Well, fixxervi6 (Rick), dearman (Dean), David and I got there late Friday night and got in the water about 12:30 AM and did a dive to 100' and started our ascent @ 24 mins. Dean and David split off early in the dive with ear problems. Surfaced @ 50 mins (we like those nice slow ascents). My computer recorded a temp @ max depth of 71 (think it was probably 68). The themo was at 81'.
The best viz we saw was probably 8 - 10' at depth, 3 - 6' above the thermo.
Got back to the campsite and some guy staggers over towards us drunk out of his mind. Our 30 - 45' conversation while breaking down and locking up our gear consisted of 3 questions over and over again:
1) Do you scuba dudes like work for the government?
2) How do they make batteries [for the lights] work underwater?
3) Where can I get some scuba slippers so I can walk on the coral? (time to lock up our boots).
He staggered off for a few minutes and we got in our tents. He then came back and repeated question 2 a couple of times.
Woke up the next morning with 2 locksmiths there at his car. We find out later that he called Enterprise (his car was a rental) and got tired of waiting then called another locksmith. Enterprise showed up a few minutes later and left. When the locksmith showed up, he was passed out. Once he was able to wake him up and get him into his car, the guy couldn't find his wallet and there was a heated exchange involving relations with one's mother amoung other things. Got a 30s clip. The locksmith then just blocked off his car and sat in his van.. We ran into town to get some propane and the sherrif had come and taken the the guy off. No scuba slippers for him.
Anyway, we did another dive at 1:45 PM Sat at the dam, actually went into the little grate @ 10'.. it was quite unmemorable swam back to shore @ 20' and dropped to 108 and started our ascent @ 35 min and surfaced @ 52 min. Viz never opened up beyond 12' or so.
The next dive Rick and I went down @ the dam to 143 and started our ascent @ 14'. Temp at 140 was cold enough that I couldn't re-clip my SPG since my hands were so cold (no gloves). Guessing the temp was in the low 60s (computer read 68 but we were only below 130 for 7 mins). The viz below 130 opened up to 20' looks like the windex layer is gone for the year. Surfaced @ 43 min.
The 4rd dive (Dean and I - Rick was too cold somehow) was to 65'. Just swam along the wall. Started our ascent @ 23' and surfaced @ 39'. Viz around 6 - 8', temp of 77. We tried to keep the dive short to save air for another dive.
Next morning we did another dive (Dean and I, Rick's sinuses were hosed) to 100', started our ascent @ 17', made it up @ 32'. Viz at max depth was 0. This was not a fun dive. We hit that white silt layer at 95 or so and I was trying to descend below it but the bottom flatted out. Turned the dive once I reaized that. Didn't have my compass with me and unable to discern the slope so I was nervous that I hadn't done a true 180 (knew I was within 30 deg though). After 1 min we had ascended to 90' and the viz opened back up to 5', took me a minute (and a 45 deg left turn) to figure out which way was straight up the slope. By 85' and 16mins, we were headed straight in. My previous expeirences with the white silt layer had it about 5' thick and I could easily go through it without getting turned around but in this case, they layer was on a level plane. Need to start wearing a compass or deploy my reel before heading into the muck. A SMB wouldn't be a bad idea either so if we had to make a mid water ascent, we would have a reference point for the ascent and the boats wouldn't wack us (although in Travis, I wouldn't be suprised if an SMB just attracted boats).
Ran into a few SB's down there, 3dent, subzero and crazyduck. Could have used all of your help with the dunk guy's Q&A.
The best viz we saw was probably 8 - 10' at depth, 3 - 6' above the thermo.
Got back to the campsite and some guy staggers over towards us drunk out of his mind. Our 30 - 45' conversation while breaking down and locking up our gear consisted of 3 questions over and over again:
1) Do you scuba dudes like work for the government?
2) How do they make batteries [for the lights] work underwater?
3) Where can I get some scuba slippers so I can walk on the coral? (time to lock up our boots).
He staggered off for a few minutes and we got in our tents. He then came back and repeated question 2 a couple of times.
Woke up the next morning with 2 locksmiths there at his car. We find out later that he called Enterprise (his car was a rental) and got tired of waiting then called another locksmith. Enterprise showed up a few minutes later and left. When the locksmith showed up, he was passed out. Once he was able to wake him up and get him into his car, the guy couldn't find his wallet and there was a heated exchange involving relations with one's mother amoung other things. Got a 30s clip. The locksmith then just blocked off his car and sat in his van.. We ran into town to get some propane and the sherrif had come and taken the the guy off. No scuba slippers for him.
Anyway, we did another dive at 1:45 PM Sat at the dam, actually went into the little grate @ 10'.. it was quite unmemorable swam back to shore @ 20' and dropped to 108 and started our ascent @ 35 min and surfaced @ 52 min. Viz never opened up beyond 12' or so.
The next dive Rick and I went down @ the dam to 143 and started our ascent @ 14'. Temp at 140 was cold enough that I couldn't re-clip my SPG since my hands were so cold (no gloves). Guessing the temp was in the low 60s (computer read 68 but we were only below 130 for 7 mins). The viz below 130 opened up to 20' looks like the windex layer is gone for the year. Surfaced @ 43 min.
The 4rd dive (Dean and I - Rick was too cold somehow) was to 65'. Just swam along the wall. Started our ascent @ 23' and surfaced @ 39'. Viz around 6 - 8', temp of 77. We tried to keep the dive short to save air for another dive.
Next morning we did another dive (Dean and I, Rick's sinuses were hosed) to 100', started our ascent @ 17', made it up @ 32'. Viz at max depth was 0. This was not a fun dive. We hit that white silt layer at 95 or so and I was trying to descend below it but the bottom flatted out. Turned the dive once I reaized that. Didn't have my compass with me and unable to discern the slope so I was nervous that I hadn't done a true 180 (knew I was within 30 deg though). After 1 min we had ascended to 90' and the viz opened back up to 5', took me a minute (and a 45 deg left turn) to figure out which way was straight up the slope. By 85' and 16mins, we were headed straight in. My previous expeirences with the white silt layer had it about 5' thick and I could easily go through it without getting turned around but in this case, they layer was on a level plane. Need to start wearing a compass or deploy my reel before heading into the muck. A SMB wouldn't be a bad idea either so if we had to make a mid water ascent, we would have a reference point for the ascent and the boats wouldn't wack us (although in Travis, I wouldn't be suprised if an SMB just attracted boats).
Ran into a few SB's down there, 3dent, subzero and crazyduck. Could have used all of your help with the dunk guy's Q&A.
