Clark Hill/Lake Thurmond 1-6-08, Augusta, GA

[willardj]

sweet thanks. I'll keep trying him. Is he usually there on Sat? I may bring a few tanks. I'm in the market for 2 new tanks. But haven't decided which size yet. Want to have them for EAN only. Don't want to double so I've been looking at LP108's or HP120's.

Yeah he should be there. I need to take my doubles in to get them topped off as well. He had some steel tanks in not sure what size they are tough. He had some 119's in not to long ago. I would go with a hp119 before a hp120. The 119 is really a 123 cf( same tank as lp95) and the 119's are cheaper than the 120's.

Sure, we have folks joining us all the time. Eight divers last Sat. enjoyed the cool refreshing temps (51 degrees). Unfortunately, conditions were not great at depth (10-12' down to about 40' then dropping to just a couple of feet at depth). We had a high wind event and a significant amount of rain during the week prior to the dive. We are planning a dive this Sunday at 1pm. I'll pm you contact info.

You forgot the bumper scuba at depth. in that wonderful vis. haha. And I know why my feet wanted to fall off. 3mm boots. Not good. I'll have to look into that. The suit worked good though.

 

[diveprof]

Hey, I did promise you vis would be as far as you could see! Last weekend at depth was braille diving at it's best. I just want to make sure you saw the wall - that's why I kept knocking you into it Geez, 3mm boots, not a way to enjoy fresh water diving. 78' max depth for 1:08 in 51 degree water - I surprised you could even feel the gas or brake pedals on the way home. I use 7mm for the springs and here year round. Great to see you again.

 

[willardj]

Hey, I did promise you vis would be as far as you could see! Last weekend at depth was braille diving at it's best. I just want to make sure you saw the wall - that's why I kept knocking you into it Geez, 3mm boots, not a way to enjoy fresh water diving. 78' max depth for 1:08 in 51 degree water - I surprised you could even feel the gas or brake pedals on the way home. I use 7mm for the springs and here year round. Great to see you again.

Vis wasn't that bad. If ya can see a couple inches its not that bad. Any day below water is a good day. Once I got those booty off and put my socks and shoes on they warm right up. I wound up with 77' for 1:08 as well with frozen feet.

 

[diveprof]

Several of us are planning an afternoon dive Sunday at 1pm. With the weather reports of snow and freezing rain tonight, I'm not sure if this speaks to our hardiness or a dismal IQ Diving is not an addiction! I can quit if I want to (as long as the weather is nice and the water is warm; well maybe not really nice weather or warm water, but if the weather doesn't exceed at cat 4 hurricane and the water is above freezing, it sounds reasonable; yeah, I'm not addicted -and can quit if I want to....).

 

[willardj]

Tomorrow is my first day back to work. Til April. When I get some more play day's. :luxhello:

 

[diveprof]

The several of us turned into a couple of us for diving today. Air Temp 37F degrees , water temp 48. There was a bit of wind (maybe 9K) and the water at the shoreline was a bit muddy (when the lake is down like this the clay silt is exposed and any wind generates waves that wash against the clay silt to make muddy water). We swam out past the muddy water and dropped down to the 3 big rocks. Vis was a surprisingly good 10'. The 3 big rocks had quite a bit of the remains of the Clark Hill Kelp Forest (hydrilla) draped over them. Lots of small fish. From there we went past the pool filters to the 40' ledge and down to the angel statue. We had a good 8' at the angel statue and needed no lights (statue at 41' today). We swam through the trench and headed down to the 100' wall. We turned our lights on, but could still see a little w/o them. Vis dropped to about 6' (better than last week -not sure if this is due to improved conditions or just the position of the sun as this was an afternoon dive). All the way down to 100' we saw small fish - Not really swimming but sitting on the bottom until we get near and then swimming off. As we approached 100' then vis actually improved a bit to 8' or so. We swam along the 100' wall, past the stumps with the exposed roots that snake out down the wall. We swam up the wall to the 50' ledge and to the big stump, then down the north wall and back to the big stump. We then swam south along the 50' wall to the bouy, then back to the trench, the angel, 40' ledge then upward to a safety stop swim along the 15' dropoff to the plane and then to our exit. 100' max depth for 59 minutes. A VERY QUICK change in the parking lot (we were both diving wet in 7mm jumpsuits). A nice, but cool sunny sunday afternoon dive.

 

[ssflounder]

DP,
Pretty harsh conditions. Admitting you have a problem is the first step! Let me know when the vis will improve and a few of us will plan on joining.

 

[diveprof]

DP,
Pretty harsh conditions. Admitting you have a problem is the first step! Let me know when the vis will improve and a few of us will plan on joining.

Actually, cold water diving is not that bad (still in denial ) if you ease into it by diving year round. The small temp changes from week to week are not bad and your body adjusts to it. If I were to lay off a few months and then attempt a mid-winter cold dive it would not be a pretty sight. The temps will likely remain sub 50 until early-mid March if previous patterns prevail. Usually the winter vis is quite good, but with the rain and wind that we have been having, it has not. Of course with our lake down 13 feet we are not complaining about the rain. I'll give a shout as conditions improve.