Fun Diving Report
by Bill Harrison
November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our diving friends and their families.
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Anyone wanting split fins for Xmas this year? Y-Kiki Divers has uncovered a stash of Oceanic V-16 Split Fins in all sizes and colors, and is liquidating them at a price too low to be advertised while they last. If interested, call or stop by the Creve Coeur Y-Kiki Divers store and inquire. Split fins are ideal for those who mainly dive warm water or who tend to get leg cramps easily, as they take less effort to push through the water and still give good propulsion in recreational SCUBA gear. Peg and I both dive them when in warm water.
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Reminder that the December Fun Dive at Mermet Springs will be hosted by Bob Bost & Mike Heffington the weekend of December 5-6, AND make note that Mermet's winter hours are 9:00 am - 6:00 pm. They are usually closed on Sundays in winter, so they must be opening by special request that Sunday for us and others. Enjoy while you can.
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Peg and I hope to see a number of you for the January 1 Polar Bear Dive at Mermet. Then we start a whole new year of fun diving!
Happy Holidays,
Bill & Peg
May 7, 2009
Pennyroyal Fun Dive Planning Info
We are planning a Fun Dive weekend May 16-17 at Pennyroyal Blue Springs, located in Hopkinsville, KY, app. a 4.5-hr. drive from the Y-Kiki Creve Coeur store. Much good info at www.pennyroyalscuba.com. Entry fee is $20 per day for divers and $7 per day for non-divers, and air fills are $7 per tank. Expected conditions are water temps of 60 F in the shallow water, 50 F below the first theromocline, and 43 F in the deepest darkest areas. Visibility should be in the 10-20 ft. range, dependent on weather conditions between now and then. In addition to air and nitrox fills, there is a snack shack and small accessories shop.
There is a divers’ discount rate at the local Best Western Hotel, 4101 Ft Campbell Blvd., 42240, 270-886-9000 ($69 per night double occupancy in the summer). Other options for accommodations are listed on the Pennyroyal website. The quarry is just minutes from the hotel and from a large variety of restaurants.
We would like to take the Y-Kiki van down if there are enough of you who would like to carpool and share gas expense for the trip. Hoping to depart Y-Kiki around 3-5 pm on Friday and return around 5-7 pm on Sunday. Gas should be app. $20 per person. Please contact me ASAP if you would like to participate in this carpool.
For future planning, Peg & I plan to participate in the following fun dive dates:
May 9 - The Dive Stop, New Melle, MO (just past St. Charles!)
May 16-17 - Pennyroyal Blue Springs, Hopkinsville, KY
July 25-26 - Blue Water Lake, Oronogo, MO
Aug 22-23 - Table Rock Lake, Branson, MO
Sept 26-27 - Mermet Springs--DUI DOG Days event
Oct 9-12 - Bull Shoals Houseboat Trip, Bull Shoals, AR (call Y-Kiki to reserve your spot)
Oct 17-18 - Beaver Lake, Arkansas
*Oct 24-31 – Cozumel, Mexico (Y-Kiki Divers’ shop trip—even Peg & I need to go tropical once in a while!)
Nov 14-15 - Haigh Quarry, Kankakee, IL
Dec 5-6 - Mermet Springs
Jan 1, 2010, Mermet Springs Annual Polar Bear Dive
May 4, 2009
Mermet Springs Fun Dive Report
The weather was cool and a little rainy all weekend, which made it very comfortable for those of us who stayed suited up in our drysuits, but a little chilly for some of the wetsuit divers. The water conditions are much better than our last visit—with shallow water visibility of 5-7 ft. and 57 F water temp, and beautiful vis of 15-30 ft. below 70 ft. depth where the temp is still 42 F.
All of the High School students completed their certifications, and after diving with them all weekend we are now qualified to report our dives as “sick” or “tight”, both of which apparently mean “excellent dive”.
The bluegill were swarming in the shallow water, the large bass were plentiful, but we saw few catfish and only one spoonbill all weekend. Finished the weekend with a nice long peaceful deep dive across the quarry at the bottom of the navigation course—didn’t find any dropped dive gear, but enjoyed the great vis and put some new dive gear to the test.
We took the long way home to avoid the construction on I-57, stopping in Carbondale for supper at El Bajio, which we highly recommend if you’re ever over that way.
In the next week I’ll be assembling some info for the trip to Pennyroyal and e-mailing it to you in case you’d like to look at some different wet rocks for a change. Hoping for some carpooling plans as well, since it is a little longer trip.
April 27, 2009
Table Rock Lake Fun Dive Report
At the DUI DOG Days Dinner Saturday night they gave a presentation that included trip reports for all of last year’s DOG events—last year at Table Rock the lake was so flooded and the weather was so cold that no diving was allowed! And nearly all the other DUI events last year had some kind of unpleasant if not catastrophic weather events. Not this year!!!
We had 2 beautiful sunny days with a high of 80 F and breezes that helped keep divers who were suiting up a little cooler. Over 75 divers attended to try out DUI suits or accessories, over 2 dozen staff of local (and not-so-local) shops and volunteers helped run the event and guided dive tours, and at least a handful of other divers I know came just to hang and dive with the rest of us.
As promised, we had water conditions of 53 F water temp all the way down to 50 ft., where there was a slight thermocline; below 50 ft. the temp dropped to about 48 F and stayed there all the way down past 100 ft. depth. Above the thermocline the water was bright and vis was about 10-15 ft. initially, although it did deteriorate with the mass of divers to as poor as 5 ft. vis. Below the thermocline it got gradually darker until you needed a dive light at 60 ft. and was like a night dive below 80 ft. The bluegill were plentiful and active, very large bass were common, and the crawfish were sparse but very large (Table Rock Lobster).
Fun-Dive Weekend Lessons:
Table Rock Inn pancakes are still as big as Frisbees, quite impressive to first-time diners.
I still swap used romance novels with Diane (owner of Table Rock Inn)—don’t know why some of my dive buddies find this amusing.
Very small frogs can make very big noise, and they love the Table Rock Inn swimming pool.
Diving, especially drysuit diving, is all about the gear: when you get the fit, weights, and trim right, the skills become easy!
DUI has some great specials right now—Free undergarments with suit purchase, special financing, with two you get eggroll (which one of those is made up?).
March 29, 2009
Mermet Springs Fun Dive Report 3/28-29
Had a great time this weekend completing an AOW with 1 student and Dry Suit Specialty with him and another 3. Also enjoyed the handful of Fun divers who joined us on Saturday.
The weather was generally mild, all who showed were diving dry and no one was complaining about cold water!
The good news was that the shallow water has warmed to 47 F all the way down to 20 ft. The bad news was that visibility was less than 2 ft. all the way down to 40 ft. depth. Visibility started below 40 ft., became good (15-20 ft. but hazy) below 60 ft. and was quite good (15-25 ft. and clear) below 75 ft.
So deep dives ruled and shallow dives were hand-holders. The bluegill were quite active, getting in our faces in the shallow water and checking us out. The large catfish are still semi-hibernating, laying on the bottom and not moving too much even when petted.
