DawgDiver
Contributor
Woke up at about 0700 this morning.... it was cold in my room... finally mustered up the courage to roll out of bed at about 0745. Weather forecast in Salem, SC was 38* at dive time, so I threw on some warm clothes. Had some coffee, some instant oatmeal and threw my gear in the truck and went to meet Martin (flightlead).
We pulled into the boat launch at about 1019 and unloaded the gear, said hello to everyone. There was a group of about 10 or so present. Bill from Off the Wall soon arrived with the boat. After loading up the tanks, gear, divers and making sure everyone had everything they needed, we headed out towards the Hot Hole. The wind was gusting at about 15 knots and with the air temp at 38*, everyone was a bit chilled. Bill did an excellent job on the dive breif. After giving us a detailed description (including a drawing) of the underwater geography, he explained to us the current coming from the power plant discharge, and how to work with it effectively. Believe it or not, this is a drift dive, where the current goes in a big circle. He also donned his drysuit and joined us in the water to give a demonstration on how to ride the "water slide".
Dive #1 was 36 minutes, with a max depth of 40ft. We all used our air a little quicker getting our buoyancy adjusted and getting accustomed to the current. We hammed it up a bit for Bill to take some group pictures. First dive I've ever seen freshwater sponges. Very cool, they look just like nerf balls. As for the "water slide"... WOW. Is it ever a helluva lot of fun. You swim directly out in front of where the water is discharged and the current just shoots you out like a bullet. Then you just sit tight and ride it all the way out, eventually it becomes gentler, but you can pretty much ride it into the eddy current in a big circle all the way back to the discharge again. Saves you a lot of effort. We surfaced just long enough to switch out our tanks and jump back in the water, as the air temp was considerably colder than the water temp (52*)
Dive #2, me and Martin got away from the pack and found our way to the eddy current heading towards the discharge. There was quite a bit of fish life towards the bank in the rocks, including a couple rather large crappy. We had a good time checking out the grassy areas as well as the fish life in the rocks, and of course we rode the water slide a couple more times. Bottom time on this dive was 52 minutes. Water temp: 52*, viz about 20-25ft.
I had a lot of fun on this one, the weather topside was bitterly cold, but the dives were great. Bill and (Rick, the other gentleman I believe) were both great and gave us all a good time. After hearing them talk about the viz in Lake Jocassee, i think a trip back up to dive Jocassee is definetly in order in the near future.
We pulled into the boat launch at about 1019 and unloaded the gear, said hello to everyone. There was a group of about 10 or so present. Bill from Off the Wall soon arrived with the boat. After loading up the tanks, gear, divers and making sure everyone had everything they needed, we headed out towards the Hot Hole. The wind was gusting at about 15 knots and with the air temp at 38*, everyone was a bit chilled. Bill did an excellent job on the dive breif. After giving us a detailed description (including a drawing) of the underwater geography, he explained to us the current coming from the power plant discharge, and how to work with it effectively. Believe it or not, this is a drift dive, where the current goes in a big circle. He also donned his drysuit and joined us in the water to give a demonstration on how to ride the "water slide".
Dive #1 was 36 minutes, with a max depth of 40ft. We all used our air a little quicker getting our buoyancy adjusted and getting accustomed to the current. We hammed it up a bit for Bill to take some group pictures. First dive I've ever seen freshwater sponges. Very cool, they look just like nerf balls. As for the "water slide"... WOW. Is it ever a helluva lot of fun. You swim directly out in front of where the water is discharged and the current just shoots you out like a bullet. Then you just sit tight and ride it all the way out, eventually it becomes gentler, but you can pretty much ride it into the eddy current in a big circle all the way back to the discharge again. Saves you a lot of effort. We surfaced just long enough to switch out our tanks and jump back in the water, as the air temp was considerably colder than the water temp (52*)
Dive #2, me and Martin got away from the pack and found our way to the eddy current heading towards the discharge. There was quite a bit of fish life towards the bank in the rocks, including a couple rather large crappy. We had a good time checking out the grassy areas as well as the fish life in the rocks, and of course we rode the water slide a couple more times. Bottom time on this dive was 52 minutes. Water temp: 52*, viz about 20-25ft.
I had a lot of fun on this one, the weather topside was bitterly cold, but the dives were great. Bill and (Rick, the other gentleman I believe) were both great and gave us all a good time. After hearing them talk about the viz in Lake Jocassee, i think a trip back up to dive Jocassee is definetly in order in the near future.
