The Scuba Tank remembered
5 views
Skip to first unread message
Josh
Sep 15, 2010, 10:32:51 PM9/15/10
to Juneau Divers
I got an email today from Dave announcing the end of The Scuba Tank in
its present form. While I've watched Dave wrestle with this for the
last 2ish years I always kept the hope he'd keep it going because it's
always been MY local dive shop. Been thinking a lot about good times
I've had there and with Dave over the last few years and the impact
he's made on me. Heck he changed what I want done with my remains
after I die but anyway thought I'd share part of a story I wrote a
while back and maybe look forward to hearing some of your guys'
stories sense a lot of you have been with the shop, Dave and Carleen
longer than me.
Dave good luck and have a great time with your family!!! Look forward
to diving with you again as soon as I've got the chance.
Josh
Spring 2006 was a great time for me because I was fresh back from
my first trip to Iraq and had been able to save enough money to pursue
scuba diving for real. I had grown up watching Jacques Coutsto and
always loved the water but when I got my open water cert in 2003 I had
no money for gear, or air for that matter, to continue dive. I loved
it but could never afford it; so now after eating dust for a year it
was time to reward myself with a full on dive kit and some more
lessons so I could be a “good” diver. I’ll never forget my first day
at the local dive shop where after pretty much refusing to sell me
anything I hadn’t test dove, with money burning a hole in my pocket,
the owners wife started telling me stories of the local wrecks and how
her husband went down to depths over 200’ to look at some of the
wrecks. I thought “Wow, that’s crazy, that’s how people die scuba
diving, never catch me doing something sooo stupid as to be in a wreck
let alone more than 200’ down, just plain crazy talk.” I signed up for
a drysuit class and arranged to come back to talk to the boss man
about gear selection for the local environment.
Fast forward to spring 2010 I’m cruising along behind my scooter,
several AL 80s clank together occasionally from their sidemounted
position, the back-up scooter is riding off my butt d-ring, the heads
up display is telling me what gas the rEvo on my back is giving me,
and I’m approaching the end of the line on the downstream end of
Eagles Nest cave system. A quick check about 700’ of penetration ago
said the depth was 283’. I give a little giggle thinking back to my
first open water class and the explicit warnings of never entering any
type of overhead environment and never exceeding 60’. I don’t even
know how I got here, I just wanted to be a “good” diver who other
divers would be willing to invite out on crab gathering trips or dives
to look at little fishes.
I guess I really made two critical mistakes in my desire to be a
“good” diver. First; Dave Mitchell the owner of my then LDS was chosen
as my instructor, because I lived in a small town in Alaska I had few
choices so I was a victim of circumstance there. Second; Mel Clark, I
haven’t come up with a good excuse for that mistake but I’m working on
it.
Dave was perfect, I came back one day prior the start of my
drysuit class and talked with him about my plan. At that time all I
wanted in the whole world was to be a dive master because they know
what’s up with diving and they’re all great divers. Dave said maybe
30 words that first night. I’m sure having seen people with my
enthusiasm start and quit many times he was trying to take the high
road and not steal all my money before I even dove in the local 36
degree water. I think he finally started talking to me outside of
class after I finished my rescue class. One day Dave offered to let me
tag along on a trip to a local wreck the Princess Kathleen. By this
time I had all my own gear diving pretty much a DIR system minus
canister light (those things cost too much). Dave and his buddy were
diving doubles and I was an air hog so Dave offered to let me sling an
AL 80 as long as I stayed within my computers no deco limits. I
instantly said yes because as all aspiring “good” divers know it’s
pretty sexy to have a bottle slung. From that dive on my thoughts
changed. Sure I still did the DM thing, because I had already paid for
that class, but I had a new goal I had to dive a set of doubles.
About the time I took my advanced nitrox and deco procedures
course Dave started diving a KISS. My first thought was “wow, that’s
crazy, that’s how people die diving, never catch me doing something
sooo stupid as to dive a rebreather, those things kill you.” Dave and
I got to be pretty good dive buddies, I hit his KISS with a rock when
the cells weren’t reading right or whenever he gave the “hit it”
signal while we did a lot of diving in the wrecks and on anything that
looked cool on the charts. Dave finally got his trimix instructor
cert and just to be a well rounded “good” diver I signed up as his
first student. Class went great then we did a real dive on mix and
compared my OC gas bill to his CCR gas bill. Considering up to this
point I’d been his divemaster and hadn’t paid much for trips, gear
etc. that $100 gas bill for O2 and Helium was a heck of a wakeup call
then a point of frustration when his gas bill was like $5. Maybe I
needed to look into rebreathers just so I’m a well informed “good”
diver.
Well round two in Iraq happened. Got to save some more money so
figured I could start loading up on doubles and stages or I could
think about a rebreather. I guess they aren’t sooo bad. Dave
recommended the KISS or a fairly new unit the rEvo. Having never been
led astray by Dave thus far I did my homework and liked the idea of
the rEvo, seemed like less stuff for me to mess up.
Well that's history I guess as far as Dave's part of the story
goes. Hope to hear yours.
its present form. While I've watched Dave wrestle with this for the
last 2ish years I always kept the hope he'd keep it going because it's
always been MY local dive shop. Been thinking a lot about good times
I've had there and with Dave over the last few years and the impact
he's made on me. Heck he changed what I want done with my remains
after I die but anyway thought I'd share part of a story I wrote a
while back and maybe look forward to hearing some of your guys'
stories sense a lot of you have been with the shop, Dave and Carleen
longer than me.
Dave good luck and have a great time with your family!!! Look forward
to diving with you again as soon as I've got the chance.
Josh
Spring 2006 was a great time for me because I was fresh back from
my first trip to Iraq and had been able to save enough money to pursue
scuba diving for real. I had grown up watching Jacques Coutsto and
always loved the water but when I got my open water cert in 2003 I had
no money for gear, or air for that matter, to continue dive. I loved
it but could never afford it; so now after eating dust for a year it
was time to reward myself with a full on dive kit and some more
lessons so I could be a “good” diver. I’ll never forget my first day
at the local dive shop where after pretty much refusing to sell me
anything I hadn’t test dove, with money burning a hole in my pocket,
the owners wife started telling me stories of the local wrecks and how
her husband went down to depths over 200’ to look at some of the
wrecks. I thought “Wow, that’s crazy, that’s how people die scuba
diving, never catch me doing something sooo stupid as to be in a wreck
let alone more than 200’ down, just plain crazy talk.” I signed up for
a drysuit class and arranged to come back to talk to the boss man
about gear selection for the local environment.
Fast forward to spring 2010 I’m cruising along behind my scooter,
several AL 80s clank together occasionally from their sidemounted
position, the back-up scooter is riding off my butt d-ring, the heads
up display is telling me what gas the rEvo on my back is giving me,
and I’m approaching the end of the line on the downstream end of
Eagles Nest cave system. A quick check about 700’ of penetration ago
said the depth was 283’. I give a little giggle thinking back to my
first open water class and the explicit warnings of never entering any
type of overhead environment and never exceeding 60’. I don’t even
know how I got here, I just wanted to be a “good” diver who other
divers would be willing to invite out on crab gathering trips or dives
to look at little fishes.
I guess I really made two critical mistakes in my desire to be a
“good” diver. First; Dave Mitchell the owner of my then LDS was chosen
as my instructor, because I lived in a small town in Alaska I had few
choices so I was a victim of circumstance there. Second; Mel Clark, I
haven’t come up with a good excuse for that mistake but I’m working on
it.
Dave was perfect, I came back one day prior the start of my
drysuit class and talked with him about my plan. At that time all I
wanted in the whole world was to be a dive master because they know
what’s up with diving and they’re all great divers. Dave said maybe
30 words that first night. I’m sure having seen people with my
enthusiasm start and quit many times he was trying to take the high
road and not steal all my money before I even dove in the local 36
degree water. I think he finally started talking to me outside of
class after I finished my rescue class. One day Dave offered to let me
tag along on a trip to a local wreck the Princess Kathleen. By this
time I had all my own gear diving pretty much a DIR system minus
canister light (those things cost too much). Dave and his buddy were
diving doubles and I was an air hog so Dave offered to let me sling an
AL 80 as long as I stayed within my computers no deco limits. I
instantly said yes because as all aspiring “good” divers know it’s
pretty sexy to have a bottle slung. From that dive on my thoughts
changed. Sure I still did the DM thing, because I had already paid for
that class, but I had a new goal I had to dive a set of doubles.
About the time I took my advanced nitrox and deco procedures
course Dave started diving a KISS. My first thought was “wow, that’s
crazy, that’s how people die diving, never catch me doing something
sooo stupid as to dive a rebreather, those things kill you.” Dave and
I got to be pretty good dive buddies, I hit his KISS with a rock when
the cells weren’t reading right or whenever he gave the “hit it”
signal while we did a lot of diving in the wrecks and on anything that
looked cool on the charts. Dave finally got his trimix instructor
cert and just to be a well rounded “good” diver I signed up as his
first student. Class went great then we did a real dive on mix and
compared my OC gas bill to his CCR gas bill. Considering up to this
point I’d been his divemaster and hadn’t paid much for trips, gear
etc. that $100 gas bill for O2 and Helium was a heck of a wakeup call
then a point of frustration when his gas bill was like $5. Maybe I
needed to look into rebreathers just so I’m a well informed “good”
diver.
Well round two in Iraq happened. Got to save some more money so
figured I could start loading up on doubles and stages or I could
think about a rebreather. I guess they aren’t sooo bad. Dave
recommended the KISS or a fairly new unit the rEvo. Having never been
led astray by Dave thus far I did my homework and liked the idea of
the rEvo, seemed like less stuff for me to mess up.
Well that's history I guess as far as Dave's part of the story
goes. Hope to hear yours.
Dave Mitchell
Sep 16, 2010, 10:55:35 PM9/16/10
to scuba...@googlegroups.com
Aw shucks man you gonna make this grumpy old guy testy eyed! I'm not going anywhere well still be diving. Heck if nothing else I might finally get to take a cave course!
Dave Mitchell
The Scuba Tank
(907) 723-3740 cell
Sent from my iPhone
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Juneau Divers" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> scubajuneau...@googlegroups.com
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/scubajuneau?hl=en
ag...@gci.net
Sep 17, 2010, 2:19:47 AM9/17/10
to scuba...@googlegroups.com
And become a pleasure diver!! It's the best!!
Dave Mitchell
Sep 17, 2010, 1:28:23 PM9/17/10
to scuba...@googlegroups.com
Diving is always a pleasure! I admit teaching is/was work but I've met some really cool people, made great friends and generally had a good time.
I am looking forward to having time to do some serious dives though. There are alot of sites I have on my radar that have never been explored!
Dave Mitchell
The Scuba Tank
(907) 723-3740 cell
Sent from my iPhone
David Seng
Sep 17, 2010, 2:05:36 PM9/17/10
to scuba...@googlegroups.com
This sounds better - Josh's write-up almost sounded like Dave's eulogy!Dave
"Everyone Goes Home"
"Everyone Goes Home"
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages