tool help/ideas needed for diving the coopers river

[11x]

hello, i am going to the coopers river in july and i have been reading that some divers use some sort of pick to anchor them selfs in the current while they search for stuff. i have acess to a full machine shop and was thinking of taking a piece of round stock and turning it down to make a sort of pick with a handle and drilling and tapping the handel for a eye bolt to have a place to tie into. i was imagining using a 5-10 ft teather. the plan would be to anchor on the bottom and slowly crawel down stream searching for fossiles. when i hit the end of my teather i can swim up to it, pull it,swim 10ft further and anchor and repeat? what do you all think? do you have any ideas or pictures of similar devices? thanks

 

[Lee Taylor]

I have dove the Cooper river over 100 times. I made one of the items you are referring to. They are only really necessary when the current is running fairly fast. Any type of large screwdriver or garden tool that you can stick into the bottom will work also. The key item is to weight yourself heavy.

Don't go downstream. Work your way upstream and in front of the boat. When you bail out you can hit the surface and drift to the boat.

The boat captain will give you instructions the day of the dive.

Ask Aeromike about the bottom "spike" he made. He has some photos of it also

 

[g1138]

I second swimming upstream rather than downstream. You original technique would get repetitive quick; too much upstream and downstream swimming.
Just anchor yourself with 5ft of line so you get a good search radius. Once you're content either shimmy over or move upstream. If the current isn't that strong you may not even need to anchor all that often.
I think going beyond 5ft might start to get hazardous. But hey that's coming from a guy whose never done a dive like this.

I would suggest getting a Snap Shackle so you can quick release from your anchor line if things get dodgey. The movable hook side should clip onto your BC, not the other way around. Tie a lanyard/bungee loop onto the split ring and you're all set to go.

 

[11x]

nice. i like it. thanks

 

[j2s]

How are your 'low-viz' skills ???.... Cooper river is a low viz dive, 1 to 3 ft. max...And if it rains prior to your dive the water washes debris/soil/trees down the banks and can make it 0 viz....And July being a warm month the alligators will be more active and they hide under the fallen logs on the bottom....Be careful where you put your hands when you're feeling around for stuff.....

 

[11x]

i dive low vis quite abit. the gators better watch out for me.... i will have one stuffed in a goodie bag.. lol speaging of goodie bags. does anyone have any suggestions on what sort of bag to use? do any of you experienced cooper diver have any tips for a rookie? do you stay in one spot and dig around or try to cover as much area as possiable? thanks