Hi everyone, I've know I've been scarce these days. I miss everyone, but I hope to be seeing you in person soon... Last weekend, we took an extended family camping weekend at Lake Hawkins (NE Texas.) Foo2 and I brought our gear, and on Sunday afternoon we decided to check it out.
After tugging on 6 tons of neoprene and setting up our gear at the campsite, we rode in the back of the truck down to the lake. Now, we didn't have a dive flag with us, so the plan was to stay in the swimming area and treasure hunt.
After pouring warm water down our wetsuits, we did a shore entry and surface swam to the marker buoys. I was slow to descend, and finally got tired of fighting it and went in for more weight, as did Foo2. I guess we didn't take the cold temps into consideration when choosing weight.
So, after going to shore, we did a second surface swim out to the markers. This descent went a little better, but I was still underweighted a little. The vis was very poor, (I'm sure there was plenty of runoff in there from the recent rains/snow) maybe 2 ft. We descended to 15 ft, no bottom yet, then I realized I would have to add more weight, (those &*%^$ marshmallow peeps and Cadbury eggs) so we did an instant replay, did yet a 3rd surface swim out, descended and found the bottom this time around 16 ft- we must have been right there the first time! We followed the silty bottom,using compass settings.
I saw one little perch in my peripheral vision when we first descended, but other than that, no fishies. I lost Foo2 once, she finally tapped my back, and we finished moving toward the shore until we hit the shallows abruptly. We stood up, looked at one another and said, "You had enough?" and ended the dive. The water temp was around 55 degrees.
Oh yeah, we did find treasure- Foo2 scored 2 beer cans to my one.
It was fun to get wet, but if I dive Lake Hawkins again, I will take a flag and check out the coves. I know there was an alligator in the swimming area before... so maybe the coves are safer, lol.
After tugging on 6 tons of neoprene and setting up our gear at the campsite, we rode in the back of the truck down to the lake. Now, we didn't have a dive flag with us, so the plan was to stay in the swimming area and treasure hunt.
After pouring warm water down our wetsuits, we did a shore entry and surface swam to the marker buoys. I was slow to descend, and finally got tired of fighting it and went in for more weight, as did Foo2. I guess we didn't take the cold temps into consideration when choosing weight.
So, after going to shore, we did a second surface swim out to the markers. This descent went a little better, but I was still underweighted a little. The vis was very poor, (I'm sure there was plenty of runoff in there from the recent rains/snow) maybe 2 ft. We descended to 15 ft, no bottom yet, then I realized I would have to add more weight, (those &*%^$ marshmallow peeps and Cadbury eggs) so we did an instant replay, did yet a 3rd surface swim out, descended and found the bottom this time around 16 ft- we must have been right there the first time! We followed the silty bottom,using compass settings.
I saw one little perch in my peripheral vision when we first descended, but other than that, no fishies. I lost Foo2 once, she finally tapped my back, and we finished moving toward the shore until we hit the shallows abruptly. We stood up, looked at one another and said, "You had enough?" and ended the dive. The water temp was around 55 degrees.
Oh yeah, we did find treasure- Foo2 scored 2 beer cans to my one.
It was fun to get wet, but if I dive Lake Hawkins again, I will take a flag and check out the coves. I know there was an alligator in the swimming area before... so maybe the coves are safer, lol.
