the same signal in return, and I thought they were making an argument as to whom was going to lead the dive on the return trip back to the dock, only to find out that that was the signal to lets find the sunken pick up truck! Chris started but no one made the effort to go with, so we just turned the dive.What a blast, to find out that all that huffing and puffing on the dive and I came out with plenty of air left in my tanks! That afternoon was eventfull as well as I doffed my gear to dry out, had some lunch with my family and spent the afternoon playing in the waterpark. What a blast! Loyda my wife was making a determined effort to get on the slip and slide raft, and I was no help because I was on the other side looking at her struggle, when all of a sudden her hand slipped and she fell back into the water. She was upset, because she forgot to take her wedding ring off, get the picture, the water was cold and refreshing but it made her finger shrink in size, so it easily slipped off. She was crying and very upset, because of sentiment and value of the ring. I tried to console her saying I am going to go over to the guys a the IVS trailer and see if they can help me in a search and recovery, don’t worry we will find it,” I said”. I got permission from the life guards at the water park to look for the ring, and was told I could but to make sure not to surface in the water park area.I went over to the IVS trailer and every one but Jglo had gone in for a dive. I rounded up my gear and waited for the team to see if any one was up for a SAR. Frank and Tony came out and said they would help out to fing the ring. After they off gassed, we geared up and headed for the dock.We made a plan to meet back at the dock, and to make sure we did not suface at the waterpark.We surface swam half way, and before the park we dropped to depth and began our trek in. The depth was 55′ to the bottom, and the first 40 or so was soup, there was a cold layer of water at the bottom making the visiblity 30’+. There was not a good SAR plan in place since I could not point out the exact location, So that afternoon I only found a $ 5 bill, five $1 bills, and 2 pair of sunglasses.Not a bad start, but hardly what we we searching for. After we came out we made a plan for Sunday morning 8 am.

The next morning we had enlisted more help,Frank Gabriel, John Glodowski, Chris Perry, Bill Bobowitz, and Craig and a nudge from Franks wife Isabel. She said to Frank you better go and help John Z. find his wifes wedding ring. Frank obliged! Once again Team IVS rose to the challenge. We made a new SAR plan. I said that we would either find the ring right away or not at all. Since the waterpark was not open for 2 more hrs.I was able to show the exact location, at the surface my wife had slipped and the ring came off, and that it was located between the 2 yellow straps at the slip and slide. We all surface swam out to the waterpark.Frank and I were at the exact location my wife and I were that day. We both dropped down right from the slide through the soup to the layer of clear water on the bottom. We were all careful not to disturb the sediment.I went left from our location, and Frank went right .We circled back toward each other and I saw Frank reach into the layer of silt and green algae. I thought to myself he either found the ring or he is going to make for some bad visibility shortly.He pulled something out and stuck it in his glove sleeve. I tapped him on the shoulder and made the gesture like well??? What did you find? He pulled the ring out! Thats the ring!!! A big hug was in order and I just about pulled my reg out of my mouth, as we broke away. Next thing Chris came over and it was high fives all around!!! Lets round up the troups and back to the dock we went. We came out at the ramp between the 2 docks, and some one made the comment that it was a 4 minute dive when Frank found the ring. Now while on the dock Wisdom may have gotten out and taken the ring up to my wife, but we were so excited to see the ring that Frank took it out and placed it in my hand, and while describing the way it was sitting on the bottom and how the 2 piece ring was halfway out when he saw it, there it goes into the water again, my heart just sank. Chris still had his mask , so he put it on and reached in and pulled out the ring once again.The Zebra Mussels had filled the gap on the dock preventing it from sinking to the bottom. Chris put it in my hand and every one charged me to go and give it to my wife immediately. So up the hill I went right to Loyda and as she saw the ring and placed it on her finger she began crying, and she hugged me tightly, and gave me a great big kiss, she didn’t care that I was soak and wet, making her clothes wet.I knew that we had made her day! A heart felt Great Big Thanks to Team IVS. As I came back to the dock, there was a suggestion that since I scored some serious points, some new gear was in order, possible dive trip, new reel for some more SAR. I agreed. So back in the water again for some more SAR to finish the dive. What a great day!! Way to go Team IVS.

Thanks again
John Z.

The Ladies of IVS show their stuff at Dutch Springs

This weekend marked our third checkout dive weekend of the season at Dutch Springs. Yes, our third time there already this season, starting right on opening day this year.

So you ask, is Dutch ready to dive already….no friggin’ way – it is 45 degrees in the water! But does that stop our divers from jumping in? Nope!

This weekend’s class was an all-girls outing, with Briana Reinoso, Kaitlyn Ott, Deanna Kuik, and Cathryn Hardin all needing to get those pesky checkout dives completed before they headed to more exotic locations later this month. So they all opted to take the Drysuit class in conjunction with their Open Water program, and they dove dry all weekend long. I am still amazed that they wanted to do this, let alone come out and complete six dives with us, and still ready to go for more!

Saturday was perfect, sunny, warm, calm……very alluring to come and dive into the pretty pond!  We got our three dives and the ladies did nothing short of fantastic.  The drysuit training paid off in spades as they were comfortable on each dive in the mid 40 degree water. Sunday came along and boy what a difference a night can make…….it was raining like a son of a gun, cold, dreary, and overcast, but did that deter our divers?  Well, heck yes, it really sucked!  But we had a job to do, and we did it, getting in not only three more dives, but actually then a fourth dive to explore the wreck known as the Silver Comet.

Another great weekend, lots of smiles, and four new divers welcomed into the IVS family – perfect!

A little rain can’t keep the divers away!

Another weekend and another great chance to get wet in a local way, at Dutch Springs, of course!  It was another checkout weekend and Dueling Drysuits Demo day at the local quaribbean, and it started off as one fine looking weekend for sure!

Saturday we had about 35 IVS divers in the camp, and Sunday found the total for the weekend up over 50!  How cool is it to have so many of our diving family stop by, get a dive or two in with old friends, make new ones, grab a burger, and plan the next dive trip!  And we made even more new friends as the popularity of the Dueling Drysuits demo program continues to grow!

Saturday’s weather was perfect, and with grille-mistress Donna Raleigh in charge, no one went hungry or unsatisfied around the food table.  On Sunday we have Jerry Melissen take over the grille meister duties, and again, the bellies were filled, the smiles were wide, and the IAHD-Americas contribution jar was nicely filled!!  Thank you everyone for supporting our cause. 

Sunday morning the rain came down…and down…and down…….what a torrential storm we experienced.  Lord knows how much rain we got, but we sure got it in a hurry!  But what comes after the rain – you guessed it, a beautiful sunny afternoon to cap a great weekend of diving!

Congratulations to Meghan Grant, Mike Weiderhold, Wyatt & Chuck Brumm, and Paul Haverfield, on completing their National Geographic Open Water certifications! And Rich Seier, who completed his Advanced Open Water & Drysuit Specialty certifications! Wow!

Lehigh Valley Sportsfest Discovers Scuba!

 

This weekend, for the first time in the twelve year history of the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest, participants had the opportunity to discover the magic of scuba diving.  This event, held each year in the Allentown area since 1997, has steadily grown in size and scope, with nearly 10,000 competitors and 100,000 spectators gathering this year at the festival.

This annual festival of sports and games, started with 16 events as the Allentown Sportsfest, and has grown now to over 100 different events, changing it’s name to the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest to more accurately reflect the regional involvmenet.  Indian Valley Scuba, and the International Association for Handicapped Divers, was asked by the Sportsfest founders to bring a Discover Scuba program to this years event.  We set up the IVS rolling DSD show at Cedar Beach Park, a massive pool/park/nature area, right near the center of the city of Allentown. 

On Saturday, they were lined up and waiting as we pulled the truck & trailer into the pool area.  By the end of the afternoon, over 45 divers had been briefed, geared up, and taken on tours, culminating in some basic skills training, paving the way for our next wave of certified divers!  Channel 69 News was there sharing the event with their viewers, and IVS-staffers Mike Gusenko, Ray Graff, Brad Creveling,  Barb White and Dave Valaika had their hands full, running non-stop without a break until finally closing the pool down at 7:00.  After that it was back to the shop, filling tanks, and getting ready for tomorrow!

Sunday was as beautiful a day as Saturday, with even larger crowds, more fun and another 55 divers getting wet and blowing bubbles for the very first time.  Lin Gusenko, Leslie & Carlie Adams, Butch Loggins, and Katie Chin joined the crew today, making it an even more fun event – what a great bunch of folks we had on both sides of the Discover Scuba program today.  By the end of the weekend we had taken over 110 divers in, went through nearly 90 tanks of air, and planted more than our fair share of smiles across the Lehigh Valley.

Look for us to be back next year! 

Can’t get enough of the Quarribean this month!

 

Over fifty IVS divers gathered this weekend on the shores of our local quarribean, Dutch Springs, for a perfect weekend of diving, laughing & grilling!  Training was first and foremost on both days, with Open Water, Rescue Diver, Digital Underwater Photography, Adaptive Scuba, and Dry Suit classes all carefully choreographed under the IVS pavilion.

The face of IVS-Savannah, Randy Rudd, was in town to conduct one of his phenomenal digital underwater phtopgraphy programs, and he had eight eager and willling students lined up and ready to capture the watery world in a brand new way! 

The Dueling Drysuits Demo Trailer was hopping both days, with lots of divers trying out drysuits from Whites and Waterproof.

Lots and lots of certification programs were completed, too many to list here, but boy does it prove the learning never stops at Indian Valley Scuba! 

This marks our 10th weekend at Dutch this season already – this is starting to grow on us!  The family of IVS divers and friends gets bigger all the time, and what a great way to meet old friends, make new ones and get some dives in these weekends are. 

Celebrating America’s Birthday in DBD style – Dutch, Bainbridge & Dutch!

 

Team IVS is popping up like the gopher in the carnival game this weekend, with simultaneous diving, grilling & drysuit demo’s at Dutch Springs and Bainbridge Sportsmen Club. 

We started off Friday at Dutch, setting up the big tent and grille, and getting the Dueling Drysuits Demo weekend going.   Wei & Chris from Washington DC journeyed up to dive with us, and eleven divers test-dove our suits on Friday, alternating between the Whites Fusion and the Waterproof Draco’s and Aquila’s.  Lots of great experiences, lots of smiles, and some new friends!

Saturday Donna Raleigh, Jarred Rogers, & Frank Gabriel, along with a big gang from the ScubaBoard Dive NY group, represented IVS at Dutch while John Glodowski & Dave V hauled the demo trailer to Bainbridge Quarry for our first ever visit to this dive site.  Located in Lancaster County just southeast of Harrisburg, we could not have been more impressed by the friendliness of the staff and all the divers we met there.  So unpretentious, no egos or other acts of silliness.  Instructors and divers alike lined up at the Dueling Drysuits pavilion to learn more, get a chance to try our suits, and even to talk about our Poseidon rebreathers which we were diving today. 

About a dozen divers tried our suits, and every one came back smiling and asking when we were coming back – very cool indeed.  The longest distance traveled award goes to John Jannone, who drove in from the Pittsburgh area to dive with us and try a Fusion!  John G & I got a couple of dives in after escorting some of our demo’ers, and finally it was time to call it a day, pack it up, and head back to the Center of the Scuba Diving Universe, Harleysville.

Sunday a.m. I drove the demo trailer back up to Dutch and we spent a glorious July day doing demo’s, talking about drysuits, diving and of course grilling!  Donna Raleigh flips a mean spatula on the grill, and we enjoyed her efforts, including the fajita’s, wraps, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and of course burgers & dogs.  Mike Parzynski brought out some carnivore delicacies, including chicken and steaks, marinated and delicious!  The ScubaBoard Dive NY gang, led by ScubaSam, Hobo Diver, CJM, Letter Boy, OhmDiver, Betty Rubble, ParzDiver, Dbuggy66, QRPC, and the rest, added an even greater element to the day – so cool to spend a Sunday diving and meeting new friends! 

Csaba, Niki & Sylvia Lorinczy visited us, and enjoyed the Aqua Park for the afternoon.  It was a busy afternoon of demo’s and finally we packed it up and headed home, back to the grind, until next weekend!

Lobsters, Drysuits & Laughter – a perfect Dutch Springs Weekend!

 

Today marked the inaugural appearance of the latest and greatest Indian Valley Scuba consumer program – the Dueling Drysuit Demo Program! Our spanking new trailer, chock full of drysuits and everything you need to dive them, showed up bright and early Saturday morning, and from the level of activity, we’re pretty sure it was a big hit!

And, to make it an even mo’ special weekend, Bob & Sally Stitzinger, assisted by Larry Gould and his wife, prepared and served up about 40 pounds of delicious BBQ ribs, fixings and everything else – plus 3 gallons of lobster bisque, just full of the 11 lobsters I caught earlier this week – mmmm, mmmm, good!

Our Dueling Drysuits program is sure to be a hit to divers near and far, giving them the opportunity to test dive, at no cost, two different brand drysuits the same day!  No waiting for the manufacturers annual Demo Day appearance, then having to remember what one felt like and trying to compare it wih another.  We bring out two different brands each week, and you can dive to your heart’s content!  And the best part is the cost – FREE!

Yes, free – what else would you expect from the gang at Indian Valley Scuba? Our mission – to grow the IVS dive family, one diver at a time.

The rest of the weekend was a smashing success, with open water certifications, dry suit certifications, AOW dives, and more fun, laughter, and great food then the next ten shops!  In light of the recent tragic events in Tinseltown, we saw plenty of hollywood tribute dives to Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, with big-haired moonwalkers on the platforms – now if we had only known TV pitchman Billy Mays died today, we could have Oxycleaned the pond in his honor, and taken care of any visibility issues!

Memorable quote:  Steve Holak, is credited with “What?  Bev is diving??  All we need now is Roy!” 

Look for us back in force, July 11th & 12th, with great food, a trailer full of drysuits, demo digital cameras, and more!  And we might even make a surprise appearance this holiday weekend!

The Lobstah’ Whisperer strikes gold in Jersey!

 

Team IVS headed out today for some lobster hunting off the coast of New Jersey.  We sailed with Capt. Al aboard the Sea Lion, seven hearty souls with a common goal…lobster in the pot!  The day started off a bit overcast and raining, but more importantly there was no wind.  The affect of this was apparent as we cleared Manasquan Inlet – the Atlantic was flat as far as the eye could see.

Our first location was the wreck of the Mohawk, and early ‘passenger liner / cruise ship’, sailing from New York to Jacksonville and onward to Havana, Cuba.  It collided with another vessel on a crystal clear cold night in January, 1935.  Nineteen souls died, primarily from exposure, before the rest were pulled from the sea as the vessel slipped beneath the waves.  Originally it went down on it’s side, but six months later a summer storm uprighted it, Speigel Grove style.  In fact, with the depth at 80 ft to the sand, the masts were actually sticking up out of the water, and this is how it remained for until the Army Corps of Engineers cut it down by wire dragging it to allow safe passage over the wreck.  

All was good until WWII, and with the U-boat activity up and down the eastern seaboard, the Coast Guard was taking no chances.  German submarines were known to take advantage of structure on the bottom to hide alongside, masking their presence, so every time an anti-sub vessel would pass the Mohawk, they’d throw out a depth charge or two for good measure.  Although no U-boats were ever discovered, you can imagine the damage this caused to the remaining wreckage.  Today the site looks a bit more like Fred Sanford’s backyard than a ship, but you can figure out enough of the pieces to know you’re diving on a wreck. 

So we located the site and our able first mate Jen dropped down to tie into the wreck.  We followed as soon as the hook was set, and got right to work on our mission.  Watching most of the guys bear left, I opted for  a right turn at the anchor, dropped down low, fired up the canister light, and got down to business.  One, two, three bugs in the bag….good start….keep looking…four…..more….all keepers, being careful to gauge them right there and ensure they are legal before putting them in the bag.  Kicked up a nice flounder, lots of sea bass and blackfish there, sea robins walking about on their fins, and all the other typical Jersey sea life.  The water temp was 58 degrees, allowing me to dive without a hood and with light gloves, better to shove my arm in the holes to snag my objectives!  I was wearing a Whites Fusion, and this suit is fantastic with it’s form-fitting design.  Even with a medium weight undergarment on, I was able to dive with no weights other than my double steel 100’s.  The viz varied, but at times was easily 60 to 75 feet – Nice!

We got back up to the boat, and I had six bugs for my cooler.  The others did not score so well…OK..they were skunked!  So we talk a little about technique during our surface interval, and get them pumped up to do better on dive #2.  Because this wreck site is quite large, we opted to stay for our second dive on the same spot.  Four more bugs in my bag, and two for Matt Yaroch and his dad – way to go guys! 

Checking my personal biological meter, I recognize I am a quart low on nitrogen, so Capt. Al offers to make a third dive on another location.  We motor over to the “120” wreck, and we’re down to only two of us plus Jen making this one.  This is an old unidentifed wooden sailing vessel, and it has some fantastic lobster habitat on it, as well as fish life.  The problem is that the habitat is all through the wooden timbers and deck planking, giving the lobsters a huge advantage with being able to slip around a corner of far enough down a hole to be beyond the reach of the hunters.  Missed a few, but still managed to get one more in the bag, bringing my daily total to 11.  The rest of the team accounted for another 2 – what’s wrong with this picture??      

Finally it’s time to call it a day and we sail on back to the Brielle Boat Basin.  Hugs & handshakes, and I head home to boil up my bounty – we’ll be serving it up at Dutch Springs this weekend!

  

Opening Day at Dutch Springs

Dutch Springs is officially open! And who but IVS would brave the frigid waters right away? Six of our divers headed up for opening day to do some dry suit diving in the 42 degree chilly water. The first dive went smoothly, with everyone warming up just by gearing up. They swam around for about 20 minute, making sure everyone’s buoyancy was right and practicing Tech skills. It was after they got out that the cool air really got to them. But thanks to Csaba Lorinczy, they had a nice and toasty RV to warm up in. Green tea, donuts, and some fun company made warming up between dives fun and easy. Soon everyone wanted to get back in the water.

In the second dive they went out a bit further in the water, exploring the tanker and the bus before coming out again. Once again, everyone huddled together in the RV and tried to get the feeling in their fingers back. On the third dive, they picked up a stray diver with no one to dive with and introduced him to the IVS crew. By the end of his dive, he seemed eager to hook up with IVS again!

So congrats to all the men (and woman) that didn’t let some cold water stop them from diving. Everyone had a great time, and almost all earned the ADC (All Dives with Csaba). Dave was sorely missed!

 

 

Randy Rudd warms up Dutch by going way south!

 

It was time for our last official visit of the season to Dutch Springs this past weekend, and Mother Nature helped us confirm why we don’t schedule any more weekends there later in the season.  It was a bone-chilling 39 degrees each morning, with a little breeze just to add the thrill of knowing you are about to go swimming in that weather.

Well Team IVS managed to suck it up and rise to the thermal challenges and we showed up in force, occupying about ten tables on the student side of Dutch.  It looked like we owned the place, as IVS divers outnumbered everyone else on shore and below both days!  We got our dives in, spent a lot of time warming up around the grill, and had a great time.

Randy’s digital photo class had a great day, none of the gear iced up, and our Savannah-based instructor confirmed exactly why he lives in Georgia!  Brrrr!

On the way home we figured a quick stop at Gregory’s Steakhouse was in order, and headed on in to the home of the 128 ounce steak!  As we sat around the table and enjoyed a few cold ones, we heard more than a few y’alls, and yessir’s coming from the table behind us.  Well one quick glance at all the camo clothing, and you’d of thought that Randy and our own former Tennessean Bev had died and gone to hillbilly heaven!  Turns out that Robbie, Patrick & Leland were in town for some early PA deer hunting and they were abmazed how Team IVS thought of everything, including packing a few of our own rebels in, just in case!

Well a few drinks led to a few hours of chatting, exchanging stories, and swapping catfish and ‘possum recipes, and before you know it, Bev was modeling camo hats and whooping it up with Randy and the good ‘ol boys – we knew it was time to head on out!  And to make a note to check the parking lot for pick-em-up truck gun racks and trailer hitch bulls balls next time before we stop!