Tenkiller scuba park

[k ellis]

Is it just me or have they shrunk the scuba park??????

I was there this weekend and the conditions to dive were ok but man all the swimmers made the entry difficult. Has anyone else thought the condition of the park is deteriorating.

 

[dewayne405]

We were there the 5-9 of August, and the traffic at the entry point was absent until that friday. Then 8-9 groups of swimmers decided to swim in the scuba park.

The wife got upset that I decided to educate the parents as to the rules for the area. But I have no issue pointing out the well placed and marked signs.

Only one group got pissy about it. Which was really funny, because the "dad" decided to go complain to the park rangers. After a brief discussion, the ranger waved us off, and I watched him writing out tickets, as we submerged for our 3rd dive of the day.

But to answer your question, YES. It is deteriorating due to less than courteous people littering, swimming in the no swimming zones, and general disregard to being civil.

 

[k ellis]

I just got back from there today. Man the park ranger was on it after about Id say 6 p.m. He sat in the parking area and one by one gave out his tickets. I think his main gripe was that people were operating the boats way too close to the park and were hotdogging some jet skis. He was there when we submerged and when we came back up nearly 20 minutes later he was still there. He mentioned something to us that there were alot of unruly people in the no swim zone too.

 

[Avonthediver]

HI K... did the ranger sak you about a dive flag around you? that did happen to me once even though My group was in the clear I still got my butt ate out as group leader!

 

[fire_diver]

Yes, the dive park boundaries are smaller. This spring, the line of buoy markers straight out from the shore were missing. When the COE finally got around to replacing them, they were set shorter by quite a bit. Tim Knight, from Nautical Adventures Scuba has been trying to get the COE to all ow him to expand the park limits so he can drop the helicopter. He talked about possibly replacing the plane with the copter, since some douchebag divers have been damaging the plane and creating safety hazards.

I am glad to hear about the ranger writing tickets for people ignoring the rules in the dive park. Ha ve they replaced the "no swimming" sign at the ramp? It was gone this spring also.

 

[k ellis]

Well the one at the ramp I have not seen myself. I do know right at the parking there is a large sign and there is one near the restrooms. The Ranger did not say a whole lot except call names out and people would walk up and get their tickets. I guess he got them before I surfaced. I was in luck with the flag as there was a class there who had a flag and mine was out also. Thus we had plenty of flags out.

Its a shame about the airplane. One of the greatest things in diving is just to relax and sightsee. When some bone head comes along and finds it amuzing to destroy things its just does not make since.

To all the posters thanks for coming out and helping keep the park alive!

 

[Idtent]

I was there August 5th and 6th with three others. After 5 on August 5th, there was a large group of swimmers but they did clear the entry way for us. No swimmers on the 6th though and met a couple friendly divers. I can't comment on the past as this was my first trip to the lake. We liked diving crappie point more than the park and have nothing but great things to say about Tim and Nautical Adventures. We diffenently want to make that trip again.

 

[Gillty]

Here is the story I heard behind the "shrinkage" of the dive park.

Sometime around the 4th of July some boater ran over the park buoys and messed them up. The rangers were going to write the guy a ticket but he talked them into letting him put the buoys back in order if they wouldn't write him the ticket. He then hires somebody to put the buoys back out and somehow that deal doesn't work out so he tries to put them back out himself. In the process of the work he ends up sinking his aluminum boat along with several buoys.

The above is a story I heard from friends but I can confirm that I did run into a sunken boat (at the scuba park) that appeared to be the described boat with buoys all around it.

To make a long story short I would speculate that he didn't finish the job, hence the shrunk scuba park.

 

[dewayne405]

Just an update, the aluminum boat that is the "new" temporary feature is owned by one of the marina guys.

The idiot who ripped the buoys out, refused to fix his mess, and is taking it to court. The marina boat sank when a less than courteous boater came flying past and swamped the aluminum boat as they were resetting the buoys.

I placed a small float on the aluminum at the first part of August, but some helpful soul decided to cut the float free. We were going to use it to drop heavy lines down and winch the boat up. (Recovery boat from marina) I would hope that a fellow diver would not remove a float from a marked wreck, so I can only assume some moron swam out and cut it free.

So if anyone is diving there, and finds the aluminum boat, please mark it with a float/bottle and line. And notify the marina so that it can be recovered.

I won't be able to be back until the end of October, and they were wanting to recover it before the end of August/September.

 

[fire_diver]

So what depth and heading from the end of the ramp are we talking for this new, temporary dive attraction?

I would like to see it before it gets pulled (just to see something new out there). I do know that there is another boat, just outside the park, at about 70ft IIRC. I haven't seen it yet, but I was told about it. It was supposed to be part of the park, but it slid over the wall before being anchored in place.