9 May - Scuba Dives and Hancock's of Paducah

9 May
I am going to start with what we did in the afternoon involving one of Doreen's passions - sewing and quilting.  Then we will finish up with info and pictures on what I did in the morning and one of my passions - scuba diving, and many pictures from under water.

The Fabric Store:
This afternoon Doreen and I drove down to Paducah KY to visit a huge fabric store called Hancock's of Paducah.  This picture does not do it justice.

This place is overwhelming to say the least!  For anyone who sews, quilts, etc you likely already know about this place.   Row after row after row after row of fabric.

Any color, pattern and type that you can think of and they have it.  They use odd terms too, such as "fat quarters", "jelly rolls", (ha, ha!).   Doreen said it is so overwhelming that you almost need a game plan before you go in there, kind of like me walking into a tool store!  She did find some fabric she needed for a quilting she is working on.  

Scuba Diving:
Today was my first scuba diving at Mermet Springs, and it was great, for Midwest diving.  My dive leader is Dave, a pharmacist from Paducah KY.  He has been diving for many years.  I was a little slow to get geared up, but just like riding a bicycle and all went well.  They have a nice covered area to suit-up with tables and plenty of area to spread out your gear:

The first dive was deliberately a bit shallower and slower.  We spent some time making sure our weighting was correct and buoyancy was good.

57 ft max depth and total dive time was 61 minutes.  Minimum bottom temp was 42 degrees, but stayed nice and warm in my DUI dry suit.  Here is approximately where we went:

The sights we saw included the school bus, motorcycle, petting zoo (concrete animals), and a Cessna aircraft.  

Divers have to spend some time on the surface before diving again so we can off-gas nitrogen from our bloodstream.  We call this SIT  (surface interval time).  The length of time is based on several factors but primarily how deep you dived and for how long.  So Dave, Doreen and I had a great talk about scuba diving and various other things to include how to get to the Hancock's of Paducah fabric store for later in the day!

Dive 2 involved a deeper dive (stats still in my dive computer), but we visited the mail truck, cabin cruiser, 2-man submarine, train car, fire truck, ambulance and ultimately the Boeing 727 aircraft (fuselage only).  We returned and did a slow ascent up the wall and then fed fish.  Tomorrow we do two more dives and I am looking forward to so more bottom time!

Here are some pictures from Dave's GoPro camera:

Cabin Cruiser

My dive leader, Dave and I

2-Man sub

Reference to Rose Hulman College 

Sub from above

Fire truck

Ed sitting on front bumper

Ambulance

Defibrillator paddles in ambulance

Cockpit of Boeing 727 aircraft

Cabin area of 727

Nose of 727

Engine controls

Seatasea decal (Cedar Rapids Iowa dive shop

Boat

Boat steering wheel

Feeding the fish

Doreen waiting for us on the dock