If you are planning a dive trip, first you need transportation. If there are 5 divers, we could load up 2 cars and convoy down, so the guys could ride. That plan was scrapped when we added our 6th diver. The truck would need to be loaded up. Ok, I will fill up the gas tank, then.
What kind of dives could you do in a certain time period? Get your dive tables out. I figured we could do 3 dives from 10:00 AM to 3 PM with surface intervals. I send that over for confirmation. We cut it to 2 dives, to eliminate 6 tanks. On to Scuba Snacks.
The scuba snacks were sponsored by the letter "P". Pineapple, peanuts, pistachios, pinwheels, probably beer, and aPPles. Close enough. What I didn't bring was water. Can't believe I forgot that. Oh well. Still chasing perfection. All prepped and ready to go.
The day dawns cold and rainy. My kind of dive weather. No kidding, I've had lots of my dive class and dive nights in the rain last year. I have to change into my long sleeves and jeans, out of my shorts and tank top. We meet at the shop and load up.
The directions are pretty straight forward. South until highway 77, then west down 77S around the south side of the lake to the marina. I'm using a map most of the way, but GPS when available in BFE. The ride is pretty quick. Lots of thanks to Mike for driving.
Time to gear up and dive! The temperature is warm and humid. Heavy-about-to-rain humid. In the dive plan, I set it for 70 feet, since that was the max depth on the website. When we arrived, there were signs that said the water level was low. Uh oh. We start out with a 4 person group. Just to explore the area. We head northwest away from shore and dive a square like shape. Logan and I are the rear guard. I keep Mike's fin tips in sight. As we get "deeper" in the channel, the silt creeps up from the bottom. Max depth for me was 53 feet. The water looks like it has brown smoke in it. The haze is different than what I have seen before. Lake Tenkiller is a green haze from the algae. The Training Lake is gritty from the dirt. This was fine sand. If you were to stick your hand down in it, your arms would sink a about a foot or so. Logan and I kept seeing small sun perch. They were super friendly. I got close to one and gave it a gentle poke. Then laughed through my reg. Another fish and another poke. I got up to 5 fish pokes. New game.
Out for our surface interval. And scuba snacks. Pre-dive, I never want to have anything to eat. I get heartburn. Post-dive, I'm too junked up on adrenaline to be hungry. My buddies, though lay siege to the snacks. And then, the rain comes. Heavy, fat, pelting rain drops. The temperature drops, too. I'm more accustomed to being hot in my wetsuit, and I was cold. I even put my hood back on. We shivered for the right amount of surface interval. Back in. But, this time, Logan and I will be on our own. This will be the first dive I lead. Nervous! In the plan, I say we are going to do a square with 10 minute legs. Me and the square have not gotten along since the beginning of this scuba adventure. Today, I will conquer the square. Mike chimes in, "I'll be watching from here. Straight lines!" No pressure.
We get in the water and start our first leg. Almost straight north. I keep an eye on my watch and about the 10 minute mark, I stop and signal the first turn. Then, I look at my dive computer, and only 4 minutes have passed. Whoops. Let's keep going almost north and watch the dive computer instead of my watch. First turn goes without a hitch. We don't get any more fish pokes in. But, we do find a Coors Light can. Haha! Logan hands it over and I carry it a while. The second turn goes OK, too. We are going roughly south, back towards the shore and the start point. The bottom of the lake is very hilly. Up and downs. This up seems very sandy... And, there's the surface. GO BACK! GO BACK!! We get back down and I have to reassess. Natural navigation is coming into play. There was not a perfect square to dive in this channel. Ok. I have to stop and figure out which leg I'm on, and how to get back to the start. Really, we can just follow the incline west 10 minutes to the start. I'm afraid I didn't give my buddy confidence in me. I had to really stop and signal that I had to think about the next move. We start back up, find 3 more Coors Light cans, one with really cool zebra mussels on it.
While we didn't find the motorcycle we set out for on the first leg, we did find a tire on a pole. We surface, after our safety stop, in which I get to pop my dive wiener (safety sausage, surface marker buoy, whatever) 20 feet west of the entry point. Close enough! A 44 minute dive. Not bad.
P.S. I will mention that it was very reassuring that Logan was always in the same spot. On my right hip. I only had to tip my arm up and there he was. I usually like to be the buddy on the back, so I can see my buddy, but this was great. Good habit!
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