Allatoona

[Corigan]

Kyle and I decided to head out to Lake Allatoona yesterday on a recon mission to try to scout the place out. We first went up to red top mountain to check out the park. The beach was closed. We also noticed that to get to the beach you would have to navigate about 50-100 steps. I don't really feel like navigating that many steps with doubles and then walking across a beach. We then looked around the park for other shore access. Every accessible inch of the park's shore was covered in huge rocks. Forget climbing over those.

So we went to check out the Lake Acworth portion of Allatoona. We checked out Acworth beach and it seemed like a possibility to dive out of. It would be a long walk across a beach and also some stairs to navigate. We then went across the way from Acworth beach and found a little park that looks like the best possibility we found. There is no entrance fee. You can backup right to the water. They also have picnic tables within 10-20' from the water. Definately the shortest hike this way to get in and out of the water.

We were looking at the water quality and you could see some of the rocks through it on the bottom. It looks to atleast have 2-3' of viz, but I doubt anymore than 5'. The water also felt warmer than lanier to the touch when sticking a bare hand into it. We were looking at a map and it looks like the whole lake acworth area is only about 10' deep. This is probably why it felt warmer, it doesn't take as long to warm up since it isn't very deep. It definately appears we would have to run a float and look out for boaters/fisherman in this section. This area is also dammed and never drained. It was windy and we wearn't noticing a bunch of particles coming into shore, so maybe on a calmer day it will be even better viz.

We didn't get in a dive, time was short and we just didn't have time. Also with Kyle wanting to check out the drysuit I didn't want to be in 2' of viz and him in new gear trying it out. We are going to try to go out in another week or two to actually dive the place. Even with 5' of viz it would be a plus to me. It is half the travel time to go to Allatoona for me instead of lanier. It also has no entrance fee. This doesn't mean I'm not going to dive Lanier anymore, but this would be a nice close waterhole for me to test out stuff in OW.

I know some people have dove Allatooona (the dead sea) in the past and I was wondering exactly where you all entered/exited shore. I know TK said he has dove it near red top mountain, but I was wondering exactly where and what kind of entry/exit it was. Maybe never time we hook up you could point it out to me on a lake map.

I'll keep y'all informed of what we find up there,

Matt

 

[The Kraken]

Corigan,
The times Linda and I have dived at Red Top Mountain, we've loaded our gear in my canoe and paddled from the boat launch, underneath the bridge and over to another section of the lake. The visibility, when we'ved dived there, was quite good.

the K

 

[No Fish]

Had your coffee yet?

 

[The Kraken]

Yes indeed, my friend!
The first cup was around 0530 hours.
And you?

 

[Corigan]

Corigan,
The times Linda and I have dived at Red Top Mountain, we've loaded our gear in my canoe and paddled from the boat launch, underneath the bridge and over to another section of the lake. The visibility, when we'ved dived there, was quite good.

Thanks for the quick response TK. I was thinking a boat would be the best method, but unfortunately neither kyle nor I have one. I am hoping this shore access works out decent enough to get some close (to me) dives in.

Matt

 

[No Fish]

And some grits & eggs. You boys down here know what is good.

 

[The Kraken]

By God, No Fish, I'm going to have to take you to the Waffle House and get you an order of hash browns "All the Way" !!!!

I'll just make sure you're not planning on diving for several hours afterwards!

the K

 

[laurelgsc]

I run the Girl Scout camp on Lake Allatoona. Just down the road from us is Bartow Carver Park. They have a boat ramp and a beach. There is no entrance fee that I know of and it is a nice area. There is also a public beach near the Atlanta Yacht club off Kellog Creek that might work for you. There is a really deep cove back behind the yacht club that doesn't get a whole lot of boat traffic.

OTOH Lake Acworth is a little bit scary, they have water quality problems when it rains a lot because it is a closed sub dam. The water quality in other parts of Allatoona is much better. Let me know if you guys decide to dive Allatoona, I would love to join you.

 

[Corigan]

I run the Girl Scout camp on Lake Allatoona. Just down the road from us is Bartow Carver Park. They have a boat ramp and a beach. There is no entrance fee that I know of and it is a nice area. There is also a public beach near the Atlanta Yacht club off Kellog Creek that might work for you. There is a really deep cove back behind the yacht club that doesn't get a whole lot of boat traffic.

Excellent Information, thank you very much. We are definately going to dive it! The question will be when. I am heading out of town tomorrow to hit the caves in NFL. So I am hoping in about 2 weeks to try to hit it up. It would be great for you to come on out and join us.

I will check these locations on my buddies map. Kellog Creek is about 5 minutes away from my home. It would be awesome to have a site 15 minutes away. Have you ever dove either the Atlanta Yacht club area or the Bartow Carver Park? How was the viz and what time of year was it? How far of a walk is it to the water at either of these locations and is it rough terrain? I only ask since most of the time the gear I am trying out/tweaking in OW is a cave rig. Very heavy and quite a bit of equipment.

Thank you again for the information, ecspecially that which pertains to Lake Acworth. I was googling around some information last night on lake acworth and had seen some sites on the water quality of the lake. The studies I was reading were taking in the mid-late 90's so I didn't know how current there were. I see they haven't changed.

I drove past the little river marina area (bells ferry) the other day and it looked like brown/red soup in there to me. Kyle and I were also talking about victoria landing and going and checking it out.

Thank you again for the information. Any help/information would be greatly appreciated as we are looking to dive allatoona quite a bit. We would love to have you join us, or let us join you.

Matt

 

[laurelgsc]

Matt,

I am a pretty new diver and I only have a 3mm, so I haven't done any diving in Allatoona as of yet, only certed in Nov. For some reason my profile keeps telling me I have 51-100 dives when I only have 16-50, I keep changing it and it keeps changing back. I hope to have 50 dives by fall anyway. Our coves seem to be pretty sandy and rocky. Our canoeing cove is probably 15-20 feet deep when the water is up and our sailing/windsurfing coves is 35+ feet deep when the water is up. I have seen the vis be really good and really bad. Late summer and fall when it is not raining as much seem to be the best times. I will go down and take a look at the park again and ask the guy that runs it if we can dive. I have known him for a long time. As memory serves, the parking lot backs up to the beach and there is also a really small boat ramp where you can walk right into the water next to the parking lot. I don't know what the diving would be like but the shore is pretty rocky around there so maybe the vis would be good. I will also ask about site around the dam. I know I talked to a Core of Engineer guy the other day about diving and he said some folks dive around the dam and that the vis is usually pretty good there. I will check out and see if there are any access areas close. I just bought a 3/5mm vest/hood so I hope to do some lake and quarry diving this spring and summer to improve my diving, I need to work on the basics like bouyancy and navigation.