| Think back to the type of scuba diving you did during | | | | appeal for them. |
| your early years of certification. How do those | | | | This year our March dive joins the list of "it ain't |
| activities compare to diving habits you have today? | | | | happening." |
| Looking through my dive log recently, I noticed that I | | | | I don't mourn the loss of a March quarry dive. I too |
| dove year-round in my younger years of scuba | | | | feel the cold penetrating deeper than I'm comfortable |
| diving. Depending on where you are perhaps you | | | | with when I jump into water that, though not at |
| think diving 12-months a year is standard operating | | | | freezing temperature, is cold enough to set my upper |
| procedure. | | | | and lower teeth slamming at each other almost hard |
| But I live in Indiana, and the water here gets cold | | | | enough to make me spit enamel chips. |
| beginning in November, and it doesn't warm | | | | I much prefer warm blue water diving these days. |
| noticeably until late May or early June. | | | | That December dive presented me with the coldest |
| We either dive in cold water during those winter | | | | water temperature I recorded on a dive. My |
| months - or we head south. And a person pursuing a | | | | maximum depth was 20-feet, and I dove in |
| career doesn't have much vacation opportunity for | | | | 37-degree water temperature at that depth. The |
| too many scuba trips to warmer waters. | | | | temperature at the surface was the same, and back |
| The coldest dive I found in my logbook happened on | | | | then I suffered more going into the water than I did |
| a December day in a stone quarry at Hidden Paradise | | | | staying in. |
| Campground, located just outside the town of St. | | | | Coming out of the water I near ran to the campfire |
| Paul, Indiana. That particular pond doesn't get deeper | | | | one of the members had blazing for warmth. |
| than thirty feet, but the rock walls pull the water | | | | I never braved a January dive, which always involved |
| temperature downward in cold weather months. | | | | cutting a hole in the ice, and I don't see any entries in |
| The date of this dive was December 17, 1995, and | | | | my logbook for February, but once (for a few years) |
| one part of my log entry reaches out at my eyes | | | | I dove 10-months a year in the cold waters of |
| just like highlighted words (they aren't). It's just a | | | | Indiana, and nearby states. |
| small statement, and it says, "Fingers got cold." | | | | As I look back on those diving activities I wonder |
| Around here the water normally keeps its warmth | | | | how I made those cold dives. Nobody ever accused |
| until mid-November, and cools quickly after that. That | | | | me of having much sanity. |
| never bothered me until recently, but these days I | | | | Now if I think about diving between October and |
| shy away from diving after October. | | | | March my thoughts include tropical islands. I never |
| My scuba club is nearing 50-years of existence, and | | | | made a dive I didn't truly enjoy, but the pleasure |
| when I joined, the club held a local dive every month, | | | | doesn't start until after I'm wet and deep. And each |
| 12-months a year. The last few years diving | | | | winter I find it harder to strap on the scuba gear, |
| scheduled for December, January, and February just | | | | and drag myself to the cold water's edge. |
| went away. Most of the members are old enough | | | | Interesting how our scuba habits change over the |
| now that jumping into cold water doesn't hold much | | | | years. |