River Diving

[Cornboy_99]

Hi,

I've just noticed that SSI, the folks I got my OW cert with this past summer, have a course in river diving. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about this class or river diving in general. I live on the Savannah river between SC and GA and a friend has taken me on a couple of dives there (Augusta, GA). I really enjoyed it and was amazed at the amount of stuff on the bottom--apparently all sorts of artifacts have come up over the years.

Cheers,
Doug

 

[don Francisco]

Doug, since you've already done some river diving, you're probably aware of the main issues, visibility, current (including tricky eddies) and boat traffic. If you friend is experienced in diving the area, and willing to take you along in the future, the hands on experience will probably negate the need to take a course.

If you can get hold of the manual, or any other reference, that would make a good companion to the experience.

 

[Cornboy_99]

Thanks for the reply don Francisco. I think I'm going to embrace river diving since its local and the visibility seems to be a bit better than the lake that feeds it. I know that the bottom is much less mucky, and again, there seem to be lots of things to find . My buddy is great, he is not only very experienced in the river he knows the history too, which adds a lot to the fun.

Doug

 

[Wayward Son]

if you dive below a dam, even miles below it, be aware that the flood schedule is extremely important to you. nothing like starting a dive with little current & having them open the gates, so you surface about 3 miles further down stream than you expected, LOL.

been there, done that