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--=====================_4903878==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Lake Jocassee is a dammed valley with depths at times to 350ft. After last years trip to the lake ( read about it here http://www.aquanaut.com/bin/mlist/aquanaut/techdiver/display?51280,from ) a new project was born. When the valley was flooded around 1968 several structures were left and is the bases for many rumors as to what is still there and who left what. With forest, roads, peaks, and who really knows what is down there, it was a challenge to find a starting point to began a search for some of these rumored things. Jackie Smith who has many dives to the lake had started to follow a road that would lead him to a bridge, sound easy? Once you add in the depth of 300ft and distance one might have to swim while poking a rod down through the muck to feel for the road you get the feeling this will take some time. Capt Bill Routh owner of "Off The Wall Dive Charters"( www.offthewalldiving.com ) had done 3 years of interviews and archives of old aerial soil assay pictures from the 60's. After endless hrs motoring around looking Bill contacted friends with a Side Scan Sonar , Jonathan Royer & Danelle Haley with Deep Seekers to help map the bottom. After a few days an area was located that showed what could be a bridge with a creek/river, the bridge was over what used to be White Water River that ran adjacent to a camp. An old photograph taken from someone standing on the bridge revealed a place called "Camp Jocassee". Camp Jocassee established in 1922 for girls ran until late 60's the summer before the DAM, it had a main building and residence for the camp owners and several concrete block cabins for the campers.The entrance to the camp was lined with stone walls with pillars on each side of a white picket fence gate as shown in the picture taken from the bridge looking toward the camp entrance. I asked Jackie if I could help and the project was born. Jackie arranged for the charter with Capt Bill Routh owner of "Off The Wall Dive Charters"( www.offthewalldiving.com ) and I assembled the group, I had at first limited it to 8 divers. Knowing that many would back out once the time came near I allowed 12 to commit. Saying you can do a 300ft dive in cold water in very low vis and actually doing it are 2 different things. The first only takes your mouth, the second takes much more. As the date came within a week the excuses started rolling in, I even heard one guy say his wife was planning on getting pregnant that weekend and he wanted to be there when it happened, so he couldn't make the dive. (not really true, but sounds good don't it) With the group down to 7 we headed to the lake, one guy said his engine blew up, so we were down to 6 at dive time. Capt. Bill with Samantha Swenson as crew (who did a great job) dropped a shot line in what was believed to be the old creek bed, the level of the lake was low and the depth here was only 315ft, some trees remained on each side of the creek and we believed that we could scooter it until we found the bridge and a lift bag would be deployed and secured to the bridge, then a permanent line could then be attached to it. Tom Sawicki, Bill Ripley and myself were tasked for this and geared up for the dive. The air temp had warmed up from the morning cool of 33, to a cool of around 43. We entered the water carrying all gas needed for the dive, we were diving gas mixes and tables recommended by Tom, I am not allowed to disclose the mixes and tables. The water temp was 65 on top down to 80ft and did a drop to 46 degrees, vis went from 20ft down to 5ft around 200ft. Tom stopped at 225ft and called the dive during the descent, I could not understand why. Everyone returned Ok signs back to me and yet Tom still was calling the dive, I could not understand why. I asked Tom why and on his wet notes he wrote "VIS", I was pissed........ It is a standing rule that if one calls the dive we must all surface, but that did not mean I had to be happy about it. At one point I knocked my own mask off while moving stages around because I was so pissed. Once on the boat he explained that scootering in that low vis was not doable and we were getting to far apart for such low vis, he was correct, but we did not know it was that bad on the bottom yet, but later we would find he was right about that and was only concerned with every ones safety. The plan was then changed and Jackie Smith, Charlie Johnson, and Rodney King (not that Rodney King) would go down another line that was dropped and hoped it had hooked the bridge(if it was there) or near it, hopefully not in the trees. We watched as they went down and could see they were not leaving the line. They surfaced to report that the hook had in fact snagged the bridge, but vis was less than 5ft. With the first day gone, plans were made for the second day. Tom, Bill, Rodney, and myself would go down the line we left buoyed to the bridge,Tom would run a line from the bridge in a direction we believed the camp to be, Rodney would video, Bill and myself would stay near them and survey. Once at the top of the bridge which was at 289ft I waited for everyone to show up, Rodney videoed while Tom and I secured the line to the bridge that would be run. Once everyone made the move away from the bridge I was at the rear and checked my gas(I was the only one using the same tanks from the first dive and they were less than full when we started, I had gave my second set of doubles to Tom to use). I had reached my turn pressure and returned to the bridge, vis was so bad they were not aware of this and I chose to remain close to the up line and just inspect the bridge to conserve gas. They returned with excitement in their eyes having run the line to a white picket fence that surrounds the camp which has stone pillars at the entrance and can be seen in the video, the reel was left on the fence for who ever goes next to run the line into the camp house which should be just inside. Jackie and Charlie were tasked to take down a permanent line and chain it into the bridge that would be left for future dives, a keg was placed on the line 20ft under the surface and GPS coordinates were taken. I will show the video at the VBtech meeting on Thursday and place photos on my site as soon as I can. Hope you have enjoyed this report Capt JT "You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the water" Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more Web Site http://www.capt-jt.com/ Email captjt@mi*.co* --=====================_4903878==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <br> Lake Jocassee is a dammed valley with depths at times to 350ft. After last years trip to the lake ( read about it here <a= href=3D"http://www.aquanaut.com/bin/mlist/aquanaut/techdiver/display?51280,= from" eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.aquanaut.com/bin/mlist/aquanaut/techdive= r/display?51280,from</a> ) a new project was born. When the valley was flooded around 1968 several= structures were left and is the bases for many rumors as to what is still= there and who left what. With forest, roads, peaks, and who really knows= what is down there, it was a challenge to find a starting point to began a= search for some of these rumored things.<br> <br> Jackie Smith who has many dives to the lake had started to follow a road= that would lead him to a bridge, sound easy? Once you add in the depth of= 300ft and distance one might have to swim while poking a rod down through= the muck to feel for the road you get the feeling this will take some= time. <br> <br> Capt Bill Routh owner of "Off The Wall Dive Charters"( <a= href=3D"http://www.offthewalldiving.com/" eudora=3D"autourl"><font= color=3D"#0000FF"><u>www.offthewalldiving.com</a></font></u> ) had= done 3 years of interviews and archives of old aerial soil assay pictures= from the 60's. After endless hrs motoring around looking Bill contacted= friends with a Side Scan Sonar , Jonathan Royer & Danelle Haley with= Deep Seekers to help map the bottom. After a few days an area was located= that showed what could be a bridge with a creek/river, the bridge was over= what used to be White Water River that ran adjacent to a camp. An old= photograph taken from someone standing on the bridge revealed a place= called "Camp Jocassee". Camp Jocassee established in 1922 for= girls ran until late 60's the summer before the DAM, it had a main building= and residence for the camp owners and several concrete block cabins for the= campers.The entrance to the camp was lined with stone walls with pillars on= each side of a white picket fence gate as shown in the picture taken from= the bridge looking toward the camp entrance.<br> <br> I asked Jackie if I could help and the project was born. Jackie arranged for= the charter with Capt Bill Routh owner of "Off The Wall Dive= Charters"( <a href=3D"http://www.offthewalldiving.com/"= eudora=3D"autourl"><font= color=3D"#0000FF"><u>www.offthewalldiving.com</a></font></u> ) and I= assembled the group, I had at first limited it to 8 divers. Knowing that= many would back out once the time came near I allowed 12 to commit. Saying= you can do a 300ft dive in cold water in very low vis and actually doing it= are 2 different things. The first only takes your mouth, the second takes= much more. <br> <br> As the date came within a week the excuses started rolling in, I even heard= one guy say his wife was planning on getting pregnant that weekend and he= wanted to be there when it happened, so he couldn't make the dive. (not= really true, but sounds good don't it) <br> With the group down to 7 we headed to the lake, one guy said his engine blew= up, so we were down to 6 at dive time. <br> <br> Capt. Bill with Samantha Swenson as crew (who did a great job) dropped a= shot line in what was believed to be the old creek bed, the level of the= lake was low and the depth here was only 315ft, some trees remained on each= side of the creek and we believed that we could scooter it until we found= the bridge and a lift bag would be deployed and secured to the bridge, then= a permanent line could then be attached to it. <br> <br> Tom Sawicki, Bill Ripley and myself were tasked for this and geared up for= the dive. The air temp had warmed up from the morning cool of 33, to a cool= of around 43. We entered the water carrying all gas needed for the dive, we= were diving gas mixes and tables recommended by Tom, I am not allowed to= disclose the mixes and tables. The water temp was 65 on top down to 80ft= and did a drop to 46 degrees, vis went from 20ft down to 5ft around 200ft.= Tom stopped at 225ft and called the dive during the descent, I could not= understand why. Everyone returned Ok signs back to me and yet Tom still was= calling the dive, I could not understand why. I asked Tom why and on his= wet notes he wrote "VIS", I was pissed........ It is a standing= rule that if one calls the dive we must all surface, but that did not mean= I had to be happy about it. At one point I knocked my own mask off while= moving stages around because I was so pissed. Once on the boat he explained= that scootering in that low vis was not doable and we were getting to far= apart for such low vis, he was correct, but we did not know it was that bad= on the bottom yet, but later we would find he was right about that and was= only concerned with every ones safety. <br> <br> The plan was then changed and Jackie Smith, Charlie Johnson, and Rodney King= (not that Rodney King) would go down another line that was dropped and= hoped it had hooked the bridge(if it was there) or near it, hopefully not= in the trees. We watched as they went down and could see they were not= leaving the line. They surfaced to report that the hook had in fact snagged= the bridge, but vis was less than 5ft.<br> <br> With the first day gone, plans were made for the second day. Tom, Bill,= Rodney, and myself would go down the line we left buoyed to the bridge,Tom= would run a line from the bridge in a direction we believed the camp to be,= Rodney would video, Bill and myself would stay near them and survey. <br> <br> Once at the top of the bridge which was at 289ft I waited for everyone to= show up, Rodney videoed while Tom and I secured the line to the bridge that= would be run. Once everyone made the move away from the bridge I was at the= rear and checked my gas(I was the only one using the same tanks from the= first dive and they were less than full when we started, I had gave my= second set of doubles to Tom to use). I had reached my turn pressure and= returned to the bridge, vis was so bad they were not aware of this and I= chose to remain close to the up line and just inspect the bridge to= conserve gas. They returned with excitement in their eyes having run the= line to a white picket fence that surrounds the camp which has stone= pillars at the entrance and can be seen in the video, the reel was left on= the fence for who ever goes next to run the line into the camp house which= should be just inside.<br> <br> Jackie and Charlie were tasked to take down a permanent line and chain it= into the bridge that would be left for future dives, a keg was placed on= the line 20ft under the surface and GPS coordinates were taken. <br> <br> I will show the video at the VBtech meeting on Thursday and place photos on= my site as soon as I can.<br> <br> Hope you have enjoyed this report<br> Capt JT <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> "You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in= the water"<br> <font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East= Coast & more <br> Web Site <a href=3D"http://www.capt-jt.com/"= eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.capt-jt.com</a><a= href=3D"http://www.capt-jt.com/" eudora=3D"autourl">/<br> </a>Email captjt@mi*.co*<br> <br> </font></u></html> --=====================_4903878==_.ALT-- -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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