Timeliner
Contributor
There are 2 different towers that I know of at Lake Murray. There is the Nature Center. It’s a big stone tower that looks like something out of a King Arthur story. The other tower is near the spillway just north of Marietta Landing. It looks as though it is/was for a control valve. It’s a concrete structure and there is as an associated steel derrick just off shore from it. Word was that there was an old work platform with a rope that led down to it at around 80 feet. Four of Us TexDiveGuy ~ Richerso ~FrogLady ~ Timeliner decided to give it a shot on Sunday at about 10 a.m.
We actually had to rope up and do sort of a rapell down the rock ledge to the water since the lake level was low. We could have climbed down without the rope wearing no gear but just one slip and there would be a bad injury. We all looked like donkeys on ice skates ! There was a stiff wind and actually even small waves. It was a pretty brutal shore entry. We paired up, descended to the base of the tower and started down the rope. The water was 63F and with no noticeable thermocline. Things went dark at about 40ft. and then went to black shortly after that. It’s what I call freaky dark. It wasn’t night dive at CSSP dark but power failure in the storm cellar at night dark. John and I reached the lower structure at 63 feet. ( crash… I thought that was going to be at 80 feet)
It’s a big old steel frame structure and the expanded metal on top is beat up bad with holes punched in it as if a really heavy person bounced on it and broke through in lots of places. It’s jagged and mid evil and pretty scary looking. Alan described it later as looking like an old Bar-B-Que pit. We explored around the top of it and then dropped down on one side of the structure to its base at near 80 feet. Looking up was a maze of silt and flash light beams cutting through the haze. This is what an escaped convict must feel like while hiding in a marsh pond breathing through a reed and seeing the search lights of the prison guards on top.
Alan and Teresa must have made it down to the structure too because I could see 3 other lights sometimes. Usually I could only see John’s light and at times no lights at all. Following a steel beam on the structure I explored the base for a bit. While ascended to buddy up again I found I was blocked by jagged expanded metal on all sides. Alan was right it felt just like being in a Bar-B-Que pit. I was trapped inside of it and couldn’t see squat except the jagged metal grate above me. I had no idea how I got caught inside this giant crab trap of a thing but it freaked me bad at first. I took a few breaths of air, thought about it and decided this was a stupid place to die! I laughed and descended a few feet and swam out of the trap. John and I got back in sight of each other up and decided to make our way back up the rope.
We saw Alan but no Teresa. We found out later that while I was in the crab trap she was ensnarled in a tangle of monofilament line and attempting to cut her self free in the darkness at around 90 feet. ( we need her to write about that episode. :11: ) We all had to climb out and make our way back up the slippery rock ledge. Man I’m glad Alan brought that tow rope!!
Later that afternoon we did a blissful little dive from the Marietta Landing. Nothing exotic or dangerous just a nice swim. What a day ! :14:
We actually had to rope up and do sort of a rapell down the rock ledge to the water since the lake level was low. We could have climbed down without the rope wearing no gear but just one slip and there would be a bad injury. We all looked like donkeys on ice skates ! There was a stiff wind and actually even small waves. It was a pretty brutal shore entry. We paired up, descended to the base of the tower and started down the rope. The water was 63F and with no noticeable thermocline. Things went dark at about 40ft. and then went to black shortly after that. It’s what I call freaky dark. It wasn’t night dive at CSSP dark but power failure in the storm cellar at night dark. John and I reached the lower structure at 63 feet. ( crash… I thought that was going to be at 80 feet)
It’s a big old steel frame structure and the expanded metal on top is beat up bad with holes punched in it as if a really heavy person bounced on it and broke through in lots of places. It’s jagged and mid evil and pretty scary looking. Alan described it later as looking like an old Bar-B-Que pit. We explored around the top of it and then dropped down on one side of the structure to its base at near 80 feet. Looking up was a maze of silt and flash light beams cutting through the haze. This is what an escaped convict must feel like while hiding in a marsh pond breathing through a reed and seeing the search lights of the prison guards on top.
Alan and Teresa must have made it down to the structure too because I could see 3 other lights sometimes. Usually I could only see John’s light and at times no lights at all. Following a steel beam on the structure I explored the base for a bit. While ascended to buddy up again I found I was blocked by jagged expanded metal on all sides. Alan was right it felt just like being in a Bar-B-Que pit. I was trapped inside of it and couldn’t see squat except the jagged metal grate above me. I had no idea how I got caught inside this giant crab trap of a thing but it freaked me bad at first. I took a few breaths of air, thought about it and decided this was a stupid place to die! I laughed and descended a few feet and swam out of the trap. John and I got back in sight of each other up and decided to make our way back up the rope.
We saw Alan but no Teresa. We found out later that while I was in the crab trap she was ensnarled in a tangle of monofilament line and attempting to cut her self free in the darkness at around 90 feet. ( we need her to write about that episode. :11: ) We all had to climb out and make our way back up the slippery rock ledge. Man I’m glad Alan brought that tow rope!!
Later that afternoon we did a blissful little dive from the Marietta Landing. Nothing exotic or dangerous just a nice swim. What a day ! :14:
