Salt River Diving

[stnichols]

Hi,
Sheeps Crossing is a recreation site on the west side of the Blue Point bridge. Steve met myself, my nephew and friend KC to dive there yesterday.

I'm guessing the water flow was about 1200 CFM down from the last couple of years. The floods this winter and spring have changed the bottom topography somewhat and it makes it interesting seeing the changes. I'm going to call the vis a fuzzy 4-7' and that may be generous. Water temp was in the mid 70's. We also were able to get to a max deph of 29'.

We did a total of four dives there, getting out before it gets too crowded. We found lots of sunglasses, madi grae beads, a cell phone, several cameras, a couple of squirt guns, some boom boxes, tons of cans and some good unopened drinks. All in All things we usually end up finding.

The river is a good break from the lakes and makes for a good social gathering. Heck sometimes I have been crazy enough to drag my camera equipment in and take pictures.

I'll let Steve give his impression of it but I think you'll see he got a kick out of it

Stephen

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

This was my first dive at the Salt River. I have to say on the outset that this was a great dive day. I’ll definitely be back to the river. Thanks again to Steve for inviting me along. It was a hoot.

The parking lot at Sheeps Crossing is shaped like a hockey stick and we parked at the “blade” end. We had to carry our gear about 50 yards from the parking lot to our base site under a Cottonwood tree near the river bank. At that spot there's a bend in the river that causes an eddy which Saturday was doing a lazy horizontal loop before continuing on to a small rapid about 100 yards long. Over time the eddy has washed away a 30 foot deep bowl.

Visibility ranged from 5 feet to probably 20 feet and the temperature ranged from the low 70s on the surface to 65 degrees at the deepest part of the dive. I wore my 3mm wetsuit, hood and gloves. The hood and gloves were mainly for protection from the debris strewn bottom. I didn’t use my dive light or my compass. I would change that next time. The light would have come in handy for looking under overhangs and into dark nooks and crannies. The compass would have helped old Wrong Way (me) keep track of where he was until he learned the lay of the river bottom.

We descended right away and swam north along the sandy bottom and into the bowl until we got to a wall on the far side of the river. Steve turned left and guided me upstream into the main channel of the current flow. The current got stronger as we followed the river bottom rising to about 15 feet. As we swam along our depth ranged from 10 to 15 feet through most of the dive. In places the channel narrowed increasing the speed of the current enough to force you to really kick to keep moving forward. I swam around the leeward side of a boulder and wasn't ready for the current. It pushed me sideways almost into Steve before I could adjust. I don't know how close I came to kicking him in the head. Hopefully he was far enough back that he could watch me bumble along.

After we made our way upstream about 100 yards, Steve signaled to turn around. As soon as I started to do a helicopter turn (lake diver that I am) the current took over and I was half sideways and backwards before I knew it. I grabbed a handful of rock to right myself but my big old floppy split fins caught the current and put me in a stiff body summersault. I finally wised up and let go. What A Ride. It took only a couple of minutes to travel the entire distance I swam in the previous twenty. The carp and catfish were following our dive taking advantage of our kicking up the bottom. Now they had to scatter or be run over.

Steve recommended that I bring my goodie-bag along and he wasn’t kidding. There are all kinds of goodies down there. I watched as Steve uncovered pair after pair of sunglasses. He explained earlier that the first dive or two of the day are all about the “treasure”. Some of the more interesting treasure included a couple of boom boxes, a lawn chair, t shirts, towels, women’s shorts, women’s swim suits, a cell phone and a variety of lighters. We took a lot of junk out. But as much as we took out we saw ten times that much go back in during a 40 minute surface interval.

Among the junk and bracken there were a couple of nice knifes. One was a Swiss army knife with every attachment and gadget the Victorinox engineers ever thought of and the other knife was a Smith & Wesson folder. John gave me the folder as a thank you for sharing the day. It’s already cleaned, oiled and part of my dive kit. Thanks John.

Diving at the river is certainly a different experience. Especially if like me, you’re used to diving sans current. There is certainly more to see in a smaller area as compared to the lake. The silence of no boats and no jet skis is golden. The worst interaction with any kind of watercraft is to surface under a tuber. The topography is pretty interesting and ever-changing. Anytime anybody wants to try diving at the river, let me know. I’ll be happy to go back.

Steve.

 

[fkostyun]

Hum, years ago I lost a smith and wesson knife on that river!!! (Its been about 12, so I'm sure its long rusted to nothing by now.)

I river dive sounds like fun - I would definatly be up for one!

 

[SCUBAholicEd]

Hey Steve,

Knew you'd love the river. It is a real skill builder, great hunt for "stuff" and just an all around different dive. After this week Ed 4 and I are in!!!!! Looking forward to flying

 

[ScubaDubaDo]

This is something that I would definitely be interested in doing. I've been wanting to dive the river for sometime now. The next time I will be available is 7/18-7/20. If anyone is going that weekend and would not mind a rookie river diver, please let me know

 

[deepdivered]

I also loved my river dive. i found a good way to go up stream. it can be hard with out a river stick. i would pull my self with both hands at the same time. but just drifting is great. any one know of something good to use as a river stick?

 

[ffhamm]

ummm a stick????



Jeff

 

[deepdivered]

well i saw ice axes and military picks would make good ones. just wanted to know if any one has better ideas. if you don't know what there for. you use them to help clime up river.

 

[SCUBAholicEd]

Two absolutely fantastic dives at the Salt River today with Ed 4 and John Davenport. Vis was about 6 to 8 feet, max depth 30 feet and lowest temp was 64. Set-up under the tree and Entered at Blue Point [parked in Sheeps Crossing Lot] we started out on the south side and headed north right at the blue cliff. We dropped into the 30 foot hole and turned right [east] and worked our way along the north shore up river. Saw a tone of fish, and endless “stuff”. Once we got to the bend we turned right again and drifted back down to were we started.
Our second dive we went left. Need to be carful here as the rapids are a short distance down to the left [west]. Couldn’t have been a better day. OK, if I had brought all my tanks for a few more dives, THAT would have been a better day!!!

 

[Cindy Fox]

Sounds great! When's the next river trip? I'd love to join you!

I'm available the next two weekends - Aug 2-3 or 9-10 or any late afternoon/eve if it's the lower salt. That's never struck me as very deep, but I'm intrigued as the only Blue Point bridge I know is the lower salt - is that correct? Power road to Bush Hwy?

c.