Salt River Diving

[SCUBAholicEd]

Names are funny. I think they are chosen by people who arn't from here and or have never been to the site. Blue point is easy. Driving down the road you look to the north and the blue point on the mountain sticks out like a sore thumb. Its blue and all the rest of the mountins are brown/black. In the 60's and 70's my family used to camp there and at Coons bluff.
The remains of the old sheep bridge you can still see in the river while you are tubing. A pilling is in the water, BUT it is farther down stream [west]. SO, the lot they call Sheeps Crossing is at the real "blue point". The lot that is called blue point is on the east side of the river a ways from the blue point.
Yes the diving is between Stewart Mountin dam and granit reef dam. Lower Salt.

 

[NoobDiver001]

Hello all.
Me and a buddy made a trip out to the salt for a couple dives not this past sunday but the sunday before... Due to a bad tank O-ring and only bringing one tank each my buddy couldn't dive so I stayed in the shallows(well most of the time atleast )
well we went to the bridge, I believe its called stop 2 for the tubers is this the same place everyone is talking about?
Also is anyone planning on going this weekend would love to get a couple tanks in on sat or sun, or both... And did anyone else notice the huge crawfish down there, some of them looked like lobsters lol...

 

[Reef Man]

Sounds like you had a good time....Just have a couple questions....did your buddy get to dive with you at all??? Did you do this dive by yourself??? Was this your first river dive experience???

Now back on subject....I would love to do the dive but busy this week but we could get together some time later and get some down time!!! Happy Diving....

 

[NoobDiver001]

Yea I loved it. Found a bunch of stuff including a boom box and wallet..
He got to dive for a bit when I noticed bubbles coming from his 1st stage...We made our ascent if you would call it that at 10ft deep but took off the 1st stage and bingo notice a big chunk missing out of the oring, so he just put on his mask and snorkel and kinda hovered above me.. So I wasn't completly alone, and really just stayed in around the 10-15ft depth..It was indeed my first time in full scuba, but growing up in FL, and PA I did alot of snorkeling and freediving, so I knew what to expect as far as the current was concerned, must admit it took a little getting used to manuver with full gear and not enough weight lol...

 

[ScubaDubaDo]

..It was indeed my first time in full scuba, but growing up in FL, and PA I did alot of snorkeling and freediving, so I knew what to expect as far as the current was concerned, must admit it took a little getting used to manuver with full gear and not enough weight lol...

:no Sounds pretty risky and unsafe. Especially when it being a first time in full gear and then to add, in an environment of low vis and a current...may have been safer to abort the dive for the day...also, always a good idea to carry extra o-rings for emergencies like that...I had a blown out o-ring happen once with no spare...I never have made that mistake again...:no

 

[RAWalker]

It really should have been an abort for both divers. I agree it was way too risky for anyone not setup and ready to be a solo diver let alone a noob. Seems not having a save a dive kit with a replacement oring shows some lack of preparedness. It sounds like NoobDiver001 isn't even certfied for OW so where did he get a kit from his buddy? He doesn't sound like a good buddy if he brought you to these conditions and let you dive solo.

 

[Reef Man]

Yea I loved it. Found a bunch of stuff including a boom box and wallet..
He got to dive for a bit when I noticed bubbles coming from his 1st stage...We made our ascent if you would call it that at 10ft deep but took off the 1st stage and bingo notice a big chunk missing out of the oring, so he just put on his mask and snorkel and kinda hovered above me.. So I wasn't completly alone, and really just stayed in around the 10-15ft depth..It was indeed my first time in full scuba, but growing up in FL, and PA I did alot of snorkeling and freediving, so I knew what to expect as far as the current was concerned, must admit it took a little getting used to manuver with full gear and not enough weight lol...

I understand how the thrill of diving can be a bit overwhelming...and it is always a pain to get to a dive site and not be able to dive because equipment problems...
With that said....I am a bit confused about your statement that this was the first time in full gear??? Are you OW certified....if so...didn't your instructor have you in full gear???

I am also a bit concerned about you solo diving with very little experience and no solo dive training....in 10ft of water or 100 ft...so many things can go wrong in a dive that without a buddy or being trained for solo dives you can end up in a real mess very fast....

In a river that has all kinds of hazards, with current and deep holes with possibilities of getting entrapped etc...I think you both should have called it a day swam a little may be snorkel, but to dive....well, as the others have said...not a good choice....

Next time you go...let some of us know and we will be glad to go with you if you are OW certified...

 

[NoobDiver001]

Sorry for the late reply family duties called..
Well I am in fact PADI open water certified, and own all my own gear... I will admit it that given the circumstances that maybe I should have aborted that dive.. But also let me clairify we were able to get in one dive together although short about 18 minutes. The person I was with is actually my cousin from PA visiting for the week, he is a working on getting his Dive Control Specialist I believe through SSI or NAUI he has talked about both (I'm only familar with PADI but guess its not as big in PA and NJ).. Well anyway it was really just a spurr of the moment thing because he didn't even know I had got cert yet and he didn't bring any gear or anything so he went and rented while I was at work saturday and we just went on sunday...
Now I will also admit he wasn't to thrilled with me still wanting to submerge but due to my stubborness to be underwater he relented somewhat and insisted he stay right above me and literally most of the time if I stood up my head would be above the surface... I did creep down to 10 maybe 15ft a couple dives ignorantly but trust me I quickly either felt a hand on my leg or the sound of some rocks clacking together to bring me back. Well I will be on here much more often and find out where everyone is going cause I'm addicted to being underwater, this past weeked I almost went and got a tank to sit in my pool lol...
I do appriciate everyones concern...
Thanks for all the response although not really what I was looking to hear lol...

 

[Reef Man]

We just want to have you around so we can get some dives in....don't want to read about you in the paper or see you on the news, or reported about in the accident forum here on SB....

 

[Cindy Fox]

So, anyways...

Saturday AM at the river? Time?

Blue Point bridge? East/West side, north/south?

I need to get a new dive knife for the filament. Any other suggestions of river equipt?

I'm planning to be as streamlined as possible for my first river foray...

c.