County begins plans for Morrison Springs

[mike_s]

We had a great dive yesterday. It's always good to meet up with
the "All Wet Jetty Jedi" for a dive.

As for the condidtions. Bill said above that the water wasn't as clear....
well... I thought it was pretty darn clear. Had to be one of the clearest
dives I've ever done. Water temp was about 67f. My 'puter said max
depth as 74 feet, but SeaYoda might have been a little deeper as
he dropped down in the cavern to snap a few pics of the bowling
ball or something.

Matt, you're Santa Gnome was up on it's ledge watching over the cavern.
The Aflac Duck was hanging around also.

Saw catfish, eel and bass in the cavern. In the basin saw several nice bream.
This was the first time I'd ever seen freshwater eel.... so was very cool
to see.

As for the upcoming changes that Bill was talking about, they all seemed
like they were trying to do something good here. They never mentioned
charges/fees though. It seems liked the main idea or purpose of this
was to seperate the divers and the boaters, or boat launches in the basin.
They weren't going to restrict boaters in the basin, but were just going
to build or rebuild a boat ramp for them.

We also suggested that they put up some large signs reminding the boaters
about the laws of boats and dive flags. We also suggested some platforms
for getting gear ready on, like they have at Bluewater. They were a little
confused by this idea, so if anyone has a pic one, sent it to me or SeaYoda
and we'll try to get it to them so they can visualize it.

They only thing I couldn't figure out was why they were wanting to build a
boardwalk for the divers to walk down to the water... It's not that hard of
a walk down there from the existing pavillion. I guess it's because they
were concerned about limiting parking from the waters edge and that divers
wouldn't like that. We told them that most divers would welcome improvements
in facilities and saftey and that if they had to walk a little further instead
of parking on the waters edge that they would most likely not complain.
(we're talking about walking less than 40 yards or so...)

So overall, I think everything will be a good change.

All in all, a good 'ole day of diving.
pics to follow soon as soon as I can shrink them to fit as attachments.

-Mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Even when the gates are kept locked, the divers parked on the outside of them(by the old shop) and walked down to the water Slightly longer walk will not hurt anyone's feelings

Entry is pretty easy as is.

I would also recommend they put signs up for divers advising them to use a dive flag so that the newly educated boaters(hopefully) can recognize their positions in the water.

Get any pics mike?

 

[SeaYoda]

I emailed the county person I know yesterday and she invited me to their meetings. If anyone has specific concerns, PM them to me and I will print them and get them to the committee. I'll post anything that I find out from the meetings. I don't know when the next one will be or if I'll be able to attend but I'll do my best to be there.

 

[mike_s]

Get any pics mike?

yep.... though I did loose the part of my camera that screws the
strobe into the housing... lost it somewhere in the basin,
but not sure exactly where...

I hope to get some pics up very soon. I'm on my laptop and
I don't have anything to 'shrink' them to a size to upload to the
thread. I might have a copy of Photoshop in my laptop bag.
I'm gonna look and upload the pics as soon as I can.

BTW... got a pic of your Santa Gnome just for you

-Mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I emailed the county person I know yesterday and she invited me to their meetings. If anyone has specific concerns, PM them to me and I will print them and get them to the committee. I'll post anything that I find out from the meetings. I don't know when the next one will be or if I'll be able to attend but I'll do my best to be there.

I'm assuming they will let you know when the next meeting is, even if you aren't able to show up - if so, let me know so I can PM some concerns I have... basic stuff really. Signs for divers, letting them know to bring flags, since the spring is open to boaters. Questioning why they want a dive platform to help entry into a sandy beach entry that gets deeper very gradually. Ect.

BTW... got a pic of your Santa Gnome just for you

Score!

 

[mike_s]

I'm assuming they will let you know when the next meeting is, even if you aren't able to show up - if so, let me know so I can PM some concerns I have... basic stuff really. Signs for divers, letting them know to bring flags, since the spring is open to boaters. Questioning why they want a dive platform to help entry into a sandy beach entry that gets deeper very gradually. Ect.

I wasn't sure why they were doing that either, or the board walk.

I guess/think they are just doing that to have a "defined" area
for the divers to enter in hopes of seperating areas of traffic.
There were no divers at the public meeting besides SeaYoda
and me, and we just "lucked up" by showing up. They didn't
know much about diving or divers needs. But it sounded like
they were trying to help some with their own ideas.

Hopefully now that SeaYoda will be in contact with them,
it will help them understanding divers needs.

One part of the discussion they were going to let people still drive down
to the water to launch boats and another part they were talking about
putting up a fence to block that. If they do let people/boaters drive
down there, I think it was a secondary launch site instead of a primarty

Overall, it looks like they are at least making efforts for improvements,
so this is a good sign.

 

[scubafool]

Good work stepping into an unexpected "situation" and very possibly making a postive difference. Keep us informed.

 

[SeaYoda]

My thought about the boardwalk was that it may not help in all reality but sometimes it's better to pick your battles. The dive platform or what-ever I addressed when I told them that the spring needs to be left beautiful and natural looking. If they let me have more input, I'll get a little more specific. I also believe that they do not understand that tables would be more useful and draw parking to the area they want us to park in. They really seem to care about the divers, just don't know much about our needs. I take it as a very good sign that they would go to the trouble of making it easy for us to get to and into the water. If they build something that doesn't work, at least they cared - we don't have to use it and it can be removed. I think the wise route is to feel them out and choose adjustments to their plan wisely. They may be full out open to ideas, but nobody knows at this point. I don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot before we get the chance to make a difference.

- OH NO!!! --- I sound like I'm running for office. SOMEBODY SHOOT ME !

 

[mike_s]

- OH NO!!! --- I sound like I'm running for office.

You think you could check about getting Cuba opened up for diving next?

 

[SeaYoda]

You think you could check about getting Cuba opened up for diving next?

I don't think the spring run is that long :laughing:.