No boundary line at Cove 2

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LCF
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No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by LCF »

Anybody planning on diving there or teaching there for the next couple of weeks should be aware that the last buoy is gone, and the rope along the bottom is gone down to below OW class depth. Tomorrow I think we'll be pulling it out even deeper. It will be a while before it's completely reconstructed.

Also be aware that, due to the construction going on on the restaurant building, parking is EXTREMELY limited.
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fmerkel
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by fmerkel »

Thank you LCF for your help today and for the lunch run, both were needed and MUCH appreciated.

We got a LOT of work done today in spite of some obstacles. Viz was plain old awful and that was before our work made it almost negative. You know it's bad when you can't read your gauges with a light in front of your face, so your compass is almost worthless, you've pulled the boundary rope all the way to 80' so can't follow it back up, and you've just gone into deco.... :BDub:
The day revealed those were the problems that seemed straightforward. There were more daunting ones, not in the water it turned out. The street was mostly parked out when we arrived and the dock was completely full. There were almost 2 dozen fisherman on the dock along with restaurant workers-parking was nasty. That created our first challenge, just getting to the workplace to unload all the gear. As fisherman slowly left we all finally got spaces, then we fretted about the 2 hour parking issues with no where to move to when our time wore out.

The first crew of Marker Buoys entered the water. Randy had a 55 gal. drum and a plan to move the big anchors. I joined with fellow Marker Buoy Kimber Chard, and with Joyce Merkel in tow acting as work photographer we dropped on the single remaining buoy to start pulling line. Rich Moore, Jim Pappin and Drew Collins assisted and pulled line in other sectors. Talk about a major silt-fest. Almost the whole job is done by braille. Turns out the key tools were Rich's hacksaw, my Titanium dive knife with a serrated blade to cut line, zip-ties, and rope. Next in value was a large goodie bags to stuff garbage in to. Not to be underestimated is the ability to work calmly in a complete mess.

At the end of the first tank LCF showed up and wanted to know what to do. I admire anyone that just wants to do anything necessary to get the job done. At that point were were dragging rope and garbage up the beach, trying to figure if we were getting out of gear, or going right back in, and finally fretting about getting tickets. She pitched right in, cleaned and coiled rope and then went out for burgers. It was getting hot so we ditched our gear. Finally the parking police showed up. Randy, the only one still in dive gear, immediately struck up a conversation. In a couple minutes we were all in the clear. That turned out to be one of the bigger obstacles hanging over us. Randy is making some dash notices that will temporarily clear us of the 2 hour limit.
LCF returned with some well received grub. I couldn't believe how hungry I was. After some food and swapping tanks out we were ready for round 2.

Jim and LCF had to leave. Kimber and I headed deep to pull more rope, Joyce and Rich went after shallow rope he had found imbedded in the bottom. Randy and Drew went to move move anchors. Kimber and I pulled rope until we went into deco. Randy had the misfortune of having one fisherman doing the berserk dance on the dock yelling at him for being 'inside the legal boundary' and simply would not listen to Randy's explanation. :angry:
Out of the water and still in the dry suit I figured it was just a simple misunderstanding and went out on the dock to explain our purpose and mission to the fisherman. Well, turns out this one guy is a semi-nutcase and went berserk on me also. :nutty:
I guess Randy and I are going to be turned in to City Parks, the Police, the Harbor Patrol plus OSHA, with pictures and video sent to King-5 for proof of our transgressions. If you see us, record a clip please.... :)

There are a LOT of bricks to move. :eek: We're thinking a big pile just west and deeper thank the slag pile in the middle of the cove. A small lift bag, or a big one to move several bricks will be required. People with the skills, and plenty of air can continue to clean up the deep line-pull those old juice jugs too.
More buoy anchors need to be moved (big job) to the new line. Tomorrow we'll put in some temporary surface markers. There is a new boundary line but it is limited in scope, more of a surveyors line for the work party.

Folks, "this ain't no party, this ain't now disco, this ain't no fooling around". This is fun work, but is serious business with potentially nasty outcomes and guaranteed difficult diving conditions. You should be fully prepared for absolute silt-out conditions, solo diving, entanglement....entanglement.....entanglement (do I make myself clear?!?!), and self rescue. If that doesn't put you off, come on down and join in on the fun. You'll be doing a service for the dive community and making a better, safer Cove 2. :supz: :joshsmith: :angelblue:

Fritz Merkel
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LCF
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by LCF »

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that you guys went in for a second dive. I could have stayed -- I left because I'd gotten the impression that no one was going to dive again.

I'll be there tomorrow.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
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LCF
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by LCF »

There is now a temporary boundary line, at least down to 70'. It's quite visible, and has five small, temporary floats which are visible on the surface. This will help divers stay out of the "forbidden zone" around the water taxi, but none of this is sturdy enough to tolerate being pulled on or used for descent lines, so please continue to stay away from the boundary line area, until the heavier, permanent lines and buoys can be installed.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
Jeff2Dive
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by Jeff2Dive »

fmerkel wrote:Randy had the misfortune of having one fisherman doing the berserk dance on the dock yelling at him for being 'inside the legal boundary' and simply would not listen to Randy's explanation. :angry:
Out of the water and still in the dry suit I figured it was just a simple misunderstanding and went out on the dock to explain our purpose and mission to the fisherman. Well, turns out this one guy is a semi-nutcase and went berserk on me also. :nutty:
Fritz Merkel
President - Marker Buoy Dive Club

:boxer: I think at that point I would have called the police.

I deff know what the silt out looks like there, found that out on my deep water dive class. I think everyone except the instructor and me were kicking the bottom. Thanks for all the hard work, you guys are awsome. :goodpost:
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fmerkel
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by fmerkel »

OK, berserk was maybe a bit of an exaggeration. It's just no fun being yelled at when you've just spent some hard hours, in miserable conditions underwater trying to do a good thing.
He just kept yelling and accusing the divers of being out of bounds. He absolutely refused to have a reasonable and quiet exchange. I admit I didn't see that kind of response coming. I expect most people to mostly be decent most of the time if approached respectfully.
Technically I don't think Randy actually was inside at that point, at least he wasn't when I saw him. The fisherman (I never did see a pole, only a camera) didn't have any references to back him up anyway, we had removed them all. :angelblue:
There was a dive flag and Randy was inside of that but the flag was almost mid-cove, no where near the boundary.

It turns out he did 'turn us in'. Bill Dougherty, our contact at Parks, was called by a co-worker that was contacted by the guy. He came out to see what the situation was. I think this turned out as a good interchange. Bill got to meet Randy, see more of the team, and get a personal look at the work being done. This is all brand new to him, which has been part of the delay. He got the job dumped on him when Kathy Whitman, our historically contact, took a medical leave for her husband's accident.

If it had escalated more then maybe the police might have been required. Otherwise I think it probably just causes more polarization. To my knowledge the tension between the fisherman and the divers seems to be way down. I haven't heard any reports in a long time anyway. One benefit of the new Taxi dock is it does create a positive barrier between the 2 groups as long as no one comes up under the fishing dock.
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Jeff2Dive
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by Jeff2Dive »

Thas good to hear. So is the ferry moving? I didnt even know about the construction or whatever is happening down there.
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LCF
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by LCF »

No -- the ferry dock was reconstructed a couple of years ago. In the process, the preexisting boundary line was heavily damaged. This year's project is to repair and remake it, and Randy's plan will end up with a better system than what we had before.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
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diverden
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by diverden »

FWIW I think the cove 3 side of the boundary line was dislocated AFTER the water taxi construction. Our guess was it was snagged by an anchor and dragged deep.
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by diverden »

fmerkel wrote: ...
Randy had the misfortune of having one fisherman doing the berserk dance on the dock yelling at him for being 'inside the legal boundary' and simply would not listen to Randy's explanation. :angry:
Out of the water and still in the dry suit I figured it was just a simple misunderstanding and went out on the dock to explain our purpose and mission to the fisherman. Well, turns out this one guy is a semi-nutcase and went berserk on me also. :nutty:
I guess Randy and I are going to be turned in to City Parks, the Police, the Harbor Patrol plus OSHA, with pictures and video sent to King-5 for proof of our transgressions. If you see us, record a clip please.... :)
...
I was gearing up on the seawall/sidewalk when someone came over to chat and I thought it was someone coming by to talk about octopus. Nope. Our off-his-meds fisherman friend started telling us that he saw some divers in the no dive zone and that he was working to expand the the fishing zone to all of the coves. At that point I said, "Well, I'm an instructor and this is my brother and he's going on his second dive today. We're going to go in and swim to the right... we're not going anywhere near there." At which point he started going manic and pulled his camera out saying that he has documented evidence and that we should "get the word out" at which point I said "Uh, OK... nice talking to you" and turned my back to him to continue gearing up as he went off cackling about how this has always been a fishing pier and some such. I'm guessing this has to be the same guy that was helping you guys and other divers be safe. So, consider the word out!

With this and the octopus incident my brother, who's visiting from Chicago and learning how to dive, turned to me and said "what the hell is wrong with people in Seattle?" :nutty: :)
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kitsapdiver
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by kitsapdiver »

Well it's probably certainly worth noting that the spot-light is on us a little bit as divers in Cove 2 right now. I think the GPO work that is being done is a great compromise with fisherman, however we do need to remember that we share this area with fisherman.

OTOH, I always dive along the boundary line to get to the dolphins, or whever it may be, and I have no control over where my bubbles go after the leave me! Hopefully if we show good stewardship otherwise the fishing community will trust our stewardship below the water too.
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fmerkel
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by fmerkel »

So he's still around (see explanation above).

Even the other fisherman think the guy is nuts. He's not doing them any good either.

I encourage divers to NOT engage him. It won't do any good at all and may turn badly if allowed to escalate, which would be very easy with this guy. Pass the word.

Maybe someone needs to photo him and post it as a warning?

Fritz
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Post by Grateful Diver »

fmerkel wrote:Maybe someone needs to photo him and post it as a warning?
... or do something more pleasant, like sit on a hot BBQ grill ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Threats and ultimatums are never the best answer. Public humiliation via Photoshop is always better - airsix

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fmerkel
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by fmerkel »

Yep....that's why I posted that suggestion as a question. :)
Seems trying to do 'good' hasn't done you any favors. :penelope:

OTOH, I think you are very aware that some real good seems to be coming out of this.
For that, I salute you!! :joshsmith: :supz:
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diverden
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by diverden »

Yeah, this this particular nut job, I would definitely not recommend not engaging... say whatever you need to say to end the conversation. Unless irrational conversation is your thing ;-)
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Re: No boundary line at Cove 2

Post by BlowBubbles »

Wonder if he has a rant going on a fishing forum, about those evil, inconsiderate divers, and that they should band together and close cove 2 to diving.

Probably not.
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