September 10, 2013*

Things have been changing really quickly.

First, Greg couldn’t take me diving because of a sick girlfriend, so he told me to go rent a car.

While looking for a car, he called me again and said he arranged for me to go with a diving group who was going to be diving in Crakow.

“Igor, will take you… You will have fun,” Greg said.

Who the hell is Igor?

I walked around Downtown Warsaw, waiting for his call.

I hooked up with Tusia and her boyfriend Wiktor; I was tired and crashed on their couch for several hours.

I finally spoke with Igor and he said he was with a group of divers traveling to Crakow.

We did had a slight problem with the details in English.

He was going to pick me up at 7 PM on his way from up North.

Wiktor called Igor and questioned him – he didn’t believe there was any diving in Crakow.

As it was explained to Wiktor, in Polish, they are a diving shop, traveling to Crakow to dive in a rock quarry called Zakrzowek – they were there on business, doing a one day “Discover SCUBA” event.

OK, that made sense.

Igor was late, but managed to pick me up around 10 PM.

Tusia and Wiktor were relieved – at least the van said “Diving” on the side.

I got into the van; there were seven other divers in there.

“So Jeff, do you like Vodka?” I was asked.

“Yeah, of course, I’m half Polish,” I said.

They handed me their community bottle of Vodka… and when in Poland, do as the Polish do.

It was a two hour drive to Krakow, and when we arrived at the Diving Base, the bar was closed.

They opened the bar just for us!

There’s more to come… quality posts, not quantity posts.

Just my warning – Never try and out drink a Pole!

*This posting is delayed because I am the reporter and the writer, and Polish people love to party.

August 28, 2013

With my need to get more dry suit experience, at least experience where my dry suit actually stays dry inside, I opted for yet another exiting dive at Veteran’s Park.

I was happy to see the famous Polish Diver Mirek, who dove at the South Pole in 2006.

I was able to confirm that my level of speaking in Polish could be graded as “horrible,” but, as Mirek said, “They will like you because at least you are trying to speak the language.”

Mirek also said, “It’s much easier to learn Polish when you are in Poland.”

I waxed my zippers, geared up and had someone verify that my zippers were completely zipped; I also closed my pee valve.

Others were waiting for dark; I had to work early the next morning, so I took off solo.

I made it through the surface chop and descended in 20 feet of water.

I could tell this was going to be a dry dive when I felt the dry suit squeeze and not water leaking in.

Logged SCUBA Dive #443

Solo Diving
Veterans Park, Redondo Beach, California, USA

In With: 2900 psi
Out With: 700 psi
Max depth: 85 feet
Waves: Pretty flat with rollers at the surf zone
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Water Temperature: 55 degrees at depth, 68 at the surface
Air Temperature: 80 degrees
Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes or so

I went West; visibility above the canyon was 10 feet, and once I headed down the canyon, it opened up to 15 feet.

I actually enjoyed this dive, it seemed to go well, and I just took it slowly – lots of shrimp, yellow crab and I came across a big patch of squid eggs.

I didn’t take my camera, I wanted to concentrate on my dry suit abilities, or at least getting better at them.

I turned around at 85 feet and at 60 feet, I went North for a bit.

When I got down to 1200 psi, I headed in.

I waited in the surf zone for some waves to pass by before making my mad dash to shore.

No waves; I was determined not to fall.

Then, there’s that convenient sand step at Vets… the sand slipped from under my feet, and I fell down.

Fuck!

I crawled a bit before getting on my feet.

Dan from Divevets later remarked, “I saw your exit, you’re getting really good at crawling in that dry suit.”

I saw a diving couple that has been MIA for a couple of years – Ken and Veronica.

They quit drinking and started skiing and other macho activities.

Ken lost 80 pounds and remarked he has a lot more money now; they both looked good.

I debriefed with a couple beers before heading home to the ghetto.