Lake Jocassee update

[krawlings]

Saturday was a great day to dive the ramp . there was hardly any one diving the ramp . We go to the ramp at around 8:15am . And there was only 1 pair of divers there and by the tie we hit the water a small group of students showed up . there was a lot of kayak boaters at the ramp . the viz at the forest was really good( as far as your light could shine) , viz around the 1st and 2nd platforms was poor around 10' to 12'
Sunday we ran our boat over to the wall and tied it up in the cove and set up our stuff on the beach area . Really nice . we did 2 good dives there 1st dive we did one long circuit around the area, we started close to the platform in the cove swam to the dungeon (2011 Halloween exhibit ) then to the junk around the junk (1 or 2 times ) then back to the dungeon , to the ski boat to the trench ba ck to the far end and back to our entry point. viz was 15' or so
2nd dive we stayed at 15' depth all the way around the wall to where we were strait across from our entry point and turned back. was a really good weekend for diving . Water is warm and the 50'+ water depth is warming really nice . for all you that didn't come out to dive for what ever reason . YOU REALLY MISSED OUT

 

[TonyW388]

Day 1:The weekend started out early Saturday morning @ 5 am with the loading of dive gear and hooking up the boat. We were head to the wonderful Lake Jocassee for the chance to get wet. Our first stop was to drop the boat at our Casa de Diver. We hit up the local fly trap for some morning grub and then set our sights for the dive ramps.

We arrived at the ramps to find it was practically empty of divers. (I was surprised by this because of the mild winter and the lake is abnormally warm for this time of the year.) We set up our gear and went over the plans for this dive. (My dive buddy and I headed for the trees while the others planned on playing in the shallows.)

Dive 1:
On the way down the ramp we had an ankle injury in our group. Determined to dive we got this persons(now named for the rest of the trip flounder) fin's on. We took a little test swim and I got the all clear from him and finally got my ears to clear so we headed for the trees. We arrived at the wing to a beautiful sight of the underwater forest. It was crystal clear down there. The trees towering over us and it was bright enough you really did not need a light. I hit 108' with a temperature of 52 degrees showing on my computer. As we came up, we did a few stops along the way and played in the shallows.

After an hour of land time we hit the water again. Some entertaining surface acts were going on though(a boat with a hookah system pulled up. I watched one diver go down with no fins on and the mask on their forehead, only to come up and complain they can't see or get down.)

Dive 2:
We got "flounders" fins on with minimal flopping on the surface. We hung out shallow this dive(it was a little warm here in my dry suit). We visited most of the underwater sites via the tangled lines of confusion. We practiced our hovering skills and chased a few cats around. The bass were out in full force this time too. Nice dive!

Part of our group packed up and head home for the day as they had evening plans. The rest of us finished our surface interval and decided to go to visit the trees for a brief minute again.

Dive 3:
Flounder, another buddy(who I now call plow), and myself headed for the trees. I had trouble clearing my ears so I sent flounder and plow on toward our goal. I finally cleared and followed behind. It was easy to find them because of the dust trail he(plow) left for me to follow. Plow was diving wet in a full 3 mil so we turned after a few minutes, when he gave us the I'm cold sign. I did several deep stops just for practice. I found them(flounder and plow) about the trampoline ring. We made this a short dive of 32 mins because we need fills and wanted some BBQ for supper.

We arrived at Casa de Diver for the evening and retired early because we had another early start coming. We planned on putting in the boat for a few dives the next day.

Day 2:Our first run out to the junk area beach required us to haul all the gear over first, as it is a smaller pontoon boat. I left flounder and plow there with the gear. I picked up four more people that was going to dive with us at the boat ramp.

Dive 4:
We(flounder and I) did the dungeon,ski boat, basketball goals, junk,trench,ski boat #2, and the tic tac toe board. Depth was 47' @68 degrees for a one hour dive time. The junks vis was awful thanks to a boat load of divers. Still it was a great dive. Plus I dove wet for the first time in 2012!

We did the beached whale routine for an hour as a surface interval.

Dive 5
We toured the side wall of the cove wall. We seen tons of fish, rocks, and mud. Some of the overhead outcroppings of the wall were pretty cool. I dunno about jump of the wall in 15 ' of water though from 30' + up the wall.

Great weekend of diving with great friends. It was lots of fun. I am ready to go back again.

 

[NCBusguy]

I went out with Lake Jocassee Dive Shop on Saturday morning, it was a great day of diving! My dive partner decided to do a trimix dive to 270' so I got paired up with a instabuddy. Let me tell you, the instabuddy turned out to be a fantastic dive partner! No matter where I went, every time I turned to look for her, she was there. I had 2 very enjoyable dives with a little time over the wall to below the thermocline. Like I said...a great day of diving!!

 

[krawlings]

I went out with Lake Jocassee Dive Shop on Saturday morning, it was a great day of diving! My dive partner decided to do a trimix dive to 270' so I got paired up with a instabuddy. Let me tell you, the instabuddy turned out to be a fantastic dive partner! No matter where I went, every time I turned to look for her, she was there. I had 2 very enjoyable dives with a little time over the wall to below the thermocline. Like I said...a great day of diving!!

How deep did you get Art ? I talked to Mike Sat. afternoon said his Trimix dive was great. Are you still diving dry or are you going wet ?

 

[FireInMyBones]

Sounds like it was a good weekend for diving. I'll be up there with BT for the Poker Dive on the 9th.

 

[NCBusguy]

Dove wet this time.....went down to 95'...a little chilly. The thermoclime was at 70' and the vis below the thermoclime was great! Jeremy, I'll be at the poker dive on the 9th as well, look forward to seeing you there!

 

[NCBusguy]

Went out and did the poker dive hosted by Bermuda Triangle Dive Shop in Greenville at the ramp today with Jeremy Robinson. The first dive, we ran the course to collect poker chips....and, mistakenly, golf balls that someone else set out for a nav class. Turned in the chips and got a Ace high nothing...oh well, there's always next year. Went out on the 2nd dive, started heading for the trees and hit the thermocline at 60'. Turned around at 70' because Jeremy didn't have a hood. Went along the cut back to the bones family when the vis turned really bad due to the poker dive and about 4 classes going on. Got to visit with Fireinmybones who was logging divers in and out for the poker dive. Even with the bad vis, it was a great day of diving!

 

[FireInMyBones]

After all the other divers from the event had pulled out, I suited up in a 3mil and my double Al80s. This was my first dive on my new HOG regs and with my new Liquivision Xen (both performed great!). It was my job to collect all the line and assist with retrieving the last two buckets of chips. About 45min into the dive the line I was coiling up was cut my someone in the muck. Viz where the line was cut was about 1 foot and it is my guess that someone had gotten caught and rather than pulling out, they cut the line.
Lowest temp was 70F @~50'.
No vertigo episode.

 

[jimmy71]

I did not know you could get your DM without AOW. Thought it was required.

 

[FireInMyBones]

Who has their DM without AOW? It is required.