Friday started out a little rainy, but it finished very rainy. Tropical storm Fay's outer bands were brushing Charleston and that gave us a soggy day, but it didn't matter once we hit the gravel beds underwater. Bill (OTWDiver) and Dan were our boat captains and we loaded the boats up and headed out. I was a bit apprehensive about my first dive in the red and brown waters of the Cooper, but WreckWench took good care of me as we tethered up and hit the first dive site together. We hit the water a bit heavy and went right down without piddling around at the surface. The captains always told us the depth of the bottom thanks to their sonars, so we had a pretty good idea of where we'd land, but sometimes the ground would be a few feet closer due to our movement on the way down. It took me a while to figure out that the dive lights pointed straight down could just barely give you a heads up so you could brace for the landing, although it really wasn't that rough most of the time.
The description of the river that Kamala gave in the opening post is very accurate; it is a night dive during the day. The deeply stained waters just swallowed up any light beam no matter how powerful. I had a hard time grasping why even waters without much particulate could only afford a few feet of visibility, but once you're down there, it makes sense. The overhead ambient light was completely extinguished at around 20 feet, and just above that depth it gave a faint red glow.
Friday's dives were varied but we were always put on nice gravel beds, or within easy reach of gravel beds. Water temps were 83 or so at the surface and didn't drop below 81 at depth. The current, though, keeps you cool, and the fact that you are down for up to an hour means that you get cooled even more. I brought and used a hood...and Bill fished it out of the river for me a couple times until I rigged it up better. I was very glad to have it. Depth throughout the trip ranged from about 17 feet at my favorite gravel bed to about 45 at some of the deeper cuts.
After the first two Friday dives, we tied up the boats and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shelter of the boat, during the pouring rain. On the third dive, the RIPPING current made it impossible to stay in one place. The stories of the crazy currents was my biggest fear going into the trip -- the other being alligators and the intense darkness a distant third -- but it really isn't that bad. As I was whisked along the bottom, I tried to use the handy and handsome river picks that Bill had made for us to dig into the hard clay bottom. Even with the pick penetrating the ground several inches and my body streamlined and nearly laying on the ground, the current just pulled me (and the pick) right out, while my regulator buzzed in the stiff flow. I attempted to deploy my see-me sausage while staying put but it was no use. Feeling bad about aborting the dive so early, I surfaced. Within minutes more bright sausages started popping out of the water, one after another. Captains Bill and Dan picked us up and dropped us on a much calmer dive site. The first day was exhausting but still productive with everyone finding treasure.
The second day started out a bit wet but then we actually stayed mostly dry at the surface; apparently it poured while we were underwater on several occasions. I believe it was during this second day that Dan aka trvlr99 (correct me if I'm wrong...) found a beautiful medicinal-looking bottle, printed with "Paskola" on one side and "The Pre-Digested Food Co." on the other, in pristine condition. Some googling (see here for an example) finds that it is indeed pre-digested food: "It has all the advantages of cod liver oil...is far more palatable...and actively aids stomachic digestion". What a find! The whole time, everyone is pulling in a respectable haul, interesting teeth from sharks, whales, land animals, plus bones, bottles, and other artifacts.
The second night we had a delicious cookout at the hotel. Kamala provided meats, sides, and drinks, and Ken aka ScubaKen barbecued everything to perfection. We had great leftovers for lunch the next day, too.
The third day couldn't have been more pleasant weather-wise. We had scattered sunshine and warm but not hot temperatures all day. During the wait for our first dive, several dolphins were spotted around the boats, surfacing for air while hunting fish..very cool! We later hit the infamous "Mudballs" site, where large chunks of muddy bank get eroded into the water, forming ugly, gnarly, hairy balls of mud, some the size of a large van or even bigger. Of course you don't see them until you're about two feet away. In order to avoid getting into an overhead situation beneath the trailing edge of the mudballs, I learned quickly (a) to hold my light at arms length straight ahead to light up and mudballs before you run into them, and (b) to watch the sometimes subtle delta-shaped sand wedges that form behind them in the current, knowing that seeing one of these swimming upstream means that a mudball is dead ahead. I found a couple decent teeth near the mudballs, but give me a nice gravel bed any day!
That night we did group pictures with everyone's hauls laid out on the tables in the hotel restaurant. Most everyone stayed for one more day of diving (they should be just about wrapping up now) and I hope they all found more treasures in the Cooper.
If you've ever thought about trying the Cooper, I would recommend it. It's not the Caribbean -- in fact I want to go back to the clear warm waters of the Caribbean even more now -- and you will work hard, but it is unlike any other type of diving I've done. You will definitely be a better diver when it is over...except your buoyancy skills which are simply not needed
. Some sites are more rewarding than others but with four dives a day it's practically guaranteed that you will hit one that you like each day. Bill's knowledge of the river is beyond astounding, as is the care and concern he shows for his divers. Thanks to everyone for a great time -- special thanks to Kelly, Dan, Anthony, George, Gary, and the other drivers who hauled people and stuff around, to Kamala for putting it together, to Dan for driving the boat (even though he made us work
), to Bill for sharing his knowledge, and to everyone for being most excellent dive buddies. Hope to get back to the Cooper again.And by the way, I didn't see a single gator.
