Toledo Bend Turbine Channel

[WetCell]

My son and I dove the Toledo Bend Turbine Channel on Saturday and it was a good dive. What we weren't prepared for was what it takes to get into the water when the level is low. The banks are steep and a dive group out of Alexandria who was up there for underwater pumpkin carving had a heavy rope tied to a trailer hitch on a truck so that they could get down to the shore. We drove down to the "boat launch", which I have quoted as I cannot see how anyone could launch a boat, and got in that way. We still had a steep climb and with weights and tanks that is not fun.

The water temp was 70 degrees and I would put the viz at about 6'. The bottom is nice as it is rocky--very rocky. Saw bass and turtles and lots of pumpkin seeds and debris as we were downstream from the LA group ;-)

The deepest I got to was 13', with an average depth of 6'--definitely a peculiar dive. Of course, at that depth we dove an hour (my son could have gone longer, but I am an air hog) and had no tissue loading at all. The water is very clean and fresh, viz is affected by tannins and not so much particulates.

 

[diver 85]

I tried sending you A PM on finding out how it went---had deleted all your in coming messages though-----duh..It went OK then----where did ya'll go in @ ie how far down the dirt road did you go???.......I'm going back Saturday---if you have a canoe or kayak, we get get further down the channel all the way to where the Sabine River comes into the channel....good little dive....

 

[WetCell]

I tried sending you A PM on finding out how it went---had deleted all your in coming messages though-----duh..It went OK then----where did ya'll go in @ ie how far down the dirt road did you go???.......I'm going back Saturday---if you have a canoe or kayak, we get get further down the channel all the way to where the Sabine River comes into the channel....good little dive....

We drove down on the LA side where the road goes mud--it was all dried out so we didn't have any issues. We still had a bit of a climb up and down the bank. I would hate to see it after a rain! We'll do the channel again next year, it is a good place for a party or picnic dive.