The river

[Jon]

Here was our turn around point- the Washington ave bridge. Next time we dive I think we'll start at this point and keep working our way up river. This gives us more than a mile or new terrain to explore that can't be dove in the summer time as it's full of boats and zero vis water.

Air temps don't matter so much as long as the water is flowing I can get in a swim. The current seems to always be moving south from the locks so the water seems to stay open until we get a wek of below zero temps.

The last couple of times I've done this it seems like I'm good for at least an hour of swimming up river, to stay warm, followed by a 5 minute ride back down river- where I freeze out.

I wore my dry gloves again today and stayed pretty wamr in them. My fingers eventually got cold, but the gloves fit so loose that I'm able to ball them up inside the gloves to rewarm them.

Jon

 

[WreckRunner]

pretty wild........I especially like the pic of your float coated in ice.

looking forward to getting up there for one of these river excursions.

 

[BaerClaw]

looks like fun makes me want to get out to the park lake here and look for frisbee golf disks and fishing lures but wont happen till ice out. can't wait though!!!

 

[Erik]

I've dove colder so wouldn't let a little Alberta clipper keep me from the water.

Sorry about the clipper It's nothing personal.

 

[Bill]

Calgary clipper would read better, eh? Isn't it funny how the weather guys in this country 'blame Canada' for the cold when all they did was pass on what Alaska sent them?

 

[unirdna]

Isn't it funny how the weather guys in this country 'blame Canada' for the cold..?

If I was a weather guy, I wouldn't blame Canada...




I would blame Canadians.

 

[Erik]

I would blame Canadians.

No respect I tell ya....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sVabofJee4&feature=related]YouTube - Rodney Dangerfield -comedy[/ame]

 

[apnea_beast]

good stuff!

 

[Jon]

I started out at the Outlet this morning, because it's been running all week long, but they turned it off last night and it had frozen over by this morning. That seems to be the drill this winter- running all week long and frozen over on the weekends when we could actually dive it.

After that I headed over to the Yahara river to dive. I tried finding a place to park by Washington ave, but had no luck and ended up driving up to Tenney park to jump in. The current is stronger up here and most of it seems shallower- except for the big hole blown out right in front of the lock.

I swam south as far as East Johnson, but turned before I got as far as Washington Ave because I was a little worried about swimming against the current the whole way back. I just need to find an easy way to hit those couple of blocks between the last two bridges to have dove the whole thing.

I did find a complete bike, a recorder, a very old fish, and some other odds and ends along the way.

Jon

 

[Jon]

The weather this week was MUCH nicer than last week. The water is still hovering at 33F degrees, but the air temp was close to 30F- which is almost 50 degrees warmer than last week!

Last week we had the issue of the surface water freezing and turning into slush as it flowed down stream. This week there was none of that.

Next week is the ice dive so we should finally be able to hit a bit of depth around here. :friday

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

You've got some nice shots there, Jon. I like the Rocky from back a few posts.

 

[Jon]

I can hardly wait to get my new monofin and try it out in this place.

 

[unirdna]

I started out at the Outlet this morning, because it's been running all week long, but they turned it off last night and it had frozen over by this morning.

On my way to work Friday, I saw none of the smokestacks on. Same on the way home. Sorry I forgot to mail you. But then, you would have gone out anyway.

That skeleton photo is great. I'm surprise it is so intact considering the shallow water and current.

Good to see you using that Occhio2 mask.

 

[Fondueset]

You'll want socks that are either smoothskin out - or inside out open cell to wear with it. Otherwise getting it on is a nightmare.

 

[Jon]

I have 3mm skinout socks and also a big can of waterbased silicone spray to help put it on.

You could see where the outlet had been open because of the large are of skim ice in the center of a field of snow. I guess it's just not meant to be this winter.

My father-in-law said that Lake Michigan is frozen out further than he's seen it in years- so no easy shore access. I guess he even canceled this weekends dive charters because he didn't know if his boat could break through that thickness of ice for such a long distance.

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

The socks need to go in right or you get bad foot pain.

the Bay here is frozen as far out as I can see. by comparison, last year I think we had a few weeks - maybe 3 - where it was mostly frozen out about a mile some time in March.

I scoped out the river just down from a small damn in town - looks viable if the viz is decent. I think I'll check it out tomorrow.

Looks like lots of pool time this winter!

 

[Whopperhead]

You'll want socks that are either smoothskin out - or inside out open cell to wear with it. Otherwise getting it on is a nightmare.

That's what she said. rofl


Jon that RECORDER was my kids. I chucked it out the window after they've been blowing it in my ear all day! Very cool pics- I have some catching up to do.

 

[Jon]

I just got back form another dive in the river. I decided I didn't want to fight the scuba divers for space while ice diivng this weekend so I stayed close to home.

The southern part of the Yahara river opened up a nice little opening in Lake Monona. Vis was at least 20' and I found about 25' of depth without any problems. Not as deep as last weekend, but I also didn't have to cut a hole to get wet.

I didn't find any contraband, but I did find this neat little wooden row boat that looks like it's been down there for a LONG time. This is an area that is impossible to dive in the summer time due to boat traffic, so it was neat to get to swim there. I some how seemed to have lost most of my photos during the download to my laptop so I have no shots of the boat, or the sand drop-off's that looked so neat underwater- the river current was flying off the top of them.

There were no fish to spear, but it was a fun dive no matter what.

Jon

 

[unirdna]

Hey, that opened up quite a bit. I'll bet it was nice to not to have to fight a swift current the whole time.

No big surprise re: the scarcity of fish. I submitted a proposal to track crappies in Mendota with sonar equipment. I doubt I'll get it this year with the budget the way it is, but it's good to plant the seed for when this sh#tstorm-of-an-economy finally settles down.

 

[Jon]

The current was pretty strong down the rives and then went along the east side of the hole- where it wimped out pretty quick. Swimming along the west side of the hole was perfectly calm and still.

It's too bad I lost some of my photos because the bottom was pretty cool looking just outside of the river mouth. It switched from white sand to brown silt as it went over an underwater sand dune- which is where I found the boat.

Swimming back and forth in 20' of water I could see the entire bottom with ease.

Jon