Have I gone mental?

[fire_diver]

This past weekend was my last free one of the summer, so we took the boat out to the lake. My wife didn't want to drive all the way to Tenkiller (so no diving for me), instead we went to Keystone. Keystone is your typical Oklahoma lake, muddy and shallow. The deepest my sounder has shown so far is about 45ft.

While we were anchored in a cove to swim, I thought I'd give the depths a shot. I grabbed the kid's el cheapo walmart mask, put it on, cleared, and pulled myself down the anchor line. I was really shocked! I hit a thermal at what I think was about 20ft. But I could still see!! I could see my hands when I stretched out to make the next grab on the line. The vis must have been 3 foot and my mind started racing.

The ambient light was disapearing by the foot, and by 30 would be pitch black. But I could dive this! Wow, how many local lakes has this opened up for me to dive? Could the vis actually get better if I got down deeper with a light? I always thought of the "other" lakes (meaning NOT Tenkiller, Murray, or Elmer Thomas) as zero-vis braille lakes that pretty much be a waste of time.

But I know lakes with towns in them, that nobody dives. I am so excited right now. So many new possibilities. Or have I finally gotten permanent narcosis?

FD

 

[diverdown247]

Isn't it strange? We dove at Table Rock lake by Kimberling City in one of the coves. Vis was about 10ft or so above 25ft, but at 25ft it was like hitting a wall of muck.

Vis dropped to 5ft or less. Diving in braille isn't my style and doing it with a dive buddy who isn't versed in absolute low vis makes it harder, but we managed. Good thing I have a Zeagle BC. He used the handle/strap on the back of my ranger as a "feeler gauge" to tell where I was (I wanted him to use the bottom of my tank, but he wouldn't) and away we went. He figured out just how difficult it was to compass navigate in that junk!

Myself, didn't enjoy it as much, but it was still a dive. I managed to bring up a good sized anchor w/ nearly 150ft of rope, 6 golf balls, a fishing pole, and about 12 nice fishing lures all on the last dive.

 

[wb5plj]

But I know lakes with towns in them, that nobody dives. I am so excited right now. So many new possibilities. Or have I finally gotten permanent narcosis?
FD

The two things I try to remember are colder the water the clear it is, generally speaking. The warmer it is the more of a colloid it supports up to about 150 degrees. This means the more stuff can remain suspended in it. And the less boat traffic and other activities, even the less wind on the water, less rain in the days beforehand all serve to make the deeper water often much clearer. I personally love easing into a simi-murky body of water and easing below the first (or second) thermocline from murk into very clear water, That is very cool. I have been in quarries where we eased below and it was murky enough above the thermocline that diving around below it did feel at times like you where in an overhead environment.

As a consequence I think a lot of divers turn away from less ideal diving spots. But if you take it easy you can end up in places you are relatively sure no one has been in before. But some people just want to go to known sites, easy entries, etc. I am not against that either but I can't help looking at any body of water and wondering what it looks like down there. I guess like you I am a bit more curious, if there is water you can dive it. You also have to be willing to accept some dives that are, well, less interesting in order to find some of the good ones. I know that I have gone into and come out of some water wondering at what point particulate mater in the water technical means it is mud. One dive in particular I think we may have technically dove in mud. But it was interesting!

 

[LakeScubaDiver]

I got a depth reading of 65 -70 ft over in front of the dam at Keystone...I have been thinking the same thing, there are lots of rock facings that look similar to Tenkiller, but I'm sure there are way more sediments and particulates and things of that nature to limit the vis in Keystone. We go out there all the time and boat around - only live about 25 miles away from it...maybe one day I'll anchor, throw on my tank and see how far I can go and what the vis is like....my buddy has a video camera thing that you can drop down 60 ft and record in the boat!!!

Chris

 

[Zeeman]

I will remind myself of this thread everytime I ***** about vis being "only" 20 feet...

Z..

 

[k ellis]

This past weekend was my last free one of the summer, so we took the boat out to the lake. My wife didn't want to drive all the way to Tenkiller (so no diving for me), instead we went to Keystone. Keystone is your typical Oklahoma lake, muddy and shallow. The deepest my sounder has shown so far is about 45ft.

While we were anchored in a cove to swim, I thought I'd give the depths a shot. I grabbed the kid's el cheapo walmart mask, put it on, cleared, and pulled myself down the anchor line. I was really shocked! I hit a thermal at what I think was about 20ft. But I could still see!! I could see my hands when I stretched out to make the next grab on the line. The vis must have been 3 foot and my mind started racing.

The ambient light was disapearing by the foot, and by 30 would be pitch black. But I could dive this! Wow, how many local lakes has this opened up for me to dive? Could the vis actually get better if I got down deeper with a light? I always thought of the "other" lakes (meaning NOT Tenkiller, Murray, or Elmer Thomas) as zero-vis braille lakes that pretty much be a waste of time.

But I know lakes with towns in them, that nobody dives. I am so excited right now. So many new possibilities. Or have I finally gotten permanent narcosis?

FD

Ok I know this almost 4 years old but I cant help but wonder what the outcome on this was. Did you ever do any muck diving here and did you ever find it to be worth it?