Lake Norfork Jordan Marina

[SteveC]

We just got back from a trip to Norfork Lake. We rented a very nice dive pontoon boat from Jordan Marina, which made for a very comfortable dive trip. It even had a changing room on board. Dan and Denise treated us great, and we really appreciated it. They took time to tell us about all the dive spots and tips on finding the best vis.

We did about 11 dives over 4 days on the lake. The vis from the surface down to about 25’ was pretty good. Sometimes more than 15’. At the thermal cline the vis dropped suddenly to less than 5’. We did only one dive to 65’ and the vis continued to drop to about 1’. I heard others say that the vis opened up at depth, but we made no further attempts. Also of note, the temps are very hot right now. We dove in swimsuits, and I found the temp to be uncomfortably warm unless you were hanging into the thermal cline a little bit.
Over all it was very nice diving. It was great to dive with no wet suit at all, and the light penetration in the shallow water made for good photo opportunities.

 

[crunch35]

You dove without a wet suit at 65 feet?

 

[SteveC]

No, that was the only dive we wore rubber, and it didn't last long. We came up, stripped the suites and went back to shallow diving.

 

[nagel]

100+ degree day and in a 7mm was not fun. Once we hit the point of "this is crazy" we ascended and gladly stripped the 7mm and returned to nice and relaxing diving.

Snagel

 

[SteveBF]

I was tickled to read your post. I'm taking my family to Lake Norfolk over Labor Day weekend and have the dive boat for two days.... looks like there is plenty to see! Were there any particularly great sites that you would recommend not missing?

Cheers!
Steve

 

[SteveC]

Here are a few that we really liked. We had good vis at these locations and there was a lot to see. We did the Gypsy and Chrysler wall as one dive. There are many more good sites. It depends a lot on the wind direction.


Gypsy boat wreck
Chrysler wall
Dam corner
Camp bluff

 

[nagel]

Unfortionately, when we were there many of the sites were in the muck layer. The snap-on truck is usually a big attraction and the homestead foundations are pretty cool (this is what everybody tells us - we didn't get to see this).

Closer to the dam is usually where you get your best viz, the coves are the worse. The wind plays a huge role in the viz, you want to be on the side of the lake where the wind is blowing out from shore.

I really liked the Campground Bluffs and Chrysler Wall. These are shallow dives and awesome rock formations. Indian Island has some awesome rock formations on the south side of the island, but the viz was terrible when we dove it. The wives really liked this dive because they found where the fish were spawning.

Snagel

 

[Avonthediver]

The Snap-on truck is still missing and know one seems to know what became of it.
but feel free to search for it!

 

[SteveC]

I remember hearing about the missing truck. I figured that it would be found by now. I guess we will have to wait till the vis is better than 1ft before we start looking for it.

 

[Avonthediver]

What is known about the tool truck being gone is that its really not their!! A great many diver have been looking for it ...as have I ...with no luck.

This winter I'm going with a small team see if it might be well off its ridge in very deep water.
Thats one of the things people have been talking about is that it got drug off by an anchor by someone that did not know what the had hooked!

The other rumor is that diver's have moved it in secret and it has yet to turn up.

It makes for a great mystery and some great diving!