Lake Murray, SC diving

[berniechip2003]

Hi everybody,

I just moved to Lake Murray, SC. Has anyone been diving here? Is there anywhere else close by to go diving? I don't have a lot of time to travel, but am anxious to start diving. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[iroczkeepr]

check out lake jocassee in s.c. up next ot table rock, and then there is always myrtle beach.

 

[marusso]

I did my advanced training on both of those lakes. In Lake Murray you can expect visibility less than 10ft. There are a couple of neat features, such as a bridge and a plane, but they are deep.

The scenery at Jocasse was beautiful, but the water was really cold. At 88ft the temp was 52 degrees, but the water is relatively clear compared to the other lakes in the area.

Check at Wateree Dive Center. They are awesome. www.watereescuba.com

 

[berniechip2003]

I did my advanced training on both of those lakes. In Lake Murray you can expect visibility less than 10ft. There are a couple of neat features, such as a bridge and a plane, but they are deep.

The scenery at Jocasse was beautiful, but the water was really cold. At 88ft the temp was 52 degrees, but the water is relatively clear compared to the other lakes in the area.

Check at Wateree Dive Center. They are awesome. www.watereescuba.com

Thanks Marusso,

Do you know how I can find any of this stuff in Lake Murray? It's a pretty big lake! I wish the visability was better, but I just need to go diving, so it'll have to do for now.. As far as Jocassee goes, 52 deg was the norm for me in PA. At Dutch Springs, a quarry there, it was 41 deg at 90 ft., now that's cold! So I think I'll try Jocassee soon. Is there any good shore diving, or do you need a boat? Did you do your advanced training with Wateree scuba. I have already emailed them about taking an advanced class, they got back to me really quick. I originally trained with PDIC so I didn't know how SSI was.
Thanks for your input

 

[marusso]

On Lake Murray, we basically walked down the boat ramp and did a short surface swim. We didn't really see anything but a few fish and a lot of hydrilla. The deeper sites, I have not been too, I believe wateree dive center will take you with trimix.

Lake Jocasse, you can walk down the main boat ramp at the park entrance. Some local divers sunk a boat, barber chair, and some other fun things, if you head left from the ramp in about 50' of water or so. There is also some kind of wall dive on Jocasse if you have a boat. Ask the guys at Wateree they will know.

I have also did a dive on lake Strom Thurman in Augusta. The vis was better than Murray, but not a whole lot to see.

All of my dives have been in the south. I took my wife and little sister down to Key Largo for spring break, and we were all freezing with an air temp of 77, and water temp of 72. Haha.

 

[SeaJay]

Planes in Lake Murray:

http://www.deepsouthdivers.org/homelakemurray.html

 

[Backwoodsdiver]

Here is a description of the only Clark's Hill dive site I have personally dove. It is from a local dive shop's website:

Clark's Hill Lake
(Some people call this Lake Thurmond)
Recent conditions (5/7/00): about 70 deg F (Bill's computer) or 65 deg F (John's computer) at the airplane; around 10 ft. visibility.
Profile: The airplane is in about 30 ft of water.
Entry: Various entry points are available. The "usual" is to park your car at the Lake Thurmond Visitor's Center on the South Carolina side of the dam. The entry from shore is rather steep.
What to do: See the airplane. Lots of fish. An airplane wing is between the airplane and the shore. Also a roadsign is between the airplane and the dam. Ideal for practicing navigation skills in a low vis. environment.
Warnings: Dive flag essential. Watch out for jet skiers.


Hope this helps.

 

[Backwoodsdiver]

I almost forgot. If you need directions to the site let me know. I can tell you the easy way to find the plane.

 

[crawford]

What kind of plane is it?

 

[Backwoodsdiver]

Just a small single-engine type plane. I don't know what kind.