Today,
Nathalie and I went to Millbrook, a local quarry in Haymarket, VA, to try out her new drysuit. She received it earlier this week after a few weeks with the manufacturer for the wrist seals to be replaced. She had a couple of wet experiences in the pool back in March so she could pinpoint where the water was leaking in...
We went to beach 3 as there was an open water class on beach 1 and lots of silt... It was Nathalie’s first dive in a quarry and in a drysuit. Water was a mere 40F at 70ft and 42F on the platform at 30ft. She used to bragg that she only dove in the warm clear water of the Carribean. Well, today, she was initiated to murky cold water...
We stayed the first ten minutes on the platform at 30ft practicing buoyancy and trying to put back a weight pouch into its pocket using her 5mm glove... Let me tell you she was pretty clumsy with those gloves. I can’t say better about myself, I couldn’t even put the pocket back into its place! Descended to 70ft for 10-15 minutes to visit the bottom of the quarry under the platform. On our ascension, we stopped at the platform again to practice buoyancy and regulator exchange with my long hose. After 30 mins of cold water we decided to call the dive. Overall, Nathalie did very well. She controlled properly her buoyancy on descent, ascent, exercise at the platform level and safety stop.
Once the gears were packed in the minivan, we headed to Starbucks for a warm cup of coffee to drink with her delicious banana muffins...