My report of the Palooza/FII Level 1:
I got to Wazee Lake on Wednesday July 14th with my Kids and girlfriend. I wanted to make sure I spent some time with them as I figured I would be busy a good portion of the Time Friday/Saturday Diving. Wednesday we basically set up camp, ran to the store for food for the week, made supper and hung out by the campfire. Of course we went to THE WALL edge to check out the lake. It was SUPER CLEAR and Very BLUE. We made some smores (which my GF is probably the best at making these). It was a very nice night to be camping.
Thursday started to cloud up. I had seen in a forecast that there was a chance of Rain, so, We had breakfast and took the Kayaks down to the lake. Our intention was to just kayak from THE WALL over to Sherwood Forest. We ended up Kayaking the entire Lake, including into the Beach Area. The vis was great all along the lake. We could see the Platforms at 25ft. We also spotted several Loons and a Big Bald Eagle. There weren't many people staying at the Campsites - which I didn't think there would be as it was the middle of the week. We had sites 9 & 11 reserved and it was a very short trip to THE WALL access. The kids loved being able to see all the fish in the shallows and used up all their bait catching bluegills. WATERHAWK ("Buck") - showed up and set up his tent. We hung out till dinner (Brats) and then later went Crawfish catching with the kids- They loved it and eventually would pick them up.
FRIDAY - The day the PALOOZA was technically starting, People started showing up from all over. "STEVE" who I call "Missouri Steve" showed up from St. Louis, MO. Reason, his wife JUDi and their 2 dogs from Milwaukee and 1 of their SCUBA friends who I can't remember his name. It looked like it was about to rain and my kids wanted to go swimming. I decided "We're here to dive - lets get wet" and headed down to the water. Others followed and we checked out the fish Cribs just down from the WALL Access. This was a shallow area to dive and it was nice getting in some diving. I gave a few tips but nothing to serious as 2 of the 4 people taking the class the next day were there and I figured they would be learning a lot in the next day or so. I did not wear a wetsuit as the water Temp was 74 degrees. But I quickly found this to be a bad judgment call on my part when I hit the thermocline at about 23ft!! It was freaking Cold!! All I had on was my trunks and my 1mil Lycra HammerHead Shirt. A couple times diving down the WALL I tried to fight the cold and keep going to the bottom, but couldn't take it! Turned and decided to keep most of my dives above the thermocline. I got some good video of others diving including my oldest daughter Lilee diving to about 8ft. She is getting more and more comfortable with the water. It had started to rain lightly, which didn't matter because we were in the water. We spent about and hour or so in and then headed back to camp. Just after dinner Mark Lozano (FII Instructor) and 2 Assistant Instructors (Anne and Bo) showed up. I showed the Lake and discussed options for the FII Level 1 Class, that would be taking place Saturday/Sunday. Mark thought THE WALL was a great spot for the class. As it had a shallow area for Breath holds, a Deeper spot to work on the Safety portions and about 60ft from Shore a Deep spot with a buoy where they could do their line dives. The Instructors and other divers headed to their hotels as it was raining. It pretty much rained the rest of the night. We still had a campfire going every night. BIGTHREE and Randy showed up and set up their tents and we hung out under a 10x20 Canopy the rest of the night. I had fried up some Crappies I shot this Spring in Shore Lunch and it was quickly consumed. A few Bloody Mary's were also enjoyed that night! :friday
SATURDAY- Just as I was about to get up and start making breakfast- it started to Rain.....HARD. I heard the students shuffling around outside getting ready for the class to take place under the 10x20 Canopy. It pretty much Rained/Stormed during the classroom portion of the Level 1 Class until about noon-ish. Ben and Tass had showed up for the Palooza and it was decided that we- along with Reason would go Dive. It was of course why we were there. The rain had stopped shortly before we decided to get in the water. We headed over to the BEACH as a access and swam over to the area with the Fish Cribs and Platforms on the South end of the lake. Ben found a 'Sword in the Stone' and we checked out some pretty big Smallmouth Bass. Reason headed back (I believe to scuba) We then swam over to the Sherwood Forest. Tass headed back to the Beach to get his Family while Ben and I dove along the North end back to THE WALL. There were several spots with some huge, steep slabs of rock. The thermocline in the lake is awesome, it's very visible. We came across the Bald Eagle again - this time it didn't fly away and I was able to get some pics. We also saw some decent sized walleye and Bluegills on that side. It turned out to be nice weather for diving. We also came across a few scuba divers and of course gave them a few fly-by dives. Those of us that were diving headed back to the Camp while the FII Level 1 Students were preparing to head to the Water to work on safety and breathe ups/holds. I had planned to leave Saturday evening as I had to work on Sunday and couldn't get out of it. So, I decided to start packing up all the gear I had brought and take down the Canopy. I think everyone else went down to the water to Swim/fish or dive - but I could not confirm this. Thanks Ben for helping me with some of my take down and packing. My kids and GF were ready to leave, but I wanted to get down to the class and see how they were doing and get a few pics. I got down to the water just in time to see 'Buck' and 'Randy' go for their 3 min breath holds. Missouri Steve and BigTHREE just got done doing theirs and both were able to hit the 3 Minute mark. 'Buck' got close and I KNOW he can do at least 3mins. All these guys doubt me the night before when I told them they would be doing 3 mins. It's Technique fellas - Technique. Now you know exactly what I'm talking about. You also know WHY we don't tell people how to do it. There is a safety factor to consider.
I really didn't want to leave as Sunday's forecast looked to be great diving weather and I knew Fishstick22 was showing up later. It would of been great to dive another day. I'm very happy for the guys who were able to take the Class - It helps you, but it also helps me. Helps me, because I feel safer diving with you guys knowing, that if something happens to someone- you know what to do. You also know what NOT to do, so you aren't putting yourself in Jeopardy. I ultimately would like to see EVERYONE take at least the Level 1 class - It can only improve your diving abilities and make you a safer diver. It is worth every penny.
We also had a Give-Away table with product from HammerHead. I had put everyone's name on a piece of paper and passed on instructions to do a DRAWING. But it appears that the people who won the Shirts and things were people who were there at the time. So, that didn't quite work out as planned. Which is fine. I'm sure everything is still going to good use and those were some Awesome Shirts!.
All in all this is what we had:
21 people attend (People from WI, MN, MO, CA and D.C.)
14 were divers
2 dogs
74 degree surface temp
25'+ Vis
Thanks to everyone who attended this years RAIN-A-Palooza!! :friday It could of been better with nicer weather - but I still had a good time and we will do it every year. Also a HUGE Thank You to FII, Mark Lozano, Anne Bates and Bo Ong for making the Level 1 Class happen!!
