Sweet Call of Water's Edge
April 17, 2007 - 2:54pm — mikesscuba
I was driving on 26 south to a friends house the other day. Of course route 26 takes me awfully close to Lake Raystown, which also takes me close to the Juniata River, and several farms that have ponds. What am I driving at? I have got the itch. It is a burning desire, no passion, to go . . . . scuba diving.
Scuba diving is both relaxing and exhilarating. My mind explodes with thoughts of what could be under the water. Will I see some catfish and sunnies or will I get lucky and spy a trout or small mouth bass. How does the school bus look? I wonder if anyone has been on the old Volkswagen bug? Has anyone been down here to remove the old bottles and garbage? I race to get into my gear. I want to be the first under.
Gearing up is exciting. Talking to dive buddies, getting into the wetsuit, turning on the scuba tank, and we spit in our mask to prevent it from fogging up. We joke that over the winter all this gear has shrunk because we do not remember it fitting this tightly when we put it away last fall. We help each other get into the gear, we swap dive stories, and we layout our dive objective. Then the walk to the quarries’ edge, we walk in our gear like an emperor penguin walk to the edge of a water hole.
Now we ease into the water. The water takes the weight and we float at the surface. One last check to make sure our air is on and we slowly sink under the surface of the water. The dry air makes a whoosh sound as we inhale the air from our regulator. As we exhale silvery orbs, bubbles, float to the surface. The only sound is the sound of the bubbles. We are weightless under water, floating over grass and boulders, and silt. We spy Sunnies, and catfish. It is soooo peaceful here. No noise no concern just watching our gauges and managing our breathing. What a relaxing dive.
Ahh to daydream but not too long at the beginning of this story I was driving on Route 26. The Lake, the ponds, the river all call to me. Not too much longer I say. I will be back to visit you this spring, until that time flow on.
Do you want to learn to Scuba Dive? Have you wondered what it would feel like to breath underwater? Call our scuba shop for the next available Discover Scuba Event. This event is held in the Hollidaysburg pool and allows people the opportunity to try scuba diving before taking a class. Call today 814-695-4666.