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scububa
January 28th, 2007, 07:23 PM
Trip Report -
Lou invited me down to dive with his crew at Greers Ferry Lake. So, I made the drive down on Friday. Between Lou's address and my mapping exercise, I came up with GPS numbers, generated a route and rolled into Lou's cabin right on time without having to make a phone call.
It was a pleasure to meet him and later, his buddy, John came over with his wife and daughter (Lou's came the next day.) We had a great time swapping stories and drinking a variety of beers. After John's wife, Laura, made us breakfast on Sat. we drove over to the marina to meet the rest of the guys. (most of them are on the Pulaski County Sheriff's Water Patrol/Dive Squad.) I can't remember everyone's name, but Tim, Sam, Mark, Richard I remember plus John, Lou. The water had pulled the walkway away and Mark put on his drysuit and swam out to get the boat!
We dove from the Heber Springs Rec area and went to the old river pump house on the other side. Water temp was 46 top to bottom. Vis was good the first 20 ft. but clouded up below that. I left my cannister light in the truck and was stuck with my backups. Mark had his cannister Nite Rider.
Some of the team were checking out new equipment so did not plan on going real deep. Half or so were in wet suits. Richard, John, Marc and I went with John and I buddying, but staying as a team. Richard decided to stay above 40 or so. Marc checked out with him and the three of us went to some resevoir silos at 70 and 90 ft. John got cold in the wet suit and we took him back to 50 and he waved us off. Marc had a HP120 and I had doubles, we had plenty of air to stay within thirds, so Marc took me to the pump house. The roof was at 125 ft. We no sonner got there than my computer gave the 2 min deco warning. I signaled Marc and we began a slow ascent.
Everyone was pretty cold, so that was the only dive we did.
But, what a great group of guys. A very enjoyable weekend. Special thanks to Lou, John and their familys for the wornderful hospitality.
Sound like Greers Ferry may have lots of structure to dive on and is a beautiful lake. I know I will be back to explore the pump house.

Thanks Lou!

CBKinger
January 28th, 2007, 07:45 PM
Where is this lake located at?

VuDuLou
January 28th, 2007, 09:09 PM
Greers Ferry Lake is located near Heber Springs, AR....

SLIM
January 28th, 2007, 10:42 PM
Guess I will have to make it down there with you one time before I get busy this summer bubba. See you next weekend.

Oh Lu, you can make it up if you all like.

SLIM

CBKinger
January 28th, 2007, 11:51 PM
Is this lake worth a trip from St. Louis. Been to Norfolk and Bull Shoals a few times. Similar or better? Just always looking for new places to dive.

DeepDiverBob
January 29th, 2007, 12:42 AM
Sounds interesting...Bill, you thinking road trip?

scububa
January 29th, 2007, 09:03 AM
Is this lake worth a trip from St. Louis. Been to Norfolk and Bull Shoals a few times. Similar or better? Just always looking for new places to dive.

Hell, hanging out with Lou and John is worth a trip from St. Louis :-D

I guess I will let Lou expand on it, but I think it will be...right now they suffer the same as Table Rock, Norfork, etc. lots of recent rain, water is up, vis is dicey. The dive we did at the old river pump station was pretty nice. I definitely want to do it more and explore it. Also, from the sounds of things there are some old churches and bridges to dive on.

So, if Table Rock and Norfork are worth a trip (and I definitely think they both are!) then, I think Greers Ferry would be, too. As always, YMMV.

This is the EXPERT opinion of some one with ONE dive in the lake to date.

VuDuLou
February 1st, 2007, 09:01 PM
Seems I posted my response on my old Greers Ferry thread...anywho, we all enjoyed Jim's visit...especially once the "You met him where?" (On line) and "What if he's a serial killer?" (what if I am?)...honestly, I came back into the cabin from the porch and John's wife and mine were talking and I over heard my wife saying "You know, Ted Bundy was a nice guy, too." I had to stare at them and say "Will you two stop!"...as Jim had said the water level of the lake was way up, maybe 12-15'...its a relief since its been down the last three years I've been diving there...we're looking forward to our '07 diving season...I make it up there every other weekend and now with our team's renewed emphasis on diving maybe some times in the middle...it was cold for the guys in the 7mm's and vis was as bad as I've ever seen it but we've all learned to face adversity in a positive manner...hopefully some more of you folks can make it down/ over this way...also we plan to hit Table Rock a few times this year...I/ we look forward to meeting/ diving with you all...


Prost!!

Lou