Anybody diving for Megs this winter??

[Lee Taylor]

Skipper, Great to hear you will be on the boat on the 9th. Phill is an excellent backwater river guide. He is far from a beginner and he is obsessed with river diving. He is not like the boat captains that are ready to go home 10 minutes away from the dock. He is NOT a "bubble watcher/clock watcher". He is usually underwater longer than I am. Plan on 2 to 4 foot of viz (with a light). Bring a back up light also. Usually the current is mild enough I can hold to the bottom without using a spike of any kind. On rare occasion it is too fast and I just bail out. I don't fight it. On occasion the viz is zero and we just bail out and move to another location. Look for sharks teeth, fossils of ALL kinds, Spanish & French coins, blob top bottles, inkwells, marbles, buttons, arrowheads, spear-points, Indian pottery, early American pottery, early American jugs, etc.

The Cooper river

 

[pond skipper]

Sounds like my kind of stuff and I look forward to the nice vis. It will be good to meet you both. Thanks

 

[Meghunteral]

I will be there Saturday and Sunday also. Look forward to meeting you guys and finding some cool stuff.

Al

 

[Lee Taylor]

Small world Mr. Coffey. I found your last name in your initial production of "Meghunter Magazine". The Peace River Fossil Hunting advertisement (in the Magazine) has gotten my attention as of late. I am telling you the truth, the photos in the Mag are knock dead killer good. What you need is TEXT. Short stories to round it out.

So far there are four of us going next weekend. Phill, youself, Pond Skipper, and myself. Phill may add one more since he will likely be using his "deck" boat. It has a hull. No pontoons. BETTER handling. I am looking forward to it.

Here is a view of Johnny doing a fast Cooper run


Here is a view of Phill doing a Cooper tributary run. Turn sound off. TOO much wind noise.

 

[Meghunteral]

Lee, there is another guy from Atlanta going as well.

I had hoped to have the second issue of the Magazine out by now but we had a couple of our busiest months lately at my shop and I have had to put it off a little. The first issue was mostly just to see how much interest there would be and if I would be able to attract enough advertisers to cover costs. Still not sure but I am going to put out at least a couple more issues. I have a few people willing to help with articles and even $ so we will see where it goes. Its mostly fun for me at this point, like the t shirts I do. I know I am not the first guy to try to mix his work with what he loves to do. See you next weekend!

 

[scubadaddee]

pond skipper, You are more than welcome on the 9th or 10th or both! 8:30 Cypress Gardens Landing. Call on 7th with any questions.
803-759-0153 (cell)

 

[Lee Taylor]

Phill, at the end of Durham creek are you going to take a right turn or left turn? Are you thinking French Quarter, Campgrounds, Strawberry, Power Lines, Red Bank, or Mepkin?

Are you thinking I should bring 2 tanks because of the number of divers on the boat or are we going to go for three each?

My next fossil hunting tool. A Bathyscope.

 

[pond skipper]

Heck, Lets just bring 4 and make a day of it !

 

[Lee Taylor]

Skipper,

It is hard to get Phill to stay on the boat for long. We left the boat ramp at 8:30am June 25th. We arrived back at the ramp at 7:30pm. Phill used his "Hookah" all day long. He must have filled the gasoline tank 4 times. It kept running and running and running.

A couple of times we unintentionally knocked his hose loose, followed by a verbal OH SH*T. The next thing that was said was: "Well... he will be coming to the surface any moment now".

Come next Saturday, if we dive two tanks we will likely get over 3.0 hrs of bottom time. We usually dive 15 to 35 feet of water. There are some deeper areas but it is usually 25-35. Phill may bring the Hookah. It has multiple hoses and a tank of gasoline lasts 2.5 hrs. In addition, if you have a tank on while using the Hookah, you can switch over to the tank (when the Hookah runs out of gas) and make it a 4 hr dive.

Did I mention that a lot of nice fossils can be found just laying around the floorboard of Phills boat?

 

[pond skipper]

Yes sounds like a plan. I am planning on staying for the day, no complaints from me. I dive a hooka some now for salvage, they are neat.