Last weekend (June 29-30th, 2019) by the numbers:
5 new PADI Open Water Divers
7 new PADI Advanced Open Water Divers
2 DMiTs (Divemasters in training)
4 fun divers
9 Open Water Dives
19 dinner guests
1 great time!
Last weekend Dive With Frank had a full weekend of classes and fun up at Dutch Springs, PA. We brought together students from my latest Open Water and Advanced Open Water classes, brought in a couple of Divemasters In Training (DMiTs) for their internships on their way to becoming full-fledged divemasters, and also just brought along some already certified friends for a couple of days of fun diving!
Saturday was a hot one, with temperatures in the 90s…well for most of the day. We were able to knock out 2 of our Open Water checkout dives and were on our way to finish up our Advanced Open Water dives for the day…
Dutch Springs Storm Blows In 29 Jun 2019
Our afternoon of diving was cut short as a thunderstorm blows into Dutch Springs (Bethlehem, PA)
That was until a thunderstorm rolled in. We got the word at about 3pm to get out of the water because of lightning rolling in. Wind gusts hit up to 35 with a maximum sustained at 24 MPH. So we finished up our PPB and Underwater Navigation dives and got the heck out of dodge. We were hoping to be able to get back into the water on Saturday, but the clock just ran out.
That evening we continued what has become a tradition with my weekend classes at Dutch Springs, dinner at the Williams Family Restaurant. I’ve been here with classes several times and it’s always a good time. We had 19 people at our table Saturday evening. I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to recharge the old batteries after a hard day of scuba diving.
Sunday morning we were right back at it at Dutch Springs with my Advanced Open Water class. We started the day off with a Deep Dive down to 78 feet. I tried to mentally prepare my folks, but my words of encouragement weren’t enough to get us to ignore the chilly 46 degree temperatures! We continued AOW with a Wreck Dive down to check out the Sikorsky Helicopter, and we finished off our class with the Search & Recovery adventure dive.
Then it was onto the second half of my Open Water class. We knocked out Open Water dive 3 in short order, and finally Open Water dive 4. During the tour portion of this last dive Dive With Frank found a brand-spankin’-new GoPro. I didn’t really think much of it as I picked it up and continued our dive.
But at the end of this dive as I congratulated Columbia Scuba‘s newest PADI Open Water dives, I mentioned that I had found a GoPro and the owner happened to be on the surface with his own class. i was able to return it to him and thereby deny the scuba gods of their sacrifice. Believe me, I’ve sacrificed plenty of gear to them over the years and was happy to break the cycle.
So let me be the first to congratulate Columbia Scuba’s newest PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water scuba divers, and a big thanks to Chris, my amazing Divemaster who made this weekend possible. Thank you to everyone who came out!
WELCOME TO THE TRIBE!
