Crosby Soup for the Deep Diver's Soul

[Chuck_Northrup]

A dive buddy and I decided to play hookey today  ;D

With all of the recent scuttle about Crosby VS Wazee (and since we are both in the Wazee camp) we decided to see how "the other half lives" 

We chose Feigh for our first dive because of our options for "deep" diving it was the one we were most familiar with.  I knew we could hit 170 without much difficulty and suspected our intended depth of 220 would be easily attainable.  All of the early signs pointed to a most enjoyable experience  8)

When we arrived at the site we noticed several work crews and DNR ranger vehicles around which made leaving the vehicle unattended less stressfull.  After talking with a few of the gentleman we found out that they are putting in a new parking lot/privy/boat landing on Pennington and intending on future improvements 

On the downside the 95 degree heat and insatiable swarms of mosquitos left something to be desired  :

Every indication of visiablility at the start was promising.  We enjoyed +20ft up until about the 100ft mark.  Once we hit 120ft the smell of "rotten eggs" was overpowering.  Visibility immediately diminished and returned to about 5ft once we broke the 140ft mark 

We continued inching our way down to the target depth of 220 hoping for an improvement which never came.  The lack of ambiant light at depth was oppressive.  My gauge faces, and slate with tables (which are a luminescent white) we not visible without artificial light.  Apparently the sulfur layer successfully blocks any and all ambiant light  :'(

Our first several stops were completed in this "darkness" ambiant light did not return until our 120ft stop.  Luckily the stink also diminished at this point  ;D

Four our second dive we went to Louise and had a very enjoyable time in decent visiability on a shallower dive.  The surface interval found us in cooler temperatures with fewer mosquitos 

The moral of the story is I would agree with most of the people who think the "atmosphere" surrounding Crosby is changing.  Everyone we met was friendly and the DNR is making their presence known.  I will, however, continue my deep diving in Wazee and Superior until a more suitable location has been found.

Thanks for reading   



   



 

[decoeric]

I dove Feigh today down to 141 and had excellent vis say 20 feet below 100 all the way to 141, and about 30' above 60' feet. Had no egg smell at all. I have never seen the "sulfur" layer in Feigh. I have been down to 193' as my deepest dive there and always had excellent vis... I will say there were a few mosquitos out.. So Feigh was excellent for me as it is always...

eric

[ghosch]

I couldn't see my glove in front of my face, must be my poor dive technique.  I've also never seen the sulfur layer, but I certainly smelled it!

[Mark Y]

What'd you guys have for water temperature (surface, deco stops, bottom)?

Wish I could have joined you...

[decoeric]

must be my poor dive technique. 

must be...   

[ghosch]

Surface temp (15' and up) was well into the 60's, which was awfully nice for deco.  At depth we had 41F, in between that, I'm not sure.

[AandA]

Just gotta love the diving in Feigh ;D ;D ;D.  Great wall dive with a shallower stop just off "south Bay.  The fun deep (for me) dive on the far eatern side is great.  Down at 100' there is a drift that is just huge, ya could drive a semi-tractor trailer rig in (if it wasn't under water).  The vis in feigh and huntington is in my opinion some of the best crosby has to offer.  I too have hit the blackout layer at 100' in mangan and in manohman.  I vastly prefer crosby over Wazee, but deep for me is 100' with 130 as the deepest I've gone.