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Post by surflung on Sept 12, 2014 13:43:42 GMT -8
My Fortune Pond Videos...- The first trip was a get-a-way for me and my wife. We stopped at Fortune Pond on the way up to St. Ignace and the Mackinac Bridge. I had brought along one of my first regulator builds. And I have to admit, the combination of water clarity, cold temperature, and steep drop off I found a little intimidating. - Without a hood to protect my head and ears from the cold, I didn't get much deeper than 30-40 feet. But as you can see from the video my wife shot looking down at me... I was 25-30 feet down and clearly visible from the surface... The water is astoundingly clear. vid1135.photobucket.com/albums/m635/SurfLung/FauxJet2000.mp4
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 12, 2014 15:25:00 GMT -8
Surflung,
Very well done. I liked the combination of slides and video. Thanks for showing what is possible, and the clarity of the water was great!
John
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Post by diverdon on Sept 12, 2014 16:15:46 GMT -8
Yes, nicely done. Its always clear there. Worth the trip John.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 18:04:10 GMT -8
Good video.......don't know how you tolerated the cold without a hood.....I tried diving in the month of Jan once in a lake here in Texas.....and a night dive at that.....without a hood.......forgot and left it at home......felt like a thousand little knives sticking me in the head........terminated that dive real fast......
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Post by surflung on Sept 15, 2014 10:14:29 GMT -8
My 2nd Trip to Fortune Pond
Going Deep Into Something Like the Twilight Zone...
- This is video shot during my first serious diving trip to Fortune Pond. I had planned to go no deeper than 50 feet myself and no deeper than 30 feet with my son-in-law who was a new diver. But the water clarity and light are such that the usual deep diving fears of darkness and poor visibility were just not there.
- In fact, it's almost like the deeper you go the more inviting it is. On my last dive of the weekend, I decided to stretch myself and go down 85 feet to the main ledge in front of the pier. The sun was low on the horizon and was actually throwing shadows off the boulders strewn along the ledge. I remember swimming along to an area where the water was so still and clear, I could see beyond the ledge to a landscape. And the view looking into the sun with boulder shadows extending towards me... Well it was just like the opening credits of the Twilight Zone.
- That's the scene and the deep diving adventure that hooked me on Fortune Pond.
P.S. - Thanks for the kind remarks and comments. I should say a few things about the water temperature at Fortune Pond. The cold temperature seems to be the biggest negative when divers say they don't want to come... But I don't think Fortune Pond is any colder than what you find below the thermocline in most lakes. If you have a full suit with hood, gloves, and booties, you will handle the cold just fine.
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Post by surflung on Sept 17, 2014 6:35:48 GMT -8
The Lure of the Depths...- This video was shot on a rainy, snow flurry October trip to Fortune Pond a couple of years ago. Visibility from the surface down to 40 feet was less than usual... only 30-50 feet  ... But below that it was something in excess of 100 feet. With the sunless overcast sky above, the light for photography was less than optimal but the silvery tanks and bubbles from the little tiny divers deep down below me bear testimony to the water clarity. On this trip, I met Rob Studnicka of the Scuba Museum. Quite a gentleman, e made a point of walking back to my parked car to introduce himself to my wife who was trying to keep warm while we all went diving. - The Lure of the Depths... I have to say that when you can see so far, deep water is tempting. There's a point in the first dive where I was following Rob and SwimJim and didn't realize we were down over 130 feet... I think it was 137 feet. Anyway, I was looking at my GoPro LED viewfinder and didn't realize it. I pretty much started my ascent immediately after seeing the depth on my SUUNTO ZOOP. The second dive I stayed above 100 feet and shot video of those twin tank "Tech" divers WAY below me. Depth in the right conditions is very tempting! - BTW, This is the same dive trip where SwimJim shot his video entitled "Rob's Visit".
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... But below that it was something in excess of 100 feet. With the sunless overcast sky above, the light for photography was less than optimal but the silvery tanks and bubbles from the little tiny divers deep down below me bear testimony to the water clarity. On this trip, I met Rob Studnicka of the Scuba Museum. Quite a gentleman, e made a point of walking back to my parked car to introduce himself to my wife who was trying to keep warm while we all went diving.