Augusta, GA Diving - this weekend's review

[diveprof]

Saturday was the lake. We had wind all week. Vis was in the toilet - 3-4' temps 65 surf to 59 at 20'. We did two dives, but it was definitely not a great two dives.

Sunday - Bummed out about the lake we decided to give the river a shot. 4 of us planned to dive. As two were in 80's we did the 5th street boat ramp entry rather than adding the shipwreck. Looking down at the water, I thought - hmmm, looks like the lake vis. As Gomer Pyle would say -Surprise, surprise. We had 65 degree water and 6-8' (maybe more in spots) of vis and mucho fish life. Nice size stripers, bass, bluegill, carp, and two large turtles that were not intimidated and allowed us to spent a few with them. We entered at the boat ramp, headed under the hwy 1 bridge and moved to the old hamburg docks (lots of fish), cruised this for a while, then moved back to the boulders and trees of the GA side - mo' fish. We checked out the remains of the Hamburg Bridge, then moved mid-river to pick up speed (current was slow today), surfaced at the exit point. 91 minute dive... nice!

 

[Slonda828]

Three of my friends and I dove the river Saturday. We entered at the 5th st bridge , and drifted to the old marina. We recovered an entire Polo bag full of clothing and hygiene items from the river, and several cool glass bottles. We left the luggage at the old dock in case anybody was looking for it. I had no idea how slow moving that water is, and if you just let the drift take you it takes FOREVER to get to the old marina. We actually has to swim toward the end to ensure our gas plan was effective.

Visibility was 6-8', temperature was 66 degrees. I dove a 3mm farmer john and was nice and warm. Neptune rented us 4 AL80's, and told us that the river would be cold with bad visibility, and that nobody was diving it yet. Thankfully, that was not the case. It was only a 2 and a half hour drive from Savannah, and we all had a blast. We are going to do this more often, as for us it is a nice day dive without a trip to Florida or ridiculous boat fees.

Oh yeah, and I left my keys in my buddies car, so we had to walk to the other car. It's really not a bad walk on a beautiful day with your wetsuit tied around your waist!

 

[diveprof]

Three of my friends and I dove the river Saturday. We entered at the 5th st bridge , and drifted to the old marina. We recovered an entire Polo bag full of clothing and hygiene items from the river, and several cool glass bottles. We left the luggage at the old dock in case anybody was looking for it. I had no idea how slow moving that water is, and if you just let the drift take you it takes FOREVER to get to the old marina. We actually has to swim toward the end to ensure our gas plan was effective.

Visibility was 6-8', temperature was 66 degrees. I dove a 3mm farmer john and was nice and warm. Neptune rented us 4 AL80's, and told us that the river would be cold with bad visibility, and that nobody was diving it yet. Thankfully, that was not the case. It was only a 2 and a half hour drive from Savannah, and we all had a blast. We are going to do this more often, as for us it is a nice day dive without a trip to Florida or ridiculous boat fees.

Oh yeah, and I left my keys in my buddies car, so we had to walk to the other car. It's really not a bad walk on a beautiful day with your wetsuit tied around your waist!

Oh, we dive it, but it has been bad vis lately. I too was surprised with the vis today - pleasantly so. You are right, the current was slow today as well. We moved mid-river and up a few feet in the water column about 3/4 the way down to make the dive in accordance with our gas plan (fastest water is midriver and off the bottom in that section). We have one route we do that we do on steel 100s that takes us 2- 2 1/2 hours. you will swear you've missed two meals by the end of this dive . In the summer in periods of low rain the vis reaches 20' and temp remains in the mid 70's. This is really a great dive then. Hey, for us locals (with an air card $30/10 fills @ Neptune) it is a very cheap quality dive. The key thing, well it has happened before, though certainly not to me though (yeah right - and did I once leave my fins at home - all unsubstantiated rumor).

The N. Augusta boat landing upriver also is a great dive with marine life and an old "dump" that was pushed into the river on the GA side (head straight across the river to slightly below on the Ga side from the SC boat ramp). Think doing a rectangle here - swim across, head upstream until your are at 1/2 gas supply, move back to the SC side and drift back to the boat ramp (do not miss the boat ramp). The river is different here as it is in the fall line - large slabs of rocks/boulders, max depth about 15-18', marine life (more so on the SC side - look for the freshwater eels and catfish).

Our lake, another 30 min drive north of the river, is also a great dive in the summer. We have an airplane, ski boat, a couple of nice walls... Vis has been poor as of late, but can reach upwards of 15-20' . Fortunately, I live 20 min from the river and 15 from the lake. Come join us sometimes.

 

[MikeDiver]

A few of us dove the airplane and ski boat Sunday. Viz was poor and we had a few technical glitches, but it was a good dive none the less.