Fresh fish...........

[greatwhitepoke]

Hey people. New member here just exploring the board and soaking up some of the knowledge I'm coming across. The wifey and I got OW certified last summer and have a whole 1 scuba trip under our belt. We spent a week in CZM last April and stayed at the Scuba Club, loved it. I'm sure most of you know but there's some pretty cool stuff under the surface down there. Our DM was great and made us feel very comfortable....thanks Nestor.

We're both workin' stiffs so 1 - 2 trips a year on scuba and mixing in a Colorado snow skiing trip is about the extent of our annual vacations. We pretty much have our minds made up to go to Roatan this Dec and stay at the Fantasy Island Resort. I've found good information on the boards but if anyone wants to jump in and give us advice on timing of going to Roatan please feel free. We hear it's the rainy season in Dec so should that concern us? Don't want to lose dives. I also read something about "no see 'em" bugs?

Thanks in advance and I hope to get to meet some new friends. GWP

 

[NJ to FLA]

welcome

 

[mudhole]

Greatwhitepoke, welcome to ScubaBoard, you need to start spinning that dive count, right here, close to home. There is good freshwater diving in four lakes in our state, and divers there every weekend while the water is warm. Lake Elmer Thomas in the southwest part of the state, Lake Murray in the south center, Broken Bow in the southeast, and the most developed dive lake Tenkiller in the eastern part of the state, just north of Interstate 40 near Gore Oklahoma.

Freshwater diving will seldom be as clear as Cozumel, but for a weekend trip it is cheap diving for sharpening your diving skills. Ten dives in Cozumel is expensive. . . Ten dives in Tenkiller is peanuts. Need rental gear? There are two dive shops that can rent whatever you need, and they'll give you advice of where to dive, and rent dive flags, to keep you legal.

Tenkiller has an underwater park with surprises for you to discover. . . just steer a wide berth around the dive students and the mud they're stirring up and make a choice to dive the boulders and available deeper water, or on the sandy shallows to the south of the park. Pick up some earthworms at a bait shop and feed the sunfish, you can't do that in Cozumel's underwater park. You still have time to make a few dives before the water gets colder in October, and the more dives you have in the beginning, the better you can enjoy the occasional trip to resorts.

 

[greatwhitepoke]

Thanks Mudhole. We'll be back at Tinkiller in 2 weeks to dive. We did our open water there and as I'm sure you know viz was spotty. When we did our 1st dive plan and went out we were looking good with about 15-20' viz. We went around a corner by the cliffs and viz went to about 12 inches. It is good but like I told another diver on our trip to CZM as we got on the boat "down there you're NOT in Oklahoma anymore". He said you weren't in New England either. I did find a dive lite while diving the park but it didn't last long before it went out on me.

Have you been down to the Clear Springs park in Terrell. That looks to be a decent place log a few dives.

Again, thanks and safe diving!

 

[mudhole]

Cozumel is not like diving in Oklahoma true, but both are diving. But, like an old musical. . . when you're not with the one you love, love the one you're with. Diving experience, is diving experience, is diving experience. One dive a year verses 50 dives a year makes good divers.

You have gained a lot of experience in lake diving when you saw the visibility go from 20 feet to 1 foot. Next learn where those 20 foot areas of visibility are, and what causes them to be clear, when other areas are muddy. Coming up in your diving experience is "Holiday Weekends". If you have seen a typical weekend boat traffic, On Holidays the boat traffic will be much worse, and big boats racing by will muddy up the water all the way to the Thermocline. The following week after a holiday will also be sub par. . . but the weeks following will be the best visibility of the year. The surface water will cool slowly, but the visibility will improve because most of the boats disappear until next summer.

Learn to love any dive, and join the passion that many people on this board share.