visivility at rock divers

[Tn_diver]

Does anyone know what the water will be like at Rock Divers this weekend? I was wondering if it would still be murky from the runoff due to the hurricane last weekend, or should it be pretty clear? Thank you in advance for the info.

Robert

 

[TheRedHead]

Does anyone know what the water will be like at Rock Divers this weekend? I was wondering if it would still be murky from the runoff due to the hurricane last weekend, or should it be pretty clear? Thank you in advance for the info.

Robert

Does anyone know what the water temp is at this time of year??
We're going this weekend too.

Susan

 

[ScubaLuke]

Does anyone know what the water temp is at this time of year??
We're going this weekend too.

Susan

I talked to a friend of mine who dove there last Sunday and he said the temp on the bottom was 82. He also said the vis was pretty bad.

I'll be out there Saturday for our dive club's annual cookout and night dive (http://www.seasscuba.org). I'm hoping the vis will be better by then. We've had over a week without any rain so that will help a lot.
Luke

 

[TheRedHead]

Hubby and I are driving down to dive and take our kids to the Space Museum. It 200 miles away, but then again, there are no dive spots closer.

I was down there 2 weeks ago and the viz was good on Sat., but it rained Sat night and the viz dropped to 5 feet.

I hope it is better this weekend!

 

[ScubaLuke]

Well, it was better but not good yesterday. The vis was around 10 feet at the bottom and maybe 15 at 20-25 feet. On the plus side the temperature was nice. Around 80 at the bottom. If there was a thermocline, I didn't fell it.
Luke

 

[TheRedHead]

Well, it was better but not good yesterday. The vis was around 10 feet at the bottom and maybe 15 at 20-25 feet. On the plus side the temperature was nice. Around 80 at the bottom. If there was a thermocline, I didn't fell it.
Luke

Hey Luke:

We were out there too. Were you on the other side of the quarry? There were two classes out there on the training paltforms and the viz on my end was 5 feet at best. I almost ran into the houseboat it was so silted up. The temperature was quite nice, indeed. My daughter wanted to feed the koi and we bought some pond pellets at Walmart. We settled down near the entry dock closet to the entrance and it was some of the best fresh water fish watching I've seen.

We made out to the Minute Man missle, but mostly swum around the rock walls as the viz was a bit better there at 25 feet. There are some stupendous algae growths along the walls hanging off like Spanish Moss.

I think I'll try the other side next time.

Susan

 

[ScubaLuke]

Hi Susan,
Saturday we went in at the dock closest to the changing room. But we didn’t get there until about 2:30. I belong to a local dive club and we do a night dive and cookout there every year about this time. Some of us get there early and do an afternoon dive before the cookout.

Probably by the time we got in the water things had settled a bit. Also the class on that doc was a rescue class and they were working at the surface when we got in.

We started our dive on the BRT (Big Round Thing). That’s the big tube located about halfway between the two western docs. Then we followed the strings along the bottom to the truck, the jet, the houseboat, etc.
Luke

 

[TheRedHead]

We entered via the other western dock right behind the Open Water class (big mistake). By the time we did our 2nd dive, about 1:00 p.m., I could barely see my hand in front of my face.

The rescue class was going on at the other dock, but they were practicing being victims with much yelling and panicky play-acting, we decided the other dock seemed quieter.

I haven't dived the east dock, have you? I've swum over the BRT, but haven't been through it.

Rockdivers is my favorite local place to dive. Most of the people in my area go to Heber Springs, AR, but I always get chiggers there. I think they have the biggest chiggers in the United States in Arkansas.

Are there any other good dive spots in No. Alabama?

Susan

 

[ScubaLuke]

Hi Susan,
I've dove the east dock a couple of times and it does seem like the vis was better there. I think I use the west side dock out of force of habit.

There are a couple of other quarries in Alabama. South of Birmingham is Blue Water Park and over close to Gadsden there's Dive Land:
http://www.divealabama.com/
http://www.headsouth.com/diveland/
I've dove Blue Water but not in a long time. I have yet to go to Dive Land but I here it's pretty good.

And then there's Martha's Quarry east of Nashville which I really like. I haven't been there in a couple of years just 'cause Rock Rivers is so convenient for me.
Luke

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Wow.

Diveland looks pretty nifty I never knew the place existed, may have to make another road trip up that way to hit it and Blue Water