Lake Ouachita Road Trip (Oct 3/4)

[LVX]

I had a great time as well. Here are a few photos I took on the first day.

What do the bones have to say?

Way too much gear...

Safety Diver

View of the Environs

Good People

I hope to go diving with you all again. Great group of people...

Layne

 

[Zinc]

Lets hear some about the underwater experiences folks had!!

What a great trip! A few lessons learned like:

When there are 3 divers, & only 2 on Trimix, don't the the remaining air diver (me) run the reel!

After months of wetsuit diving in the warm & clear blue waters of the gulf, I led my first drysuit dive in months down deep, dark, & cold (48f), really quick, and was HIGH as a kite by the time we hit 130' ilot:
About this time I realized this was not the best idea, so I passed on the reel to K-valve and spent some time enjoying the buzzz on a nice slow ascent.

Crystal hunting was a lot of fun on Zebra island!

Driving the boat across the lake Sunday in pouring down rain, followed by another great dive to 130' was icing on the cake. Thank the Lord for drysuits!

Had a really great time hangin' out with the Swampers and was even treated to a few tunes by Frank & Tony... what a hoot!

A big thanks to K-Valve & LVX for letting my broke a$$ jump in on the trip last minute!

Can't wait for the next Swamper gathering...

 

[Broken Finstrap]

For those of you that didn't come to Lake Ouachita, you really missed a good time. The lake is beautiful. Friday and Saturday were beautiful for diving. Good vis, good times, lots of stories, lots of friendships made.

I also wanted to add, besides being great divers, Tony and Frank are awesome guitar players. I enjoyed their guitar playing and songs. One of my favorites was the "Butter Bean" song. While they played, we grilled burgers. We had so much food. Lots of fun. I loved Crocket. Crocket is such a cool dog and such a good dog!

If you weren't there, you missed a good time!

I look forward to getting together again with everyone and going diving!!!
-gena

 

[k-valve]

Lets hear some about the underwater experiences folks had!! John A those were sweet photo's, brings back memories of a wet weekend on the lake a few years back. Frank I don't believe as much time as we have dove together you having such issues! John A what was the deepest area you dove and found on the lake??

Dive One (Saturday)
-----------------------
Just off an island near the dam
Weather: Sunny and cool
Runtime: 50 minutes
Deco: Approx 13 minutes on 22/25 and O2
Max Depth: 182'
Water temp: surface=77; thermocline @ 55'; bottom=47
Wore my drysuit with 400 gram farmer john thermals...toasty!
Viz: variable from 15' to near zero at the bottom
Saw a HUGE striped bass here...alas no speargun. Frank where were you, buddy!?

Dive Two (Saturday)
-----------------------
Zebra Rock
Several small cedar trees along the way
Weather: Sunny and cool
Runtime: One hour, 53 minutes
Deco: 0 minutes on 22/25
Max Depth: 49'
Water temp: surface=75; bottom=73
Viz: 20'
Lots of small crystals at 10'-15' and one large conglomeration of crystals. Very fun dive. Lots of cool rock formations

Dive Three (Sunday)
-----------------------
Crawdad Island

Weather: Rain
Runtime: 43 minutes
Deco: Approx 5 minutes on air
Max Depth: 144'
Water temp: surface=70; thermocline @ 55'; bottom=48
150 gram thermals
150 gram thermals here
Viz: 15'-20
No trees, but a severe rock outcropping that dropped almost straight down. Didn't find max depth, but would estimate it in the 180' range also

 

[heavyjeffd]

Man, that sure all looks a lot nicer than it was around here this past weekend.

I will make the next one for sure barring life kicking me in the junk again.

 

[Timeliner]

here are a couple of photos.

 

[k-valve]

Here are some crystals I found at the lake. Nothing out there, but nice nonetheless...great fun looking for them too. Of course, I photgraphed them for posterity's sake and placed them gently back in the water from whence they came.

 

[texdiveguy]

Thanks ALL for the great recap of what turned out it sounnds to be a a great trip!

Nice photo's,,,, and a bit of rain on Sunday.

My trip to the lake ended in 2 days of rain but still was fun. I would like to experience the depths John A. did, but will have to happen another time.

Those crystals John A were nice find!

FranK you and Tony looked relaxed just cruisin on the pontoon--what fun that must have been, such pretty backgrounds!

All the stories and photos show that TEXAS SWAMPERS can enjoy even out of Texas waters!!!!!

Glad you folks made the trip.

 

[Ryanh1985]

Sounds like a great trip, Im heading to BB in a few weeks looking forward to some cold clear water.

 

[ZzzKing]

here are a couple of photos.

That is one HANDSOME banjo picker!

Hi Tony!