Posted By admin on April 14, 2012

As April is upon us, the MWMD Crew had a tough decision to make.  Our slip fees were due on Table Rock Lake and we needed to consider if we wanted to continue another year calling Table Rock our home base or try something different.  We enjoy Table Rock, but over the last couple years we have noticed that more and more larger boats travel the lake making it difficult for our little 24’ pontoon (dubbed The Muck Diver) to safely travel the same waters.  We definitely have found a new appreciation for Bayliners that tend to create large tsunami’s.  After a call to order meeting, the decision was made and a new adventure had begun…..new home base will now to be Jordan Marina on Norfork Lake.

Honestly, this decision was a fairly simple one.  Over the last couple years we made several trips down to Norfork and found a great friendship with Dan and Denise who own and operate Jordan Marina.  Along with that the lake is Awesome with limited boat traffic and many dive sites established for scuba divers.  Denise had been telling us that in the spring the lake is at its best with visibility ranging in the 60’+ range.  Last year we got a taste of this right before the Midwest floods that wiped out the diving on all lakes.  We knew we had to get back, so the adventure begins….

We loaded up the trailer early and headed down to Indian Point Marina.  After waking up The Muck Diver from her winter hibernation we took a quick run around the lake and pulled her out.  I have to say I was a little saddened as we pulled out of the ramp.  After tying her down for the journey to Norfork we walked over to the Dive Shop.  We had heard new owners had purchased the Dive Shop and met up with them for the grand tour.  They have done an excellent job in basically rebuilding the shop area and installing stairs from the shop into the water.  Excitement was in the air as they told us about the many boats that are sunken in the cove as dive attractions and their plans to install ropes to all these for easy shore diving.  All this sounded great to me because we now had another dive site to return to.

Time was ticking away and we needed to get on the road to take The Muck Diver to her new home.  The trip was slow to keep The Muck Diver from swaying too much and with every curve and hill I quickly realized why not too many large boats were on Norfork.  Soon we arrived at Jordan Marina and it felt like we had returned home.  After putting The Muck Diver to bed we drove around the lake and wished we had brought our dive gear because the water was looking awesome.  However, we quickly saw that Dan had been hard a work again (or still) playing Chinese Checkers with all the ramps leading to the marina.  The water was up covering part of the campsites; reminiscence of the year prior when the floods of 2011 had hit when was there.   After “lollygagging” for a couple hours we finally decided we had to get back on the road and get home.

The 2012 Dive Season is upon us.  We are excited as we are planning our trips and can’t wait to get back down to Norfork and introduce The Muck Diver to her new stomping ground.  We are thinking early May and see if we can cash-in on the incredible viz that Denise has been teasing us about.

To be Continued……

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Posted By admin on December 29, 2011

Taking a break from all the floods and winter weather, the MWMD crew made their annual pilgrimage to blue water.  This time, and for the first time, the crew settled on Curacao…very similar to Bonaire, but yet, so different.  Breezes Resort was base camp providing a very nice place to recharge.  Our rooms were right on the beach allowing us the perfect place for surface intervals.  (A full account of our trip is outlined in the Curacao Tab on the left)

After a long day of traveling you could feel the stress flow from the body (as well as the sinuses clearing) as soon as we stepped off the plane.  The warm humid air meant only one thing, we were finally home and ready for a long week of diving.  We made our way to the bus that was waiting for us to take us to Breezes and quickly got checked into our new paradise home.  First things first, we needed food and quickly made our way to the snack hut on the beach.  After a quick bite, it was time to start work (it’s tough running a Dive Website and having to travel to places like this just so we can report back to all you divers, but we lift our chins and do it for you).  We made our way to the Dive Shop located on the beach that was run by Ocean Encounters.  They must have known who we were (the MWMD Crew) because they treated us like royalty with a laugh and a smile…surely they don’t give this same treatment to everybody.  As much as we wanted to don our gear and jump in, we figured it was best simply relax and take in the atmosphere this first day.  We returned to our rooms and after settling in fell asleep at 6pm.  (Did I mention the long day of traveling)  However, we were all back up at 11pm excited about the week.

The taste of salt water and crystal blue water was just what the doctor ordered.  Throughout the week we managed to finally find a few dive sites, sandy beaches, and sunny weather.  The diving was awesome…..how could it not be compared to the lakes and quarries of true home.  Our favorite dive spot was Porto Marie, but to be honest we only scrapped the surface of the diving in this short week.  Porto Marie was a very nice beach with a double reef system.

As we left the island, one thing kept playing in my head…I have to come back I haven’t done everything I wanted to do. 

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