Need advice on fresh water swimming hole....

[ToastedWheatie]

I came across this once popular swimming hole, complete with swing rope. Still in limited use. Please click above video.
It is a very hard to get to spot (very steep gorge).
Looking at it, it's impossible not to envision years of gold jewelry that were lost and deposited here. Not quite visible in video is "seats" that would under a small falls when water is flowing in the summer. washing away the chains....
When I first came across it a few weeks ago, I walked around and it looked like it was only a few feet deep at the deepest. We have been in a little more that typical drought in the area, so I thought now was the time to take on this project.

I hiked down in there, but once I walk out into the water, I see it's about 5-6' of crystal clear water still there in the middle.

How do I detect this? Snorkeling would be difficult at that depth with nothing but an AT Pro, wouldn't it?
Do I need some scuba to do this right? Even the depths above three feet are problematic.
Sand scoops are worthless, as the top has 2" to 4" rock (single layer) with gravel underneath. In the spots I checked, gravel was only an inch or two thick, with flat rock underneath. About half of the bottom is exposed large flat rock.

I know this is beginner stuff, but I'm a land relic hunter. This type is new to me.
In the shallower edges, I used a 3 gallon pail, with holes drill in bottom for a screener, scraping gravel by hand into bucket. Only found some slag.

Waterproof pointer and snorkel it maybe?? I don't think I could stay down long enough.

 

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[snokid]

yeah was up there last weekend 4" of snow.....
I'm heading in a couple of hours, will post sunday night how it goes (no internet up there)
A little nervous, but the excitement is too much....
This is a busy place so I have to wait till dark. last weekend there still were people in the water high of 50 degree's
I will go early and land detect till the crowds go away... never really find much more than clad on the land there though.
bob

 

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[Fletch88]

Good luck and stay warm

 

[snokid]

Sorry for the long post but here goes...

I got to dive this weekend, I was nervous as heck on my 1/2 hour drive do my honey hole, but the dreaming of all the gold I was about to find helped me get thru.

Let's go thru the equipment I had with me.
hookah system sea breathe had absolutly no problems with it. Got there hooked it up to a deep cylce battery hooked all the hoses up and presto I could breathe underwater!!!

I'm 5'11" 205lbs I bought a xl ecel 7mm semi dry/wet suit well it was too small, so I had to rush ship a suit, which was a 3/4mm xxl wetsuit. I don't know what the water temp was but the air temp was 46. I was just a little cold, not bad but would of been nice to have the 7mm suit. I have been loosing weight so the xl will fit by spring, I would say 185lbs and 5'11" it will fit... so if you order a suit I would suggest getting a size bigger than you think you need.

I bought 7mm boots no problems there, fit great sized right and nice and warm.

I also bought 5mm gloves also no problems with the fit or warmth.

The mask I bought has a gopro mount on it I also bought a led light with a gopro mount to mount on the mask. The light worked great it takes a gopro battery and it lasted my whole time underwater no problem, but the mask straps aren't the best, the seemed to slip hence the mask would get loose. I would say buy a better mask and get a wrist mounted flash light, or maybe a side head mount if it won't interfere with the mask. I'm thinking I will replace the strap on my mask I see they sell better straps.

I bought a cheap dive knife heck I didn't even know if I really needed it after all. well it straps to your leg with rubber straps after I was in the water 5 mins the straps came loose and the knife was around my ankle. In retrospect in the area I was diving I feel you really don't need the knife, but since I have it I will fix the straps and use it anyways next time..


next is the weight belt, I bought a 6 pocket belt that you fill with bean bags filled with lead. A guy from work who dives told me that I needed somewhere between 18 and 22 lbs of lead, I bought 2-5lbs 2-3lbs and 2-2lbs 20lbs in all well that was the big problem more on that in a minute....

last thing was the dive shaft, rods by plunger comes thru again. guys this stuff is quality no problems here....

Ok so much for the stuff to get let's get to the outting...

I get up north at 6am saturday after working all night, get a nap and am up at noon, it's fricken raining the weather guys says it will stop around 3 time to watch some nascar I guess (I don't watch sports!!! but we get like 2 channels up at the cabin so nascar or some guy selling something) had to be the longest race ever crashes yellow laps. Well I'm off to my silver spot deep in the woods for awhile 11-48 dig copper pipe... 12-49 has to be silver nope watch... penny, penny, dime, penny, penny..... rain!!!!!! crap....

time to eat I'm closing the cabin so we took food home last weekend darn.... trip to town!!! dinner still raining....

wait I'm going to be under water what the heck do I care if it's raining?

I get there and it's just sprikling great. get all the stuff loaded into my little red wagon. get all suited up and head on down to the river.. get everything hooked up and running.

pick up my excalibur and the coil spins around and around? what the heck? the glue must of let go somewhere from the truck to the river. Damn I don't have glue with me, not even tape.... oh well I'll make it work....

I put the regulator in my mouth fresh air, mask on and head for the water... wait I can't see mask is fogging up!!! get that fixed by dipping the mask in the water and putting it back on....

I'm waist deep here goes nothing gasp just do it ok ok here we go.... underwater I can breathe!!! and I can see!!! WOW this is great!!! I can't explain but this is really cool!!! ok what am I here for? lets go.... under I go wait!!!! what the heck? I'm floating up!!! wtf!!! hmmm what can I do well back under I grab a rock to hold myself under that works, but makes detecting hard... swing swing beep low tone bingo!!! I let go of the rock to find my target and I start to float up.... hmm how am I going to do this? I let go of the detector and use my right hand to fan the gravel away that works a few minutes of that plus digging with my hand and I spot my target a lead sinker!!! even though it wasn't gold I'm having fun!!! target dig lead target dig lead target dig lead target dig lead, are you getting the idea yet? LOL wait target dig penny LOL

Well if I get enough lead I won't float!!! well that's not totaly true I think I ended up with about 2lbs of lead but what I did figure out is that if you exhale enough you wouldn't float up as fast.

2 times I don't know what I did but I got water in my mouth and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it out without coming up to the surface. Not sure what I did but I think maybe I had water in my mask and it might of went in my nose. Back to the crappy straps on my mask... I tried to exhale thru my nose but didn't seem to work. I'm sure when I go get certified I will learn what I did wrong...

With the floating up and the coil spinning around I lasted about an hour but I am hooked for sure made about a dollar LOL but that's not the point!!! sure I would of loved to get a ring or two. but I will be back too bad it won't be till spring!!!

don't really have to buy too much for next time, change out the weight so I don't float as a matter of fact I think for where I'm going I would like to sink I'm thinking I need about 5lbs more weight. be prepared they don't give lead bean bags away!!! about 4.00 a lbs for lead!!! wish I could sell mine for that!!!!

I say if you are thinking about diving and detecting go for it!!!!

Bob

 

[Fletch88]

Yes I usually like to have enough weight where I can deflate my B/C and be negative by several pounds so you can stay anchored to the bottom. The CZ-21 also floats up like crazy which is a big pain in the rear. That is one of the great things I love about a DetectorPro Headhunter UW. It lays there right beside you while fanning and prodding for targets.