Surf & Inlet Extraction Drill 2014....

Sunday was the teams drill to get ready for the upcoming summer season. It was a tune up of the teams surface rescue skills. Tom, Joe X2, Sue, Ali, Bob, Greg and Linda were suited up and ready to go. First aiders Max, Sarah, Corinne and Captain Jerry were also there as surface support.

We started out with using a rescue can as an aid for swimmers, and moved on to entry in to the water with the rescue can with both fins on and without fins. It is not always easy getting in to the water. With waves and currents it can become difficult. With some divers acting as victim and other as rescuers the divers were in and out of the water many times. Entering water and swimming out to the victim and towing the victim back in to the beach and getting the victim out of the water and into the hands of the first aiders.

   We also trained on the miller man back board. This is a piece of equipment that we have on the dive truck and all the squad’s ambulances. It is used if there is a neck or back injury. It has a lot of straps and it’s not the easiest thing to use when you can’t stand and you’re floating. So we do train using it. So if we need it to get a victim out of the water we’ll be ready.

   After a few hours of all of this we called it a day, Tom wanted to get a picture and we lined up so he could get his shot, he has us all jump up in the air and I got a great group shot of all of us in mid air.

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In the debriefing after the drill I reminded the team and the first aiders “anything can happen “so you have to be ready.

As we started back towards the building we stopped to check the inlet to see if we had any visibility so we could dive. What no one knew was I had planned to have Sue jump in to the water and play the victim. She did it so well! No one saw her jump in and it was a surprise to everyone. Linda was the first to act and was in the water in seconds holding sue afloat, she was followed by OJ, Ali, Greg and Bob. The first aiders got the miller man and passed down to the divers and working as a team had Sue strapped down and ready to be lifted out of the water in minutes. Lines were tried on the board and the first aiders had Sue up and out of the water and into the ambulance in seconds.

Photos by Tom Conroy...

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What to do with two Dive Team members and 225 miles from the Ocean...

Had the pleasure of hosting a weekend here in central Virginia when team members Chet and Sue came down for the annual bottle show in Harrisonburg. Pretty much had one day (Saturday) to keep them busy and happy so had a list of things to do ready when they arrived on Friday night. The Blue Ridge mountain range is impressive but no real open water for 211 miles in Virginia Beach.

First stop was along Skyline Drive where we took a short hike along the Appalachian Trail to a side trail I found 5 or 6 years ago while hiking this area. There is a gravestone of a Confederate soldier that died in 1861 and was buried here when the confederate army was held up at Browns Gap during the Civil War. I did a post on this back in 2009 and had a friend respond with additional info on the soldier. It can be viewed here... We stopped here to scrub down and clean the marker for being in the shade along the side of the mountain moss covers the name and info....

Next we hiked up to Blackrock Summit also along the Skyline Drive and is a large boulder field outcropping along the ridge line. Pictures do not give it credit and something you need to see if you are in the area. Sue made several sketches and numerous photos were taken...

Then we moved on to the Blue Ridge Tunnel in Afton Virginia at the intersection of Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. This train tunnel was built back in 1850's and is 16 feet wide, 20 feet tall, and 4,237 feet long and built in a curving line. At one point the tunnel is over 700 feet below the summit of the mountain at Afton Gap. The tunnel was cut by hand drilling and blasted by Black Powder for Dynamite had not been invented yet. The tunnel progressed at an average of 26 feet a month and when the two sections met in the middle they were off by only 4 inches. The newer and bigger tunnel that replaced it in the 1950's was off by over 6 feet when they broke through. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson moved his Civil war troops through this tunnel during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of the Civil War. After the original tunnel was retired a large section was walled off with two 14 foot thick walls creating a chamber that was to hold & store Propane gas. Unfortunately this never worked and the project was abandoned but it does make an interesting end to the hike. 

The Western opening of the tunnel had "Softer" rock than the Eastern opening and they had to brick the opening for about 300 feet into the tunnel using 168,000 bricks made onsite...

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How we do What we do....

Delaware River Drift Dive...

"One of these things is not like the other"...

Always one in the bunch somewhere...

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Treasures...

If you look up treasure in a dictionary you will see 1) Wealth stored up 2) something of value. To some it would take a treasure chest full of gold coins and gems, to others it as simple as an old bottle. It’s all how you look at it.

What are you looking for? We all would love to find a treasure chest full of gold but that is not going to happen. Some of us have found gold and silver and old bottles. You just have to start looking. At times something as small as a penny in the street it’s all treasure!  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Being a diver I get to find treasures most people don’t get to see and that is under water. People never think about divers and throw everything in the water. That is why it is always a good place to dive around docks, bridges, and walk ways by the water. I have found many wedding bands and rings in this one area. I think because it is easy to drive up and park your car right there and just toss the rings right in to the water. It could be if he/she wants the ring back their can go find it and in to the water it goes. Bad for them good for me!

In the old days trash was dumped in to the water and it was gone, out of site out of mind!  It also happens on dry land, trash pits and old out houses were the dumps in their days. Bottle hunters look for and dig in these sites. Some do very well digging in these sites and not just bottles, rings and coins are just some of the other things their find!

   Underwater you have to have a eye to spot thing because marine growth cover everything. I was on a dive one time where a diver picked up a bottle that looked broken and it was coved in growth, but he kept anyway and late he cleaned it up and it was a whole short pony bottle, it was a real nice find! So it is a skill you have to work on, if you’re not sure what it is bring it up. Until you know what you have you hang on to it! Not everything just sits on the bottom, some time you to dig, but you have to know where to dig. Knowing where to dig can save you a lot of time and time is something you don’t have a lot of underwater. Water temperature, currents, air supply and light all work against you, so by knowing what to look for and where to look for it you have a better chance of coming up with some treasure.

And then there are days like when you get a phone call from the local Life Guards who say they have found something submerged in the surf and ask for you to come out and take a look. After a bit of poking, prodding, and investigation the "Treasure" turns out to be a World War Two mine and the military DOD comes out and blows your treasure up with C4 in the surf just to be safe...

Maybe not the most attractive treasure found by the Dive Team but lead fishing sinkers have been a favorite of many divers to sharpen their underwater skills and have been very beneficial to the Dive Team equipment fund. Several "Tons" of sinkers have been gathered, cleaned, sorted, and sold at the annual Fire Department's Fishing flea market each year...

One of the most intriguing objects has been a small brass container that is made up of three compartments and is dated April 1876. It was found in the Manasquan Inlet and still has not been identified....

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~2014 Sinker Sale~ Point Pleasant Fire Company Fishing Flea market...

It took the team eleven and half months to get 2579 pounds of sinkers and five and a half hours to sell every one. This week end was the Point Pleasant fire departments company #1 fishing flea market and as in the past they give the dive team a table to sell all the stuff we found throughout the year. Sell we did!! 

   Two thousand five hundred seventy nine pounds of sinkers, hundreds of lures, many fishing poles, anchors, and old bottles all for sale, and everything was recovered from underwater.  We do clean the lures and the sinkers of old line and any debris that hangs on to it.

  We were ready for the doors to open and the mad rush of people looking for deals! Well it didn’t happen that way! People did come in but not like in years past. Sales were OK but kind of slow and it was not just us. Nobody was doing very well. There just  wasn’t a lot of people.

   Our sales did pick up late in the morning and we started moving a lot more sinkers. Paul D. had his hand truck and was kept busy taking half buckets of sinkers out to the parking lot. Half of bucket here and a half bucket there and we well on your way to getting cleaned out, One sale took all our bigger sinkers. Another sale took over half our lures and that’s how the morning went.

   By 1:00 we were pretty much done, most of the vendors were packing up, we had two half buckets of sinkers left and looked like they are going back to the building with us! But wait!!! As we were loading it on the truck one last customer came up and took everything we had left. Nothing but empty buckets and one fishing pole were going back with us.

   It was a really good day! We sold everything. It was the best we ever did and the most we ever made. “If you bring it someone will buy it”.

   You would think after working all day selling sinkers we would take a rest, but you would be wrong!!  We checked the water and it was really clear so it was off to get gear and hit the inlet.

   So Ali, Bob, Joe, OJ, Greg, Linda and I all suited up and jumped into the inlet with Paul and Milton as surface support. Being on call 24/7 we have to be ready at all times so this keeps us on our toes!! The water was COLD! I could feel it on my face the minute I hit the water, but the visibility was so good with over 10-15 feet. Everybody teamed up and started looking around.

   The inlet is always changing, sand moves here and sand moves there and you never know what you’re going to find. The find of the day goes to Ali, she found a brand new watch and it had the right time on it!! Joe followed that up with a nice silver ring!! Linda and I came out with a full sinker tube and some quarters and a clip of 30-06 bullets and Linda got a nice bottle too. Joe out did us on the bottles also! He got a bottle I have never seen before.

   After over an hour the divers started coming out and checking out our finds. It’s really nice having surface support to help the divers getting out of the water and helping the divers out of their gear. Paul saw Joe’s bottle and got on his I-phone and found out it’s a soda-milk bottle from the 40’s. With the last diver coming out an hour and twenty five minutes after going in, it was time for coffee and to head back to clean up and start the next year’s great sinker race again!

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Tempus Frigid

On Sunday January 26, The Point Pleasant Dive Team was able to take advantage of the cold temperatures affecting the east coast. The temperature stayed below freezing long enough for ice to form on some of the local waterways. The conditions looked perfect for some Ice diving training.

Ice can form quickly in the local waters if the conditions are right. This beautiful formation can be dangerous as it presents an enticing new playground to walk across or play upon.  Many times the ice can be deceiving. Weak spots can form near pilings or cracks can be hidden just under the surface. These can cause the unsuspecting victim to plunge into the water or under the ice without warning. The Dive Team must be prepared to respond to these emergencies, so when we get the opportunity we train in the surrounding areas waters.

We headed out to a quiet spot in Bayhead. This area presents a perfect place for the team to train. It is off of major roads and the terrain offers many areas of interaction with the ice pack.

Chief Nesley led the day reviewing the many techniques specific to Diving and Rescue Procedures on Ice. Four divers took turns falling thru the ice into the frigid waters. There is nothing like feeling first hand your body falling thru the ice and the feel of the ice cold water shocking your body. Even wearing the appropriate exposure suit the cold can quickly zap the strength from your fingers and extremities.

Ice diving requires specific techniques be applied for the safety of the divers and support personnel. One of the most important is the use of Line Communications. As each Ice Diver is required to be tethered via a line while under the ice, communications to surface personnel are executed via a series of line pulls. Each one letting the Line Tenders know of the divers’ current situation or needs.

Joe, Linda, “OJ”, and Bob each took turns diving under the ice while the others acted as surface support.  While under the ice, each diver practiced Navigation and/or Search and Recovery techniques. As well as tasks like finding our Chiefs foot stuck thru a hole in the ice.

It was a cold day both under and above the ice. However, each of our divers will walk away with just a little more understanding and experience of the local waters during the winter.

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