Clear Springs

[randyjoy]

Wow! Been a busy week! Looks like me and my buddy Chuck are still on, I'll post Sat night if something comes up and we can't make it.

Corsair: We've mostly gone up to Oklahome lately, I hate the drive but Tenkiller Lake in NE OK is pretty nice; good vis, critters, and underwater platforms. Pretty nice. Did Lake Murray one weekend, better than Bridgeport, but low vis. Did a little search work at Bridgeport the other day, blackwater below 25'!

We may check out Lake Whitney Saturday.

I live in Paradise, Chuck lives in the apartments on 730 S at 287. Both of us work at the Sheriff's Office.

 

[Texass]

Here's the rundown I've heard. At the surface it's warm, down to 30' it gets chilly, then you hit the thermocline. The thermocline is a visible blur where the warm & cold water meet. I don't know what her tolerence is, but I doubt a 3 mil is going to be enough. In fact I'm seriously rethinking my plan of the double layers of jumpsuit. (This has little to do w/ the fact that I tried them on last night & realized somehow they shrunk dramatically over the winter-I'm sure I didn't get THAT much fatter)

The basic question running round the shop was if a 5 mil was enough. Last weekend they measured 48 degrees below 50'. I've never tried one but that sounds like Drysuit country to me! There was a debate about gloves, but the need for some form of hood was verified by everyone who's been there. Almost sounds scary, huh? Nah, I'm sure (praying) it's just the usual "I been there & you aint" bravado crap.

Can't wait to see fer myself!!

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Ummmmm Randy.... We are going diving the 30th. Thats saturday morning....

Texass..... I keep thinking this is a deep spring. Deep springs tend to be cold. The last report I read was the water temp under the first t-cline was in the low 70's. The second T-cline is at about 35-40ft and it drops to upper 60's. The water flow thru the springs could have a definite effect on this too. If the water flow is up the temp will be down and it may push the t-cline shallower. I don't know there. We'll try it. If she gets cold we (she and I) can just get shallower. I'm diving with a 6mil shortie (long sleeves, short legs) and a 6mil hood. I may get cold before she does.

Tom

 

[Texass]

Well, I'm not sure if they were just trying to pull my chain or not. Although everything I've heard is that it's got a thermocline, I haven't heard any other reports of it being in the 40's. I think that's something anybody who's been there would remember. Guess we'll know soon enough.

Of course if it's true, that means I'll have to save up for a drysuit and one of those arctic regs, maybe a full face mask, etc. Damn, just when my wife thought I was through blowing all our money on dive gear! LOL!!!

 

[BetterLateThannever]

No kidding Texass, I was in the shop earlier today looking at a 7mil onepiece arctic suit. I told the guy I was waiting to hear y'all's trip report before I committed.

This new dive site may just be our little piece of Canada

I too thought I was pretty much past buying gear for a while. Oh well.

Jimbo

 

[TexasMike]

And while hanging out at the bar near Sand & Sea scuba I got approached by a friend asking if I wanted to purchase a used O'Niel dry suit. Might have to take a serious look at that.

I've got one of those Polar Fleece lined shorty skin that I plan on wearing under my 3-mil. So it looks like we all can report how we feel based upon personal tolerances and the exposure suits we are wearing. If possible, I'd like to get some details after our first dive to see what you were wearing and how comfortable you were.

If possible, I'd like to try to get a temp reading at our max depth. This means staying there at least 3-4 minute so the temp gauge on my console (and 'puter) will settle out.

But we can finalize our dive profile at Breakfast or at a pre-dive briefing.

--Michael

 

[TwoBitTxn]

I've been trading E-mail with one of the owners and here is the word.

Surface temp 83*
Vis 18'
First T-cline 58*:cold:

She didn't know there were two t -clines

Most people in 3-5mil hoods and gloves. They stay above 20'

Dry suit divers have been enjoying the full depths.

I think I'm gonna bring my full suit just to hit it once. It'll probably take all day to get Mr. happy back down out of the body cavity too.

Tom

 

[TexasMike]

WHAAAAH!!!! ;-0 My regulator broke!

I took my Zeagle/Apeks reg down to my LDS to have them make sure I had installed my new octo right and have my tech friend tweak it a bit. The intermediate pressure was a bit low so that got tweaked upwards a bit. But everything was declared okay and we went down to the local bar to share beer and stories.

I get home and have the urge to hook up my reg to my tank. And just as I was slowly cracking open the tank valve, my primary started freeflowing!!!! ;-0

So I mess with it some, bang it on the heel of my hand, change ports, change hoses....and to no avail. :grrr:

So I take off from work, drive to Sand & Sea Scuba (25 miles and 1hr drive from Denton), only to find that it's not a good day to obtain service. The tech had the day off, and Harold the owner was having a very busy day from hell. Harold finally did take a crack at the problem, but was not able to quickly figure it out.

Fortunately, Harold is a huge fan of Zeagle, so he gave me his reg as a loaner. Yaaaaay!


Yes, my child, this story does have a moral. It's a good idea to check out all of your gear the night before the day before you leave to dive. That way if something craps out, you still have some time to get it fixed.

--TexasMike

(Oh, and then I call Tom Vyles and cry on his shoulder about this and he makes me look like a scuba NEWBIE by saying, "It sounds like the seat/seal might be dry...did you try dunking it?". I hadn't. Guess who get's a free beer after our dives?)

 

[Texass]

Glad to hear you were able to get a replacement Mike! I'm sure it'll be alot more fun with air than if you had to freedive. (yeah, I know it aint funny, but I figure your hearts back up & running by now) I think I'll load up some spare gear just in case, like maybe some hail repellant from what I've heard about the weather today.

Man 'o man, I was going to rent a 5 or 7 mil, but got stuck helping one of the guys on a job in Mckinney until after 6. So it looks like I'm back to my original plan of bringing 2 jumpsuits. Ah, such is life.

BTW I've got an Aquashot III housing in the closet that I'll bring in case somebody wants to try their hand at UW pics. If you want to use it bring one of those funsaver cameras.

 

[randyjoy]

Duhh, this calendar thing is just so complicated! Seriously, the whole time I was thinking Sunday, so it looks like we'll have to bow out - we couldn't make it before 2:00 - 3:00 pm or so - we might go ahead and mosey on out there, if ya'll are still there, we'll find ya'.

Otherwise, I'm going to try to make the next Dillo's meeting the 12th (that's a Thursday, if my new, improved calendar is working).

Have fun! Stay warm!