Post by surflung on Jun 16, 2022 13:02:52 GMT -8
Wazee Dive Report, June 14-15 2022
We had a great time diving at Wazee Tuesday and Wednesday. Visibility was about 20-25 ft. We dove Sherwood Forest on Tuesday and Bluegill/Wall on Wednesday morning. Three of us present... Eben Brown, Jill Brown, and Ron Bentz.
Sherwood Forest - We did 4 dives. Mostly on the shallow side but one dive down to the platform at 50-60 feet out front. Weather was absolutely fabulous... Very hot with a strong wind. We checked out the several new fish cribs... These are not like the original log cabin style. Most were big bundles of logs and brush. A couple were kind of artful weavings of 2x2s... Not much fish in them yet. The Chris Craft boat looked good... We could see the whole thing at once and I did a swim through. We also went to the Lego Man. 20-25 ft visibility isn't as good as the 50 ft of a few years back. But it's better than almost all lakes. The water had its usual aqua blue color and looked so refreshing.
Wall/BlueGill - Wednesday dawned gray and drizzling. We met Ron at the dive sight, coming out of the water just as we arrived. The drizzle stopped and the Sun started coming out. I got to play with my compressor by re-filling my Twin 38s. By the time I was done filling, the Sun came out and we went in for a nice dive... Started at the wall and followed along it to BlueGill. Dialed in buoyancy and decent water temperature. Coldest was 47 degrees under the thermocline. In the 70s above. Visited the shark, outhouse, compass, etc. Could not find the wishing well ( I need to re-learn my compass I think). VERY comfortable dive. And we finished just as the weather started turning rainy again. Altogether we got in 6 dives for the two days. And we were heading back home by 11:30 AM.
Long Lasting Air - We were diving 1800 psi 38s... Jill dove a single while Ron and I dove doubles. In the heat, they rose in pressure over 2000 psi. So Jill's single 38 lasted nearly 30 minutes and still had 1000 psi left. Ron and I did dives of about 30 minutes too... And were able to get two dives per fill... And still had 500-700 psi left... I think Ron actually did a 3rd dive on the same set of 38s! The set I refilled on Wednesday was topped off from still having 700 psi left over from the two dives made the day before at Sherwood!
At LEAST 100 Swimmers at Sherwood... No kidding. The place was overrun by Swimmers. They were all over the beach and Equipment benches. Just a bunch of happy people that found a nice place to swim on a hot day. BUT, they were stirring up the silt... We thought we'd skip the crowd by going to Wazee in the middle of the week. I have a feeling the park isn't going to push them out of the dive sites... In fact there were park officials coming through on 4 wheelers to check on things and empty the garbage. I'm sure the park makes more money letting as many people in as they can.
- Ron had an idea... We should bring our compressors and re-fill tanks on-site so at least the noise might discourage hanging out at the dive sites. Compressors ARE dive equipment and should be acceptable at a Dive Site.
Even so, we all had a great time diving together. AND, we had a great time going out to Culvers for dinner and talking about our latest dive gear and vintage diving in general. I had given up on Wazee a couple of years ago. But if it keeps up visibility of 20-25 feet... I will be very glad to go again.
Lodging - Ron stayed at Comfort Inn. Jill and I stayed at the Best Western... Now called SureStay. This was probably $50 less expensive than the Comfort Inn. Anyway we were VERY happy with the Best Western. The room was re-modeled to Brand New... Clean and nice with refridge, microwave, and coffee maker. We were right around the corner from the lounge/bar which serves a full hot breakfast in the morning. At night, the bar offers Pizza and a menu of appetizers... We could have stayed right there for dinner but had a previous hankering for Culvers, so we went out. I can highly recommend the Best Western/SureStay. We paid a total (taxes, fees, etc, included) of $125 for a 2 double beds room.
That's all for now...
We had a great time diving at Wazee Tuesday and Wednesday. Visibility was about 20-25 ft. We dove Sherwood Forest on Tuesday and Bluegill/Wall on Wednesday morning. Three of us present... Eben Brown, Jill Brown, and Ron Bentz.
Sherwood Forest - We did 4 dives. Mostly on the shallow side but one dive down to the platform at 50-60 feet out front. Weather was absolutely fabulous... Very hot with a strong wind. We checked out the several new fish cribs... These are not like the original log cabin style. Most were big bundles of logs and brush. A couple were kind of artful weavings of 2x2s... Not much fish in them yet. The Chris Craft boat looked good... We could see the whole thing at once and I did a swim through. We also went to the Lego Man. 20-25 ft visibility isn't as good as the 50 ft of a few years back. But it's better than almost all lakes. The water had its usual aqua blue color and looked so refreshing.
Wall/BlueGill - Wednesday dawned gray and drizzling. We met Ron at the dive sight, coming out of the water just as we arrived. The drizzle stopped and the Sun started coming out. I got to play with my compressor by re-filling my Twin 38s. By the time I was done filling, the Sun came out and we went in for a nice dive... Started at the wall and followed along it to BlueGill. Dialed in buoyancy and decent water temperature. Coldest was 47 degrees under the thermocline. In the 70s above. Visited the shark, outhouse, compass, etc. Could not find the wishing well ( I need to re-learn my compass I think). VERY comfortable dive. And we finished just as the weather started turning rainy again. Altogether we got in 6 dives for the two days. And we were heading back home by 11:30 AM.
Long Lasting Air - We were diving 1800 psi 38s... Jill dove a single while Ron and I dove doubles. In the heat, they rose in pressure over 2000 psi. So Jill's single 38 lasted nearly 30 minutes and still had 1000 psi left. Ron and I did dives of about 30 minutes too... And were able to get two dives per fill... And still had 500-700 psi left... I think Ron actually did a 3rd dive on the same set of 38s! The set I refilled on Wednesday was topped off from still having 700 psi left over from the two dives made the day before at Sherwood!
At LEAST 100 Swimmers at Sherwood... No kidding. The place was overrun by Swimmers. They were all over the beach and Equipment benches. Just a bunch of happy people that found a nice place to swim on a hot day. BUT, they were stirring up the silt... We thought we'd skip the crowd by going to Wazee in the middle of the week. I have a feeling the park isn't going to push them out of the dive sites... In fact there were park officials coming through on 4 wheelers to check on things and empty the garbage. I'm sure the park makes more money letting as many people in as they can.
- Ron had an idea... We should bring our compressors and re-fill tanks on-site so at least the noise might discourage hanging out at the dive sites. Compressors ARE dive equipment and should be acceptable at a Dive Site.
Even so, we all had a great time diving together. AND, we had a great time going out to Culvers for dinner and talking about our latest dive gear and vintage diving in general. I had given up on Wazee a couple of years ago. But if it keeps up visibility of 20-25 feet... I will be very glad to go again.
Lodging - Ron stayed at Comfort Inn. Jill and I stayed at the Best Western... Now called SureStay. This was probably $50 less expensive than the Comfort Inn. Anyway we were VERY happy with the Best Western. The room was re-modeled to Brand New... Clean and nice with refridge, microwave, and coffee maker. We were right around the corner from the lounge/bar which serves a full hot breakfast in the morning. At night, the bar offers Pizza and a menu of appetizers... We could have stayed right there for dinner but had a previous hankering for Culvers, so we went out. I can highly recommend the Best Western/SureStay. We paid a total (taxes, fees, etc, included) of $125 for a 2 double beds room.
That's all for now...
