| Scuba Diving Lake Superior |
| As I've stated on other pages I have taken various writing classes. One of my best stories is how Brett, Ron and I experienced Nitrogen Narcosis which is referred to as "Rapture of the Depths." It occurs when you go very deep. What happens for unknown reason is the nitrogen in your body acts like a drug. But for some the experience can be terrifying, almost psychotic, which happened to one of us. The following is a story I submitted in a writing class regarding the above. Ninety nine percent of the story is accurate as it happened. |
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| Scuba diving was a very intense part of my life. It was also when I began a serious interest in photography. Two Feathers and I spent a lot of time on the North Shores scuba diving and taking pictures. We would drive up on Friday night and stay at Ragsvold Sve's fish house. "Rags" had come from Norway and shoveled coal as a young man on the big ships in Lake Superior. He bought property on the shoreline before highway 61 had even been built. Eventually he and his wife built cabins for all the city folks willing to pay for the view. He never charged us anything to stay in the fish house but we would give him a "donation." I loved to listen to his stories of the lake and the North Shore. All the years I scuba dived in Lake Superior I never had any interest in the forests behind me but Rags would talk about the, "Good deer hunting out back." Eventually I would find Buck Mountain Chateau only a few miles away. I lost interest in the big lake and sold the "Pack Rat." A more accurate description might be I also became afraid of the big lake too. I don't know why. I suppose it's why unlike Two Feathers I want my ashes spread on dry land away from the lake, on top of Buck Mountain overlooking Lake Superior. |
| The Siren Call: The danger of Nitrogen Narcosis |
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| The "Pack Rat" Madeline Island Lake Superior The Pack Rat was small but it took anything Lake Superior threw at it |
| John sucking up the last of his tank after cave diving Devils Island |
| Devils Island all to ourselves |
| The Caves of Devil's Island Apostle Islands |
| Inside Devils Island caves |
| Inside looking out |
| North Side by Lighthouse |
| Note compass...crude but saved us in fog many times |
| The caves exist due to the tremendous beating the north exposure of the island gets. The water depth inside the caves ranged about 10 feet from what I remember. It would be interesting the see just what kind of pounding takes place inside the caves during a good storm. |
| Full Moon on Lake Superior close to the mouth of the Split Rock River |
| John and me doing salvage work raising a 100' dock |
| Two Feathers on our honeymoon Apostle Islands shallow water wreck diving |
I almost used the knife on my leg to cut the two fingers off my left hand.
It was that or drown. The lift barrels we're sitting on were sunk, cable
cinched to the dock, and inflated from the surface with a compressor.
One of the barrels hung up on me after partial inflation. I jerked on the
cable & it released, unfortunately, two fingers became caught between
the barrel and cable. I was low on air and John was on the surface
getting another tank. There was no way to communicate.
I was just about to use the knife when I gave one last jerk and was
freed. Like I say I was not going to drown.
It was that or drown. The lift barrels we're sitting on were sunk, cable
cinched to the dock, and inflated from the surface with a compressor.
One of the barrels hung up on me after partial inflation. I jerked on the
cable & it released, unfortunately, two fingers became caught between
the barrel and cable. I was low on air and John was on the surface
getting another tank. There was no way to communicate.
I was just about to use the knife when I gave one last jerk and was
freed. Like I say I was not going to drown.
| Ragsvold Sve Deceased many years now |
| Rag's cat Goldie & her only kitten That's all she had for some reason |
| Seagull and egg |
| Dry suit |
| Unusual rock face |
| John's boat the day we picked it up at the scrap yard It had been a lifeboat on a ship whose name I forget. It was the 1st time he had it in the water. I remember the feel to it...like we were in a giant cork that was unsinkable. |
| Wreck diving the Maderia |
| Liberty Two feathers and I knew the people that had built this. It was designed for scuba research on Lake Superior. It had a glass viewing port in the bottom. |
| Sve's dock and fish house |
| This is the dock we would take off from. The fish house is on the right . Everyone slept upstairs in a giant makeshift bunk room which had about twenty mattresses on the floor. You could hear the waves and once in awhile bed springs squeaking from couples that you wouldn't expect it from. Something about a new environment I guess. Suppose that's why bed and breakfast are so popular. Animals!! |
| Two feathers on the South Shore The big lake reminds her of the Res... that's why she loves it so much |
| This picture reminds me of a dive we made on the Hesper wreck by the Siver Bay Marina. After the dive we beached on the mainland for lunch. We found a small beach area that could only be reached by boat with high rock on all three sides. This rock was part of the back wall of the natural barrier and had a thick colored vein running through it. At the time I was fooling around taking this picture I becames aware one of the girls in the dive party was experiencing hypothermia from the dive. I remember the Frenchmen Jean Paul had to set her in front of him and bundle the both of them up and use his body heat. She had the shakes for a long time. We didn't leave until she was ready. |