underwater city in South Carolina

[carmensandiego]

At a party, someone briefly mentioned to me there's a place in South Carolina with an abandoned city, now submerged underwater, that divers can check out? Does anyone know what/where this place is?

I have not been able to Google my way through this, and asking people who have actually been there might yield more pointed useful information i.e. watch out for gators, best time of year to go, etc etc. Thanks in advance.

 

[Rob9876]

I'm only Open Water certified (so not Advanced...at least not yet) and have only experience with max 30 feet depth. It was kind of random, but when friends started inviting me to a bunch of road trips across the South this year ("revenge traveling" now that its post-pandemic, or whatever the media is calling it) I figured hey maybe I can try scuba diving per state.

I had a great time in Tennessee and the quarry I went to there was AMAZING. Not too deep at all, most of it felt like 30-40 feet range. I was able to maintain good buoyancy, and it had fantastic visibility (for a quarry, I've been to worse). So that kind of sold me on the merits of quarry diving/inland-water diving.

That's cool, which Tennessee quarries did you end up diving in?

As far as OW/AOW, while some dive ops want to see AOW for deep dives, there's no reason you can't eventually go all the way to recreational dive limits (40 meters/131 feet) with OW once you feel prepared/comfortable. Main thing is to watch your gas use and nitrogen loading, as those both happen faster the deeper you go. Although everyone is different, seems most people don't get nitrogen narcosis until around 100 feet or so (some don't experience it). Probably worth taking AOW when you have a chance, but until then you might consider gradually going a bit deeper each dive trip as you feel comfortable.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I used to dive frequently in Lake Jocassee, but mostly from shore, as there are some training platforms for practicing skills. There are a number of threads on Lake Jocassee in this forum: Deep Dixie Divers. There's a graveyard (of Deliverance fame) at about 130 feet. As far as I know, the closest thing to a "town" is the Attakulla Lodge that's at 300 feet or so, occasionally visited by tech divers. A couple of articles:

Not Many Know About The Mostly Intact Lodge Hiding At The Bottom Of This South Carolina Lake.

Here's what's at the bottom of Lake Jocassee

It's a reservoir, operated by Duke Power, and stated depths can change.