Cold comfort – Snow and ice won’t keep these divers away
At noon on New Year’s Day, a group of about 10 of them gathered on the roadside near Holland State Park to decide if there was too much snow and ice to go for a dive.
“What have we got?” one asked.
“Chunks,” another said, as the group looked down at ice floes and slush floating in the channel.
“That’ll make it more exciting to get into,” a third person said.
The scuba divers were the only group to continue with the daring New Year’s Day activities on Thursday, Jan. 1. A group of water-skiers that usually ski on Ottawa County’s Pigeon Lake on New Year’s day called it quits after the lake froze over, and a group of die-hard surfers also decided not to try Lake Michigan due to ice.
And with the water temperature at 32 degrees, and visibility at about 4 inches, what’s the point in diving?
“Because we can,” said Matt Cummins, a Holland resident.
“We first say, ‘What’s your IQ,’ and then if it’s low enough, you can join us,” said Park Township’s Paul Kuiper.
The event was sponsored by Tim Marr of Advance Scuba & Paintball in Holland Township. Marr said the temperatures aren’t that bad for seasoned divers — on dives more than 300 feet below the surface, temperatures are near freezing even in the summer. All except one of the divers wore dry suits — water-tight rubber suits that zip up over layers of warm clothing.
“Some of these guys, when they get out, they’ll be sweating,” said Greg Johnson, of Norton Shores. Johnson and his wife, Karen, stayed out of the water but came along to cheer on their friends.
“I’m a fair-weather diver,” Karen Johnson said. “We came to give them moral support — and warm hugs.”
Most of the divers’ faces got cold, but Marr had a special mask that covered most of his face. He said he bought the mask to keep oil and gas from getting in his face and hair on salvage dives.
More than half of the divers gave up after their air regulators froze up — making their air tanks empty faster.
Holland resident Fitz Fitzgerald, was among the last to come up to the surface and leave the water.
“You don’t want to come up under a solid chunk (of ice)” Fitzgerald said. “That’s a concern.”
Diver spears himself in groin
Greg Robertson is recuperating in Nambour hospital after a sickening accident in which he speared himself in the groin area with a speargun at Coolum yesterday.
The drama unfolded off the rocks at Point Perry about 3.30pm when the 25 year old was pushed onto the speargun, which had been washed out of his hands by a wave.
The two metre long spear pierced his inside upper thigh, just millimetres from his genitals and femoral artery, and lodged several centimetres under the skin.
The first time spear fisherman had been enjoying a day at the beach with his girlfriend Jacinta Fisher and mates Casey Jensen and her fiance, who unscrewed the spear from the gun when the accident happened.
It remained lodged in place and sticking out from his body as paramedics gave pain relief and packed around the wound.
“A big wave knocked him into the rocks, he lost his spear and the spear rebounded off one of the rocks and got him right near the groin,” Casey said.
“The spear’s barbed on the end, so it’s locked in there. He got up and said ‘It’s in me, it’s in me!
“He’s ok now. He’s still conscious and talking.
“He’ll probably have a laugh about it in a week. We joked about it…we told them to not spear themselves and mistake themselves for a fish and then it actually happened.”
Brisbane holidaymakers Doug and Richard saw the accident happen and called triple 0.
“The girlfriend was holding him and we were all quite anxious because he was walking around the rocks and slipping and sliding with this spear hanging out and we’re yelling out, ‘Stop, don’t move, the ambulance is coming’,” Doug said.
Richard communicated with the two couples from the headland above.
“He seemed to be ok, but he was in shock,” he said.
“He was very close to being in real trouble.”
The Energex Community Rescue Helicopter dropped off two crew on the nearby rocks and then performed a winch rescue in front of hundreds of onlookers who had gathered for the spectacle.
Those who had stationed themselves right on the Point Perry lookout tower had the best view, as the chopper hovered right at their eyeline for the winch.
“The challenge for the crew was how to remove the two metre long spear to something that was manageable,” Energex crew member Dan King said.
“They stabilised the bit that was lodged in his leg and unscrewed the long pole so there was only six or seven inches sticking out.
“He certainly could have come off a lot worse than he did. Initially he did say that he thought he got washed into another rock, but when the wave drew back he realised, ‘Oh dear, there’s a big metal thing stuck in my leg’.
“Hopefully he’ll make a full recovery.
“And I asked him if he caught any fish and he didn’t. But if you are going to have one bump a year, you may as well get it out of the way of the first day of the year.”
Mr Robertson had surgery to remove the spear last night.
