What a day Saturday was. Rick Murchison and I decided at the very last minute to go up to Kowaliga and jump in.
First we met ChickDiver (always a pleasure) and her mom to exchange some tanks. Then we migrated in Rick's Surburban to the Lake.
Here we are, two old salts, no one knowing which one is the oldest, because Rick wont admit it, tooling around at the bottom of the lake. Best part is that both of us are anal about our diving and no silt was stirred. As a side thought we could both probably exceed the standards for DIR but are proud strokes. Don't know how much gas we started out or ended with nor do we care.
We decided to first look for more of the mystery fleet. We found one right off. Almost buried in the muck. Another one mysteriously crushed underneath the bridge rubble. Judging from the way the other wrecks have suffered from divers knowing where they are we are keeping the new ones a secret.
Anyway we went left and went along the designated depth and found four instances of the mystery fleet. Then we came back a little deeper and ran into the small fiber optic cable knowing we were below the designated depth. We turned left and ran into the permanent line running to the main bridge. We went to the left of the span all the way down looking for bottles. I found one that I had forgotten about. How may folks remember the Upper Ten?
We found a very old trolling motor. The kind that the motor was above water and the prop was on a flexible shaft. We used a lift bag to move it to the top of the span. I was hoping that it had a brass prop but it was stainless. We found several nice bottles and Rick found a coke bottle with large writing that said Montgomery Alabama 1942. What a great find. We meandered along not in any particular hurry and made our way back to shallow water.
Gosh it was great, after a stressful week just to lie on the bottom of the lake. Relaxation at its finest, the silt felt smooth and cool against my skin. We worked our way back to the exit point and only then realized that our dive had lasted 103 minutes with a max depth of 39 feet. Water on the surface was 84 and it was 77 at depth.
We were slowly making way to the exit point when a white fish with orange spots checked us out. You know that the fish couldnt bear not knowing what we were. Our contention is that all fish are curious. It appeared to be a large Koi. I just looked at Rick and he looked at me and we gave the I dunno sign. What the hey was a Koi doing in Lake Martin?
We did a great surface interval. Found out that the Kowaliga Marina is a civilized place. They have Vienna sausage, sardines, and individual packs of saltines on the same shelf.
We pigged out.
Then came the second dive. Rick forwent the wetsuit and we went down the left side of the bridge until the end. Forty-nine feet in the lake with only shorties!! Had to actually turn on our lights. Found out later that we dived out a humongous thunderstorm. Then back along the right side of the bridge. We saw lots. Found lots of nice bottles and just relaxed. Did I mention a stressful week?
We made our exit knowing that a top shelf margarita was waiting at Sinclairs. Also, tonights special, grouper with Jamaican sauce. Oh yum!!!!
We sat there and pondered Life is good
First we met ChickDiver (always a pleasure) and her mom to exchange some tanks. Then we migrated in Rick's Surburban to the Lake.
Here we are, two old salts, no one knowing which one is the oldest, because Rick wont admit it, tooling around at the bottom of the lake. Best part is that both of us are anal about our diving and no silt was stirred. As a side thought we could both probably exceed the standards for DIR but are proud strokes. Don't know how much gas we started out or ended with nor do we care.
We decided to first look for more of the mystery fleet. We found one right off. Almost buried in the muck. Another one mysteriously crushed underneath the bridge rubble. Judging from the way the other wrecks have suffered from divers knowing where they are we are keeping the new ones a secret.
Anyway we went left and went along the designated depth and found four instances of the mystery fleet. Then we came back a little deeper and ran into the small fiber optic cable knowing we were below the designated depth. We turned left and ran into the permanent line running to the main bridge. We went to the left of the span all the way down looking for bottles. I found one that I had forgotten about. How may folks remember the Upper Ten?
We found a very old trolling motor. The kind that the motor was above water and the prop was on a flexible shaft. We used a lift bag to move it to the top of the span. I was hoping that it had a brass prop but it was stainless. We found several nice bottles and Rick found a coke bottle with large writing that said Montgomery Alabama 1942. What a great find. We meandered along not in any particular hurry and made our way back to shallow water.
Gosh it was great, after a stressful week just to lie on the bottom of the lake. Relaxation at its finest, the silt felt smooth and cool against my skin. We worked our way back to the exit point and only then realized that our dive had lasted 103 minutes with a max depth of 39 feet. Water on the surface was 84 and it was 77 at depth.
We were slowly making way to the exit point when a white fish with orange spots checked us out. You know that the fish couldnt bear not knowing what we were. Our contention is that all fish are curious. It appeared to be a large Koi. I just looked at Rick and he looked at me and we gave the I dunno sign. What the hey was a Koi doing in Lake Martin?
We did a great surface interval. Found out that the Kowaliga Marina is a civilized place. They have Vienna sausage, sardines, and individual packs of saltines on the same shelf.
We pigged out.
Then came the second dive. Rick forwent the wetsuit and we went down the left side of the bridge until the end. Forty-nine feet in the lake with only shorties!! Had to actually turn on our lights. Found out later that we dived out a humongous thunderstorm. Then back along the right side of the bridge. We saw lots. Found lots of nice bottles and just relaxed. Did I mention a stressful week?
We made our exit knowing that a top shelf margarita was waiting at Sinclairs. Also, tonights special, grouper with Jamaican sauce. Oh yum!!!!
We sat there and pondered Life is good
One of these days I'm going to have to dive Martin. I would have when I was living in Auburn had I been certified at the time - damned my procrastination!
