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1st dive of the new year and the decade too (SMILE).
Ed J and myself got in at Catfish and went upstream.
The flow was down so surprisingly , we made it to Friedman's. (EEK).
Turned around and drifted out thru Catfish and out at Manatee.
Flow IS down in there.
Vis was pretty good (a little chunky around the Catfish area) but cleared up nicely especially upstream of Sue's.
A WONDERFUL dive to start the new year. (SMILE)
Jeano of Beano
Nice. Thx for the update Jean.
You are most welcome (SMILE)Quote:
Originally Posted by willardj
Beano
You may have lucked out, and gone in just before high tide. I just heard an opposite report from last week. The tides influence Manatee's flow more than anything else.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeandiver
Watch the river graph for Manatee, before diving there, and try to be in the water just before a peak in river level.
Thanks !Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
I understand what you mean on the graph by looking for a peak ! (SMILE)
Beano
Uh, that would be spelled "peek"... :roll:Quote:
Originally Posted by jeandiver
(oh boy)Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
(goes and hides under the desk....)
(goes off and checks Wikipedia)
(now is really confused)
Beano
Personally, I peek for peaks!
BTW, speaking of being confused. In November in FL, I was confused with Jean AND (then) Cindy. In December I was confused with Shirley.
Who am I again???
:smt102
My buddy and I dove on the 2nd as well and it was a pleasure not fighting the outflow, despite the cold air it was a great dive.
I dove Manatee a few days ago...not sure which day...and had exactly the same....dropped in @ Catfish, swam about 300 fsw past Friedman's (including an attempt at poking my head up @ Friedman's), and floated back to Catfish all within thirds.
Hmmm, nobody is posting what time they dove Manatee. Looking at the river graph, the peak river level (and lowest flow out of the spring) are mid morning this week. It would be useful to have the start/end times (and date), so we could get an exact idea of when the best times to dive Manatee would be.
start time: 14:57
end time: 16:12
That is interesting, assuming you dove around Jan 2, then it was at a valley, not a peak. It still makes sense, because the worst time would be on the down swing of the graph, when the river is dropping, and pulling spring water out with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by whodunit68
http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydro...,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
Saturday Jan 2nd:
Start Time: 11 AM
Thanks!
Jean
Hmmm, that in right in the middle of a down swing, and should be the highest flow of the day. It could be the river being high overcomes the tidal influence. We need to keep records for a year to see how to predict the best times to dive Manatee. The information needs to be recent, so we can compare to the river graphs.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeandiver
We need date, start and end times, visibility, and perceived current.
This might be a good project for a grad student :-D
I will report my start and end times on any dives we do in Manatee with a conditions report for 2010 !Quote:
Originally Posted by FW
Thanks!
Jean
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by jeandiver
More data: We dove Manatee on 1/24/2010 and we were upstream from Catfish from approx 10am to 11am. The flow was not bad at all.
--Scott
Thanks Scott! I completely forgot to post that here! We need to do that again soon!Quote:
Originally Posted by scottj
It's been a few years since Manatee has been so clear. Just finished my 4th or 5th dive there over the last 2 weeks, and today was about as good as it gets. We entered at Friedman and swam upstream about
1500' flow was minimal ( even though we entered at low tide at 11:30 A.M.) turned the dive not because
of thirds but my light kept blinking on/off. Vis upstream of the milk tunnel 100ft.
On the way back we could see leaves on the trees at Friedman. Once past the sewer the vis dropped to
40-50ft. Exit today was at catfish ( Manatee's in the main spring )
The river water is just starting to push into the main spring, which is good for us. :)
Chris