Strange compass problems......

[JT2]

Yesterday my buddy and I did our first dive below the hydroelectric dam at Possum Kingdom Lake, TX, And as we approached the damn at 110ffw all of the sudden our compasses started going nuts, they both started spinning back and forth wildly! I must say it was a little exciting since viz at that depth was about 5 feet, but once we backed off from the dam about 10 kick cycles or so the compasses setteled back down. We were never closer than about 100-150ft from the dam when this started. I was wondering if anyone else had ever had a similar experience?

 

[crab]

I've never been to this location, but I'd say you were either mixed up in some weird X-files thing, or your compasses were being influenced by the electrical field created by the generator(s). I'd say the latter is the safer bet.

By the way, I hope you are exercising great caution when diving near a dam. Very bad things can happen.

 

[JT2]

Since this was our first dive at the dam, we were very cautious with our dive planning, we gathered all of the info we could from other divers who had been there, we also had to get permission from the Brazos River Authority to make sure it was okay to dive at that spot, and we also had to plan the dive with the Army Corps of engineers so that we would know when it was divable, such as when they were leting water in and flow rates.

 

[crab]

It's good to hear that you went in with good information.

With regard to the compasses... Did you try observing them near the powerhouse-- on the dry side of the dam? If the power generation conditions were similar to when you were diving, it would stand to reason that the same effect would be observed on either side of the dam.

By the way, what's up with the name Possum Kingdom? Just curious...

 

[JT2]

Go here, http://www.possumkingdomlake.com/aboutpk.htm[/url] and you can read the story about how the lake got it's name, there is also a lot of history on the general area around the lake as well as some good pictures of this part of Texas.

 

[crab]

I had no idea that there was ever a lucrative possum fur industry. I can certainly see why racoons and beavers dominated the fur hat segment...

By the way, the Hell's Gate part of the lake looks beautiful. Is the diving any good around those cliffs?

 

[JT2]

Hell's Gate is the number one han out spot for boaters, and because of that it is also an excellent spot to dive. We regularly find anchors, sunglasss, and various other personal items, heck I even found a blue bikini bottom once! Possum Kingdom is a very popular diving lake, and Scuba Point is a dive park that it located on the lake which has lots of under water attractions, they also have the worlds largest scuba air compressor, " Goldfinger". You can check out Scuba Point at http://www.scubapointpk.com

 

[crab]

Next time I find myself in Texas (this part at least) I will bring my gear and dive this lake.

Thanks for the information!

 

[roakey]

Nevermind (I can't delete a response), I put in a response about rebar and then saw you were still quite a ways away from the dam.

Roak

 

[GP]

We have some old iron ore mine pits that we dive in Minnesota and because of the large iron deposits in some areas of the pits they can throw your compass out of wack at times.