Any Wazee'ers? (Aug 28-29th?)

[usediver]

the vintage diver club has an open get together for all interested to come and dive, see old gear, learn about the maintance of the gear too.

fyi



-- Dan Barringer will be conducting a seminar on rebuilding U.S. Diver's two hose regulators on Saturday, Aug. 28th. Everyone is invited to bring their own USD regulator to rebuild during the seminar. Tools and replacement parts will be available as well.

-- Ryan Spence is coming all the way from Colorado! He is offering a presentation to vintage divers regarding the evolution of Jacques Cousteau equipment and will also be exhibiting his reproduction Cousteau tank shroud and helmet. These high quality reproduction pieces may soon be available for sale.

-- We are also having a vintage gear "Show, Swap, and Sell", so if you have any gear to display, trade, or sell, bring it along!

-- Everyone who participates in two hose regulator diving will automatically be entered in a random drawing for a pair of brand new Voit UDT Duck Feet!

Dive Sites:
All the official dive sites on the map are accessible by car and have parking areas and bathrooms or porta-potties at them. It is too far to haul gear to any of them on foot except #2 closest to the campground. A description of each dive site follows:

#2 The Wall: This site has a paved ramp that runs down about 40 ft to a small sand beach for entry. If you stay off in front of the ramp there is a gradual slope down to some fish cribs and a training platform at about 20 ft. If you go further then this you hit some underwater trees and then a cliff drop that goes down to 200 ft. If you go directly to the left of the ramp when you first get in you hit the drop within about 10 ft from shore but the first level is at 100 ft just at the bottom of the buoy out from the site. Neat area to dive but the easily diveable area is a little small, unless you are prepared to wall dive or go deep.

#4 Sherwood Forest: This area also has a paved ramp to the water but you can park within about 10 ft of the entry. There is a sand bar that extends out from shore and if you go to the left of it you stay shallow and hit first some fish cribs and then a training platform, some old pipes to swim through and a few other odds and ends. Great area with a max depth of about 25-30 ft. If you go to the right of the sandbar it gets deep quickly and you head into Sherwood forest. This is a flooded forest of trees that almost make the surface from 60 ft at the first level. These grew on one of the mine roads and if you go past it, it drops off to over 120 ft. Fun to swim through, bring a flashlight, and not for the beginner or the claustrophobic. Lots of fish in and around the base of the trees.

#5 The Swimming Beach: This is truly the swimming beach for the park and all the non-divers go there. It is also a nice dive entry with a very gentle sand bottom and a pretty good sized area to dive in without going much past 20 ft. Great place for beginners. Long swim out to reasonable depths and a long walk from the parking area to the beach but OK with light equipment.

#7 The Boat Ramp: Most people that are going to use boats on the lake start from here (only electric or paddle boats allowed). Parking is about a 75 yard walk down to the entry. This is actually one of the nicest sites with a good hard bottom. The bottom slopes down to a large number of fish cribs and then a training platform at about 20 ft again. Then it gently lopes down to about 60 ft. You can follow the contour either right or left and it is very tough to get lost. Nice dive site.

Visibility: about 20-25 ft at the surface and on down to about 20 ft. There was a layer of silt/particulate matter suspended in the water that looked like a cloud that was about 40 ft deep. No more then 3-4 ft of vis in this cloud. Below cleared nicely to 50-75 ft vis but you had to get down to 60 ft past the 2nd thermocline to get into it. Ranger stated that there has been quite a bit of runoff this year and that the rains have been heavy. Not sure if this will change at all in the next two weeks. Will provide a nice stopping point for most people making sure that those who aren't ready to go deep know exactly where to stop even without a depth gauge. Below this layer it is quite dark and flashlights would be suggested.

Temps: Air temps from 60 at night to 80's during the day. Water: 74 at the surface, 65 at 20 ft, 60 at 60 ft, and 43 at 90 ft, 40 at 110 ft. Seems to be thermocline layers at about 20 ft, and 60-65 ft.