Lake Jocassee Boat Diving???'s

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scmedic

Guest
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Location
Charleston, SC
# of dives
100 - 199
I will start by saying that I have dove Lake Jocassee in the past, however this time my fiancé and I are trailering our boat up for 4 nights of primitive camping in the boat in sites at Devils fork state park. I was hoping to do some diving while we were up there. I will also follow this by I would never dive here without a dive buddy, however usually we always have a boat sitter, however this time it will just be the two of us.... This being said is there real worry about someone Taking off with my boat, or DNR having issues..... I know if I'm flying a flag that it's not considered abandonment (per a friend who is a DNR officer) However I was wondering how possible that would be....... I will dive with the keys to the boat on my person, and batteries to the boat turned off and I will have both bow and stern anchors out so as to not have it drift away, I may even leave a tethered wreck line to the boat so as to make it easier to surface near the boat, given depth and visibility. I know in Charleston people dive the rivers all the time with unattended boats.....
 
If you dive over at the wall (by the dam out let there ar bouys that have tie off lines . you can tie off there and fallow the tethere line down )55" to 64" depeding on lake levels) there are line leading to a chinees junk , skiboat , and some other things and over in the cove there are some platforms and some cool rock formations average depth 20/ to 30' When my dive buddy and I dive there we don't have any one watching the boat and have not had any problems . Just don't leave the key and disconect the batteries and have your dive flag out
 
Thanks for the reply, I was beginning to wonder if there is anyone up there that dove without paying for a charter, I know it's cheap, but I'm already going to have my boat up there.
 
You can dive the Divers ramp . There are a couple platforms out at different depyhs a skiboat the bones family had I think there is an airplane wing You just have to deal with the viz getting all jack do to a lot of OW stutents Me and my dive buddy (Tony ) will be there this sunday 8/1/10 doing 2 dive off Bill's bioat (off the wall charters )and then 1 dive in the after noon at the rampmeybe we'll see ya there

DIVE SAFE KEN
 
I've left my boat unattended there and a ton of other places and have never had anyone mess with it. I just hide the keys and put the flag out. I'm usually far more worried about the vehicle left at the ramp.
 
This being said is there real worry about someone Taking off with my boat, or DNR having issues..... I know if I'm flying a flag that it's not considered abandonment (per a friend who is a DNR officer) However I was wondering how possible that would be.......
I don't think anyone would take off with your boat(However,I have seen stranger things happen!). I have done about 25 dives or more off of my pontoon up there on the Junk and in the cove near the wall.

I will dive with the keys to the boat on my person, and batteries to the boat turned off and I will have both bow and stern anchors out so as to not have it drift away, I may even leave a tethered wreck line to the boat so as to make it easier to surface near the boat, given depth and visibility.
All I do is put the keys where my buddy can find them and turn the battery off. That way if something happens someone can go for help or assist with any issues. I would make sure they could operate the boat too.(Just a suggestion!)

There are dock lines/ropes on two of the surfaces markers to the junk that you can tie off too. I know one had a chain all the way to huge rock on the bottom. If you drop anchor by the junk be careful you could get tangled up in the line leading to all the stuff there. I debated on anchoring myself but I always used the surface markers. That made it easy to find the boat. For added security you could go down and set the anchor and come back up for your buddy if you feel comfortable doing that!

Of coarse I have not been up there this year on my boat but I am going out with off the wall this Sunday. I will scope it out and see if anything has changed up there. I know in early March one buoy was underwater because the lake was at full pool.

Have Fun!
 
That's excellent information Tony! I didn't think there would be a problem but just scoping out stuff from people in the area. Also My dive buddy (my fiancé) is well versed on all aspects of the boat as we frequently dive/fish offshore Charleston so it was already very important for her to know everything there was to know about the boat, the only thing she still has difficulties with is backing the trailer down, but she takes it off and puts it on the trailer like a champ. I did remember the surface buoy from the last time I was there, but that was way over a year ago when the lake was like 35ft below full pond. Additional information welcome and hope you guys have a safe dive on Sunday.
 
Additional information welcome and hope you guys have a safe dive on Sunday.
Here is the Dive Report from this weekend. They have added underwater signs pointing to all the structures around the junk. Both surface markers are visible and still have lines tied off to them to attach the boat too. They have added a surface marker over on cracken beach.

PM me if you have any questions! If I don't know the answers there are several others on here(scubaboard)that I know who may be able to help.

Check out the divers ramp there too. Its easy shore diving with easy to find structures and nice fish around it. Just follow the left boat ramp facing the water(wall). You will find a line on the corner leading to the platforms,trampoline ring with a mirror, and a boat . There are several lines running from the platforms back along the shore with more surprises attached.
 

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