Posted elsewhere but figured I beef up the content here...
I have every other Monday off so Blitz and Jeff joined me yesterday for a short dive on the Valient in Lake Washington. Blitz and I met at the Magnusen boat ramp around 2pm once he'd gotten off work down the street. We loaded up the boat despite a crotchedy old guy who insisted on using the ramp I was using to unload my truck. Three other open boat ramps and the one I'm on is critical to his day fishing . Whatever.
After about 1/2 hour loading stuff we zipped across the lake to Kirkland to pickup Jeff. 1 hour drive around for him vs. 10 min boat ride for us. He assembled his gear on the dock and we reloaded for the 2 or 3 mile ride up the lake.
I had gotten the coordinates from a friend and hadn't confirmed them but we found the plane in about 20 mins. Didn't rise very far off the bottom, but was definately there on the sounder. We dropped a small 6 lb soft weight shot line as close to the wreck as we could and then anchored about 50ft away.
The three of us got ready sequentially and dropped to 116ft or so. No plane. I'm putzing with the reel getting ready to search and suddenly there's a flashing light. I Look up and Jeff's illuminating the propellor about 5 or 6 ft behind me. We moved the shot anchor over to the prop area and did 4 laps on the plane. It was alot smaller than I imagined - and upside down. I knew it was a 2 seater, but I could see Blitz over one wing while Jeff was near the tail and I looked into the cracked cockpit area.
The tires are still on it and you can frequently read the US Navy markings. I wasn't quite sure what it was made of. The flaps seemed to be aluminum while the body of the plane was more like plywood. Old waterlogged plywood. There are a number of holes in the material from shot lines being dropped on it, glad we didn't contribute to that kind of damage.
We spent 20 mins on the bottom at 105-115ft. Did 1s up to 30ft and then a bit extra time including 6 mins on O2 since Blitz was on 22/36. Viz was typical 8ft at the bottom and wasn't much better at 20ft. Blitz and I had a hard time seeing Jeff over by the shot line at times.
It wasn't a destination dive, but certainly better than working! Attached is a pic of a Valient.
I have every other Monday off so Blitz and Jeff joined me yesterday for a short dive on the Valient in Lake Washington. Blitz and I met at the Magnusen boat ramp around 2pm once he'd gotten off work down the street. We loaded up the boat despite a crotchedy old guy who insisted on using the ramp I was using to unload my truck. Three other open boat ramps and the one I'm on is critical to his day fishing . Whatever.
After about 1/2 hour loading stuff we zipped across the lake to Kirkland to pickup Jeff. 1 hour drive around for him vs. 10 min boat ride for us. He assembled his gear on the dock and we reloaded for the 2 or 3 mile ride up the lake.
I had gotten the coordinates from a friend and hadn't confirmed them but we found the plane in about 20 mins. Didn't rise very far off the bottom, but was definately there on the sounder. We dropped a small 6 lb soft weight shot line as close to the wreck as we could and then anchored about 50ft away.
The three of us got ready sequentially and dropped to 116ft or so. No plane. I'm putzing with the reel getting ready to search and suddenly there's a flashing light. I Look up and Jeff's illuminating the propellor about 5 or 6 ft behind me. We moved the shot anchor over to the prop area and did 4 laps on the plane. It was alot smaller than I imagined - and upside down. I knew it was a 2 seater, but I could see Blitz over one wing while Jeff was near the tail and I looked into the cracked cockpit area.
The tires are still on it and you can frequently read the US Navy markings. I wasn't quite sure what it was made of. The flaps seemed to be aluminum while the body of the plane was more like plywood. Old waterlogged plywood. There are a number of holes in the material from shot lines being dropped on it, glad we didn't contribute to that kind of damage.
We spent 20 mins on the bottom at 105-115ft. Did 1s up to 30ft and then a bit extra time including 6 mins on O2 since Blitz was on 22/36. Viz was typical 8ft at the bottom and wasn't much better at 20ft. Blitz and I had a hard time seeing Jeff over by the shot line at times.
It wasn't a destination dive, but certainly better than working! Attached is a pic of a Valient.
