Divelog Date: 29 October 2000
By: Don Crawford
Copyright: 2000
It’s a chilly 48 degrees on a windy Sunday morning in late October. Our boat cuts through the choppy water throwing a cold spray in our faces. We pull our stocking hats lower on our heads. We are looking for a drop-off that we spotted on our map. As we slow and begin watching the bottom on the depth finder the motor fouls in the weeds. We have found the shallow bottom that runs to the north of our prospective dive sight. As the bottom drops away we begin running a zigzag pattern with the boat, our eyes shifting from the depth finder to the shoreline and back again. We watch as the bottom comes up then falls away again. Once we have determined the extent of the line we want to dive we return to the beginning and drop the anchor over the side. The anchor hits the bottom softly. This indicates a mucky bottom. I shake my head. Lifting the anchor a few feet off the bottom we move ahead and again I let the rope slip through my hands, again a soft landing. On the third try the anchor lands solidly. This is what we have been hoping for. We continue to move forward slowly and I feel the line as the anchor drags along the bottom. I can feel rocks and hard bottom. This is where we want to be.
In a matter of minutes we have our gear on and drop over the side into the 50-degree water. It is a familiar feeling for both of us. We are used to this chilly water but wish the sun was out to warm the air. I hook the flag line to my BC and we slip the buddy line over our wrists. We check our compasses and are ready to go. At this point our language is simple. Ready?, I ask. Kerry answers with a nod of his head. His hand comes out of the water and the air escapes from his inflator hose. My head slips below the surface and I clear my ears. We fall through the water until the bottom breaks our fall. I fall forward and get my first glimpse of the bottom. It is sandy with what appears to be small craters everywhere. Visibility extends to about six feet. We turn toward deeper water and begin our slide down the drop-off. We continue down to twenty feet and begin our turn to start back up the drop. Back and forth we move, up and then down, over and over. I have found a couple old bottles and slipped them into my goody bag and notice Kerry is carrying a fishing pole in one hand. We are on our way up the drop when I spot something. I move closer. There in sixteen feet of water lying on the bottom is an old outboard motor. Two tugs on the buddy line brings Kerry to my side. We look the motor over and I lift it to a standing position. I look at Kerry and through our masks, using only our eyes we have a conversation and agree to leave the motor where we found it. We move on and in time decide to begin our trip back to the boat. We both have about 750 lbs. of air left in our tanks. We move in a straight line along the bottom back toward the boat. Suddenly I see an old anchor just to my right. My hand wraps around it and I pull it from the sand. Kerry notices this move and sees the anchor. He signals that it is a very good find. It is a very old anchor and the first of this type we have seen. We continue on. My air is getting low and I signal that I am going up. Kerry nods and we head for the surface. As the water runs off our masks we are happy to see that we have surfaced just yards from the boat.
In a matter of minutes we are back in the boat. We rinse the sand from the bottles we have found and wonder about the age of the anchor and what kind of boat it once held. Once our gear is stowed I lift the anchor and Kerry turns the boat into the waves.
Kerry found a large chain on the dive and marked it. We find his marker and pull the heavy chain from the bottom and wrestle it into the boat. The sun has not come out and the wind seems to have picked up. Kerry turns the boat around and points it in the direction of the truck that will warm us on our trip home.
It’s amazing what 73 minutes on the bottom of a lake and a few treasures can do to make a good weekend even better.
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