WGUAS

Charles writes:

Hey all! Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a day of diving/work planned for the West Point Site this Sunday, October 7th. We will meet at the boat ramp at 1:00. You probably won’t need more than one tank, but if you like, you may certainly bring more and dive all you want. If any of the new members need directions, let me know, and I will get them to you. As usual, I will send out an email early Sunday morning to confirm that conditions are suitable for diving, so make sure to check you email before heading to West Point. I hope to see everyone on Sunday!

Charles Kelly writes:

Hey All!  We have a work day/dive planned for the West Point Site this Sunday (Sept. 9).  We will meet at the boat ramp at 1:00.  If you have 2 tanks, you might want to bring them, as we plan on diving most of the day.  We would like to get as much work done as possible while we have such good conditions.  The plan is to do a little inventory work and rough mapping on the 1800s dump area and try to GPS some of the stuff there as well as the anchors above the Barrow Bridge.  So far conditions are looking really good.  As usual, I will send an email Sunday morning about 8:00 a.m. confirming the dive, so make sure to check your email before heading to the river.  I hope to see everyone on Sunday!

I live on Lake Martin in Alabama, a beautiful 44,000 acre man-made lake with over 780 miles of shoreline. The lake was built by Alabama Power in the 1920’s. The local lore has it that the bottom was cleared prior to filling the lake. All those trees were cut, chained to the bottom and left there. I’ve dreamed of recovering those trees. Now, it seems someone is actually doing it:

http://www.lakemartinmagazine.com/articles

Lake Martin is a deep lake - over 185 feet in areas. The water is clear but at depths it is dark and cold. The above article covers diving in the lake. I’ve dove the lake many times, the most recent with Ed Mahan. We dove ‘Chimney Rock’, which is actually ‘Acapulco Rock’, a spot where locals anchor their boats and watch divers jump into the water. We were looking for treasures and if you’re EVER in the need for beer cans or beer bottles, we know the place to find them.

I recommend reading the Lake Martin Alabama Edition of Lake Magazine. It is a great publication about a wonderful location!

Phil

Charles Kelly writes:

Asian clam, huh? According to Wikipeidia: In Southeast Asia it is known as prosperity clam or good luck clam. Right after reaching maturity they produce eggs, followed by sperm. Even later, they produce eggs and sperm simultaneously. They can self-fertilize, and release up to 2,000 juveniles per day, and more than 100,000 in a lifetime. Juveniles are only 1mm long when discharged and take one to four years to reach maturity. At this time they are about one centimeter long. Adults can reach a length of about 5 cm.

Well, to me in the river with their little dead bodies floating to the surface, it seems like MILLIONS of them and after reading the above, no wonder. Thanks to Charles for taking the time to check on this for us and thanks to the EPD for the reassurance on when we can get back in the river.

Also speaking of the EPD, Charles reported to them the Hydrilla outbreak. They weren’t aware of it and it probably came from someone putting in at the boat ramp. I’m afraid it is too late to do anything about that though. We’ll see.

So, we’re hoping to get back in the River on August 5th. I won’t make that an Event yet until we know more about our dead little friends, so stay tuned.

Later,

Phil

During our last river dive, Bob McKinley asked me to post the slideshow I created of our trip to the USS Schurz, the Spar, the USS Aeolus and the U352. It is a pretty cool slideshow IMHO so why not? We had a great time. Shot number 23 is a picture of Bob, looking pretty happy. Shot number 25 is a picture of Jeff - not so happy but obviously “ok”.

We have trips like these all the time. I highly recommend you join our group. But please folks, if you join us, come dive with us!

So, Bob, as you requested…

The July 26/27 2006 dive on the U352

Later,

Phil

You all know the old saying, “some days are diamonds”. Well, in my humble opinion, today wasn’t one of those days. We had a good dive but we really didn’t get a lot accomplished and we didn’t discover anything new. (Bob may disagree with me on the discovery bit – but, again, it wasn’t the best dive I’ve seen on the river).

We were able to GPS locate two new artifacts we’ve recently discovered but I was really hoping for more. We DID have a new member (Rob) show up today and perhaps he enjoyed himself. It can be a disappointing number there on “any given Sunday”. This Sunday, there were only five of us.

I am really CONCERNED about the muscle “die off” we’re seeing in the river. I’ve never seen this before and if something is killing the muscles in those numbers then it can’t be good for me to be there too. We ALL know about the ‘hooch’ and its history!

But, any day in the water is good day, so I have to be upbeat about this dive. I know we’ve got other new members who could have been there – where are you guys?

So, if you’re reading this blog and have recently joined our group, how about commenting on why you haven’t made it to the river? I’m curious.

Later,
Phil

Charles Kelly reports we’re planning a river dive at the West Point site this Sunday, July 9th. We plan to be in the water by 1:00pm EDT. (But, you might want to try to get there early - Gary and Phillip Lockhart usually show up early and beat everyone in the water). We look forward to seeing new members on this dive (this is aimed at you Rob - hope you’ll be there). Please bring your full tanks (two if you have them).
PLEASE REMEMBER GUYS - WGUAS proudly serves as stewards of this archaeological site to ensure its protection from looting and vandalism! We are permitted to dive this site by the State of Georgia and it is a location which covers many years of history. BRING ONLY CAMERAS - LEAVE ONLY BUBBLES - we take NOTHING out of the water unless directed to do so by the Georgia State Archaeologist.

So, see you in the River!

Phil

On the WGUAS home page I’ve added a link which will open a small (600×600) window when you click the “The West Georgia Site”. This window will open a GoogleMaps satellite view of West Point, GA and the boat ramp where we enter the river will be marked. If you click the marker, a small aerial view of the river will load which shows the “old iron bridge”. You can right click and view image to get a better closeup of the bridge.

Imagine the items (trash?) thrown from this bridge in the past before it was removed. Locating these items, photographing them and documenting their presence is part of our task. If you enjoy history or researching the past, this is a dive site for you…

I’m thinking of adding a googleMaps page to allow new members to get driving directions from their home to the site. If you’re interested in this, comment and let me know.

See you at the River!

–Phil

oh, by the way - My son’s wedding was perfect! If you dove the river last Saturday, let me know how it went. We’ll post it here!

Gary Lockhart recently wrote:

 Phillip Lockhart and myself did dive the river at West Point last Sunday. The coldest temperature was 67 degrees. The clarity was very good but a lot of sediment like the river needs a good flushing. Nothing new but Phillip did take pictures. We were in the water just under 3.5 hours and never felt cold and we are still using wetsuits. For us this dive season is officially open on the river. We would like to concentrate on diving the river at Columbus this dive season… Anyone that can help us dive the river at Columbus this season we would welcome your help. Our biggest problem is access to the water at the 14 th street bridge. Phillip and I plan to dive somewhere on the river every weekend that we possibly can and welcome people to dive with us.