iamsharky
Contributor
- Messages
- 178
- Reaction score
- 37
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
As I was laying on the bottom of a river this past trip, I was thinking about my journey as a fossil hunter. When your on the bottom of the river with nothing to really see you find yourself thinking about alot of different things.
In 02, I received my open water certification and went immediately into cave diving, going through the courses and training until I received my full cave certification. At the intro level of cave diving in 2003, my family and I traveled to Charleston, SC for my sister in law's wedding. Ok, I will be traveling to SC for several days, it sure would be nice to dive........I recalled reading in Advanced Diver Magazine about blackwater fossil hunting in the Cooper river. Lugged my gear and family to SC.
Went out on the charter boat, dropped into what seemed like nothingness and hit a clay bottom. I crawled around on the bottom searching through gravel piles. Upon the sight of the first gravel pile, I was hooked. Not on a rusty lure but on fossils. I am sure it probaly is the same feeling as a drug addict to his drug, but this was legal and probaly alot more fun. I had found frags and a few 2-3 inch megs mostly beat up stuff, but man was I proud and amazed, showing my whole family my loot.
The Cooper was about a 5 hour ride one way and on the way home I told my wife that I did not know what I was going to do because I was hooked on fossil diving after just one trip. Upon arrival at home I started searching maps for rivers that were closer that I could dive. After finding a suitable blackwater site, I recruited my next door neighbor, a cowboy sort of gentleman in his 80's who had a small john boat. We left early one morning and upon arrival at the river, I told him to drop me off on a curb that looked good. I dropped down to the bottom and within minutes found a 5 inch meg, that was covered in rust, crust or something. It had significant enamel peel but it was so cool and I still have that tooth. I found several smaller great white teeth which were also encrusted with something and left due to a terrible lightning storm. I would have stayed but understandibly, my neighbor was nervous being on the surface in that metal boat...
That fall, I bought a boat and dove that river every week from 2003 through 2011. I may have missed a few weeks but the majority of time I dove every week, year round, doing 3tank dives. This was blackwater diving and there are alot of stories about victories and close calls. With me doing all the cave diving and blackwater, I pretty well felt I could dive anywhere, anytime. I had heard alot of people speak of zero viz diving. yea, sure zero viz, I dive blackwater all of the time, it has to be the same. In the black water, the water is still clear but it's just black and depending on sediment and temperature of the water viz may be anywhere from 6 feet to a foot or so, although I had experienced zero viz at times.
Then a friend let me go dive with him and I discovered what zero viz was all about. These are dive sites very near the ocean. Fishermen were catching black tip sharks in the same spot that we were at. Within minutes of descending into pure whiteness where I could not read my air gauge, I was tempted to call the dive and just give it up to crazy. I ended up standing up in the river with my light right on the spg trying to read it. I later learned to stick the light on the spg and stick the spg right to your mask and then the spg would glow and you could see how much air you had. I did luck up and find a tooth and another chapter in my dive career had begun.
Now I have discovered there are different degrees of no viz diving. A white out and a brown out. Both are no viz but the brown out is actually more no viz than a white out. Hard to explain but true. Now I am hooked on no viz diving which take my word, is not like blackwater diving. Be careful out there diving and lets hear some of your stories.
In 02, I received my open water certification and went immediately into cave diving, going through the courses and training until I received my full cave certification. At the intro level of cave diving in 2003, my family and I traveled to Charleston, SC for my sister in law's wedding. Ok, I will be traveling to SC for several days, it sure would be nice to dive........I recalled reading in Advanced Diver Magazine about blackwater fossil hunting in the Cooper river. Lugged my gear and family to SC.
Went out on the charter boat, dropped into what seemed like nothingness and hit a clay bottom. I crawled around on the bottom searching through gravel piles. Upon the sight of the first gravel pile, I was hooked. Not on a rusty lure but on fossils. I am sure it probaly is the same feeling as a drug addict to his drug, but this was legal and probaly alot more fun. I had found frags and a few 2-3 inch megs mostly beat up stuff, but man was I proud and amazed, showing my whole family my loot.
The Cooper was about a 5 hour ride one way and on the way home I told my wife that I did not know what I was going to do because I was hooked on fossil diving after just one trip. Upon arrival at home I started searching maps for rivers that were closer that I could dive. After finding a suitable blackwater site, I recruited my next door neighbor, a cowboy sort of gentleman in his 80's who had a small john boat. We left early one morning and upon arrival at the river, I told him to drop me off on a curb that looked good. I dropped down to the bottom and within minutes found a 5 inch meg, that was covered in rust, crust or something. It had significant enamel peel but it was so cool and I still have that tooth. I found several smaller great white teeth which were also encrusted with something and left due to a terrible lightning storm. I would have stayed but understandibly, my neighbor was nervous being on the surface in that metal boat...
That fall, I bought a boat and dove that river every week from 2003 through 2011. I may have missed a few weeks but the majority of time I dove every week, year round, doing 3tank dives. This was blackwater diving and there are alot of stories about victories and close calls. With me doing all the cave diving and blackwater, I pretty well felt I could dive anywhere, anytime. I had heard alot of people speak of zero viz diving. yea, sure zero viz, I dive blackwater all of the time, it has to be the same. In the black water, the water is still clear but it's just black and depending on sediment and temperature of the water viz may be anywhere from 6 feet to a foot or so, although I had experienced zero viz at times.
Then a friend let me go dive with him and I discovered what zero viz was all about. These are dive sites very near the ocean. Fishermen were catching black tip sharks in the same spot that we were at. Within minutes of descending into pure whiteness where I could not read my air gauge, I was tempted to call the dive and just give it up to crazy. I ended up standing up in the river with my light right on the spg trying to read it. I later learned to stick the light on the spg and stick the spg right to your mask and then the spg would glow and you could see how much air you had. I did luck up and find a tooth and another chapter in my dive career had begun.
Now I have discovered there are different degrees of no viz diving. A white out and a brown out. Both are no viz but the brown out is actually more no viz than a white out. Hard to explain but true. Now I am hooked on no viz diving which take my word, is not like blackwater diving. Be careful out there diving and lets hear some of your stories.