Old St Stephens Dive Report 3/16

[Natebrr]

Ok this is my first dive report so bare with me. Old St Stephens which is a state rec. park in northern Washington County, Al. This is the site of the first capital of Alabama, which would make you think it would be easy to get to, or that there would be a lot of well placed signs (not the case). I think I heard banjo music at one point :11: .

Anyway, this is a scouting trip for the lds; they want a new place to go for checkout dives. After making it through one more round of sign confusion, we arrive at the check - in shack. We start trying to find out what we need to do. Ten dollar fee and sign a waiver, but I am out of waivers. Then I believe the lady begins trying to talk me and my buddy out of diving. She informed us of the possibility of gators, and ya’ll know how cold it gets down there. We decide to drive down and check out the swim area/ entry point. By this point we both have a feeling we just don’t need to make this dive, but we have a look around, and decide lets go for it. While suiting up the sun starts to shine through. We enter the water. She wasn’t kidding about the cold 64 on top. Viz was in the 15 – 20 foot range. All the area we got to explore seemed to be any where from 10 to 15 deep. There was a definite thermocline around 14 feet. We found a hole that looked to be pretty deep, but I was having some ear trouble so we didn’t go find out. Plus it got cold quick and neither of us where prepared for that. Decent dive, stay well clear of the bottom or you will be in zero viz fast. I also found out if I take this big of a break from diving my SAC rate goes back up through the roof. Max depth 15’ dive lasted 25 min.

Sorry that was kind of long winded. Oh well, hope ya’ll enjoy

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Was this some sort of lake or what? River? Sounds interesting, doable temperatures and excellent visibility as far as I'm concerned

 

[Natebrr]

It's an old rock quarry. I was good in my 3 mil w/ hooded vest, untill we hit the top of the thermocline then it just got plain cold. I would have thought there would have been some deeper spots, but we only saw two drop offs. I'll be going back some time to do some more exploring.

Me and Hannah are going to try and make it next weekend to destin, I think

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

A couple quick questions...where in Alabama is Washington County and did you see any fish?

thanks,
David

 

[Natebrr]

Here is a link to a map. It is just north of Mobile County. Here is a link to the main site with more info.

We saw some fish. Several bass, a few brim, and something else rather large but I didn't get a very good look at it. The park is located just beside the Tombigbee river. From what the lady said there isn't a whole bunch of dive traffic in there.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Not much dive traffic is a good thing!

 

[sccaleb]

Shoot... last time I was at Keowee here in South Carolina, water temp on the top was 56 degrees! I wish it was that warm here. Sorry you didn't get to do the diving you wanted to. At least the water is diveable around the south... if we lived somewhere like... hmmm... Michigan... life would suck. Thank goodness for diving in the deep south.

And, in reference to the gators: let us know before you go next time, first off. Then, as a US Coast Guard Captain taught me, if you see a gator, make sure not to make eye contact. Then slowly remove your mask, fins, tank, and BC... inflate your BC all the way and put all of your equipment on top of it. Then quickly push it away from you. That way when the gator eats you, at least we can sell your equipment. I mean honestly... equipment value decreases exponentially when it has gator teeth marks in it.

Hey... everyone has to make a living.

Thanks for the report!

Caleb

 

[jbeach69]

Why, with the Gulf just a short drive south and numerous fresh water springs just a short drive east would any sane person want to get in very cold water with very low vis, and large, large gators....I know that area and there are some really BIG gators there, and then there are snakes and huge fresh water snapping turtles big enough to take a foot or hand off.... to each his own of course... good report though...