Mid-Mo Divers

[DivingCRNA]

It's not a place to travel across country to dive... but then again, neither is beaver or table rock. As far as local diving goes, it's great.


And I wasn't flaming nagal, just a bit surprised that you'd be so quickly to put Oronogo so far down on the list of places to dive around here.

I am not sure I understand what folks are saying when they talk about "great vis" in Table Rock or Beaver Lakes. I have dove them both many times and have never had "great" vis. Adequate, yes. Divable, yes. Not Mud, yes. Great, no....

I enjoy diving the lakes, but I do not think I will ever call the vis great. I even have more fun in the lakes because I have been doing techie stuff, where the ocean has been "look at the pretty fish" dives (which I like too, and I am not insulting those that only do ocean reef diving. I just like deep, dark and cold).

 

[cummings66]

I had maybe 40 feet of vis for the New Years dive at Beaver Lake, by far better than any quarry I've dove in.

I don't think anybody has claimed great vis, we don't get that here. Typical vis is anywhere from 5 to 15 feet and sometimes in the Winter you'll get upwards of 30 feet. 40 feet of vis like I had on the New Years dive is the exception.

What is better is a larger place to dive, more things to see when it comes to fish and natural terrain. There are probably more objects in the lakes to look at compared to the quarries, but then they're larger.

I don't dive deep, my deepest dive is 123 feet I think and while it can be dark there it's really nothing special. I have a goal to dive to 130 but not a pressing one because I enjoy seeing things when I dive.

Oronogo does get pretty deep however, then again so do the lakes. They both get deeper than I'm willing to go.

For me any dive is a great dive if I have no problems. Quarries are nice, but simply put the only one I'd drive out of my way to see would be Mermet. Once you dive a quarry they're all pretty much the same save for the things people toss in there.

To be frank, for me the list of dive sites start at Table Rock, then Beaver, then my local quarry, then possibly Oronogo. The reasons, TR is closest for good diving, Beaver is next in line, and my local quarry is closest, then Oronogo due to distance.

Good diving to me means seeing my buddy when I look for him or her, and being able to see the bottom before I hit it. 5 feet of vis on up is good vis for me. 30 feet is vis I'll jump up and down and holler about, that's great vis for me. 20 will get me excited, 30 ecstatic.

 

[wb5plj]

I don't know many better places to dive but I am in Jefferson City which is a bit closer than some others and I am almost alwayse up for a dive.

Bennett Springs - Contiplating a dive for Mid February - Might be interesting and cold

This is one of my favorite dives in MO, But don't try to go into the first chamber at the end of the cavern unless you have the proper gear and training. It looks very very easy but you can get into trouble real quick.

 

[mechanical31]

I live in S.E. Mo. and dive Norfork quite a bit. When you get ready to go drop me a line. If the time is right we can do some spearfishing. The diving at Norfork is pretty good. I like it better than Table Rock as long as you stay on the South side of the Lake. The water is clearer there because of bottom composition I guess.

 

[nagel]

Thanks for the updates - I'll definately keep you in mind. Regarding Bennett, we were scheduled for this Sunday, but have opted out due to weather and other things. We called Bennett and they are saying the viz is very poor right now. Anyway, again thanks.

Steve Nagel

 

[KsDiver]

Steve, I have made several vacations to Norfork. Check out Jordanmarina.com. Look under "dive sites", they have 29 dive sites on the lake. If you contact the marina they'll give you GPS coordinates to most dive sites. The water is exactly like Table Rock, except very little boat traffic. Norfork is a well kept secret.http://www.jordanmarina.com