Traditional New Years Eve day dive at Dutch Springs

Lenny C., Mike B. and John S.

For several years, I've done a single tank year end dive at Dutch Springs.  It has become a tradition that I hope continues for years to come.  The dive buddies may change over time, but the tradition continues.  This year I made the trek with John S. and Lenny C., both very competent divers.  We were all in drysuits, but I was the only one with dry gloves, and what a difference it made.  I did a last minute repair on a small slice in the right glove that made all the difference in the world.  Add hand and feet warmers, and I was toasty.

We hit the peninsula side and made our way to the platform at 25' to get acclimated.  Lenny lead the way with a mid-water swim to the crane by the island.  From there we made a right turn and went until we hit the edge of the hole and followed it a short distance until I could see the trolley come in to view.  This trolley was built in 1946 and ran in Kansas City until 1955 when it was sold to the Philadelphia Transit Company (which eventually became SEPTA).  This specific car was named SEPTA 2255 but its name was changed to "New Jersey" for the nations bicentennial. We spent a few minutes in and around the trolley and then turned back to the crane.  From there we followed the island until we saw the wooden crusier.  We followed the line from this boat to the Silver  Comet, which sits in about 50' of water.  The Silver Comet is a 50' metal pilot boat and was sunk at Dutch in 1994.  It was originally built and used for the Worlds Fair in New York City and subsequently ferried crews to their ships on the Delaware river near Philly. After a few minutes playing in and around the Silver Comet, we made our way up the line and back to the platform.  From there we went to the wall for our safety stop.

Total dive time was 35 minutes and we hit a max depth of about 60 feet.  Visibility was 30'-40', and the water temperature was a balmy 43 degrees. The peninsula side was fairly empty, and we only saw a couple other divers during our time in the water. The student side seemed to have more divers, but that was to be expected on such a pleasant day.  Nice way to end 2013.