New Year's Day Dive, Augusta, GA

[diveprof]

Several of us will be diving East Dam, Clarks Hill Lake (aka Lake Thurmond) to welcome the New Year on New Year's Day at 1pm. All are welcome. Water temps will be about 52 degrees. Vis 8' or so we hope in the shallower depths. Attire is formal (Black wetsuits 7mm or drysuits, Black hood or hooded vest, gloves, black boots).

 

[diveprof]

Sorry for this repeat post, but I entered it under the other Clarks Hill post and not the New Year's one.:

Change in game plan for New Years Day! Wind advisory on the lake today and tomorrow. Unfortunately, it is out of the north, north west. This means big waves and low vis. I drove up there today and alas this was true. With a low lake, waves crash on mudbanks. Low vis. And, we are not surfing, we are diving.

New New Years Day plan: We are diving the river. Big drift or minor drift depending on preferences. Vis per another diver who dove yesterday is 6-8'. We are meeting at the old marina (do a mapquest of 298 Prep Phillips Drive, Augusta, GA - no this isn't where we are but on the map you should see the intersection of prep phillips and riverfront dr. - that is where we are - look for the gravel parking lot on the river with the covered picnic table). We are meeting at 12:30pm. Sorry for the change, but we have the added benefits of vis and minimal wetsuit compression (max depth 20').

 

[diveprof]

Well 5 of us made the New Year's Day dive (yes there was some attrition). Bright sunny day, air temps in the mid to upper 40s F. We did the "big drift" (5th st. to old marina) on the river. Vis was fair 8' , maybe 10' in spots with a mild current. Water temp was 51 degrees. Our dive time was 96 minutes with a max depth of 22'. Four of us dove wet, 1 dry. We began our dive by jumping in near the shipwreck at the 5th street bridge. After a brief tour of the wreck we moved East across the river to the remains of the Hamburg cotton docks. The remains of these docks run almost 2 miles 1/3 of the way off the SC side of the river. What remains is the rock base and supporting wood structure to within 3' of the surface. We dove the docks to the US 1 bridge, dove around the bridge supports then back to the docks continuing downriver. Saw a few large carp. We then moved mid-river for a ways before heading back to the GA side. We dove the boulders, logs, u/w tree remains. Saw a large (10 plus) school of large bass (18" + size), small school of shad, more carp. We looked at the remains of the old Hamburg bridge and soon after moved more mid-river before returning to the GA shore for our exit. Nice dive and great company. A great way to start the new year.

 

[willardj]

I had a Great time! I think everyone's computer had something different on them. Mine said 23' 89min. and 50* which was not a problem being I was toasty warm. I was blown away on how much there was to see in the river. I will have to get back up there to do that again. You should have seen the lake. It was flat as can be. Nell got some picks of it. It looks sick though being so low. The cor needs to let it get back up a good bit atleast 7'-8'. Maybe it wouldn't look so empty.

 

[diveprof]

I had a Great time! I think everyone's computer had something different on them. Mine said 23' 89min. and 50* which was not a problem being I was toasty warm. I was blown away on how much there was to see in the river. I will have to get back up there to do that again. You should have seen the lake. It was flat as can be. Nell got some picks of it. It looks sick though being so low. The cor needs to let it get back up a good bit atleast 7'-8'. Maybe it wouldn't look so empty.

Yeah, I dropped back down for at the end of the dive for a bit while we were floating to the exit and that added a the 7 min. Temps 50-51, yeah that's cold no matter how you cut it. Regardless, a great day of diving. Glad you made it up from Savannah. Always enjoy diving with you. Enjoyed meeting your Mrs. (surely a Saint tolerating your diving purchases - i.e. drysuit - while you make her suffer in a 5mm - she gets the next computer ) Spoke to Sandy today, she was also glowing about yesterday's dive and is ready to go again. Will see how the lake vis is tomorrow. The wind direction changed early Thursday morning to an East wind - this make the lake flat. Still after the previous days waves, we probably made the best decision with the river for the best vis. LIFE IS GOOD living 15-20 minutes from two dive sites, even if it is fresh water.

 

[vshearer]

I have to get up there.

 

[diveprof]

I have to get up there.

Sure, come join us. Send a PM when you are able and I'll give you our schedule for the weekend. I said I live 15-18 minutes of two dive sites, but that is a little inaccurate. There are several good sites both at the lake and in the river - (OK, so some are 20 -25 minutes away from my home ).

 

[willardj]

Yeah, I dropped back down for at the end of the dive for a bit while we were floating to the exit and that added a the 7 min. Temps 50-51, yeah that's cold no matter how you cut it. Regardless, a great day of diving. Glad you made it up from Savannah. Always enjoy diving with you. Enjoyed meeting your Mrs. (surely a Saint tolerating your diving purchases - i.e. drysuit - while you make her suffer in a 5mm - she gets the next computer ) Spoke to Sandy today, she was also glowing about yesterday's dive and is ready to go again. Will see how the lake vis is tomorrow. The wind direction changed early Thursday morning to an East wind - this make the lake flat. Still after the previous days waves, we probably made the best decision with the river for the best vis. LIFE IS GOOD living 15-20 minutes from two dive sites, even if it is fresh water.

Well I've done the Lake and River now and have to say you are lucky. I would love to have both of those dive sites close by. You have a good bunch of divers up there. Real hard core diver's. That's a good thing..

As far a the wife. Even if the wife had a 7mm suit I don't think she would do 50* water. I'll have to work her up to that. I do need to get her a hood, thicker gloves, and some new thick boots. Then she should be good down to low 60's. Even that don't mean she will do it. But when my boy turns 10 it will be on. He will deff. have a thick suit. The river and lake dive's will be perfect for him. No excuse from her then why she can't go diving. She alway's say's she can't go because of T-man ,but I know better. Hopefully After she takes her Adv. class she will be a lil better.

See y'all on the next trip.

 

[diveprof]

Well I've done the Lake and River now and have to say you are lucky. I would love to have both of those dive sites close by. You have a good bunch of divers up there. Real hard core diver's. That's a good thing..

As far a the wife. Even if the wife had a 7mm suit I don't think she would do 50* water. I'll have to work her up to that. I do need to get her a hood, thicker gloves, and some new thick boots. Then she should be good down to low 60's. Even that don't mean she will do it. But when my boy turns 10 it will be on. He will deff. have a thick suit. The river and lake dive's will be perfect for him. No excuse from her then why she can't go diving. She alway's say's she can't go because of T-man ,but I know better. Hopefully After she takes her Adv. class she will be a lil better.

See y'all on the next trip.

Well, electing not to do the dive may be an indication of more intact sanity. It is a fine line between living on the edge and involuntary commitment at your local psych hospital.
My suggestion, don't push. Let her find the joy of diving at her own pace and comfort level. I like to do the Peak Performance bouyancy elective (with a few add ons) as part of the Advance course. Streamlining and getting comfortable with gear, understanding and appreciating true bouyancy control, achieving correct weighting, and moving to the zen side of diving go a long way to helping one transition from an "equipment operator" to a true diver.

 

[willardj]

Well, electing not to do the dive may be an indication of more intact sanity. It is a fine line between living on the edge and involuntary commitment at your local psych hospital.
My suggestion, don't push. Let her find the joy of diving at her own pace and comfort level. I like to do the Peak Performance bouyancy elective (with a few add ons) as part of the Advance course. Streamlining and getting comfortable with gear, understanding and appreciating true bouyancy control, achieving correct weighting, and moving to the zen side of diving go a long way to helping one transition from an "equipment operator" to a true diver.

I know a few divers like that.

True. The zen side of diving. Sweet! She does need to take a few more classes. I think it would make a world of difference to her. I told her several time's If she wanted to go diving I would take her up there and let her dive with y'all and Thomas and I would befine watching. T and I could go on some nature walks. He likes that kind of stuff anyway. Hopefully the April things will go through. We'll get her up there she will see how nice it is and get more comfortable( in zen mode). Then I want have to eagle eye her all the time.