Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

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Grateful Diver
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Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

Well, I finally got a chance to dive the Warren car ... a dive I've been wanting to do ever since I first heard John Rawlings talk about it a few years ago. In fact, Randy will remember that when I signed up for his Advanced Nitrox class a couple years ago I told him that the reason I ventured into tech diving was so that I could do this dive.

I almost didn't get the chance ... by circumstance, the guys got the permit on the same week-end that Cheng and I were originally booked for Neah Bay (until the Mark V troubles cancelled that trip), and then she made plans for Winthrop. We booked out there Friday afternoon, and came back Saturday evening ... just in time for me to grab a few hours sleep, toss my gear in the car, and head out to Lake Crescent yesterday morning.

I hooked up with the team on a cold, blustery day ... felt more like April than a few days before August. The plan was for me, Bones, and Marc G to scooter out along the wall to the Warren car at 170 ... then drop down and continue east till we found the Steele car.

The rest of our group was going to put in a bit further east and kick down to the Steele car ... they didn't bring scooters.

We found the Warren car within about four minutes, and spent a little bit of time circling the car, checking out the little memorial plaque, and saying a brief prayer for the restful peace of the souls of the young couple who perished there. Then we were on our way ... heading out, and down.

The lake is renowned for outstanding vis, and it lived up to its reputation ... at 200 feet I didn't even really need a light to see where we were going. At one point the group split momentarily to avoid the upreaching branches of a large tree laying along the steep slope ... I went up, around, and down ... and in the excellent vis suddenly found myself at 211 feet with the other two guys looking down at me as if to say "where the hell are YOU going?". Oops ... banked back up the slope to join them at 200 and continue on our merry way.

Within a few moments we'd located the Steele car ... what looks like a '50's era car sitting on the slope at about 195. We spent the last of our bottom time swimming around it (and avoiding a couple more tree branches), till at last we'd reached the limit of our allotted time and needed to begin our ascent.

We used the scooters to head back west while slowly making our way up to our first stop at 140. At that point, we clipped off the scoots and made a hanging ascent ... following the slope up ... for the 25-minute ascent to our 20-foot stop. Once we'd made our final gas switch and tidied up a bit we unclipped the scoots and headed back along the contours of the slope toward our entry point.

I'd brought my camera down and clipped it off to the buoy line at 20 feet ... thinking that once we'd completed our deco I'd like to pass it around among the group so we could get some pics of each other on the scoots (taking advantage of the clear water, after all). Here's the result ...

Here's Marc ...

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Here's Bones ...

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... and here's me ...

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Altogether an awesome dive with a couple of great friends.
Last edited by Grateful Diver on Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jan K
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by Jan K »

Looks like the only chance to have blue water diving in PNW . Bob, you need good housing for your camera and take it down with you ... Nice report..
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by LCF »

Now, THAT looks (and sounds) like a PNW technical dive worth doing the work for!
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by Tom Nic »

Great report and great pics Bob. Thanks for telling the story, especially for those of us who most likely will never do a dive like that - we can enjoy it through your memories and words. =D>
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by BDub »

Awesome report, Bob. The Warren Car still remains one of my most memorable dives...such a history and story to it, great vis, and oh yeah, deco'ing in 65 degree water isn't bad either.

Now that we have scooters, I'd like to get back up there and do the Steele car as well. Dan and his buddies did it when we were there and I was very jealous.

Sounds like you had a great time!
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by Marc »

It was a blast
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by Romer Treece »

Looks like nice vis-fun fun!!

Oh, but it's Lake Crescent, Crescent Lake is in Oregon. :supz: :supz:
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Re: Crescent Lake ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

Romer Treece wrote:Looks like nice vis-fun fun!!

Oh, but it's Lake Crescent, Crescent Lake is in Oregon. :supz: :supz:
So it is ... edited the title of the OP ... thanks for the correction ...

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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Tangfish »

Great report and terrific photos! :supz:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Joshua Smith »

Cool pictures! Nice report, too. I dove the Warren car just about exactly a year ago, and it's one of my "top 5" dives of all time. I gotta get me a scoot and check out the Steele car as well as the Warren car next time, that would be cool!
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by BASSMAN »

Grateful Diver wrote:scooter out along the wall to the Warren car at 170 ... then drop down and continue east till we found the Steele car at 200 feet ...
suddenly found myself at 211 feet Oops ... banked back up the slope to join them at 200 and continue on our merry way.
Tell us about some serious Narcosis?

What does 211' feel like? :dontknow:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

BASSMAN wrote:
Grateful Diver wrote:scooter out along the wall to the Warren car at 170 ... then drop down and continue east till we found the Steele car at 200 feet ...
suddenly found myself at 211 feet Oops ... banked back up the slope to join them at 200 and continue on our merry way.
Tell us about some serious Narcosis?

What does 211' feel like? :dontknow:
On 18/45 it feels pretty darn clear-headed. It was more a case of excessive exhuberance and water clarity I'm totally not used to ... :bounce: #-o \:D/

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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Joshua Smith »

If anyone missed this, and wants to read more about the history of the Warren car, John posted his article about it over on Newsvine:

LINK

And Dan has info and video about his dives on the Steel car here:
LINK

And I feel compelled to note that permits are required to dive both cars, for anyone thinking about diving them-
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by boydski »

Hi Bob,

We dove the Steele Dodge wreck yesterday, and noticed that "Mike Adams" had tagged the back window of the car by writing his name in the silt. I was curious as to how recent this might be? Did you see the "graffiti" on the back window during your recent dive on the wreck?


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I personally don't think this type of thing is in any way "cool"... :evil4:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Marc »

can't remember if Bob saw it or not, but I know one of the other divers in his party did.
boydski wrote:Hi Bob,

We dove the Steele Dodge wreck yesterday, and noticed that "Mike Adams" had tagged the back window of the car by writing his name in the silt. I was curious as to how recent this might be? Did you see the "graffiti" on the back window during your recent dive on the wreck?


Image

I personally don't think this type of thing is in any way "cool"... :evil4:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

Yeah, I saw it ... dunno who Mike Adams is, but I do think he followed it up with an appropriate description of his actions ...

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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by boydski »

Grateful Diver wrote:Yeah, I saw it ... dunno who Mike Adams is, but I do think he followed it up with an appropriate description of his actions ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks Bob,

I believe Mike Adams is the manager of the Tacoma Underwater Sports store. :dontknow:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

boydski wrote:
Grateful Diver wrote:Yeah, I saw it ... dunno who Mike Adams is, but I do think he followed it up with an appropriate description of his actions ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks Bob,

I believe Mike Adams is the manager of the Tacoma Underwater Sports store. :dontknow:
Ah ... too bad. I like that guy (didn't know his last name), and somehow thought he would be more mature than that ...

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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by dsteding »

boydski wrote:
Thanks Bob,

I believe Mike Adams is the manager of the Tacoma Underwater Sports store. :dontknow:
Is UWS getting more into the technical diving world? Could explain some of the wacky stuff we are seeing.

This certainly makes me wonder if the same people with the same lack of respect are responsible for the damage to the Warren Car.
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Pez7378 »

dsteding wrote:
Is UWS getting more into the technical diving world? Could explain some of the wacky stuff we are seeing.
You mean like Bungied wings and such? :evil4:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Nwbrewer »

Grateful Diver wrote:
boydski wrote:
Grateful Diver wrote:Yeah, I saw it ... dunno who Mike Adams is, but I do think he followed it up with an appropriate description of his actions ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Thanks Bob,

I believe Mike Adams is the manager of the Tacoma Underwater Sports store. :dontknow:
Ah ... too bad. I like that guy (didn't know his last name), and somehow thought he would be more mature than that ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I don't know this guy, no affiliation to UWS anywhere, but Mike Adams is about as common a name as you can get. Anybody want to try and verify this before going on an UWS in the Technical diving world tangent?
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Tom Nic »

Nwbrewer wrote:I don't know this guy, no affiliation to UWS anywhere, but Mike Adams is about as common a name as you can get. Anybody want to try and verify this before going on an UWS in the Technical diving world tangent?
Ah... the voice of reason speaks. =D>
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by cardiver »

I didn't know you had to buy your gear from 5th D or NWSD to do "technical" diving. :dontknow:
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Sounder »

cardiver wrote:I didn't know you had to buy your gear from 5th D or NWSD to do "technical" diving. :dontknow:
Easy there... this hasn't traveled down that road, let's not steer it that way.

To clarify, I believe UWS has traditionally targeted recreational divers. It would be no different than is A-2-Z changed their target market from recreational divers to CCR. Just interesting to some since they've historically not been widely known to target... nothing more.
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Re: Lake Crescent ... outstanding ...

Post by Grateful Diver »

cardiver wrote:I didn't know you had to buy your gear from 5th D or NWSD to do "technical" diving. :dontknow:
You don't ...

... Tacoma Scuba sells tech gear too ... \:D/

But I don't think Doug was referring to gear when he said "wacky stuff" ... I suspect he was thinking more along the lines of divers stripping parts off the Warren car (which amounts to grave robbing), and leaving cave line strung all over a lot of wrecks (entanglement hazards for other divers) which a reasonably trained tech diver would never consider doing.

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