Just to give everyone a heads up, International Coastal Clean-up Day will be held this year on Saturday September 17th. Once again Inland will be hosting an underwater clean-up event at Lake Pleasant. Put it on your "to do list" and help to improve the local marine environment while having some fun with your fellow dive friends. Details to follow
If the 17th does not work for you I know the park will also be hosting a clean-up on National Public Lands Day on Saturday September 24th from 0700 to 12noon.
Rascally Rabbit
August 23rd, 2011, 02:28 AM
Any perks for either of these dates like free entry into the park?
Capt. Pete
August 23rd, 2011, 06:02 PM
The park is offering free entry on the 24th, not sure if we will be able to work out free entry on the 17th at this time.
Jax
August 28th, 2011, 03:08 PM
Who is the POC - Inland Divers?
ScubaSteve2000
August 28th, 2011, 11:29 PM
Preping for a triathlon on the 17th but would be up for clean-up dives on the 24th.
RossM
September 10th, 2011, 02:55 PM
Any new info on the clean-up days? My wife and I may be diving the 17th either way so cleaning up would be an added bonus.
Rascally Rabbit
September 10th, 2011, 03:02 PM
I believe that Intel is sponsoring a cleanup with All Wet Scuba on the 17th at LP also.
Capt. Pete
September 12th, 2011, 10:50 PM
Inland Water Divers will be cleaning the area near the Christmas Tree reef. DM Steve will be there from 8am till around 2pm for interested parties. I am currently diving with the mantas in Kona however if you phone the shop they should be able to answer any further questions you may have. You can also check our website or facebook page for additional info!!
Jax
September 15th, 2011, 01:43 PM
Inland Water Divers will be cleaning the area near the Christmas Tree reef. DM Steve will be there from 8am till around 2pm for interested parties. I am currently diving with the mantas in Kona however if you phone the shop they should be able to answer any further questions you may have. You can also check our website or facebook page for additional info!!
:whatever: Okay, would someone please map where this "Christmas Tree reef" is for those of us Lake Pleasant geographically-challenge?
:bump:
RossM
September 15th, 2011, 11:08 PM
The email I got said Desert Tortoise Rd.
Jax
September 16th, 2011, 08:59 AM
I think I'll be there!!! :yeahbaby:
Capt. Pete
September 16th, 2011, 01:56 PM
Great to hear you can make it Jax! The Christmas Tree reef is off of Sunset Ridge Road, just west of the 10 lane boat ramp. A posting on our Facebook page stated that the reef is out of the water, so we may have to improvise. I hope the reef is still standing after the water goes back up if that is the case, otherwise the hard work of a lot of dedicated divers over the last three years will be a waste!
Last update before I get back on the plane for Phoenix, hope everyone has a save fun time Saturday!
The Arizona Scuba Group is also going out on the 24th, Details here Lake Clean-up (http://arizonascuba.com/showthread.php?87-Lake-Clean-up) we'll be meeting at the main gate between 6:30AM and 7 AM and then heading over to the spill way.
Jax
September 17th, 2011, 09:08 PM
Great day!!!:D
First, "end of Desert Tortoise Rd. Well, where is the end? Depending on the lake level, it could be anywhere! From a max of 1702 ft above sea level, the lake was at either 1632.4 or 1634.2 . . . :dontknow: I went down Desert Tortoise, did a few off shoots, several turn-arounds, and finally a lovely young man with a scuba class pointed further down the ridge . . . that is normally underwater. :chuckle:
Turns out, that wasn't Inland Scuba . . . however, they got a HUGE crowd over there, so I suspect a lot of the folks that read this ended up with the All-Wet folks.
As I am not at all familiar with Lake Pleasant, I did a lot of loop-de-loops and turn-arounds before I found Inland Scuba. I think we ended up SE of the "e" of "Sunset Cove" on this map: South Lake Pleasant Inset (http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/pdf/2009%20Maps/plesant-south-park-3d.pdf)
I had a bit of fun with a reg - known, but it was a PITA today - and hose O-rings. Apparently, my set doesn't have the right size because the O-ring kept being cut. Time for a save-a-dive bag re-order. :( Still, the first dive was a good shake-out, even thought I didn't find much trash. Snagged a few pieces, and some mono-filament with hooks. With the lake so low, most of the the trash was above the water line. Also, the vis was 12 - 18" . . . yeah, inches. It was a great opportunity to practice search patterns, buoyancy control, and non-silting kicks. I decided to 'run out' to the channel, to see how it was, and found a 'cloud' that sits at 15fsw. Once you drop down below 15, the water looks like the bottom. In the 'cloud', the vis was about 2-3".
The water was about 81 Sol degrees . . . Did you know that if you pour about a quart of lake water in your dry suit, you stay cool? :facepalm:
For my second dive, I went out a couple of the Inland Scuba guys. First, thank God for yellow fins! I couldn't see these guys . . . it was a wonderful opportunity to practice good buddy skills, staying right there without running into Steve, who was navigating. As we went along, he descended a bit . . . and was just GONE into the cloud. :shakehead: We went about 3/4 (I think) across the cove, and with a general consensus of 'this sucks', turned around.
Now, the other gentleman (:blush:, I forgot his name) had run a line from the Inland Scuba diver-down buoy to a marker buoy. I was hoping to observe his reel work . . . Yeah, ri-i-i-i-ght. We came back, found the line, and were to follow it to the diver-down flag and bring it in. We discussed this at the surface, then descended . . . And they were gone! What, wait -- really? (Dive plan was if I got lost, I am solo. I had two ind. doubles.) I came back up, located the bubbles, shot an azimuth, and went after them. I saw one large bubble, and that was it. Did I mention the vis sucked? I continued on because the dive flag was in the azimuth as well. Kick count said I should have been there. . . Surfaced again . . . Hey, wait a minute - the sneaky buggers had moved it! :rofl3:
:joke: It was the plan, I just didn't realize how far 'behind' I was.
I figured I'd had about all the fun I could stand, so shot an azimuth to the road and headed in. Wow, I'd used a whole 700 psi per tank. :laughing:
We had two large black trash bags full of 'treasure'; many thanks to the intrepid divers that came out to help, and their surface support that got the shore trash. It was good to help, even if only a little, and heartening to see that there was not a lot of trash.
Now, someone tell the story of the dog that tried to retrieve the divers . . .
hunter54
September 20th, 2011, 02:52 PM
Jax mentioned the "Labrador Incident", so here goes. My dive buddy Brian and I popped up in the shallows to see how far we were from our entry point (where Jax and the Inland Dive folks were). When we saw how close we were to shore and a family group (maybe 20ft.),we started laughing. Apparently Labrador retrievers are intrigued by the sudden close appearance of floating, laughing heads, and they came after us. Not aggressively, just "OMG,OMG,lets go see!". One stopped at the shoreline when his family called, but the other dove right in. I don't know how much air needed to be in my BC to float both myself and an 80lb. dog ,but it was more than I had. No harm done, the dog went back to shore while we continued laughing. Thanks to Inland for arranging the clean-up!
Jax
September 20th, 2011, 03:00 PM
Jax mentioned the "Labrador Incident", so here goes. My dive buddy Brian and I popped up in the shallows to see how far we were from our entry point (where Jax and the Inland Dive folks were). When we saw how close we were to shore and a family group (maybe 20ft.),we started laughing. Apparently Labrador retrievers are intrigued by the sudden close appearance of floating, laughing heads, and they came after us. Not aggressively, just "OMG,OMG,lets go see!". One stopped at the shoreline when his family called, but the other dove right in. I don't know how much air needed to be in my BC to float both myself and an 80lb. dog ,but it was more than I had. No harm done, the dog went back to shore while we continued laughing. Thanks to Inland for arranging the clean-up!
:rofl3: Get the diver, get the diver!! I wish I'd seen it! :rofl3:
