scububa
August 9th, 2007, 09:12 PM
Norfork Trip Report
It was hot! Air at 94-98 maxs. Lots of sun, few clouds, and some wind as the days went by. Water was warm, more on that later.
Dove out of Jordan Marina (Don't anybody tell SLIM!)
Stayed at Whispering Woods
Ate at Whispering Woods Grill and our own grilling at the cabin with some dynamite hot wings
Saturday 8/4
First dive was one of my favorites, the Tool Truck (1950's SnapOn). I always got a kick out of the address and phone number on
the door - Thayer #8. Well, it appears to be GONE. Sam and I searched high and low (well kind of low, 84') for it to no avail.
We later found out no one has seen it since July 4. We did not know this when we dove it. I was feeling kind of inadequate for
not being able to find it, now I guess I'll have to find another reason for those feelings! Sam did find a light. The batteries
had started weeping a little, but we cleaned it up that night and got it to work with new batteries. But, on the first dive, it
didn't work even thought it did not flood. We will have to work on it again. Vis was not that great. 8' best except for the
first ten feet.
Second dive was Devil's Backbone. No big excitement here. This is one of Sam's faovrites, but she snorkled with Mom, so Kristin
and I dove it. Vis was kind of funny. Coming and going. Better on the lake side than the cove side. There are some trot lines
on it on the bottom. Vis didn't get any better falling off of either side of it. We dropped to 66, but most of the dive was
above 45.
The water temperrature is very warm. There is not a hard 1st thermocline. Surface temps are 88 - 90 degrees. Too warm.
According to the marina, that accounts for the vis. They have not had much rain. They said even a good 1/2 inch would help cool
it down and control the bloom and cause a more defined thermocline and better vis under. Right now the 1st thermocline is very
soft and is not the same depth at different sites. Then around 46 or so there is a harder one, but it is a bit variable too. I
guess the fact that Table Rock has gotten some real good showers (and I have been there for the ones early June and the ones in
July!) must account for the better vis at Table Rock.
Sunday
We dove the VW bus, then the School Bus, and then Walleye Wall today.
The VW bus took two tries to find. I don't seem to be able to remember the depth and think it is deeper than it is. The worse
part is Sam is usually right and reminds me all day afterwards.
Since that was a short shallow dive, we had enough air to do the School bus. Using the GPS I tried to find it. I had dove it
with a friend 4 years ago and he knew where it was. Well, after I sat the boat in an obviously inapporpriate spot, I checked
and had put the number in wrong. Well, now Sam had even more ammo! I corrected the numbers and we dropped anchor. After I
taught the girls about the motion of the drifting boat and how to read the GPS, I convinced them I knew where it was. Well, the
anchor had caught on the barge that the bus is on! Another fairly uneventful dive. The most surprising thing is the lack of
fish we are seeing on structure which is due to the temperatures. Fishing is way off on the lake.
A side note, after wondering if the tool truck had slid on down the slope or if someone had floated it off or even taken it, we
heard a theory that makes a little more sense. There was a reprot of a house boat being in that area that weekend. It was windy
and one possibilty is that they hooked it unknowingly and then with the mass of the houseboat, drug it off. I don't know how
far or wide the searches have been so far and don't know if anyone has tried to ping it to locate it. But, after hooking the
barge, I can see wherer the potential is there. I didn't know I was that on top of it and of course the mass of the object and
the boat were reversed in our case.
Then, that evening, Kristin and I dove Walleye Wall. In the past it has had tons of fish on it and was a clear dive. THis time
it was a nice dive, but it was dark, so, so vis even at 120. Not really any fish, but lots of lures. Still we had a nice dive.
Kristin got cold, but I was trying to keep some skills up and dove my dry suit, but followed her lead on the chill factor.
Moday
Took the day off from boating. Slept a little late, went into Mountain Home, ate breakfast on the square and did a little
shopping. Then came back and did a little beach swim and then we geared up and did a shore dive of the Camp Ground Bluff. This
was a new dive site for us. The girls had gone to the general area snorkeling and came back saying it was tooooo long of a
surface swim. Especially in gear in the warm temps. So, Kristin and I did a little recon hike and found a easy way to the water
just on the other side of it. We decided Mom could drive us up, we'd hump down the hill and swim around and then swim out the
other way. I would drag the flag. This was a first for doing this. We humped down jumped in the water to put our wet suits on
and then came out and geared up. A pretty nice dive, but we did not find as much 'treasure' as we imagined. Sam did find four
bottles of Bud Light. Evidently we found out later that the night before, as one group of folks were jumping others were
throwing them bottles of beer. Evidently some were missed. They are chilling for a taste test later. This was a 77 min. dive. I
was the deepest, then Kristin, then Sam, moving down the bluff. Again, vis was marginal and Kristin was our common reference
point.
Tuesday
More new sites
We did a short dive at Hanks Bluff (new site for us). We thought we'd go deeper, but things petered out at 80. We did find a
nice relatively new jigging rod and reel. The rod was short, stainless steel and the reel was in very nice shape. It had not
been in the water long.
Next we were going to dive White Bluff, but of the 6 boats on the entire lake, one was anchored there. As it was just across
from the Fireplace site, I whined until Sam said she would dive it with me. It is a site I like to dive. An old homestead with
the fireplace, foundation, and cistern still in place. I did a pretty good job of getting close to it three years ago, about 15
feet to the north. This time it wound up 3 feet to the south. Our plan was to descend the anchor line, look around, tie off a
reel and swim a heading I got off the maps in hopes of finding another foundation. Sam geared up in Kristin's 5mm and a hooded
vest (instead of her normal 3mm). Sam adjusted here weighting and did a perfect job. Off we went, found we were right on the
sight, looked around, tied off the reel and swam it out to the end. Found nothing, pulled the reel back in and up the line in a
nice controlled ascent. I thought it was a great dive! Sam was non plused and saw little reason for swimming out over the
barren silt.
So, off for lunch in a cove and to get some air.
White Bluff (again new site) we anchored which was not easy. Being a wall with outcroppings, getting an anchor purchase took a
few attemps. This time Sam sat out and snorkled again. THere are some swim thru windows in one of the out croppings. Not too
big a deal, but kind of neat. Again, a popular jumping place. So, on the look for goodies. Not too far into the dive I found an
anchor (one of the fluted mushroom hybrids with the vinyl coating. It was very new and was stuck under a small stump root. I
pulled it out and was going to leave it on a stump for the return, marking the 45 depth. Kristin was not having any of this and
thought we'd never find it again. So, I pulled out the lift bag and started up. I found out why they have dump valves and was
pretty glad it did. Let's just say, I'll probably be much better the next time. But, we pulled it over to the boat and went
back to the dive. Again, I intended to go much lower that we did, but after messing with the anchor and the ledge settling out,
we decided to turn it a littel early. Kristin has been constantly inflating her BC and dumping, inflating and dumping, so I had
told her we needed to adress her weight at the end of a dive. Well she reminded me at the stop on this dive. She sitll had 1500
left, so I deployed the long hose, went to my necklace and took her reg and slowly purged it down to around 800. Then we
started taking weight off of here and squeezing her Knighthawk out. I won't embarass her here, but let's say we dropped a
bunch, even though she had already taken a few out before the dive and was hitting the inflator a lot less.
Last dive of the trip, early eveing dive a Dam Corner. Another new site for us. We dove a heading paralled to the restriction
ropes from the shore edge. We found some mighty big stumps, some of the light tower/watchtower timbers, cables and several
ledges. It was a good dive and Kristin's weighing and balance were much better. We turned 90 degrees at 115 for a bit and zig
zagged it home.
Very hot, very warm water, lots of good dives and a ton of laughing all week.
It was hot! Air at 94-98 maxs. Lots of sun, few clouds, and some wind as the days went by. Water was warm, more on that later.
Dove out of Jordan Marina (Don't anybody tell SLIM!)
Stayed at Whispering Woods
Ate at Whispering Woods Grill and our own grilling at the cabin with some dynamite hot wings
Saturday 8/4
First dive was one of my favorites, the Tool Truck (1950's SnapOn). I always got a kick out of the address and phone number on
the door - Thayer #8. Well, it appears to be GONE. Sam and I searched high and low (well kind of low, 84') for it to no avail.
We later found out no one has seen it since July 4. We did not know this when we dove it. I was feeling kind of inadequate for
not being able to find it, now I guess I'll have to find another reason for those feelings! Sam did find a light. The batteries
had started weeping a little, but we cleaned it up that night and got it to work with new batteries. But, on the first dive, it
didn't work even thought it did not flood. We will have to work on it again. Vis was not that great. 8' best except for the
first ten feet.
Second dive was Devil's Backbone. No big excitement here. This is one of Sam's faovrites, but she snorkled with Mom, so Kristin
and I dove it. Vis was kind of funny. Coming and going. Better on the lake side than the cove side. There are some trot lines
on it on the bottom. Vis didn't get any better falling off of either side of it. We dropped to 66, but most of the dive was
above 45.
The water temperrature is very warm. There is not a hard 1st thermocline. Surface temps are 88 - 90 degrees. Too warm.
According to the marina, that accounts for the vis. They have not had much rain. They said even a good 1/2 inch would help cool
it down and control the bloom and cause a more defined thermocline and better vis under. Right now the 1st thermocline is very
soft and is not the same depth at different sites. Then around 46 or so there is a harder one, but it is a bit variable too. I
guess the fact that Table Rock has gotten some real good showers (and I have been there for the ones early June and the ones in
July!) must account for the better vis at Table Rock.
Sunday
We dove the VW bus, then the School Bus, and then Walleye Wall today.
The VW bus took two tries to find. I don't seem to be able to remember the depth and think it is deeper than it is. The worse
part is Sam is usually right and reminds me all day afterwards.
Since that was a short shallow dive, we had enough air to do the School bus. Using the GPS I tried to find it. I had dove it
with a friend 4 years ago and he knew where it was. Well, after I sat the boat in an obviously inapporpriate spot, I checked
and had put the number in wrong. Well, now Sam had even more ammo! I corrected the numbers and we dropped anchor. After I
taught the girls about the motion of the drifting boat and how to read the GPS, I convinced them I knew where it was. Well, the
anchor had caught on the barge that the bus is on! Another fairly uneventful dive. The most surprising thing is the lack of
fish we are seeing on structure which is due to the temperatures. Fishing is way off on the lake.
A side note, after wondering if the tool truck had slid on down the slope or if someone had floated it off or even taken it, we
heard a theory that makes a little more sense. There was a reprot of a house boat being in that area that weekend. It was windy
and one possibilty is that they hooked it unknowingly and then with the mass of the houseboat, drug it off. I don't know how
far or wide the searches have been so far and don't know if anyone has tried to ping it to locate it. But, after hooking the
barge, I can see wherer the potential is there. I didn't know I was that on top of it and of course the mass of the object and
the boat were reversed in our case.
Then, that evening, Kristin and I dove Walleye Wall. In the past it has had tons of fish on it and was a clear dive. THis time
it was a nice dive, but it was dark, so, so vis even at 120. Not really any fish, but lots of lures. Still we had a nice dive.
Kristin got cold, but I was trying to keep some skills up and dove my dry suit, but followed her lead on the chill factor.
Moday
Took the day off from boating. Slept a little late, went into Mountain Home, ate breakfast on the square and did a little
shopping. Then came back and did a little beach swim and then we geared up and did a shore dive of the Camp Ground Bluff. This
was a new dive site for us. The girls had gone to the general area snorkeling and came back saying it was tooooo long of a
surface swim. Especially in gear in the warm temps. So, Kristin and I did a little recon hike and found a easy way to the water
just on the other side of it. We decided Mom could drive us up, we'd hump down the hill and swim around and then swim out the
other way. I would drag the flag. This was a first for doing this. We humped down jumped in the water to put our wet suits on
and then came out and geared up. A pretty nice dive, but we did not find as much 'treasure' as we imagined. Sam did find four
bottles of Bud Light. Evidently we found out later that the night before, as one group of folks were jumping others were
throwing them bottles of beer. Evidently some were missed. They are chilling for a taste test later. This was a 77 min. dive. I
was the deepest, then Kristin, then Sam, moving down the bluff. Again, vis was marginal and Kristin was our common reference
point.
Tuesday
More new sites
We did a short dive at Hanks Bluff (new site for us). We thought we'd go deeper, but things petered out at 80. We did find a
nice relatively new jigging rod and reel. The rod was short, stainless steel and the reel was in very nice shape. It had not
been in the water long.
Next we were going to dive White Bluff, but of the 6 boats on the entire lake, one was anchored there. As it was just across
from the Fireplace site, I whined until Sam said she would dive it with me. It is a site I like to dive. An old homestead with
the fireplace, foundation, and cistern still in place. I did a pretty good job of getting close to it three years ago, about 15
feet to the north. This time it wound up 3 feet to the south. Our plan was to descend the anchor line, look around, tie off a
reel and swim a heading I got off the maps in hopes of finding another foundation. Sam geared up in Kristin's 5mm and a hooded
vest (instead of her normal 3mm). Sam adjusted here weighting and did a perfect job. Off we went, found we were right on the
sight, looked around, tied off the reel and swam it out to the end. Found nothing, pulled the reel back in and up the line in a
nice controlled ascent. I thought it was a great dive! Sam was non plused and saw little reason for swimming out over the
barren silt.
So, off for lunch in a cove and to get some air.
White Bluff (again new site) we anchored which was not easy. Being a wall with outcroppings, getting an anchor purchase took a
few attemps. This time Sam sat out and snorkled again. THere are some swim thru windows in one of the out croppings. Not too
big a deal, but kind of neat. Again, a popular jumping place. So, on the look for goodies. Not too far into the dive I found an
anchor (one of the fluted mushroom hybrids with the vinyl coating. It was very new and was stuck under a small stump root. I
pulled it out and was going to leave it on a stump for the return, marking the 45 depth. Kristin was not having any of this and
thought we'd never find it again. So, I pulled out the lift bag and started up. I found out why they have dump valves and was
pretty glad it did. Let's just say, I'll probably be much better the next time. But, we pulled it over to the boat and went
back to the dive. Again, I intended to go much lower that we did, but after messing with the anchor and the ledge settling out,
we decided to turn it a littel early. Kristin has been constantly inflating her BC and dumping, inflating and dumping, so I had
told her we needed to adress her weight at the end of a dive. Well she reminded me at the stop on this dive. She sitll had 1500
left, so I deployed the long hose, went to my necklace and took her reg and slowly purged it down to around 800. Then we
started taking weight off of here and squeezing her Knighthawk out. I won't embarass her here, but let's say we dropped a
bunch, even though she had already taken a few out before the dive and was hitting the inflator a lot less.
Last dive of the trip, early eveing dive a Dam Corner. Another new site for us. We dove a heading paralled to the restriction
ropes from the shore edge. We found some mighty big stumps, some of the light tower/watchtower timbers, cables and several
ledges. It was a good dive and Kristin's weighing and balance were much better. We turned 90 degrees at 115 for a bit and zig
zagged it home.
Very hot, very warm water, lots of good dives and a ton of laughing all week.